Leadership and Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Leadership and Strategic Management - Essay Example Organized management and actions have existed for centauries. Management has undergone, in the past several years more so in the last centaury, methodical investigation, acceptance as a formal discipline of study and attained a common body of knowledge (Robbins & Coulter, 2005). Among the early contributors to contemporary management practices are Henry Fayol and Max Weber who are credited for developing general administrative theories. Their works centered on managers’ roles and what comprised good management practice (Robbins & Coulter, 2005). Current concepts about a managers’ role have evolved from Henry Fayol’s fourteen principals of management. Max Weber’s bureaucracy model was aimed at removing inefficiencies, patronage and ambiguity that characterized most businesses. Most components of his bureaucracy model are still inherent in big organizations to date. The universal point of ideas offered by Fayol, Weber and Taylor were majored on increased eff iciency. Thus the application of scientific management principles resulted in increased productivity of managers and the organizations as a whole (Jones & George, 2011). Leadership has been proven to have a direct cause and effect connection on organizations and their eventual success. Thus leaders have been tasked with shaping organizational strategies including its execution and efficiency (Northouse, 2007). Leaders therefore determine the culture, values, employee motivation and change tolerance within their institutions. With the on set of financial crisis, businesses have attracted keen analysis from shareholders and the general public. This has reinforced the concept of strategic management and a review of current leadership styles. Strategic management, popularized in the 1980s, is a term that covers business-wide strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation (Sadler, 2003). This usually is dependent on the leadership of an enterprise. The concept of strategic management has become important to the success or failure of enterprises, more so now that business environment require quick analysis, monitoring and precise interpretations of th eir surroundings. Though, it must be noted that not all enterprises that embrace this concept are safe from failures. One of the major reasons for failures in strategic management is poor direction from management and poor planning that strategic management is widely believed to have evolved from (Sadler, 2003). While implementing strategic management, leaders will usually be faced with the problem of change management. Change management is the planned approach to transitioning organizations from present state to a desired future state (Jones & George, 2011). Its aim is to help employees embrace and accept change in their present business environment. There are a number of beneficial reasons why an organization leadership will want to adopt change management. These include; increasing efficiency, increasing cohesiveness among employees so as to deliver objectives in a strong team, and also helps to gain a good understanding of what type of change is impending. This will usually help in smooth change transition more so touching on

Disaster recovery plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Disaster recovery plan - Essay Example I have a detention center that sits on 4.5 acres of area. It’s composed of approximately 196,000 sq. feet of space, comprised of laboratories, faculty offices, administrative offices, auditoriums, classrooms, gymnasium, cafeteria and housing. All of the buildings on campus are constructed with steel frames and supported by concrete spread footing as per the uniform building codes of the State of Virginia. All basement walls are reinforced concrete and are protected by waterproofing through out. To begin with a few observations are necessary. The construction in this space are all up to code and well-built. That sort of standardization makes coming up with a place much easier. Second, the size of the area is not especially large, but it bigger than an ordinary small business. That must be taken into account. The first step to take is a Risk Analysis. What kind of risks are these operations subject to? Can they be anticipated? How serious are they? Can their impact be minimized? Virginia is not known to suffer from a lot of earthquakes or natural disasters. The most likely disaster are fires and major storms. The more serious of these—a fire—can be effectively anticipated by a serious sprinkler system and well-trained security personnel. The operations do not take place on the edge of a cliff or near a large body of water so many potential risks are therefore averted. Next it is important to look at the budget for any such plan. How much are you willing to spend. In order to protect from a fire it might be a good idea to make all walls fire retardant—that, however, would be prohibitively expensive. There is only so much money in the world. Still, it is important to remember than an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Look for effective and efficient way of reducing risk, with an eye to your pocketbook. No plan should be more than five per cent of operating costs. It is possible to become too paranoid about these sorts of things. Once

