The Saudi education sector now demands more than traditional academic teachers. Vision 2030’s ambitious projects require technology-proficient teachers, educators experts for children with cognitive challenges, early childhood qualified teachers with pedagogical depth, and developers of extracurricular programs. Such transformative projects come with their own set of challenges. Here, we’ll explore what are these challenges? And what could be the solutions?
There are 5 main challenges facing hiring skilled teachers and the education sector workforce in Saudi:
1. Teachers Repeated Recruitment Cycle
Some case studies indicate that approximately forty percent of newly arrived teachers leave their institutions within the first two years of work. This phenomenon represents not only a financial loss, as the cost of replacing each teacher can exceed double their annual salary, but also a loss of cumulative experience and institutional stability, which directly impacts educational quality and the student experience.
The cost of re-recruiting a single expatriate teacher in Saudi can increase by 45,000 Saudi Riyals, while the cost of qualifying and retaining that same teacher does not exceed 25,000 Saudi Riyals. The issue is not limited to apparent costs alone. The educational institution and learners lose numerous benefits and growth opportunities due to a high staff turnover rate in the education sector, including:
- Organizational Stability: Reducing administrative chaos resulting from having new employees who are unfamiliar with the institution’s culture, team, and administrative structure.
- Cumulative Experience: Accumulated experience leads to greater knowledge of students’ weaknesses, capabilities, and skills, as well as knowledge of how to handle recurring challenges specific to that institution. Also, an experienced teacher with a history in the institution often transfers their cumulative knowledge to each new teacher, shortening their path to achievement and success in their duties.
- Employment Reputation: An institution’s strong employment reputation is key to facilitating the recruitment of highly competent, skilled, and professional school staff. Conversely, educational institutions notorious for low salaries, a stressful work environment, or rigid management often only attract teachers with lower qualification levels who are seeking work out of necessity.
- Positive Bonds: A student who graduates from an educational institution with a positive experience often has their younger siblings attend the same institution to replicate that experience. The most impactful element of positive student experiences is often a skilled, beloved teacher who connects students to the institution and fosters their love for learning.
- High Productivity: An experienced and stable teacher is generally more productive than a new one, due to their knowledge and experience in completing tasks more efficiently. They are also typically more proficient in using educational resources and tools and require less intensive supervision.
What are the Strategic Solutions?
Enhance employment benefits that foster teacher loyalty and retain them for as long as possible. Implement institutional programs that promote the integration of expatriate teachers, including mentorship and family support. Additionally, select teachers from the outset with a minimum level of cultural and professional alignment with the educational institution and its goals.
2. Treating Expatriate School Staff as Temporary
This is a strategic error made by some educational institutions, where expatriate teachers are treated as temporary, replaceable resources rather than long-term human capital investments. This stems from the mistaken assumption that the relationship with an expatriate teacher is a short-term contractual one governed solely by the need to fill an immediate gap, leading to:
- Stagnation in Professional Development Investment: The institution refrains from including expatriate teachers in long-term professional development programs or investing in their advanced qualification, assuming the return on investment won’t materialize before the teacher leaves. This deprives the teacher of growth and the institution of higher competencies and potential achievements, even during a short contract period.
- Undermining Sense of Belonging and Loyalty: The teacher feels like a “temporary tool” rather than an integral part of the institution’s educational mission. This kills any motivation for creativity or extra initiatives, causing them to focus only on performing the minimum required tasks.
- Easing the Decision to Leave: When a teacher doesn’t feel valued within the institution or perceives differential treatment compared to other teachers the institution invests in developing, the decision to move elsewhere—even for fewer material benefits—becomes easier due to the absence of an emotional bond.
- Loss of Institutional Knowledge: Even if a teacher is theoretically temporary, they acquire deep knowledge of the institution’s students, culture, and challenges during their work. This valuable internal knowledge is wasted upon their departure.
What are the Strategic Solutions?
Shifting to a Partnership and Development model. Even if the contract duration is limited, investing in the development of the expatriate teacher and integrating them into the institution’s vision yields a double return: potentially doubling their productivity during the contract period and attracting higher-caliber educational talent in the future, as this teacher often becomes a recruitment ambassador for the institution. A stable and professionally developed expatriate teacher is a strategic asset, not a temporary operational expense.
3. Protracted Procedures in Recruiting Skilled School Staff
Many educational institutions, especially non-governmental ones, face prolonged procedural complexities in recruiting skilled personnel and finalizing contracts for expatriate teachers. Additionally, the increasing costs of renewing residency permits for the teacher and their family can hinder their continuation of work or force them to leave their families outside the Kingdom for years, leading to decreased productivity and engagement within the institution.
What are the Strategic Solutions?
Establish specialized units within educational institutions to manage expatriate affairs and transition to a single-window electronic system in partnership with government entities. Also, adopt long-term contracts with automatic renewal and streamline procedures through strategic partnerships with reliable recruitment offices.
4. Bridging the Gap: Expatriate Teachers and Cultural Values in Saudi Arabia
This cultural gap extends beyond mere language differences. Expatriate teachers may face a completely different system of expectations from parents, an educational environment characterized by religious and social specificity, and a curriculum that blends international standards with national requirements. Many also arrive in the Kingdom without a local support network, fostering feelings of isolation, especially outside official working hours.
Furthermore, a key cause of this cultural gap is institutions focusing solely on a teacher’s academic qualifications during candidate selection, while ignoring the context of their experience and training. An urgent requirement when hiring skilled personnel for the Kingdom’s education sector is for the teachers to have experience in a similar educational environment—whether in terms of rapid growth, intensive use of educational technologies, or teaching in Arab, Islamic, or Gulf educational settings. It can take months or years for a teacher to adapt within Saudi institutions simply due to stark contextual differences, in addition to the cultural gap.
What are the Strategic Solutions?
Implement an intensive cultural qualification program before and after the arrival of school staff, including practical Arabic language learning and understanding the local value system in the Kingdom. Additionally, involve parents and the community in the integration process where possible, and assign cultural mentors from Saudi families to enhance social and professional integration.
5. Shortage of Qualified Teachers at the Required Level in the Education Sector
This challenge is not limited to a shortage of numbers but revolves around a skills gap between the general academic qualifications of applicants and the advanced professional and pedagogical level required by modern educational projects, especially in STEM fields, English-language teaching, special education, and digital transformation.
What are the Strategic Solutions?
Engage in a serious and professional partnership with workforce solutions specialists, such as the Saudi Manpower Solutions Company (SMASCO), to recruit skilled, professional, and international personnel for the education sector. This saves the time, effort, and costs required, avoids re-recruitment procedures, and leverages their large database of school staff ready to work or seeking opportunities.
In Conclusion: We Must Shift from a Culture of Recruitment to a Culture of Human Investment in the Education Sector
Leading educational institutions in Saudi Arabia today no longer compete only to attract the best talent but to build an environment that retains and develops them. A comprehensive retention program is not an additional cost but a strategic investment in sustained educational quality, an attractive institutional reputation, and stability that positively reflects on students and parents.
At SMASCO, we believe that an educational institution’s success is measured not by the number of personnel it attracts but by the number who choose to stay and grow with it. This shift from the cycle of recruitment and turnover to a cycle of growth and stability is what distinguishes educational institutions that keep the future of education in the Kingdom at the forefront of their vision, effectively contributing to achieving the ambitions of Vision 2030 in the education sector.