Female Emirati Teachers’ Perceptions of Post- graduate Degree Attainment in the UAE

While the Emirati government continues to make great strides in encouraging female Emirati citizens to become public school teachers and educational leaders, the change process has been slow. According to the most recent data, there is a severe shortage of female Emirati postgraduates, especially in the education field, limiting qualified female Emirati leadership. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government calls for more female leaders in all fields, including education. Despite the UAE’s attempts to encourage women to obtain a secular graduate-level education and become educational leaders, the response has been minimal. Lack of female educational leadership both inside and outside of school walls may cause more stress on the country’s education system because students may not receive adequate knowledge regarding Emirati culture and values in school. Participants felt that foreign teachers and educational leaders are unable to model or provide sufficient cultural awareness education to the students. This qualitative study was comprised of interviews with 13 female Emirati teachers who desire to obtain a postgraduate degree in education but have yet to complete the task. The study examined the female Emirati teachers’ perceptions of the factors that inhibit them fromobtaining a postgraduate degree in education in Abu Dhabi. The findings show that understandings of culture and religious obligations play a major role in the Emirati women’s decision to go to graduate school and ultimately become leaders in the country. This finding is of major importance to Emirati social and education policy contexts for continued encouragement of Emirati women to get postgraduate degrees and become leaders in the UAE. صخلملا ،ت وب تادئاقو ةيموك ا سراد ا تا عم نحبصي نأ ع تايتارام ا تانطاو ا عيجشت لا ة بك تاوطخ ذا ا ةيتارام ا ةموك ا لصاوت يب ، لعتلا لا ً اصوصخ تايتارام ا تا ر ا ددع بك صقن كانه نأ ةيئاصح ا ت ايبلا ثدحأ شت ثيح .ةئيطب لا يغتلا ةيل نإف . لعتلا كلذ ا ت ا ا عي ةيئاسنلا تادايقلا ةد زل تارام ا ود ةموكح وعدت كلذلو .لا ا اذه هؤ ا تايتارام ا تادئاقلا دوجو نم دّ لا رم ا اذ تايتارام ا ةباجتسا نأ إ ،ايلعلا تاساردلا ىوتس لصي اع لعت ع لوص ا ع ءاسنلا عيجشت ودلا ت وا نم رلا عو اوقلتي نأ نك ةبلطلا ن ، ودلا يلعتلا ماظنلا ع طغضلا دي ةسرد ا جراخ وأ لخاد ءاوس ةيئاسنلا ةيوب لا تادايقلا صقنلا نإ . يئض نأ ع رداق غ يوب لا ةداقلاو بناج ا سرد ا نأ ةساردلا هذه نوكراش ا رعش دقو .ةسرد ا ةيتارام ا قلاو ةفاقثلا لوح ةيف لا ةفرع ا ةجرد ع لوص ا َ غر ةيتارامإ ة عم ١٣ عم ت باقم ةيعونلا ةساردلا هذه تنمضت دقو . شب ةبلطلل ةيفاقث ةيعوت اومدقي وأ اقث جذو اونوكي ع لوص ا نم ن ن لا لماوعلل تايتارام ا تا ع ا تاروصت ةساردلا تث و .ن ا ح ةمه ا هذه نل ي ن كل لعتلا ايلعلا تاساردلا ةي إ باهذل ةيتارام ا ةأر ا رارق ً ايسيئر ً ارود بعلي ةينيدلا تابجاولاو ةفاقثلا م نأ اتنلا رهظتو . ظوبأ ةرامإ ةيب لا ايلعلا تاساردلا ةجرد ةيع جا تاسايس ها عفدت ثيح ً ادج ةم ةجيتنلا هذه تعتو . ودلا تادئاق نحبصي نأ نم فاط ا ةيا ءاسنلا نك لا ايلعلا تاساردلا .ةدحت ا ةيب رعلا تارام ا ود ةيدايق بصانم نأوبتي نأ م ت ايلع تادا ع ن وصح ح نهميلعت صاوم ع تايتارام ا ءاسنلا عيجشتل فد ةيميلعتو How to cite this article: Yahya, K. (2022). Female Emirati teachers’ perceptions of postgraduate degree attainment in the UAE. Gulf Education and Social Policy Review, 2(2), 144–170. https://doi.org/10.18502/gespr.v2i1.10046 Page 144 Corresponding Author: Khabirah Yahya; email: khabirah.yahya.wilson@gmail.com Submitted: November 6, 2020 Accepted: August 17, 2021 Published: January 31, 2022 Production and Hosting by


