A job market squeeze in the West coupled with Qatar’s decision to launch a number of international schools is drawing huge numbers of newly-qualified teachers to the country.
As the international schools here are set to open early next month, a large number of qualified western teachers are
flying in.
Western education portals say there is a heavy inflow of freshly-trained teachers from that part of the world to the Gulf region and Qatar seems to be the most favoured job market for a majority of them, thanks to the heavy pay packets it offers and its image as the most peaceful country in the region.
The young teachers, according to recruitment companies, prefer to join the international schools in Qatar on permanent contracts rather than stay in their countries and be on the ‘supply list’ for years. It comes after new figures showed that only one in seven newly-qualified teachers has a permanent post, with just half of last probationers even managing to find temporary work in some of the western countries including in the UK.
A local daily in Scotland yesterday reported that a group of 15 teachers is leaving for Qatar from Edinburgh to join The Cambridge School, Doha, after responding to advertisements posted on a Scottish job site.
The daily reported that one of the teachers who is flying into Doha next month had applied for at least 30 jobs since she finished her year’s probation at the start of the summer, but in vain. “I was aware of the situation when I started but I was also told that the West Lothian had the highest retention rate of probationers so that’s where I chose to go to have a better chance. I feel kind of mixed about going to Qatar”, the daily quoted the newly-trained teacher as saying.
Although some Middle East countries have a reputation for being repressive — especially where women are concerned, Qatar was much more liberal and would provide the teachers with a positive environment to work in, according to the new recruits. “It’s very safe because there’s next to no crime and the teaching experience is a good one because Qatar is investing an awful lot of money into education”, another section of teachers felt.
Recently, more than 100 international teachers had flown into Doha and appeared in tests of more than 10 select international schools in Qatar.
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