26
education
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010
A comprehensive study of teachers’ absence
The study of teachers’ absence aims to define the
problems and find solutions. According to the study the
absence of male average is higher than female teachers.
At the same time the average absence of unmarried
teachers is higher than married people.
The study finds many reasons for this problem
O
ne of the most important tasks of
educational systems worldwide is
their effective investment of human resources in order to ensure quality
education, enlightened by strategic plans
which are aimed at raising the efficacy of
performance. This can only be realised
when these resources work efficiently to
achieve expected targets, which causes
a sense of anxiety for those in charge of
such systems.
Teachers’ absence negatively affects
the educational process especially when
it is related to job dissatisfaction and laws
and regulations which govern the operation of educational institutions.
Within this framework, Dr Saliha A
Alissan, Associate Professor in the College of Education at SQU, in co-operation with researchers from the Ministry
of Education, conducted a study entitled:
‘Reasons for Teachers’ Absence in the
Light of some Demographic Variables’ to
investigate this matter.
Objectives
The study conducted by Dr Alissan
aims to execute an analytical study of the
reasons for teachers absence in the Sultanate of Oman, an obstacle which impedes
the process of learning and teaching in
government schools. The study also aims
to look for the most efficient solutions to
raise the efficacy of school performance
through the following:
1) To find the reasons for teachers
absence in Oman and to discover the relationship between this absence and specific demographic variables.
2) To get acquainted with the previ-
ous literature on this question to discover
the most important factors and variables
causing teachers absence and teachers’
attitudes towards the teaching profession.
3) To suggest mechanisms which aim
to reduce this absence and lead to a better
investment of human resources.
The study investigated the reasons behind teachers absence in Oman in order
to know the role such variables as gender,
experience, social status and location of
residence play in such absence. To achieve
these goals a seventy-five item — questionnaire distributed into six themes has
been developed and applied to a random
sample of seven thousand teachers (male
and female) chosen from five educational
regions. The results indicated that among
the most significant reasons for teachers
absence are:
1) Job dissatisfaction
2) Teacher professional training programmes
3) School internal competence
4) Laws and regulations
5) Family and social status and
6) Finally teachers’ health condition.
The demographic changes had a significant statistical influence, the gender
variable had a higher percentage among
the males while in the experience variable
there where more reasons (for absence)
given by those with less experience, while centage of absence among single teachers
in the social condition variable the per- was higher among the married, and finally in the location of residence variable
the percentage of absence among teachers
working outside their resident locations
were higher among those working within
the same area of their residence.
Job Satisfaction
Teachers’ absence is caused by four
major reasons: the wearisome school day
with a mean of (4.23), the lack of definite criteria to assess good performance
for promotion, and committed attendance with a mean of (4.12) followed by
lack of correlation between incentives
and salaries and the teaching load with a
mean of (3.96) followed by the unavailability of chances for teacher professional
development with a mean of (56). Means
of minor reasons behind teachers absence
varied (this highest 3.34) was in response
to item teacher rarely have a chance to
teach the subject he knows best in school,
while the lowest 2.61 was in response to
Early Warning Flood Detection
System Based on Wireless Sensor
D
r Ayman El Najjar has conducted
a research project on “The Design
Of An Early Warning Flood Detection System Based On Wireless Sensor Networks.” The project was triggered by the advent of the adverse weather conditions that
hit many parts of Oman in June 2007 and
caused loss of life and damages to property
worth hundreds of millions of Omani Rials.
Yet the long-term effects of these floods are
significantly worse and the recovery efforts
are substantially more challenging due in
part to the lack of early warning systems
and infrastructure. Dr El Najjar believes that
the early warning of authorities and communities against the incoming flood provides an effective solution because it gives
them sufficient time to evacuate and protect
their properties. It also allows authorities to
take some actions like rerouting traffic away
from wadis, automation of the road closure
process in case of wadi crossings, and sending SMS warning messages through mobile
phones to those who reside near the path of
the wadi.
Dr El Najjar’s research proposal aims to
design and deploy an early warning system
using wireless sensor networks to detect
floods. Traditional flood warning systems, he
argues, usually require complex centralised
computing that can be difficult without adequate infrastructure. Dr El Najjar explains
that we need to explore new techniques for
distributing the computation of flood detection within a wireless sensor network, along
with developing an automated warning system that could be linked, for example, to the
ROP. This early warning system can first be
tested by its deployment at Wadi Al Lawami
in the Wilayat Al Seeb, because of its closeness to SQU. If the test is successful, it will
be implemented in other Wadis.
the item lack of trustworthy co-operation
between the headmaster and the teachers
in delivering their professional duties.
