The need for a fundamental shift in the Saudi education system: Implementing the Saudi Arabian economic vision 2030

Abstract

To put Saudi's Economic Vision 2030 (or Vision 2030) into practice, Saudi Arabia has to reform its education system. To this end, King Abdullah's Education Development Project (hereafter the Tatweer project (Note: Tatweer, as it is known in Arabic)) of 2007–2013 has mandated an educational reform package, which focuses on a broad range of improvements, including enhancing schools' teaching methods and strategies. Hence, this paper argues that to diversify its economy and income away from a strictly oil-producing export country, Saudi Arabia requires an educated citizenry, trained in several disciplines, and students who have the necessary skills for progressing toward a knowledge-based economy. To achieve this, in-service and preservice teachers need to be trained in innovative ways, including listening to their voices and assessing what Saudi teachers require in order to play a positive role in contributing to the achievement the goals outlined in the Vision 2030. This research paper, hence, aims to shed some light into the implantation of Saudi 2030 vision and its direct link to in-service and preservice teachers who must be equipped with the right necessary critical teaching tools. The paper sees teacher voices, teacher training, and the development of strategies such as critical thinking as being essential for future success toward a shift in the Saudi education system vis-à-vis Saudi 2030 vision.

Keywords

Education reform teacher training economic growth critical thinking

Introduction

Several studies have demonstrated that there is a lack of knowledge and implementation of critical thinking among the lecturers and students in the secondary preservice teacher education programs at Saudi Arabian universities. This is perhaps not surprising as Saudi policy has relied heavily on the oil revenue, and only lately has acknowledged the need to meet the labor market of Saudi economy (Elyas and Picard, 2013). There have been no policies advocating a reform and advancing toward critical thinking in the entire Saudi education system. Elder (2005) advises identifying and articulating the knowledge and practice of critical thinking in a specific setting and designing a model that can be incorporated. This paper addresses the following key questions: (1) how can critical thinking be incorporated and fostered in teacher education programs in Saudi Arabia?; (2) how can reform in Saudi education call for knowledge-based society? Walsh and Paul (1986) note that “in-service training in critical thinking should be designed and based on the need of teachers” (p. 56). Therefore, there is an imperative need to readdress Saudi education policies to meet the increasing demand of Saudi's new economic vision and strategies toward a sustainable economy via the schools graduates. The Saudi's Economic Vision 2030 has been created to fit into three tracks, one of its biggest calls to link education with the economic growth—see Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Saudi's economic vision 2030.

Scope and purpose of this study

The purpose of this study is to provide a scholarly review based on the researchers' reading of the work of other scholars in the field. Also, to shed some light on the Saudi education reforms and in the broader field of international education reforms. Finally, it aims to summarize relevant past work, and revealing research gaps, as well as proposing research directions. Particularly, this review will begin with an examination of the importance of economic development, and then it will shift to an analysis of the Economic Vision 2003 plan, identifying major factors, which in turn, will be required for a proposed education reform to succeed. Therefore, this study fills a gap by bringing to the discussion new ways of understanding education and its relevance to Saudi economic growth education. After a critical analysis, there are practical suggestions for directions to take in implementing change.

Context of the study

The authors argue that this study is situated in its global and national contexts. Several studies (see, e.g., Adams, 2000; Baldauf, 2006; Fullan, 1993, 2007a, 2007b; Schmidt and Datnow, 2005) reveal that an effective education reform that enhances teachers' skills and improves curriculum needs to be based on teachers' engagement. In turn, these teachers will act as change agents and active partners, rather than being passive recipients in education reform. As a result, pressure has developed for solutions to be found. As a result of this developing pressure over the past decades, education systems in all corners of the world have been seeking to review the process of education, including financial constraints, irrelevance of curricula, the lack of qualified teachers, and school leaders. Under such multiple pressures, national education systems have been under attack globally, and national government has been making enormous efforts to reform their national education systems to keep up with the changing world. Governments everywhere have conducted education reviews, produced reports, made recommendations for reforms, and implemented reforms. The trend toward national education reform is inevitable; going against this trend is detrimental to the development of a country's education system and its national development as a whole.

