The purpose of this thesis is to understand the experiences and meanings of tourism employment for Muslim women in the Middle East, including the positive and negative aspects of this form of employment. The study was conducted in Oman, which was the research site and cultural setting for this study. The theoretical paradigm that guided this study was social constructionism. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was also used for this study in order to interpret and analyze the collected data into themes. A combination of convenience sampling and snowball technique was used to recruit participants for the interviews, resulting in a total of 9 interviews being conducted with local Muslim women working in the Oman tourism industry. The data were collected through open-ended interviews conducted face to face, using a semi structured interview format. The analysis process led to the development of seven themes. The seven main themes related to finding work in the tourism field, facing negative attitudes, challenges of tourism work, dealing with negative attitudes and challenges, the importance of tourism work in women lives, an expanded vision of tourism work, and implications for social change. The study revealed that the idea of women’s tourism work as exploitation is complex and multi-layered in Oman. Although there were some indicators of exploitation for the Omani tourism workers in this study, this form of work was also shown to be a source of benefits and form of empowerment for women. Further, the study revealed that tourism employment could also be seen as a site for women’s resistance, particularly for Muslim women seeking to change attitudes towards women, and to create a new society.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the experiences and meanings of tourism employment for Muslim women in the Middle East, including the positive and negative aspects of this form of employment. The study was conducted in Oman, which was the research site and cultural setting for this study. The theoretical paradigm that guided this study was social constructionism. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was also used for this study in order to interpret and analyze the collected data into themes. A combination of convenience sampling and snowball technique was used to recruit participants for the interviews, resulting in a total of 9 interviews being conducted with local Muslim women working in the Oman tourism industry. The data were collected through open-ended interviews conducted face to face, using a semi structured interview format. The analysis process led to the development of seven themes. The seven main themes related to finding work in the tourism field, facing negative attitudes, challenges of tourism work, dealing with negative attitudes and challenges, the importance of tourism work in women lives, an expanded vision of tourism work, and implications for social change. The study revealed that the idea of women’s tourism work as exploitation is complex and multi-layered in Oman. Although there were some indicators of exploitation for the Omani tourism workers in this study, this form of work was also shown to be a source of benefits and form of empowerment for women. Further, the study revealed that tourism employment could also be seen as a site for women’s resistance, particularly for Muslim women seeking to change attitudes towards women, and to create a new society.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

The aim of this research is to investigate the implications of unfair dismissal within the boundaries of Omani labour law with particular relevance to the role of Shari’a. Shari’a itself does not provide a legal code, contract law, or a law of tort as yet but it does provide examples of applicable rules, supported with analogies, to deal with employment. The basic principles of forming a contract in Omani Commercial Law; English Law and Shari’a are similar; however, they differ in application. Likewise, the principles of the employment contract are similar with a few differences being seen in implementation; specifically with regards to unfair dismissal issues. This research used a qualitative approach that has enabled the generation and analysis of data from multiple sources including literature review, semi-structured interviews, court cases, Shari’a implied employment contract principles as found in the Qur’an, the Sunnah and relevant Islamic texts. The research shows that the main reasons for employee dismissal can be categorised into: poor performance, disobedience regarding the contractual rules and regulations, absenteeism, aggressive behaviour and an extreme critical attitude in the work-place. From the employee’s perspective, the main reasons for filing cases at Oman Courts were to seek justice, to obtain fair compensation or to highlight the moral values that form the Islamic code of practice. In contrast the employers considered seeking financial gain and revenge as the motivating factors for employees for filing court cases. There obviously is a mismatch to the reasons by each side and the key findings from this research suggest that there is a modest impact of the legal aspects of Shari’a on the Omani Law of Contract and the Employment Law though it is normally conceived by the public that Shari’a is the fundamental law that governs all aspects of muslim life. There needs to be an overwhelming expectation and requirement to develop procedures in the Omani Employment Law that expedite the process of dealing with dismissal cases and the propositions of establishing an arbitration committee may seem to be a way forward. In addition, the establishment of a Labour Court is paramount as at present the employment cases are heard in the Commercial Courts. This will align with the approach taken in the English system where the Employment Tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal oversee cases and minimize delays in achieving justice. There is also a strong argument that there needs to be a review of Article 40/35/2003 that deals with employer rights to dismiss the worker without prior notice in order to establish a solid foundation for justice in the Sultanate of Oman. Unfair dismissal is a phenomenon that impacts on the employee, the employer, the employee’s wider family network and society. This study provides an in-depth understanding and insight into these impacts and into the capacity of Shari’a impact to address modern employment issues in relation to the labour laws and secular laws being used in Oman today.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the academic achievement and the need for achievement and the need for affiliation for high school students of Oman. Further investigation was carried out if there was a significant difference in the needs for achievement and affiliation between high G.P.A. students and low G.P.A. students as well as between males and females. A self-rating form of 75 items derived from the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was used to measure the fifteen needs listed by Duncan Osborne (1963). However, the scores on ten items pertaining to need for achievement and need for affiliation were used in this study. Academic achievement was measured by the scores on school tests from the Interior Province of Oman. The results indicated no significant correlation between the academic achievement and the need for achievement and the need for affiliation. The results also showed no significant difference between high G.P.A. students and low G.P.A. students as well as between males and females on either the need for achievement or affiliation.