Animal Experimentation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Animal Experimentation - Research Paper Example As a result, The use of animals in scientific experiments increased dramatically especially after the discovery of anesthetics in mid-nineteenth century; the number of non-human animals used in scientific investigations in UK alone increased from one million per year in early nineteenth century to exceed five millions per year in the 1970s. This huge increase in the use of animals for research purposes was paralleled with an increase in the resistance and oppositions to animal testing. The animal testing controversy involves three sides; a group that is in favor of using animals for medical research debating that human superiority to animals justifies the use of animals in experiments. On the other hand, there is group of people who opposes the use of animals in experiments for ethical concerns. Obviously, both of these two sides are extreme; we cannot allow animals to suffer just based on the proponent’s claim nor can we stop animal tests due to the fact that it would stop hu mans from advancing in medical fields. This controversy resulted in new laws and regulations such as, the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that limits the number of animals that should be tested and the level of pain an animal can endure. Although, of course, experimenting on animals should be regulated, discontinuing this practice must never happen since it would negatively impact the advancement in the medical fields which will affect both humans’ race and non-human animals. The anti- animal testing movement argues that animals have the same rights as humans and therefore we should not be carrying out experiments on them. Tom Regan, a professor at the North Carolina University, argues that animals have similar emotions to our emotional beings, and considering them inferior species is similar to racism. According to Charles Darwin, best known as the father of evolution, humans are different from other species in â€Å"degree† not in â€Å"kind†. Thus Regan believes tha t â€Å"speciesism† which points to the view that the specie that we belong to is superior to other species is the same as racism and sexism. Furthermore, the response that we would get if we ask ourselves what gives us the right to carry experiments on animal for our benefits would be that we humans are more intelligent than other animals. But what about the case of infants or some mentally disabled patients, wouldn’t there be some animals that are more intelligent in comparison to these two examples? So, animals that are less intelligent than humans shall not be tested for human benefits unless we are ready to scarify some of our specie members. Similar to the philosophy of human rights which state that all people should be treated equally, animal rights as well demand that all animals should be equally treated, which prevent the harm of individuals to benefits other(). Humans as well as other animals experience life, and their rights to live and treated equally shou ld not be ignored. Why should animals be the victims of enduring harmful and procedural experiments that would yield benefits that are mostly useful for humans? The answer to this question is the fact there is not many alternative, and only animals are qualified for carrying out medical experiments. The limitation of sources to gain essential information is the reason why animals are used in experiments; there are no computers

Answer the Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answer the Questions - Assignment Example Random error occurs within the experiment itself. Bias is systematic errors in an epidemiologic study that brings an incorrect estimate of the connection between exposures and outcomes. Bias can be divided into categories that is the selection, and information bias. Selection bias occurs when selection into a study gives results that are different from what is expected if the entire population was involved (McDaniel and Roger, Pp 15). If an individual involves the whole population and collects accurate data, then an individual could compute the correct association. If sampling is not represented by outcome distribution of the whole population, the measures of connection will be biased. A typical example is a jar filled with marbles of 500 red and 500 blue that are mixed randomly. If a person pulls out 50 at random, he is likely to get 25 red and 25 blue. It is also possible to get 27 red and 23 or 29 blue and 21 red. An individual can also get 40 red or 10 blue, which is highly unlikely because each is likely to be proportioned (McDaniel and Roger, Pp 35). This is a form of random error. Systematic error might occur when the blue marbles are near the top, and the reds are at the bottom. When an individual pulls from the top, he is likely to get 37 blues and 13 red because an individual is not getting a sample that represent the whole jar. Behaviour targeting is the act of targeting users based on their behaviour of using the internet. This behaviour is used to target online ads, but the techniques can also be used to target products. Behavioural targeting is used to target the people that matter most. Behaviour targeting only needs to give the audience the right information and the message they need. It divides users according to the content they watch on the sites (McDaniel and Roger, Pp 56). They are also targeted with a message that is appropriate to that segment. Behaviour targeting is deployed in two ways, which are on-site and network targeting.

Motivators For Tourist Trips To Different Destinations Essay

Motivators For Tourist Trips To Different Destinations - Essay Example Both outbound and inbound tourism have had a stable growth in tourists. The type and state of weather and climate are a major influence of tourist destinations. The state of the atmosphere in a given place at a particular time describes weather while climate is the prevailing condition of the atmosphere determined after a long period of surveillance(Avraham&Ketter, 2008).The travel and tourism industry has been a major contributor to the economy for a long period. Both outbound and inbound tourism have had a stable growth in tourists. The type and state of weather and climate are a major influence of tourist destinations. The state of the atmosphere in a given place at a particular time describes weather while climate is the prevailing condition of the atmosphere determined after a long period of surveillance(Avraham&Ketter, 2008).Climate is one of the elements of geography that constitute geographical space, contributing to the environmental conditions that encourage or hinder touri sm. People seek to settle in areas that offer the highest comfort and chances of existence in terms of climate. Following this fact, the climate is considered to delimit optimal zones for tourism both at a regional and global scale. For instance, the warm temperate zones are considered optimal for beach and sun tourism.Where tourism uses geographical space, it is because there is specific components which depending on how they are appreciated socially, can be exploited and subsequently assimilated into tourism as a good or service.