Introduction
The impact of culture and religion on the perceptions of female Emirati teachers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in regard to pursuing graduate education and working as educational leaders is a key topic that needs attention. Education in the UAE has been a priority since the country was founded in 1971. One of the educational priorities addressed the need for female Emiratis to attend secular schools and obtain

Promoting educational attainment
To ensure that the Emiratis can develop human capital and face the challenges associated with increased global competition, the UAE government has launched several educational reforms to increase literacy. Programs take on challenges including opening 21st-century grade schools and universities, hiring trained education leaders to create and guide quality educational initiatives, and setting up numerous opportunities for Emiratis to become teachers and educational leaders. These reforms were geared toward ensuring that Emiratis were encouraged to become educated and pursue work positions in the country, including teaching and leading in the education field as a profession (United Arab Emirates Government, 2020c).
The educational reforms are associated with the use of incentive structures and other financial and non-financial benefits such as collaborating with universities to provide support programs, creating accelerated teacher preparatory programs, and offering high stipends while students were in preparatory programs to promote Emiratization.
Emiratization is a UAE government initiation to encourage and increase the number of Emirati nationals in public and private UAE workforces. The government created partnerships between various universities and the Ministry of Education (MOE) that provided teacher preparatory programs and courses for students majoring in education Gulf Education and Social Policy Review Khabirah Yahya to prepare to teach in the public schools immediately after graduation (Ahmed, 2012; Morley & Walsh, 1996).
A measure that the UAE government took to encourage Emirati teachers and future education leaders was creating the Edaad program, which means preparation or training in Arabic (Abu Dubai Education Council [ADEC], 2015). The four-month intensive Edaad program encourages Emiratis holding bachelor's degrees to become teachers in Abu Dhabi public schools (ADEC, 2015). This training consisted of six weeks of theoretical learning, five weeks of student teaching inside the classroom, and five weeks of skill improvement based on the students' teaching needs that their mentor identified during the student teaching period. ADEC's rationale for putting these programs in place was to increase Emirati teachers' number in the Abu Dhabi public schools to 50% by 2018. ADEC (2016) estimated that they would meet that goal by the end of 2017 which they were able to achieve.

Conceptual framework
The most applicable theory to this research is cultural identity theory and its relationship to adult development. According to Vygotsky (1978), human development occurs through cultural activity starting from birth and is sculpted by values and attitudes depicted at home and in the community. Cultural identity and human development continuously interact to develop the human being (Clark & Caffarella, 2011). Culture defines people's identity and is responsible for how they see themselves and their identity group. Cultural identity consists of the values, beliefs, thinking patterns, and behavior learned and shared by a group of people. These characteristics become part of the group's identity (Urrieta & Noblit, 2018). These concepts apply to the teachers who participated in this study as well. Their perspectives and beliefs are clearly representative of their cultural beliefs.

Educational status of Emiratis
In order to understand the educational perspectives of Emirati women, one should be aware of the educational status of Emiratis, because it may be a contributing factor toward Emiratis obtaining a postgraduate degree and/or having the intention to become schoolteachers in their professional life. By 2013, students who attended There is an even greater gap when comparing the students who majored in education and those who majored in other subjects (Mansour & Al-Shamrani, 2015).