Concurrent with this global trend, a considerable body of international literature on education reforms and education change has developed over the past decade (e.g., Fullan, 1993, 2007a, 2009; Hargreaves et al., 2010). The current terms such as “education change” and “education reforms” have been the object of an increasing number of studies. However, most of these studies are not based in the new conditions being experienced in the 21st century. Consequently, these studies provide little guidance for governments in making decisions as to designing and implementing their reforms. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, like elsewhere, the Saudi government places a great importance to its national education reforms and has made enormous efforts over the past decade in improving its status quo by launching a series of reforms (Elyas and Picard, 2013). However, most of these reforms have adopted a few ideas from the experiences of other countries, and are not always suitable for the Saudi context. Saudi Arabia lacks professionalism in education reform implementation; its reforms have attracted a lot of criticism for not achieving their desired outcomes, while “the overall quality of education remains low, Saudi schoolchildren score poorly in international comparative tests, and the university dropout rate is about 50 percent” (McKinsey Global Institute, 2015: 4).

Recently, it has been increasingly recognized that there is an urgent need for educational reform in Saudi Arabia, especially after it has launched the Economic Vision 2030, which needs educational reforms in order to succeed. Several researchers and experts argue that essential changes in the education system are also necessary if young Saudis are to be able to compete for 21st-century jobs (Allamnakhrah, 2013; Salameh, 2016). This view has been supported by Karasik (2015) who argues that “the education system [in Saudi Arabia] is stagnating, producing graduates who do not meet international standards of excellence” (para, 5). The stagnation has been attributed by Mosaad (2016) as being the result of “outdated school curricula, ineffective teaching methods and low education standards, [which is] one aspect of the vision that will require extensive improvements is in the field of education” (p. 2) Outdated policies can also be found in Saudi Arabia.

Overview of Saudi education reforms

Since the early 1990s, there has been increased awareness by governments in many parts of the world—including Saudi Arabia—of the urgent need for national education reforms (e.g., Fullan, 2001; Hallinger and Bryant, 2013; Hargreaves, 2007; Mulford, 2011). King Abdullah, who ascended to the throne in 2005 and died in 2015, introduced radical changes to the Saudi education system. With the increase in the price of oil during at that time, coupled with King Abdullah's vision for the development of the country, an overhaul in the social infrastructure was undertaken, especially in the sphere of public education. Education is considered highly important by the Saudi government, which has demonstrated its commitment to education by increasing its national education budgets (Ministry of Education, 2016). According to World Bank (2012), the Saudi government spent 12 billion Riyals ($US 320 billion) on education and education reforms between 2004 and 2013. Whether or not this significant financial investment in Saudi education reforms during this period has produced significant outcomes still awaits scholarly discovery.

Because of reform attempts made, several modifications were made, but these were not substantial revisions of the national education system. For example, after 9/11, several curricula were altered to remove references that could be interpreted as suggestive of anti-Western ideologies (Elyas, 2008). This was in response to the criticisms of the perceived ideology embedded in the Saudi curriculum, which is believed to have influenced the terrorists in 9/11 (Elyas, 2008). In a broader sense, the Saudi education system was criticized internationally for giving less importance to social and hard sciences, while emphasizing religious studies at all levels of education (al-Khazim, 2003; Elyas and Al-Ghamdi, 2018; Elyas and Picard, 2010, 2013, 2018; Rugh, 2002) Allamnakhrah (2013) claims that the Saudi education system

overproduces graduates in some areas, such as social and religious studies, but it is far from producing similar numbers in areas critically needed by the country, such as health and engineering professions” the education system, therefore is facing “difficulties in meeting outcome quality in relation to work-force needs, and difficulties in securing more resources. (p. 483)

For example, religious instruction took up 31% of the course load in the primary system, compared with 20% for mathematics and sciences and arguably this should be more balanced (Rugh, 2002). Notably, the consensus between Saudi and western scholars regarding the Saudi education system's status quo is that “education in the Kingdom does not appear to be equipping young people in Saudi Arabia for employment” (Bosbait and Wilson, 2005, 534). This is an important point, especially in light of the fact that Saudi Arabia was one the lowest performing countries for mathematics, performing below the low benchmark scores (<400) in The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS, 2011).