Professional training programmes
A major reason for teachers absence
is due to the lack of teacher education
programmes which foster a sense of belonging to the teaching profession with
a mean of (3.68) and because such programmes are not prepared by experts in
teachers administrative role in school, the
minor reasons ten in number had a mean
higher than average in response to item
number three (lack of concentration in
teacher education programmes in creating the teachers professional culture with
a mean of 3.50 while the lowest mean
for minor reasons in response to the item
(lack of classroom management skills in
teaching education programmes had a
mean of (2.87).
School Internal Efficiency
There are five reasons behind teachers
absence which depend on school internal
efficiency (means varied between 3.84 in
answer to the item) on filling make-up
classes causes teachers absence, and the
mean of 3.52 response to item (numerous hours of duty within the school day).
The minor reasons which cause teachers
absence in this aspect are eight and their
means varied: the highest 3.41 was in
answer to item (breaks between classes
were not enough) and the lowest 2.51 in
answer to item (physical classroom environment is unhealthy), the remaining
thirty reasons had no influence on the
teachers absence.
Laws and Regulations
Most reasons for teacher absence related to laws and regulations are secondary and their means varied between the
highest of 3.30) in answer to item (laws
for checking teachers absence are not
compatible with developments in the educational systems) while the lowest mean
was in answer to item (2.61) (lack of data
and laws concerning teacher absence).
The conclusions of this theme included
only two items which did not have any
effect or influence on teachers absence
like (justifications for teachers absence
0.47 and (loss of continuous follow-up of
teachers absence 2.32.
Social and Family Conditions
There is one major reason behind
teacher absence with a mean of 3.99 in
answer to item (my absence depends on
the sudden sickness of a family member).
The means of the other four minor reasons
varied; the highest (3.20) was in answer to
item (due to my many family responsibilities) and the lowest 2.73 in answer to item
(to take care of elderly family members).
The five remaining reasons included
in this team did not have any significant
influence on teachers absence and their
means varied between 1.91 to 2.48.
Health Condition
There are four minor reasons behind
teacher absence in this variable, and their
means varied between the highest 3.41 in
answer to item (school teaching requires
my standing for long hours) and the lowest in answer to 2.65 (accompany a family
member due to his or her health condition).
The rest of the ten items included in
the sixth theme did not have any significant influence on teachers absence and
their means varied between 1.59 to 0.35.
Oil bioremediation by cyanobacterial consortia
under extreme environmental conditions
D
r Raeid Abed, of the
Department of Biology, College of Science, is currently conducting
a research project entitled:
“Oil Bioremediation By Cyanobacterial Consortia Under
Extreme Environmental Conditions”.
Dr Abed believes that oil
pollution of the marine environment poses serious threats
for the economy and tourism
in Oman. The project aims at
designing a new bioremediation approach based on the use
of indigenous cyanobacterial consortia which dominate
oil-polluted coastal microbial
mats.
It is hypothesised that the
presence of cyanobacteria in
these consortia will facilitate
degradation processes and
circumvent the expensive use
of fertilisers by fueling the oildegrading bacteria with the
necessary oxygen, nitrogen
and organics via their nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis
and fermentation processes.
On the other hand, the microbial mats of Oman (Wadi Al
Milh-Qurayat and oil-wells
in Dakhilyah) are expected to
be rich in novel halophilic and
thermophilic
oil-degrading
bacteria, which will efficiently
degrade oil components under
the harsh local environmental
conditions.
Dr Abed explains that the
proposed study will identify
and characterise cyanobacteria
and their associated oil-degrading aerobic chemotrophs
from different polluted microbial mats using state-of-the-art
molecular techniques such as
denaturing.
Dr Abed believes that oil pollution of the
marine environment poses serious threats
for the economy and tourism in Oman.
The project aims at designing a new
bioremediation approach based on the use
of indigenous cyanobacterial consortia which
dominate oil-polluted coastal microbial mats
A Database on Arabian Sea Ecosystem
I
n his study entitled “A
Database On The Arabian Sea
Ecosystem”, Dr S Piontkovski
from the College of Agricultural
Engineering and Marine Sciences
has observed that the Arabian
Sea possesses one of the thickest
oxygen-depleted layer known
anywhere in the World Ocean,
winds and currents occasionally
push this layer up into the
surface which indirectly leads to
unpredictable mass killing of fish
along the Omani coast.
The physical-biological mechanism, linking water dynamics
with these fish killing is still unknown. Dr Piontkovsk proposes
to establish a basis for the analysis of this mechanism through the
compilation of an oceanographical database, and the analysis of
the physical-biological interactions between oceanic and coastal waters.
A multilateral data from 10
international expeditions to the
Arabian Sea, the SQU coastal
surveys, and data from the
MODIS satellite will be used.
The proposal, Dr Piontkovski believes, will facilitate the
ongoing coastal sampling and
the taxonomical sample processing.
The expected results will be
presented in the form of the
CD-mounted database (disseminated among the SQU faculty,
post-graduate students, Omani
Ministry of Fisheries), series of
scientific papers, and included
in appropriate SQU course materials.