Obstacles Faced by Emirati Women
Although Tabari (2014) mentioned that teaching as determined by Islamic beliefs is a noble profession, its application and importance has been declining in recent decades, especially in the Gulf nations. Gulf countries such as the UAE have been undergoing numerous transitions in recent years in regard to educational reforms. For example, ADEC started a major educational reform by implementing the New School Model, which created a newly customized UAE grade school curriculum using the 21 -century skills and techniques by integrating best practices from Finland and Western countries for English, math, and science (Tabari, 2014). Furthermore, the government became stricter on the work requirements of Emirati teachers such as requiring teacher certification and

Research questions
The following questions guided the study.
(1) What were female Emirati teachers' perceptions of their personal and academic experiences as undergraduate students and teaching professionals?
(2) What were female Emirati teachers' perceptions regarding the impact, if any, of religion and culture on attitudes toward women with postgraduate education and leadership roles?
(3) What were female Emirati teachers' perceptions of increasing female Emirati teachers with postgraduate degrees in education?

Study sample
This study was conducted in the Abu Dhabi public schools located in the main city of Al Ain, an urban area. The research method used to obtain the data was semistructured interviewing. First, a qualifying questionnaire asked potential participants various questions concerning nationality, age, grade school location, highest education level obtained, graduation date, profession, number of years teaching, religion, and goals for completing a postgraduate degree. This qualifying questionnaire was sent to five female middle and high schools in which a total of 124 female Emirati teachers worked. However, only 60 teachers completed the qualifying questionnaire. Of those 60, only 30 teachers were eligible for the study and, of those, 13 agreed to participate in an interview.
Participants were considered eligible if they expressed a desire to obtain a postgraduate degree in education but had not completed that goal and were 45 years of age or younger to rule out the teachers who were getting ready to retire from their profession, as the retirement age in the UAE is 49 years old (United Arab Emirates Government, 2020b). Additionally, the respondents were deemed eligible if they had grown up in the UAE, attending grade school in the country, and also graduated from universities in the UAE, allowing the research to focus on teachers who grew up strictly in Emirati culture. The purpose of this recruitment criteria was to ensure that the teacher grew up in a strictly Emirati culture to help increase the research's validity and trustworthiness by removing potential external variables including the effects of different cultures and Gulf Education and Social Policy Review Khabirah Yahya religions; this was also done to ensure only female teachers were recruited (Sargeant, 2012

Data collection
Data were obtained through the interview process which was conducted in English because all of the interviewees were not only proficient in English but also taught English, math, or science in English. Therefore, understanding the basic interview questions in English was not an issue. All interviews were conducted in the teacher's private classroom of their Abu Dhabi school. Interviews were conducted at the end of the teacher's workday after the students went home for the day. The first two interview questions sought to understand what occurred when the participant went through her undergraduate degree to understand her educational history. The participant was asked to elaborate on the key factors that allowed her to succeed in her undergraduate degree, the religious and cultural barriers that she had to overcome (if any) to obtain the undergraduate degree, and how she overcame those barriers. The next set of questions asked the teacher about her current situation in terms of education, employment, and family status to understand what she was doing and if that influenced why she could not obtain her postgraduate education. The interview questions asked the teacher to explain her feelings and experiences toward teaching in public schools in the UAE and elaborate on the challenges that prevented her from obtaining a postgraduate degree in education. The final set of interview questions asked the teacher to explain her ideas about how her culture and religion played a role in obtaining a postgraduate degree regarding support or lack of support.
According to the Pew Research Center (2016), religious and cultural influences affect educational attainment. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to investigate the teachers' perceptions of the impact of culture and religion in achieving their goals. The seventh and last interview question asked the teacher to share her thoughts on possible ways that teachers, administrators, and the government can help teachers like her to obtain postgraduate degrees in education