Ibn Battuta in China Essay Example for Free

Ibn Battuta in China Essay At a time when most men cover distance astride a traveling animal, 75,000 miles of travel in a span of 30 years is an amazing achievement. When asked to name this historical individual who covered such great distance during the medieval period, most will likely point a credit to Marco Polo who is the well-known traveler of his time in Hakooki. com. But somehow, another person who has traveled longer and earlier than Marco Polo has actually covered this distance and visited 44 countries throughout the world. Ibn Battuta’s travels have almost been delegated into the oblivion if the world continued seeing history through the western view. Marco Polo, being European is far known than Ibn Battuta. Even his visit to China is virtually unknown in comparison to similar books of travel written by Marco Polo despite the fact that even to this day there remains lingering, unresolved questions as to whether or not Marco Polo truly visited China. However, if the myth sounds interesting enough, it will eventually be reported as fact. In the case of Marco Polo, the man has become a mythical folk hero and when a person ascends to such lofty heights in the public’s eye, criticism, scrutiny and a healthy dose of reality will usually fall by the wayside. Marco Polo’s travels will still remain famous regardless of the controversy that surrounds his journeys and the equally lengthy debate among scholars. It will be the goal of this essay to shift scholarly and historical directions and seek to shed light on the subject by comparing Ibn Battuta to Marco Polo’s travel in China. It is not uncommon for influential people from history to be seemingly erased from the documented chronology. In the United States, history is chronicled from a western perspective with Western Europe being presented as the epicenter of the world. As such, individuals from other cultures and parts of the world are often viewed in a peripheral manner and not provided with the same depth of historical coverage. Marco Polo was a hero whose birth origins are in the Western World. Because of this, his feats are given great credibility of honor in text. In the case of Battuta, a Moroccan by descent, his achievements will not be glossed over despite spending 17 years in China in comparison to Marco Polo’s travel which could have distinguished itself in many areas such as extent of land and historicity. In order to understand the work of Ibn Battuta, one must examine his early biographical years to as to put his life’s work into a certain context. Muhammed ibn Abdullah ibn Battuta or Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco in a Muslim family in 1304 and started his travels when he was 20 years old and lasted almost 30 years of his life according to Dunn (2004, 14). Battuta according to Francis in consequence belongs to the religious upper class of the Mohammedan community and received usual religious and scholastic education from theologians (1997:2). His travels started in 1325 when Ibn went on a pilgrimage to Mecca that continued on until he had covered 75,000 miles in Kegan (1929:1). He had stopped on most Muslim cities along his route and paid homage to holy sites in Damascus, Syria, Hebron, Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the face of many obstacles he met along the way as related in Monteil (1930:30).

Gifted Students In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Education Essay