These results were attributed to the students' lack of knowledge and skills, which are in turn attributed to their in-service teachers' lack of understanding of new educational changes, as well as a lack of training in curriculum and pedagogical approaches associated with the Tatweer Project begun in 2007. In addition, increased education could play an important part in economic development, but it is not as simple as some critics think. Economic development has been linked to educational reform. Allamnakhrah (2013) claimed that “if Saudi Arabia is to develop its knowledge economy and assist Saudi students to compete favorably in fields such as science, engineering and medicine against their western counterparts, it is vital to introduce critical thinking skills into [its] educational programs” (p. 28). Recently, McKinsey Global Institute (2015) has endorsed the above viewpoint in their substantial research that argued that:

In education, the Kingdom's outcomes are low in relation to its level of spending…, scores of Saudi pupils in international comparative studies such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have risen in the past decade but still lag behind international benchmarks including other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. (p. 26)

Saudi Arabia, in many respects, is similar culturally and educationally to traditional Asian societies such as Singapore, Malaysia, and South Korea; however, these countries surpass Saudi Arabia in math and science and are more advanced as knowledge societies and knowledge-based economies. Critics attribute these results to education systems based on didactic rote-learning methods of teaching and learning (see al-Essa, 2009, Allamnakhrah, 2013; al-Miziny, 2010; Elyas and Al-Ghamdi, 2018; Elyas and Picard, 2010, 2013, 2018; TIMSS, 2011).

The Tatweer project as a path to education reform: Success or failure?

Its values

The demands and criticisms of the education system as described above, as well as the need to affect a shift from a resource-based economy to a knowledge economy, prompted the Saudi government to reform the education system by initiating and funding the Tatweer project for the development of general education. This ambitious project, which began in 2007 and ended in 2013, was allocated US$3.1 billion dollars (Tatweer, 2010: 6). According to the Tatweer project, the vision of project is that “the districts of the future will be mini-ministries of education that are fully empowered to develop district-wide development plans, and ensure that every boy and girl in the district has the opportunity to learn and succeed” (Tatweer, 2010: 6). Its primary objective is to focus on the quality of education to ensure that students of public education in the Saudi Kingdom are equipped with the necessary skills to participate in an increasingly globalized society and to engage with the complex and myriad problems that globalization brings, while simultaneously preserving the values and ideology underpinning Saudi society (Tatweer, 2010). In particular, this project has four targets: (1) enhancing teachers' skills; (2) improving curricula; (3) developing school activities; and (4) improving school facilities and infrastructure (Tatweer, 2010: 1).

Although our paper won't evaluate or assess the outcomes of the Tatweer objectives, several Saudi scholars argue that current educational reform has yielded positive results. For example, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Mohammed¹ gave an interview to the Saudi daily newspaper (Arab News, 2017, para 8) in which he discussed the many achievements that the Saudi education has accomplished since his appointment as Minister of Education. One of these achievements is the Tatweer Project, which he claims is progressing excellently, stating that curricula have been revised and new schools built with the necessary infrastructure conducive to learning.

Former Education Minister Abdullah Al-Obaid² stated that the Tatweer project would assist the country to “keep pace with scientific and technological development” and “meet the hopes and aspirations of Saudi citizens” (Arab News, 2017, para 8). He cites that the “successful experiments of countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, China, New Zealand, Finland, France, Ireland, Britain, Britain, Canada and the U.S. as models to emulate” (Arab News, 2017, para 8). There are evidently external pressures to improve the quality of education to ensure that Saudi students are able to reach the levels of their Western peers who achieved higher outcomes in science and other important fields. Achieving this would enable Saudi students to compete for jobs globally in engineering, medicine, etc. This would also enable Saudi experts to export their own knowledge in these fields to a global market. In a sense, developing education to meet these outcomes is in the national interest. The Tatweer project also seeks to deepen the values underpinning Islamic society, such as morals, allegiance to society nation and family, and preservation and appreciation of national achievements. The traditional values will be included along with innovative strategies.