Results
As I analyzed each response data, I identified the repeated concepts that were pertinent to the research purpose. The frequency of the concepts indicated that a pattern or theme existed. Manual categorization of the raw data using the inductive coding approach Gulf Education and Social Policy Review Khabirah Yahya identified repeated themes. Once the data were organized and coded, I interpreted them and created theories and models that included a report of the findings. The research employed the hermeneutic or interpretive approach, which focuses on how the respondent makes sense of the research phenomenon concerning the study's context to analyze the data (Chan et al., 2013). Analysis was based on the correct interpretation of the respondents' perspectives by validating the results to enhance the study's trustworthiness. Results were validated by returning to each of the respondents after the interview and confirming that the results and data aligned with the respondents' experiences and thoughts through the member checking process (Creswell & Miller, 2000). In turn, the study's trustworthiness was increased through these steps (Chan et al., 2013).
The semi-structured interviews produced four significant themes that aided in better understanding how female Emirati teachers perceive obtaining postgraduate degrees.
The experiences of the study participants are represented in the following themes and sub-themes. Theme one describes the participants' experiences that contributed to their success as an undergraduate. Theme two represents the participants' perceptions of being a teaching professional in public schools. Theme three focuses on the impact of religion and culture on women's postgraduate education attitudes. Lastly, theme four explains the participants' perceptions regarding postgraduate degrees.
Female Emirati teachers believe that there are four essential factors in completing their undergraduate degrees: support; independence; determination; and belief in Allah.
This theme assesses the participants' experiences while they were working on their bachelor's degrees. The sub-themes that were developed were based on support and credit to those who have contributed to their educational success. The participants did not mention the instruction's quality, the challenges of the academic tasks, or other similar academic topics.

Female Emirati teachers believe that family support is necessary for females obtaining an undergraduate degree
Of the 13 participants, 12 women reported that family support, primarily from their parents, was the primary reason for obtaining an undergraduate degree. Additionally, 12 participants reported that their parents felt that education was necessary, which is why they encouraged their children to obtain a college degree. Two participants also gave credit to their husbands for being an indispensable source of support for them.

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Figure 1
Themes and sub-themes • Belief that family support is necessary for females to obtain an undergraduate degree • Belief that their daughters will be prepared to support themselves, if necessary, by getting an undergraduate degree • Gave themselves and others credit for being able to complete their degrees Moreover, 12 participants reported that their parents felt that education was necessary, which is why they encouraged their children to obtain a college degree.
Female Emirati teachers believe that their daughters will be prepared to support themselves, if necessary, by getting an undergraduate degree Participants explained that families believe that education is a way for upward social and economic mobility.
These data showed that parents had a practical rationale for supporting their daughters throughout their time in college. This study showed that 92% of the participants mentioned that parents saw the benefit in supporting their undergraduate educational journey.

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Female Emirati teachers gave themselves and others credit for being able to complete their degree
Four participants gave themselves credit for their accomplishments. They recognized that they could only complete their college education by their effort and willingness to study hard despite any personal challenges that they experienced. Two participants also gave credit to their husbands. Both were not married when they first began their college experience but they experienced a conflict between home responsibilities and wanting to finish college once married. One participant had a child in addition to getting married and she almost quit her undergraduate college. However, both of their husbands encouraged them to continue school, study hard, and get their degrees. Even with their spouse's support and encouragement to continue with school, the women discussed their desire and goal to earn their degree as a significant reason for their success.
All 13 participants gave Allah credit for their success and were thankful that they could pray and ask Allah for help and strength to get through their college experiences and challenges. This thankfulness helped them to stay focused on completing their studies. They felt Allah allowed them to succeed in their education since education is an essential component of Islam; this was also true regarding praying about their work and balancing their family and work.
Female Emiratis' perceptions of the teaching profession is the theme developed from the second research question focusing on the impact of religion and culture on the participants' decision to be teachers. It was clear that the women felt that teaching was a good profession and that Islam and Emirati culture supported women.
It was also evident that teachers were frustrated with the continual change occurring in Emirati schools over a short time such as the increased amount of testing and other record-keeping documents required by each student's teachers. However, teachers also recognized that changes were needed because students needed to increase their academic achievement, especially in English language learning.

Female Emirati teachers feel comfort in the teaching profession
One apparent theme is that teaching is comfortable for the participants. During the interviews, nine women expressed the importance of being comfortable in their current work situation because of males' absence. In schools, there is usually an all-female group of teachers. Therefore, there is little concern about having to work with nonfamilial men.

