Journal of Educational Sciences > Volume 26, No. 1, 2014

Abstract Barriers for Intermediate School Female Teachers' Creativity in their Instructional Performance in Saudi Arabia / Rashid Husain Alabdulkareem, Aishah Faize Alshehri

The research aims to uncover the administrative, curricular, and environmental obstacles that prevent the creativity of an intermediate schoolteacher in teaching, from the point of view of teachers and supervisors. To achieve this objective, a questionnaire was distributed to (482) female teachers and supervisors in Abha district. Results showed that according to teachers, the most frequent obstacles were (1) classroom environment, (2) curriculum, (3) administrative, (4) teacher- related obstacles. According to supervisors, the obstacles were (1) classroom environment, (2) teacher- related, (3) curriculum, (4) administrative obstacles. The most important teacher-related barrier, according to teachers and supervisors, was the high workload of teachers. From the point of view of teachers, the most important administrative barrier was lack of incentives for creative teacher, while, from the point of view of supervisors, it was lack of teachers' time. The most important obstacle related to curriculum, from the point of view of teachers was the amount of content, while it was according to supervisors, only including subject matter experts in curriculum building. According to teachers and supervisors the most important classroom obstacle is lack of modern teaching aids.
Keywords: Teaching, classroom environment, curriculum, administrative regulations