E-privacy concerns are among the online transactions risks that influence the use of e-services and e-government services. Whilst there have been studies that have analysed the impact of e-privacy on the willingness of people to utilize the Internet, especially in e-commerce, there has been limited research in relation to e-government services for a specific demographic group. This study has examined the impact of e-privacy risk concerns on the acceptance of e-government services in Oman using an integrated model. The model is based on Liu et al.‟s (2005) privacy-trust-behavioral intention model, the broader technology acceptance literature, and recent work on e-privacy awareness and protection. The research used both quantitative and qualitative approaches: data collection by questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews. The sampling frame for the study was civil services government employees in Oman. The model was tested using partial least squares and the results were compared to those obtained from the interview data. The study found that e-privacy awareness significantly impacts the level of e-privacy risk concerns. Social norms and perceived usefulness were found to play a significant role in influencing the intention to use e-government services. The study also found that e-privacy concerns and perceptions of the protection available against risks influence citizens‟ intentions to use e-government services via their influence on the perceived trustworthiness of these services. Thus trustworthiness is a factor that could be an obstacle to successful e-government services project implementation. Therefore the thesis recommends that governments pay greater attention to the role of e-privacy concerns and put in place security and e-privacy controls. Citizens should then be made aware of these in order to build the required level of trust and confidence in these services.

Lic.-avh. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

Habilitationsschrift--Fakultät für orientalische Sprachen und Altertumswissenschaften--Heidelberg--Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, 1995. / Résumé en anglais et en arabe. Bibliogr. vol. 1, p. 409-438. Index.

The purpose of this study was to examine social studies teachers' perceptions about social studies goals and content areas that should constitute the social studies curricula of grades five to 10 in Oman. This national study involved a population of 538 social studies teachers in basic education schools of the second cycle (grades five-10). Of 538 surveys, 407 surveys were completed and returned for a response rate of 76%. Cronbach's alpha values for each subscale ranged from .723 to .861. The resulting alpha value for the whole scale was .886, which indicates sufficient internal consistency reliability. Major findings indicated that social studies teachers supported all social studies goals suggested in this study. However, the degree of implementation of each goal was significantly lower than that of importance (p < .005). Overall, social studies teachers indicated more support for social studies goals of citizenship transmission, social science disciplines, and life adjustment than for social studies goals of reflective thinking, global education, and civic participation. The most important social studies content areas were perceived to be current events, core values of Oman society, geography, environmental education, history, family life education, and public issues. Geography and history, along with the perceived most important content areas, received the highest degree of implementation. The lowest-rated content areas in both importance and implementation were sociology, political science, psychology, and law-related education. The degree of implementation of each content area was significantly lower than that of importance (p < .003). Findings of the post hoc analyses revealed that there were statistically significant differences between male and female teachers in their perceptions about the importance and implementation of some goals and content areas, favoring female teachers. Among these content areas were environmental education, current events, public issues, geography, and history. Findings suggested that teacher gender influences curricular decisions about teaching some goals and content areas. Major barriers to teaching social studies were centered on the lack of participation of local community and students in determining social studies goals and content areas. Social studies teachers reported having little control over the curriculum they teach. It was concluded that social studies is not a high priority subject in basic education schools of the second cycle. Recommendations were made to improve the status of social studies in Oman.

