PurposeKnowing the students' readiness for the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is essential to producing competent, knowledgeable and skilled graduates who can contribute to the skilled workforce in the country. This will assist the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to ensure that their graduates own skill sets needed to work in the 4IR era. However, studies on students' readiness and preparedness for the 4IR in developing countries such as the Sultanate of Oman are still lacking. Therefore, this study investigates students' readiness level and preparedness for the 4IR. The findings of this study will benefit the HEIs policymakers, administration, faculties, departments, industries and society at large since they will be informed of the student's readiness and preparedness toward industry 4.0.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted the measures from the same context as previous studies in this study. The questionnaire was divided into three sections; the first part described the purpose and introduction of the search with the surety to keep the data confidential. The second part consisted of demographical information like gender, education. The last parts consisted of four subsections, question items in these parts are based on the related previous study. Characteristics consisted of 14 items, knowledge consisted of 18 items related to 4IR technologies, Organizational Dimension comprised of four items related to academic programs, curriculum and training. Preparedness contained two items. The participants have rated all the items in 5-Likert scale.FindingsResults from structural equation modeling showed that students' characteristics, knowledge of 4IR technologies and organizational dimensions significantly impact their preparedness for the 4IR. The study also found that organizational dimensions have the highest impact on students' preparedness. Furthermore, the organizational dimension significantly influences students' knowledge of 4IR technology. Moreover, students' characteristics related to 4IR are significantly affected by their knowledge of 4IR technology and organizational dimension. The findings suggest that HEIs are responsible for increasing the adoption of 4IR, and therefore organizational dimensions such as the academic programs, training, technological infrastructure and others are all critical for preparing students for a better future and should be given a priority.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has used academic programs and training to measure the organizational dimension. However, other important factors should be considered, such as technological infrastructure and leadership and governance of HEIs. Second, the current research depends on quantitative data, so future research should implement a mixed methodology (questionnaires, depth interviews, document analysis and focus group) to understand the factors affecting students' readiness for 4IR clearly. Finally, although the 4IR has numerous benefits, it also has challenges in its implementation, so future studies should focus on challenges encountered by different stakeholders in implementing 4IR-related technologies.Practical implicationsThe curriculum must include mandatory courses related to IT infrastructure design, user experience programming, electronic measurement and control principles, and programming for data science. HEIs should also foster interdisciplinary knowledge by integrating IT, Engineering, Business and Sciences. Furthermore, the HEIs should develop their infrastructure to have smart campuses, labs, classrooms and libraries to make HEIs a space where knowledge can be generated and innovative solutions can be proposed. This entails HEIs offering necessary hardware, software and technical support because if the HEIs improve their technological resources, students will be capable of using 4IR-related technologies effectively.Originality/valueThe advancement of technology has resulted in the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, cloud computing, data science, virtual reality and 3D printing. It is essential to investigate students' readiness for 4IR. However, there is no study as per researchers' knowledge talked about students readiness in HEIs in the Arab world. This study could be a basis for more research on students' perception of the 4IR covering students from various backgrounds and levels.
Professional development is seen as a fundamental aspect in teachers" careers if they want to "remain up to date in their knowledge of the curriculum, wise in their selection and use of a repertoire of pedagogical skills, committed and enthusiastic about their work and the students they teach, self-confident, and clear about their purposes" (Day, 2001, p. 1). It has been emphasised worldwide that, without reflection, the achievement of professional development is unlikely to happen. This is because reflection allows teachers to constantly question their assumptions and beliefs, analyse their practice and look for alternatives that lead to better practice (Burton, 2009; Richards, 2004; Artzt, 2002; Margolis, 2002). However, reflection that leads to professional development remains rare within a teaching career (Farr, 2010) and as a term it continues to be debated in the field of education. It has received significant critiques (
Based on critical theory, the aim of this study is to introduce critical pedagogy (CP) to English language teachers in four higher education institutions in Oman via an action research methodology. Eventually, the ultimate purpose of this study is to create a change by raising teachers' awareness of CP.Although CP cannot be reduced to a monolithic body of discourse, through a review of literature, unified principles have been put forward by various critical educators that shape this study: (1) the political nature of education, (2) the nature of knowledge, (3) education for empowerment, (4) education for transformation, (5) integrating the world into the classroom, and (6) the meaning of 'critical' within CP framework. The interventions of this study are an article which is sent to teachers and a workshop on CP which is conducted for 160 English language teachers in the four colleges. The study implements semistructured interviews with 15 teachers to elicit how teachers define CP and what are their attitudes towards it. The findings reveal that teachers define CP in different ways and they have various attitudes towards applying CP, ranging from caution to full support. Some teachers resist some of CP's premises while others are inbetween. These findings are discussed in light of the existing literature and the Omani context. Implications for teachers, teacher education programmes and policy makers are drawn based on the study's findings.
Critical Pedagogy (CP) has been proposed as an alternative pedagogy capable of meeting the complex demands of teaching English within a particular sociopolitical context. Despite the fact that CP has been present in education since the 1960s, much of the research on CP has been conducted recently in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) contexts. There is a growing but as yet small amount of research that addresses the usage of CP in TESOL contexts, to which this study hopes to make a useful contribution. Therefore, this study investigates the extent to which TESOL teachers from four higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman are aware of CP. In order to achieve this, a questionnaire is administered to 178 English Language Teachers. The main findings reveal a widespread lack of awareness of the concept of CP among TESOL teachers. Nonetheless, minorities of teachers are aware of CP and implement it in a limited fashion in their classes. On the other hand, there are teachers who, whilst being aware of CP, do not implement it. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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