Pre-service teachers attitudes towards a career in special education in the United Arab Emirate

College Student Journal, Dec, 2004 by Eman El. Naggar Gaad

Regarding my background as a researcher, in addition to being a long-term faculty member and an experienced pre-service teacher advisor, I am a British academic living in the Arabian Gulf for some years. I am a native Arabic speaker with specific interest and experience in studying the effect that social values and beliefs have on the education of children with special needs. Such cultural understanding and local knowledge assisted in assuring the validity of data selection, collection, and analysis.

There were ethical considerations, for example I ensured confidentiality of all information collected. Pre service, and serving teachers were fully informed of the nature, and the aim of the investigation and their prior consent was sought. Limiting, protecting and safeguarding accessibility to the information maintained, together with safety and confidentiality insurance of hard data as well as the data stored in the computer we constantly assured.

Research questions could be stated as:

   What are the main cultural factors,
   issues and beliefs that determine the
   social and professional status of
   teachers of children with special
   needs in the UAE?

   What are the boundaries that define
   and/or limit the selection of pre-service
   teachers for special education
   as a teaching profession?

   How, and to what extent, do such
   factors effect the selection by pre-service
   teachers of special education
   as a teaching profession?

Participants:

I interviewed 51 pre-service teachers (not specialized yet). I have also interviewed 13 pre-service teachers from the Special Education Department. Serving teachers in many fields were interviewed too: 5 were serving in Day Care Institutions for the Preparation and Rehabilitation for the Handicapped (as it is known in the UAE). 3 out of these 5 teachers were new graduates (2001 and after), and the other 2 had been serving for more than 5 years in such institutions. In addition, I also interviewed 3 other serving teachers who were working in special classes in a regular school, 2 of them were new graduates, and one was an experienced teacher. Only 1 of my participants was a new graduate in special education serving as a kindergarten class teacher in a regular private primary school.

Pre-service Teachers in the UAE University

Although the United Arab Emirates is inhabited by a diversity of ethnic groups (Camerapix, 1998), mostly local students are enrolled in the UAEU according to university rules and regulations. The following table (Table 1) gives the reader an idea about the nature of our pre-service teachers over the last two academic years:

The following table (Table 2) shows that there are some pre-service teachers attending UAE University who originate from outside the UAE. The following table shows the number of College Of Education students from the Gulf Cooperation Council (1), Arab countries, and other countries.

Historically, the Education Department known as the College Of Education (COE) has served more female pre-service teachers than male. The challenge of motivating male students to enroll in the COE has been addressed by introducing scholarships. Each year, 200 scholarships are extended to men in an effort to diversify the college's gender pool. As part of this motivation system, the UAEU pays male students specific amounts in UAE Dirhams (Dhs) in each year as shown in Table 3.