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Female Emirati teachers reported feeling the need to be role models for students
A second sub-theme showed that the participants want to help students by giving them knowledge and acting as role models. All of the participants stated that they have a religious duty to teach and be a role model for students so that new generations will know about the Emirati way of life. Two participants explained that they enjoy teaching because it allows them to be role models as they have completed their studies to the point where they can contribute to society. Additionally, they believe that they can encourage other females to finish school and have a career.

Female Emirati teachers reported feeling frustrated by the many school reform changes
Only one participant expressed being proud to be a teacher. While this same participant also expressed frustration over the rule changes made from the department of education's administrative offices and the amount of paperwork, she had to complete every week, she was still proud to be a teacher. Another teacher also had positive thoughts about teaching, despite expressing frustrations about the job. The presence and continual changing of rules was a concern for 100% of the participants. Another

Female Emirati teachers reported that teaching was critical because it is important in the Islamic religion
Besides being happy or unhappy with their teaching jobs, all participants reported that the Islamic religion holds teaching and learning in high regard. One participant mentioned that she used the Islamic religion to gain support from her husband and family to accept her as a career woman. Her family and husband were not overly Gulf Education and Social Policy Review Khabirah Yahya supportive of her working as a teacher but since Islam valued and encouraged teaching, she demonstrated that she was following what the religion said; therefore, she gained more support from her family.
The third theme was how religion and culture influences attitudes toward women pursuing postgraduate education and leadership roles.

Female Emirati teachers reported feeling uncomfortable in the mixedgender college setting
In terms of studying in the company of male classmates, participants used words such as "uncomfortable," "not wanting to be there," "shy," and "new." One participant discussed that the instructor understood that having a male teacher was a new experience for women. He made the woman feel comfortable in the classroom by avoiding unnecessary eye contact and keeping a comfortable distance from her so she could feel comfortable sharing her thoughts and ideas. However, this participant was not looking forward to this experience again.

Participants reported feeling that their primary duty is caring for their families and homes
All of the participants expressed concern that their culture believes that women have the primary duty of taking care of the children and household. One participant mentioned that her aunts and uncles thought that at 21 years old, getting married should be her priority. However, this same participant's parents supported her and gave the rationale that if something happened to her husband in the future, she would be able to take care of herself and her children.

Female Emirati teachers reported that Emirati students need Emirati teachers to teach proper Emirati culture
A participant expressed a different rationale for teaching. She mentioned that there are currently too many foreigners teaching the UAE's children and that UAE students needed native teachers. A participant also mentioned that women, not men, went into teaching because men had the responsibility of supporting the family and teaching does not pay enough money to do that. However, it was also mentioned that the Emirati government was encouraging more men to be teachers to model and teach young Emirati males cultural and academic knowledge.
When answering the interview questions, all participants mentioned their culture regarding women taking responsibility for the children and household, including teaching and passing on the culture. Additionally, they talked about the importance of the separation of men and women and agreed that both their families and the government supported the idea that teaching was culturally acceptable and comfortable for women; it was primarily a woman's career. This was the primary perspective of the participants in this study and demonstrated their strong religious and cultural connection.
These comments demonstrate a disconnect between the changes that the government is making and the culture. Not one participant mentioned any of the changes that the government has implemented. However, 100% of the women referred to their responsibility of taking care of their house, children, and husband. They did not discuss taking a leadership role and creating a more stable curriculum and student-centered educational system. The participants were accepting of what the government and the educational system provided for them.