Al-Obaid, also stated that “there are more than 15 mechanisms to implement the project,” with teachers to be provided with modern information technology tools and “they will also be given intensive training to help them become familiar with modern developments and changes” (Arab News, 2017, para, 8). For example, classrooms are to be equipped with the latest technological facilities such as the Internet and interactive whiteboards, all of which aim to enhance the classroom learning environment.

According to Al-Obaid, the Tatweer project also provides for “seven training programs for more than 400,000 teachers, focusing on their specialization, school management, educational supervision, computer science, self-development and improvement of skills” (Arab News, 2017, para, 8). Extracurricular activities, such as involving cultural activities and improving awareness of health by encouraging and providing sporting activities and information on nutrition, are also to be expanded. A spirit of competition and innovation are the purpose of such activities and programs (Arab News, 2017, para 8). Ali Alhakami who has served as the director of the Tatweer project from 2007 to 2014 stated that part of the Tatweer project is the “New Teacher” project, which commenced implementation in 2012 with the aim of training 13,000 teachers from 45 different educational divisions. The “New Teacher” project aims to prepare new teachers for working in public schools. The project's objectives and perspectives are necessary and legitimate. However, five years after its implementation, its aims are far from being achieved, with little evidence of much improvement in the Saudi education system.

Its criticisms

Although this considerable project targeted to develop the quality of education at all levels of public schools in all cities in Saudi Arabia to meet the requirement of the 21st century, there has been much criticism of the Tatweer project by both the Saudi public (through media) as well as by Saudi scholars (Elyas and Al-Ghamdi, 2018). According to the Tatweer (2010), one of the important functions of this project is in the field of pedagogy is the instruction of teachers in the methods and implementation of critical thinking. The National Centre for Teaching and Thinking (NCTT) was recruited to undertake this formidable task. The NCTT is a U.S. organization led by critical thinking theorist Robert Swartz (al-Degether, 2009). Although the objectives and perspectives of the project are highly practical and useful, nine years after its implementation, there has not been much evidence showing improvement in the Saudi education system. According to al-Essa (2009), the main reasons for the project's failure to get under the way are the lack of political vision and will.

These criticisms notwithstanding, the philosophy and policy in education in Saudi Arabia have some benefits, such as the teaching of ethics and Islamic values as well as culture and Arabic language. However, these aspects of education need to be reevaluated in order to equip students and keep them abreast of accelerating technological changes, scientific discoveries, globalized production and economic developments, and an increasingly integrated global society, all of which serve to undermine the tenets of the Saudi education system. Rugh (2002) notes that it is difficult to provide a workforce capable of assimilating and adapting to the rapid change of global developments when there are no educational institutions that teach business or political science, to name a few. Another notable aspect of the Saudi education system is the lack of colleges that teach liberal arts. These disciplines are where critical and independent thoughts are encouraged; the absence of a citizenry educated in these fields has been believed to have broader implications for the Saudi economy.

The Saudi Arabian educational policy needs to be amended to take advantage of, and benefit from global developments and should strive to raise the level of scientific research and development, as well as the level of professionalism in all spheres of education. An essential component of these reforms should be the encouragement of democratic rights and a culture of dialogue and openness, which are not necessarily incompatible with Islamic faith and philosophy (al-Essa, 2009). In order to accomplish and complement these objectives, teachers' views on educational reform as well as skills required, such as critical thinking and problem solving skills, should form vital and essential aspects of education reforms in Saudi Arabia.

