My work in Al Ain – A reality check?

A recent anonymous comment on an early blog post “My work in Al Ain” has made me think a little about the work we do and the story that Cheryl and I present here on our blog.

Given my background knowledge about the PPP project initiated by ADEC and carried out by some international private operators, I have found your account too beautiful to be true. There is a lot of unsaid regarding power conflict among all the involved parties, teachers` resistence to change, students` misbehaviour and you name it.
Implementing school reform is not as easy as your blog suggests especially in Sultan Bin Zayed School.

A later comment by the same anonymous person seeks to engage me in discussion about the changes and other philosophical points. So:

Maybe it’s just our inherent positive nature that makes it sound “too beautiful”. This blog is simply our story. It is not, and was never meant to be a forum for debate or philosophical discussion, an incentive for others to follow our footsteps, or a justification of what we do (or what others do) and we have no intention of allowing it to be diverted into such. If others wish to debate this, then let them create their own forum and not invade our story. I say again – this is just our story of our time in the UAE. We could be here, or we could be in Italy, Vanuatu, Africa or Bulgaria, we’d still be writing it. Yes, part of the story relates to the work Cheryl and I do. Most of it relates to other events – call them adventures if you like, we do. We write it for us, our friends and family. If others read it then that is one of the many byproducts of our new communication age and the internet. If they have questions, we’re happy to respond, and have done so on many occasions – just not via the blog.

That said, I do want to make a few things clear. Nowhere have I said that this work of educational reform that the leaders of this country have required be embarked on is easy. All change is difficult – for the change bringer and for those having to change. Resistance is an inherent and very necessary part of the process. It stems from fear of the unknown, need to maintain power relationships, job insecurity, and many other perfectly valid causes. No matter who or where you are, when someone challenges your practices , this can be extremely threatening. We all find it difficult to move out of our comfort zone; more so when job security is seen to be at risk.

In fact I would expect and hope that all members of the education system here, at all levels, do offer resistance, but with good intent and conscience. And we, the de-facto agents of that change, have a duty to listen to those we are working with. For with that resistance, we learn important lessons not only about how we can best support people, but about all those things that need to be preserved. Without this, the result would be a clone of some western education system that would be superficial, culturally inappropriate, and ultimately unsustainable.

And yes, with their eye constantly on the results of their students in the various indicators /exams etc, teachers will be torn between implementing the new teaching practices and calming down the unmotivated disruptive students. Part of our job is to help them manage this and to understand that it isn’t a choice between the two. Good teaching creates good learners and good classrooms. Not easy - no matter if you’re in the developing world or the developed world – East or West.

And that is all I have to say on that in this blog.

Dear Anonymous,

if you want to further this discussion, then step out from behind the mask and create your own forum, & if it piques my interest, I’ll contribute and even possibly put a link to it.