Choosing a Career in Saudi Arabia
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Choosing a career in Saudi Arabia: The role of structure and agency in young people’s perceptions of technical and vocational education Hanaa Abdulla Almoaibed Thesis submitted to the UCL Institute of Education for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervised by: Professor Alison Fuller Dr Avril Keating University College London Institute of Education, 2019 Almoaibed 1 I, Hanaa Almoaibed confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that it has been indicated in the thesis. Hanaa Almoaibed Almoaibed 2 Acknowledgements At the beginning of my PhD journey I made a batch of fresh lemonade for my son’s school’s summer fair that became somewhat of a signature of mine. As it turns out, the skill of making lemonade is a transferable one! I have been blessed with incredible support without which I would not have been able to contend with life’s metaphorical lemons over the past four(ish) years. I must extend profound gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Alison Fuller and Dr Avril Keating for their guidance, encouragement and understanding throughout this process. Thank you for giving me so many opportunities and helping me see the value of my contribution. Thank you to my participants who trusted my intentions and shared their sentiments and aspirations. To my research assistants, Yousef and Nasser, thank you for being instrumental in helping me collect such valuable data. For their encouragement and support in facilitating my decision to pursue a PhD, I must extend sincere thanks to my friend Noaf AlTurki and forever mentor Sheikh Abdulaziz AlTurki. My data collection could not have been possible without the gracious support of Huda AlHajri, Muneera AlZamil, Malla AlShihab, Mohammad Mosly and Zainab AlQaffas—thank you. To my IOE colleagues: Mariam, Solomon, Andrea, Alexantra, Ibrahim, Juan, Amaal and Saba, thank you for making the journey less lonely. Thank you to Gwen for your speedy and helpful proofread. Thank you also to my friend Amy for making London feel like home so quickly. Thank you to Haifa, Lama and Maha for our family Sunday brunches. To my inspirational and supportive parents, Kristen and Abdulla: thank you for making this possible. I am forever grateful and pray that I can make you proud. Thank you also to my Aunt Noor, my siblings Jennah and Nasser, and my lovely nieces and nephews for your support. To my husband Aziz: thank you for your love and patience, for taking each challenge head on, and for your unconditional support. And finally, to my beautiful boys, Abdulla and Faris: Thank you for keeping me on my toes, thank you for the laughs, and thank you for reminding me every day that I have so much to be grateful for. I hope we will now have time to sit down and enjoy more lemonade. These words are dedicated to you two. Bismillah nabda’a. Almoaibed 3 Abstract Although the Saudi education system has provided an opportunity to pursue varying pathways for young people, there is a limited understanding of young people’s post-secondary education and employment trajectories in Saudi Arabia. Challenges to implementing educational strategies and reforms include a large youth population, diverse stakeholders, economic diversification and limited education and employment opportunities. With the launch of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, education and labour policy efforts included an expansion to the vocational education and training (TVET) sector to stimulate economic growth and increase the employment of young Saudi citizens in place of foreign employees. However, the relatively low enrolment in vocational education and training (TVET) and its weak status can provide insight into the way young people make decisions about their education to work transitions and highlights a variety of individual and structural challenges young people continuously negotiate in the rapidly changing country. Quantitative empirical research studies fall short in explaining the motivations behind young people’s choices and the extent to which choice is available. This research addresses this gap, employing a qualitative constructivist methodology. Through 18 focus groups and 16 individual interviews, this thesis shares the sentiments of 152 young men and women in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia who were enrolled in initial TVET as well as secondary students at a transition point where TVET became an option. The findings indicate that ‘choice’ is often illusionary, as youth aspirations are not always in line with opportunities and are influenced by the dominant characteristics of the education pathways and the labour market. Young people are influenced by embedded cultural factors such as social networks, family and gender. In making choices that are socially acceptable, young people minimise potential risks and social sanctions by ‘colouring within the lines’ of social acceptability rather than re-drawing them. Almoaibed 4 Impact statement This thesis explores the way young people navigate their educational and career transitions in Saudi Arabia, a context that has been under researched in academic literature. One aim of the research was to bring the voices of young people to light and explore aspirations and perceptions through an in-depth analysis of their stories and lived experiences. As Saudi Arabia forges ahead with its social reforms that were introduced in 2016, an understanding of the diverse elements of Saudi society, and the impact of these on perceptions will help illuminate areas where reform proves challenging, and potential ways to overcome them. This contributes to academic literature related to Saudi Arabia specifically and other countries within the Arabian Gulf region and the Islamic World. While most of the research conducted in Saudi Arabia is quantitative in nature, this research utilised qualitative tools to collect rich data and analyse it using themes generated by the participants. The findings can be built on for future sociological research, especially in countries beyond the industrialised world undergoing economic and social reforms. The research illuminates some of the social dimensions that are necessary for our understanding of the experiences of women and young people from a more intersectional perspective. Furthermore, the research contributes to the body of literature that explores choice in education, with specific emphasis on the social meanings attributed to vocational training and education. Beyond academia, my research has contributed to public policy design, and can continue to inform policy related to young people and vocational education in Saudi Arabia. In August 2018 I co-authored a document mapping the current obstacles to implementing vocational education in secondary schools Saudi Arabia. This was part of a project commissioned by the Ministry of Education and was used as a springboard for a series of workshops that were implemented in secondary schools across the country. My involvement ensured that students were consulted in the process of selecting workshop themes. It also contributed to the idea that perceptions of TVET stemmed from a multitude of social and institutional factors, including routes to employment. As a result other government institutes were identified as essential actors in the process of re-designing TVET pathways. As a result of my research I intend to pursue a career where my research can continue to influence policy. Within Saudi Arabia, there are a select few think tanks that are involved in the process of evidence-based policy publications. This research is conducted in Saudi Arabia with scholars from around the world and are widely read by Almoaibed 5 policymakers. Unfortunately, the number of Saudi scholars working in these research hubs with a social science focus is low. I believe that my experience at UCL has equipped me with the expertise to conduct meaningful research that is reflexive and critical and has enabled me to see the value in using evidence that is situated in broader global debates to identify gaps in our understanding of global phenomena and their local implications. Almoaibed 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................ 3 Abstract…… ............................................................................................ 4 Impact statement .................................................................................... 5 Table of Contents ................................................................................... 7 List of figures ........................................................................................ 12 List of tables ......................................................................................... 13 List of abbreviations ............................................................................ 14 Glossary of terms ................................................................................. 15 Introduction ..................................................................... 17 1.2 School-to-work transitions in the contemporary global setting ............ 24 1.3 Saudi Arabia: A contemporary overview ............................................. 27 1.4 Research questions ........................................................................... 28 1.5 Overview of chapters ......................................................................... 30 Social, economic and political overview ....................... 33 2.1 The development of governing