The huge mistake: Ignoring teachers' voices

There is a consensus among several authors who have written extensively about the involvement that teachers' input is a critical and important element in any effort to bring about substantive and successful education reform (see e.g., Adams, 2000; Hiatt-Michael, 2001, Lukacs, 2015). However, the experience of the first author of this paper as a student, a secondary school teacher for three years, and a university lecturer under the Saudi education system and working for education reform in Saudi has demonstrated to us that the voice of teachers in current Saudi education reform is still not recognized. We fully agree with the views of several neither Saudi scholars such as al-Shibani (2015) who argued that for the most part, teachers in Saudi Arabia felt like agents nor partners in the Saudi education reform Tatweer project; nor did they function as such in the reform process.

In several successful global education systems, such as South Korea—which tops the rankings, followed by Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Finland—the teacher plays an essential factor in their education reform (Fair Reporters, 2015). An example of how this can be achieved comes from the case of Finland where Sahlberg (2007) found that Finland's education reform which took place in the country in the 1990s avoided elements typically encountered in the global education reform movement of the time, such as standards and accountability, and focused instead on positioning teachers as highly trained professionals who were given the freedom to develop pedagogical knowledge and skills and make decisions regarding the curriculum. According to Sahlberg (2007):

inviting teachers and principals to participate in school development had an enormously positive impact on the Finnish education sector in the 1990s. Teachers could see that the system believed that schools and communities are the places where decisions concerning the curriculum and overall arrangement of schooling should be made. (p. 157)

This situation described in Finland might be assisted by what Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) emphasize as the role of government or society in raising the respect for teachers and acknowledging the importance of their training, in which it is essential to create an environment conducive for developing an education system “nobody can give you professional capital. It is an investments, not a donation, handout, or gift. Governments can create good or bad climes for investment in professional capital by, of course, praising teachers” (p. xiv).

As observed, the teachers' view is essential, as they are “agents of change in the reform effort currently under way in education and thus are expected to play a key role in changing schools and classrooms” (Prawat, 1992: 354). Currently, one common criticism is that the Tatweer project has not produced the desired results because of many reasons, two of which were the absence of Saudi teachers' participation in the development of the Tatweer project before it was launched, and the lack of adequate teacher training on how to effectively implement the project (al-Essa,³ 2009, 2010). The implication of al-Essa's claims is that Saudi teachers were merely empty and passive vessels instructed by “reform planners [who then proceeded] to implement it exactly as planned” (Levinson et al., 2013: 9). In this light, these reforms are the antithesis of what the literature on education reforms recommends, which is for “substantive and successful transformations in school systems” it is necessary to involve teachers in its development and strategies for implementation (Levinson et al., 2013).

An essential component for implementing these reforms should be the inclusion of teachers, as many scholars agree that there is no single factor more effective in the school setting than the teacher (Aaronson et al., 2007; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Hattie, 2003; Nye et al., 2004; Rivkin et al., 2004). A recent study of the Tatweer project in Saudi Arabia conducted by al-Shibani (2015) found that a “limited success in the implementation of the Tatweer project was attributed to several factors—according to ministry of education officials—one of these factors was insufficient training for teachers” (p. 113). In that study, the majority of teachers and principals interviewed had only a vague understanding of the education reform and its objectives as well as what was involved in successfully bringing it into practice. Many other teachers and principals who participated in al-Shibani's study, argue that the Tatweer project was built on a narrow selection of representative sites and ignored the needs of others who claimed that “they chose us … they didn't consult us before … because we fit the features they want” (al-Shibani, 2015: 13).

The view that emerges from this study clearly demonstrates that teachers' voices are essential for education reform to be successful and have confirmed the importance of teachers' views. Connected with this, teacher training for implementing change is important, in not only the Saudi Arabia situation, but everywhere else. Training is essential for implementing curriculum reform, new teaching strategies, and using innovative educational technologies.

