Jobs for the Boys: Teaching as a career choice for secondary school boys in Abu Dhabi, UAE

Abstract

Teaching is globally becoming an increasingly feminized profession, and the United Arab Emirates is no exception in having extremely low numbers of Emirati male teachers, particularly in primary schools. So much so that most male teachers in government schools have historically had to be recruited from other Arab countries or more recently, from Western countries. There is a body of research to suggest that boys fare better academically and otherwise when they are taught by a male from their own community, indicating that encouraging more males into teaching, and in particular encouraging more Emirati males into teaching is highly desirable. In order to do this, the reasons why they are turning away from the profession need to be examined more closely. In the spring of 2012, 190 male final year secondary school students were surveyed in order to explore their perceptions of teaching as a career. Of those, 17% of Emirati students and 22% of non-Emirati students said they had given serious consideration to the career as an option. However, none of the students surveyed actually chose teaching as their career. This study examines the reasons for this and gives suggestions as to how to increase the recruitment of Emirati males to teacher education courses.