Teachers’ Experiences and Challenges with Student Diversity in Qatar’s Government Schools

Abstract

Globalization has changed the demographics of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) countries creating vastly diverse resident populations. Notably, Qatar has emerged as a multinational and multicultural nation. Qatar’s record economic growth demands high-and low-skilled expatriate workers causing a substantial discrepancy between citizens and expatriates. Nowhere is this more evident than Qatar’s government schools, where 27 percent of teachers are Qatari, 66 percent are other Arab nationals, and 6 percent are from non-Arab nations. Diversity is also evident in the student population containing approximately 56.5 percent Qatari Nationals and 43.5 percent non-nationals from various Arab and non-Arab countries. Despite the vast body of research on diversity, little is written about primary school teachers’ perspectives toward student diversity in the GCC. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore twenty-six primary school teachers’ experiences with student diversity, the challenges they face teaching in these diverse classrooms, and how they influence their teaching approaches. Discussion focusing on several critical issues based on the findings is provided with several suggestions addressing teachers and diversity in these schools.