However, even though all those participating in the al-Shibani's study (2015) agreed that there was an enormous change in the school curricula in all subjects from primary to high school, “the curriculum was given but without any training to staff, teachers, and head teachers. There is no one who doesn't want to develop, but how can we if these things are not available for us” (p. 116). Barnett (2016), in her new book Human Capital and the Future of the Gulf, qualified this view when she interviewed a “several educators and education experts in Saudi Arabia (who) attributed most of the problem with Saudi schools to the failure to reform” (p. 9). Barnett, based on her interviews, adds that there is a “lack of trained professionals and many schools are now staffed by employees ill-equipped to implement reform or improve quality” (p. 9).

Clearly, we argue that to enhance students' performance requires the successful implementation of new educational reforms by enhancing the knowledge, skills, and pedagogical methods of teachers. Improvement in students' performance and outcomes may occur when teachers perceive themselves as key players in reforms, as the agents of change precisely because they work directly with their students. The above view is supported by Fullan (1996), who states that “we need to first focus on how teachers make sense of the mandates and policies because there will be no educational reform until after teachers interpret the policies and make decisions based on their beliefs about the new demands” (p. 12).

In the case of the Saudi educational reform project, even though the fact that the Tatweer project was assumed to involve teachers in the education reform, it appears clear that unfortunately words like “partnership” and “cooperation” seem to be an anthem for the reformers. It is ironic that such reformers “seek to underscore the importance of teachers yet want to make education policy without listening to them” (Weingarten, 2012: 13). Teacher voices are often ignored in relation to the reform process, and as a result, effectiveness is diminished (Crosswell and Elliott, 2004; Delany-Barmann, 2010; Fullan, 1993, 1996, 2007a). The situation in Saudi Arabia followed this pattern, characterized by a lack of leadership roles for teachers, a lack of consultation and training as well as uneasiness about implementing reforms with which they disagreed.

Why education reform is more urgent than ever: Saudi economic vision 2030

It is widely held that education brings on economic development. There is a consensus among numerous stakeholders and writers such as the World Bank (2014) and the McKinsey Global Institute (2015) regarding the need for the Saudi Arabian economic policy to be amended in order to avoid future economic decline. In light of the evident need for economic reforms, along with Saudi Arabia's population explosion (more than 70% of Saudis are under the age of 30) and a sharp drop in oil revenue in 2015 (see Figure 2), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia recently initiated a new and intensive plan known as the Saudi Economic Vision 2030, in April, 2016. At that time Prince Mohammed bin Salman—Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince, Defense Minister and Head of the Council of Economic and Developmental Affairs announced the above plan, which focuses on a variety of economic reforms, business and investment endeavors, as well as cultural and entertainment Projects (Saudi Economic 2030 Vision, 2016). According to the Saudi Economic Vision 2030, education within this vision will concentrate on three key areas: curriculum development, higher education advancements, and building critical and value skills needed for the job market. The vision includes goals as Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated:

Among our commitments… an education that contributes to economic growth. We will close the gap between the outputs of higher education and the requirements of the job market. We will also help our students make careful career decisions, while at the same time training them and facilitating their transition between different educational pathways. In the year 2030, we aim to have at least five Saudi universities among the top 200 universities in international rankings. We shall help our students achieve results above international averages in global education indicators. To this end, we will prepare a modern curriculum focused on rigorous standards in literacy, numeracy, skills and character development. We will track progress and publish a sophisticated range of education outcomes, showing year-on-year improvements. We will work closely with the private sector to ensure higher education outcomes are in line with the requirements of the job market. We will invest in strategic partnerships with apprenticeship providers, new skills councils from industry, and large private companies. We will also work towards developing the job specifications of every education field. Furthermore, we will build a centralized student database tracking students from early childhood through to K-12 and beyond into tertiary education (higher and vocational) in order to improve education planning, monitoring, evaluation, and outcomes. (Saudi Economic Vision, 2030: 40)

Figure 2.

Saudi economy and oil revenue.