Discussion
This study contributed to the concepts found in the cultural identity theory literature, which stated that cultural identity shapes a person's behavior and psychological wellbeing (Stryker, 2008). In this study, the teachers' cultural identity and beliefs were a major factor in their decision to become a teacher and in their decision to postpone their graduate education. The data in this study found that culture, including aspects of religious beliefs, was directly responsible for female teachers not pursuing a postgraduate degree. Emirati women's cultural identity in the study was such that they have the same priorities and beliefs that both steered them into teaching and kept them from obtaining an advanced degree.
Women's experiences are essential in the educational sector of the UAE because 89% of college undergraduates are women (Pennington, 2017). As of 2017, 63% of undergraduate students were women at technological colleges where men were once the majority (Pennington, 2017). Having many women as classmates helped reduce negative experiences, such as being around non-related men while obtaining an undergraduate degree. They did not have to concern themselves much with male students, only male teachers as expressed in the participants' responses. These experiences were crucial to know and understand because they may have helped understand why many female Emirati women did not obtain postgraduate degrees (United Arab According to the Khaleej Times (2017), the Abu Dhabi government built new schools and made many changes to improve student and teacher learning and comfort levels.
Additionally, Pennington (2015) noted that the Abu Dhabi government had initiated several incentives to attract and keep Emirati teachers, including free college tuition.
While physical comfort is important, they also expressed their need to feel comfortable in other aspects, such as culturally and religiously. Female Emirati teachers who felt comfort in the teaching profession owed it to the low likelihood of encountering male coworkers; this is a concern for the teachers because they prefer not to interact with men who are not related to them. According to Abdul-Wahid (2015), Islam and the Emirati culture discourage and limit interactions between non-related men and women as much as possible to avoid and reduce inappropriate attraction and relationships outside of marriage. The teachers view cultural separation, such as separate rooms or lines for women and men, to minimize indecent behaviors between unmarried men and women, not to discriminate, which has a negative connotation.
Women are significantly valued in UAE society that in many ways encourages gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at all levels (United Arab Emirates Government, 2020a). In addition to feeling comfortable working in schools, female Emirati teachers reported feeling the need to be role models for their students and to show them that having a career is achievable for them. Therefore, they work in the schools where there is a high percentage of female youth. The UAE government agrees with this perception because they are trying to encourage women to be more active in society and be role models through several UAE initiatives that promote and encourage both youth and adult female leadership in the UAE.  (Nazzal, 2012); this is another example of how the government is a significant part of Emirati culture. However, the Emirati government has been making significant changes to laws in the UAE and encouraging more women to expand their outlook and perspectives to take on more leadership and public roles such as working as pilots and entering the police force.
However, the culture is slow in adapting to those changes (Gargani et al., 2012).
In April 2018, the Cabinet passed a law requiring equal pay for equal work for men and women (Duncan, 2018). Before that, the government created The Gender Bal-

Conclusion
This study's results revealed that while Emirati women were eager to earn their undergraduate teaching degrees and had family support to do so, they were not convinced that they should forego their traditional roles as mothers and wives to obtain that degree.
Firm convictions exist that maternal roles take priority over the role of a postgraduate student. They had many reasons for obtaining their first degree, such as family support.
It was culturally acceptable to be a teacher. They wanted to be a role model and their religion supported it. These same reasons did not contribute as actively to the teachers' decision to acquire a postgraduate degree. Although Emirati law supports female leaders and teachers within the UAE, the female teachers' mindset still supports traditional gender roles. Although women in the country are present in nontraditional roles such as government, science, technology, and medicine, they remain a visible minority.
Although frustrated with the UAE educational system's changing expectations in some respects, the study participants did not display general or overall negativity toward the system or the culture. These actions are not only in agreement with their cultural and religious belief system that encourages women to be content with their decree, but it also shows their loyalty to the ways of their culture. Although they wanted to obtain their postgraduate degree, they were also satisfied with their undergraduate degree, with only a small percentage stating that maybe after their children grow up, they would go back for another degree. Reasons for not going back to school for graduate education such as their husbands not approving of them working toward an advanced degree were not stated. Their rationale was that they were expected to care for their families or that society would look poorly upon them were also not included.
The women were happy with their decision to teach and not pursue another degree but rather focus on the family as that is what they have seen their grandmothers, mothers, aunts, and sisters do all their lives. This dedication to the family could explain

Funding Information
No funding source was involved at any stage during this research.