Becoming and re‐becoming a teacher in the Arabian Peninsula: Amal’s story of hope

Abstract

This paper is an account of the early career narrative of a young Emirati teacher, Amal, against the backdrop of the radical reformation of state schooling underway in the United Arab Emirates. Amal’s decision to become a teacher was influenced by negative school experiences in her own childhood, thus fuelling her desire to ‘have a hand in changing things’. Although one of the very first of her compatriots to acquire an appropriate initial English language teaching qualification, within a few years of starting to teach she finds her qualification obsolete. Amal’s story of becoming and re‐becoming a teacher offers unique insights into the shifting sands of school reform and the challenges it poses to local teachers, and highlights the need for capacity building for a sustainable, locally grounded, quality state school system.

Keywords:

• United Arab Emirates
• teacher education
• school reform
• teacher narrative

Notes

1. IELTS is the International English Language Test, a skills‐based test of English proficiency that includes a speaking test as well as tests of reading, writing and listening. Amal’s score of Band 7.5 rates her between a ‘good’ and a ‘very good’ user on a scale that ranges from 1–9, and thus exceeds the requirements for postgraduate‐level study through the medium of English anywhere in the world.