It is very clear that the above statement shows that Vision 2030 suggests and understands that there is a connection between education reform in Saudi Arabia and economic reforms. The vision is considerably ambitious and aspirational, and it promises that Saudi Arabia will develop a stronger economy. To our understanding, what the statement suggests is that there is an urgent need in Saudi Arabia for educational reform, particularly in the area of teacher development in order to prevent the perpetuation of the rote learning method. With such reforms in the education system, teachers' development and curricula will undoubtedly impact on the culture in general, in Saudi Arabia, specifically in fostering 21st-century skills for future generations. However, when we reflect critically and analyze the Prince's quote above, we can recognize that he is in agreement about the shortcomings of the current education system in Saudi Arabia when he used words “shall” and “will” in the vision. For example, regarding teacher training, he states, “teachers will receive training to raise their awareness of the importance of communicating with parents and equip them with effective methods to do so successfully” (Saudi Economic Vision, 2030: 33). Given that it has already been noted that the previous education reforms produced little results, the Prince's statements give us an indication that there is a renewed commitment from the Saudi decision maker to fund teachers' professional development and develop policy reforms by advancing a vision, mission, and philosophy statement to foster students' lifelong skills development which is central to the successful implementation of any economic reforms in Saudi Arabia. However, for the Vision 2030 to be implemented successfully, it requires more than an awareness or commitment of education reform; an on-going process requires long-term funding and evaluating.

Education's contribution to the Saudi economic vision 2030: The teacher is the key

The link between economic growth and education reform is not a new phenomenon, with governments often making calls for education reform to solve social and economic problems. Numerous factors are involved in an education system, such as curricula, school environments, equipment, and materials of various types, with teachers being one of the most powerful driving forces for achieving economic growth. Coupled with the current circumstances of a decline in oil reserves and the low price for oil and the resulting need for a new economic base, there is now a need for changes in teaching and learning.

Urgent needs: Teachers' voices, listening, and training

If the teacher is the key for enhancing students' skills and their accomplishments, then, as Hargreaves and Fullan (2012) state that finding and keeping good teachers are the basis of a quality in education. Therefore, teacher quality and professionalism must be considered by the Tatweer Project administrators and the ministry of education in Saudi Arabia to develop teachers' lifelong skills since teachers have been recognized as playing a pivotal role in reform (Adams, 2000; Baldauf, 2006; Fullan, 2007b; Schmidt and Datnow, 2005; Swanepoel, 2008; Vongalis-Macrow, 2007; Wedell, 2003). What is needed are structures in which teacher voices will be heard, discussed, analyzed critically, and acted upon, within the education reform. There should be a reassessment of the plan for its strengths and weaknesses and there should be a widespread process of consultation. There should be a hand-in-hand process joining teachers, experts, principles, etc. This process could feed into curricula developments as well as identify the training teachers will need. This in turn will lead to more interesting, relevant and engaging curriculum material for students. In order to do this, new methodologies and materials will be needed so that a more collaborative and constructivist approach can be implemented along with the strengthening of literacy and Critical Thinking (CT) skills. The need for professional development for teachers in terms of knowledge about lifelong skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and entrepreneurship where relevant and communication skills have become more urgent. Teachers need hands-on practical training and the opportunity to discuss and review their progress because without this, how can they possibly pass anything on to their students?

An important starting point is that rote learning methods must be replaced with a process which has more critical thinking, more collaboration, more interaction, more time for creativity, more interesting materials, and relaxed environments. To achieve this goal, teachers must be trained in appropriate methodologies and provided with appropriate materials. Thus with the right planning, and incremental development, success can surely be achieved by the Economic Vision 2030. For education reform to successfully contribute to economic growth, in the case of Saudi Arabia for example, teaching and learning at schools must be considered. Critical thinking and innovation in teaching and learning have their difficulties, especially when the teacher has no training into the new strategies.

