There seems to be some very unfair assumptions in these posts. Do Doha schools really find it so easy to recruit (and retain) well qualified staff? No, I do not think so. A lot of schools would probably prefer to recruit staff from the U.K., especially if the school follows the English National Curriculum, but they have no other option but to hire from Australia and South Africa.
Is it easy and cheap to find good accommodation for your teachers, once you have managed to persuade them to come to Qatar? Of course not. Flats are becoming more and more expensive, but teachers are going to leave if they are not given adequate accommodation.
Some things (such as Qatari bureaurocracy) are beyond a school's control, yet they definitely have an impact and make it more difficult to keep both parents and teachers happy.
Do all parents want the same things? What are schools supposed to do when the wishes of Parent A conflict with what Parent B wants for his or her little darling? Muslim parents may well be keen on their child learning Arabic and Islamic Studies in single-sex classes. Western expat parents do not see these things as priorities for their children, so how are schools supposed to keep both groups of parents happy?
There are heaps of posts on QL about waiting lists, but then parents also complain when classes are too big! Isn't this trying to have your cake and eat it?
If you think that being a headmistress or headmaster of a school in Doha is something that is so easy and hassle-free, then you really do not know anything about international education.
Having spoken to colleagues at several different schools in Doha, I know that high staff turnover is a major problem. But how are school principals supposed to improve their schools, when so many teachers only stay for a few terms? If schools pay higher salaries, in order to encourage staff to stay longer, guess what happens? Yes, the parents complain about the higher fees.
There seems to be some very unfair assumptions in these posts. Do Doha schools really find it so easy to recruit (and retain) well qualified staff? No, I do not think so. A lot of schools would probably prefer to recruit staff from the U.K., especially if the school follows the English National Curriculum, but they have no other option but to hire from Australia and South Africa.
Is it easy and cheap to find good accommodation for your teachers, once you have managed to persuade them to come to Qatar? Of course not. Flats are becoming more and more expensive, but teachers are going to leave if they are not given adequate accommodation.
Some things (such as Qatari bureaurocracy) are beyond a school's control, yet they definitely have an impact and make it more difficult to keep both parents and teachers happy.
Do all parents want the same things? What are schools supposed to do when the wishes of Parent A conflict with what Parent B wants for his or her little darling? Muslim parents may well be keen on their child learning Arabic and Islamic Studies in single-sex classes. Western expat parents do not see these things as priorities for their children, so how are schools supposed to keep both groups of parents happy?
There are heaps of posts on QL about waiting lists, but then parents also complain when classes are too big! Isn't this trying to have your cake and eat it?
If you think that being a headmistress or headmaster of a school in Doha is something that is so easy and hassle-free, then you really do not know anything about international education.
Having spoken to colleagues at several different schools in Doha, I know that high staff turnover is a major problem. But how are school principals supposed to improve their schools, when so many teachers only stay for a few terms? If schools pay higher salaries, in order to encourage staff to stay longer, guess what happens? Yes, the parents complain about the higher fees.