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Human Development in Saudi Education: a Critical Systemic Approach

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Abstract

This paper is drawn from PhD research funded by the Saudi government on the policy and governance of Saudi schools (Algraini 2017. A critical systemic approach to human development in education: a case study of the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia). The aim of this article is to address human development challenges using the Critical Systems Heuristics approach. The results show that the central policy framework limits the opportunity for teachers and learners to contribute to shaping the curriculum and the process for human development. The Saudi Ministry of Education needs to: a) develop policy that takes into account the structure and the processes that shape education outcomes and b) to represent the voices of service users and service providers who have different and overlapping views.

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Notes

  1. The first semester started on 31 August 2013 until 15 January 2014. The second semester started on 25 January 2014 until 4 June 2014. The academic year in Saudi public education is divided into two semesters. This is unlike some other countries. For example, here in Australia students study four terms.

  2. All the names of participants have been changed.

  3. Alqunfudah is a city in the west of Saudi Arabia located on the Red Sea coastline.

  4. In a forthcoming publication, ‘The new populism and a practical response to the ‘wicked’ issue of unemployment (McIntyre-Mills 2017a, b and ‘Getting lost in the city’ (McIntyre-Mills 2017c) these will be detailed in more depth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Policy Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Saad Algraini & Janet McIntyre-Mills

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  1. Saad Algraini
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  2. Janet McIntyre-Mills
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Correspondence to Janet McIntyre-Mills.

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Algraini, S., McIntyre-Mills, J. Human Development in Saudi Education: a Critical Systemic Approach. Syst Pract Action Res 31, 121–157 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-017-9432-9

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