The way ahead: Promoting critical thinking

The quality of instruction by teachers to students is an essential factor in education (Chetty et al., 2014; Dean, 1981; DeMonte, 2015; Rivkin et al., 2004). For when students received effective instruction in critical thinking, science students were able to develop better understandings and innovative (Tsai et al., 2013). However, it is important to remember that even though teachers might understand a new idea, they still require in-depth training in classroom application skills, how to design lessons and activities in order to instigate high-level student performance as well as develop their higher order thinking skills.

Here is the kind of clinical evidence that is relevant. In the Saudi Arabian context, Allamnakhrah (2013), in his research, argues that because fast-paced technological change has brought about vast changes in the way people work, communicate, and learn, skills such as analysis and evaluation have become important and necessary. For this reason, Paul and Heaslip (1995) stress that “the heart of well-conceived educational reforms [for state run educational policy] is the heart of the changes of the twenty-first century” (p. 43). Hence, education reformers who are trying to improve student learning will therefore most likely have multiple techniques for solving the main learning problems. The solution to be adopted is to deal with this issue on critical thinking as central to disciplinary knowledge. Elder (2005) raised an important point for introducing a course of critical thinking into the everyday school education syllabi. As she puts it:

Introduces students to the idea that to learn any subject well is to learn its most fundamental logic, to be able to think within the subject. In other words, it emphasizes the importance of students learning to think historically, to think sociologically, to think scientifically, to think in a literary way, etc. It also introduces students to the intellectual standards for thought, as well as the intellectual virtues, or defining traits of the disciplined mind. (p. 39)

In other words, effective critical thinking skills as defined above are those, which can successfully adapt to change, are capable of performing analysis and which lead to problem solving. Connected to Saudi Economic Vision 2030, it can be argued that the global knowledge economy is driven by use of information and technology informed by critical thinking.

Elder (2005) explains that “an atmosphere that places thinking at the focal point of the college's philosophy, mission and goals” (p. 43) is instrumental. This is the role of the secondary preservice teacher education programs in the second stage to foster CT. In our view, placing critical thinking in the college's or program's philosophy, mission, and vision is insufficient, unless a program of implementation, which will create the environment conducive to critical thinking, accompanies it. For instance, students must have the right and freedom to discuss issues with their lecturers and directors. Engendering an environment conducive to critical thinking requires the commitment, as well as the concerted and combined efforts of the government, educational institutions, and the media. However, because education plays a central role in engendering critical thinking, the starting point should be the training of lecturers and directors to create an environment in the class and in the school that is conducive to critical thinking. It is also to help make the classroom and school environment a mini-society, a place where the value of critical thinking (truth, open-mindedness, empathy, autonomy, rationality, and self-criticism) are encouraged and rewarded (Walsh and Paul, 1986). Therefore, it is incumbent upon all lecturers and directors to foster such an atmosphere in the secondary preservice teacher education programs because “the significance of an encouraging environment is crucial to critical thinking and the development of confidence in one's reason” (Walsh and Paul, 1986). The other aspect is the importance for educators themselves, for their students and for the society in general because as Paul (2011) argues, as “students learn to think more critically, they become more proficient at historical, scientific, and mathematical thinking. They develop skills, abilities, and values critical to success in everyday life” (para. 1). Brookfield (2005) maintains that the infusion of critical thinking in education is valuable because “learning to think critically can help students deal with ambiguity and negotiate the bewildering pace of social and technological change” (p. 49).

Conclusion

In sum, we argue that implementing critical thinking in the secondary preservice teacher education departments is a contribution to the continuing education reforms currently underway in Saudi Arabia, especially for Saudi Economic Vision 2030. The long-term benefit of introducing critical thinking in these programs is that teachers will disseminate it in their own teaching practice and among their high school students, thereby engendering a generation of critically minded students. Such students will not only improve their learning outcomes but also develop the critical abilities to deal with problems of everyday life in this complex and rapidly changing world. Beginning with one faculty, critical thinking should be the basis of all curricula, as well as the teaching and learning methods in all the faculties across the university if Saudi Arabia would like to succeed in its education reform towards Saudi's Economic Vision 2030 toward knowledge-based society that target a reform in education is a fundamental move.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

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