L'objectif de notre thèse, est de réaliser un état des lieux des pratiques et des conditions d'enseignement pour cerner les effets de l'enseignement sur l'acquisition de la langue et d'évaluer l'efficacité du système des écoles maternelles à Oman. La première partie de thèse a pour but de présenter une réflexion théorique concernant l'enseignement dans les écoles maternelles dans le monde et en particulier au sultanat d'Oman. La seconde partie est empirique et comprend deux études : la première est une enquête qui fait une analyse générale du système éducatif des écoles maternelles omanaises, en utilisant des questionnaires à destination des enseignantes (n=429), inspecteurs(n=34) et personnel administratif (n=100) dans 100 écoles maternelles en 10 régions du pays , la deuxième se compose d'observations des pratiques d'enseignement du langage dans les écoles maternelles omanaises. Des grilles d'observation ont été réalisées pour analyser les activités d'enseignement du langage (n= 50 classes dans 50 écoles en 6 régions). Les élèves (n=475) ont été évalués en langage par des pré et post-tests. Les résultats de l'enquête montrent que l'école maternelle omanaise accueille les enfants scolarisés dès l'âge de 3 ans et présentent des caractéristiques de construction et d'aménagement ainsi que d'un ratio élève/enseignant plutôt satisfaisant mais des points négatifs sont à relever. Les maternelles sont privées et payantes, ce qui ne facilite pas l'accès à l'éducation. Au sein des écoles, les associations de parents sont soit inexistantes, soit inactives, en lien peut-être avec un niveau culturel et éducatif bas des parents malgré leur niveau socio-économique élevé. Par ailleurs, il ressort deux langues (arabe et anglais) sont enseignées, suivant un guide du ministère de l'éducation, mais il n'y a pas de programme commun à toutes les écoles maternelles. La plupart des enseignantes ont un faible niveau de diplôme et manquent de formation. La grille d'observation fait apparaître dix types d'activités qui sont définies du point de vue de leur contenu par rapport à l'apprentissage du langage. La pratique des activités de langage passe la plupart du temps par l'enseignement magistral et se déroule dans un mode collectif. En outre, selon les résultats de pré et post-test, la variation de score constatée entre le pré et le post-test est plus forte pour les compétences de compréhension du langage mais existent également pour les compétences de conscience phonologique et de compétences lecture-écriture. Dans l'analyse multiniveau, la relation n'est pas la même entre le pré et le post-test dans toutes les écoles. Le prétest explique assez peu les variations inter-individuelles comme les variations inter-classes et qu'il y des différences entre les écoles et aussi entre les élèves. On n'observe pas d'influence des variables "genre et durée de scolarisation" et "caractéristiques des enseignantes" (qualification et expérience). Par contre, il y a un effet "région". le facteur influence du type d'interaction enseignant –élève, le mode de gestion de la classe (TM, TCM) est plus forte que celle de la méthode utilisée (implicite, explicite et magistrale), elle-même plus forte que le mode de déroulement (individuel et collectif). Notons que dans la méthode et le mode de gestion de classe, les valeurs afférentes aux activités de code sont meilleures que celles afférentes à celle de sens ce qui signifie que la méthode code est plus efficace que la méthode sens. Les variables qui sont ressorties comme efficaces pour l'apprentissage du langage : sens-implicite, code-TCM, sens-TCM et sens-collectif et le système préscolaire omanais gagnerait à leur prise en compte. En outre la formation continue récente a un effet significatif (l'efficacité des enseignantes est plus forte pour celles qui en ont bénéficié). / The objective of this thesis is to provide an inventory of practices and teaching conditions to identify the effects of education on language acquisition and to evaluate the effectiveness of the Omani system for kindergartners. the first part of the thesis presents a theoretical reflection on teaching in nursery schools in the world and particularly in Oman. The second part includes two empirical studies : the first is a survey made a general analysis of the education system for Omani kindergartens, using questionnaires to teachers (n = 429 ) , supervisors (n = 34) and administrative staff(n = 100 ) in 100 kindergartens in 10 regions of the country; the second consists of observations of language teaching practices in Omani kindergartens. Observation grids were carried out to analyze the language-teaching activities (n = 50 classes in 50 schools in 6 regions). Students (n = 475 ) were evaluated in language by pre-and post - tests. The results show that the Omani preschool welcomes 3 years old children have features construction and development as well as a pupil / teacher ratio rather good but negative points are noteworthy. Kindergartens are private and charges, do not facilitate access to education. In schools , parent associations are either absent or inactive , linked perhaps with a low cultural and educational level of parents, despite their high socio -economic level. Moreover, two languages (Arabic and English) are teached, following a guide from the Ministry of Education, but there is no common program to all kindergarten schools. Most teachers have a low degree and lack of training. The results of the observation grid highlight ten types of activities that are defined from the point of view of their content in relation to language learning. The practice of language activities spends most of the time by lecturing and takes place in a collective fashion contrary. In addition, the results to pre-and post- test, show firstly the scores change more strongly in LAC (language comprehension skills) but also existing in LAS (phonological awareness skills) and LALE (reading-writing Skills) between the pre-and post –test. In the multilevel analysis, the relationship is not the same between the pre and post- test in all schools. Pretest explains very little of both inter-individual variations that variations between classes and there are many differences between schools and between students. It appears that there is no influence of the variables "gender and years of schooling" and "characteristics of teachers" (qualification and experience). As against, there is a «region " effect. It also appears that the influence of management type mode of conduct (TM, TCM) is stronger than the method (implicit, explicit and masterful), which is stronger than the manner of conduct (individual and collective). Note that in the method and mode of conduct, values relating to the activities of code are better than those relating to the meaning. Variables that have emerged as effective in language learning are implicit sense, code -TCM, TCM sense and collective sense and Omani preschool system would benefit from their inclusion. In addition the recent training has a significant effect (efficacy teachers is higher for those who have benefited).