Gifted Students In The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Education Essay Introduction Making proper stipulation for gifted students is significant for the development and growth of ones society. They are considered as valuable future resources. In the year 1998, the interest in supporting gifted children in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia grew. They have established programmes in which they were able to identify gifted children. The General Administration for Gifted Students (GAGS) was established in Saudi Arabias Ministry of Education in the year 2000. (Bondagjy, 2000). There has been not enough research and development in the field of introduction of gifted children in Saudi Arabia. According to Al-Ghamdi, 2007, there are very few programmes for gifted students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that was run by the Ministry of Education. The programmes that do exist are new and in need of evaluation and further development in order to provide maximum benefit for gifted students. The Saudi Arabian government believe that the gifts and talents of the young people in the country are nurtured. At the present time, in Saudi Arabia, gifted students who have special characteristics or abilities qualify for provision at the highest levels of services. Since 1999, the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has demonstrated a strong interest in its gifted students by putting in place programmes that are developed specifically for these students; however, these programmes are rare and new. Therefore I feel it is necessary to carry out an in-depth study of the present state of gifted education, find out what is available and identify the strengths and weaknesses of what is being offered. Objectives of the study From the outset, it is acknowledged that the concept of giftedness and its identification is highly complex. As Gubbins (2002) points out, people all over the world are still asking questions about how we assess and nurture peoples abilities. Whilst there are centres around the world focusing on research and development on gifted education, there are also experts (Borland, 2005) who question the whole concept of identification of gifted students and recommend that what is needed is gifted education without labelling a group as gifted. Borland, however, states that there is agreement amongst experts that high achieving or high-ability students are among those who are the most ill-served when curriculum and instruction are not differentiated.This study aims to make a contribution to the on-going debate in aspects of gifted education. It also hopes to add to the research literature by studying the nature of gifted education in Saudi Arabia, which has a different cultural social and educ ational background to many other countries where gifted programmes exist. More specifically, the aims of this study are: to explore the effectiveness and any possible weaknesses of gifted programmes in Saudi Arabia, by seeking the perspectives of all parties involved; to draw conclusions about the Saudi programmes and make recommendations based on the data collected; to make suggestions based on what is known about gifted programmes in other countries. As previously stated, the study also aims to provide an overview of international literature on gifted education by reviewing gifted education programmes and the range of methods used in other countries. The research questions Based on the aims articulated in the previous section, the following specific research questions have been formulated: How does the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia define gifted students? How does the Ministry identify and support gifted students? What is the nature of programmes for gifted students in the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? How effective are these programmes in terms of making provision in terms of the educational methods and resources for gifted students? In 1969 the Saudi cabinet first recognized the necessity of identifying gifted students -Nafea et all (1992), but no actual steps had been taken for action. Between the years 1990 and 1996, King Abdul Azizs City of Science and Technology, with collaboration from the Ministry of Education and the General Presidency for Girls Education, produced a project for extensive national research. The project titled: identification and care for Gifted Students (Bondagjy, 2000) and consisted of three main aims: To design a programme for identification of gifted students. To design enrichment programme models for mathematics and science curriculum. To enlighten Saudi society about the importance of the identification of gifted pupils and provision for their educational needs. Regarding identification of gifted students, the project employs seven methods, which are: Teachers nomination High academic achievement High achievement in science High achievement in mathematics. IQ test Torrance test for creativity thinking Wechsler IQ test. In 1998, a project (identify and car programme for gifted students) designed for identifying gifted students in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia was implemented by the Ministry of Education (Alwasruh, 2005). This programme consists of four units: Identification of gifted students. Care and enrichment programmes for gifted students. Training, planning and organization. Finance and administration services. This project was a very significant one in that it would serve the purpose of identifying and supporting gifted children of the kingdom. Therefore, it represents a landmark in the history of gifted education in Saudi Arabia. It provided the Ministry of Education with the opportunity to start special programmes for gifted students. Gifted Students Care Centres in Saudi Arabia: The gifted students Care Centres are establishments charged with the task of offering educational, social and psychological care for gifted students. Such centres are supervised by the General Administration for Gifted Students. The administration body which controls each of these centres includes a Centre Director, assistants, teachers, behavioural specialists, laboratory technicians, learning sources specialists and general support technicians. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, at the time of writing this thesis, has 31 Care Centres for boys and 20 for girls (MOE, web, 2007). Care Programmes for Gifted Students in the Schools of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The General Administration for Gifted Students emphasises that all students should be provided with equal opportunities, so that their abilities may be identified and their gifts and talents developed. In order to achieve this goal, the General Administration for Gifted Students provides a programme to train teachers so as to achieve this purpose. The teachers duties include the introduction of a complete gifted programme prepared by the General Administration for Gifted Students. These programmes start at the beginning of every school term. Among the responsibilities of the teacher is the use of modern methods which help to improve students skills of leadership, social and scientific research skills, as well as improving the parents knowledge about the importance of provision for gifted students. The duties of teachers also include the liaison between the various Care Centres of Gifted Students. The number of schools that have had benefited from this programme, between the years 2002 and 2004 was 264 boys schools and 97 girls schools (Alwasruh, 2005). Support for Gifted Education The Foundation provides funds and support to students in the six main centres for gifted education of the Ministry of Education of Saudi Arabia. These centres are located in Riyadh, Jeddah, Taif, Madinah, Dammam, and Al-Hassa. They work on identifying gifted children and providing them with enriched educational activity. They also assist in the teaching of the whole community about the nature of giftedness and about the role that talents and talented people will play in the future of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, the Foundation is committed to providing training for all those who interact with the gifted children (KACFG, web, 2007). The KACFG is the first and the biggest foundation to support the education of the gifted and talented in the Saudi Arabia, as it supplies programmes and support with substantial funding. Literature Review This chapter provides a pervasive review of literature relevant to the identification of and provision for gifted students. The contents of this review constitute the basis for the empirical work and the subsequent analysis. It starts with an examination of a range of definitions and conceptions of giftedness. Theories and research relating to various aspects of gifted education are reviewed, accompanied by a critical analysis of various points of view on the complex and contested conceptions of giftedness which provide a theoretical framework for this study. In this section literature on methods of identification of gifted students is reviewed, which will be followed by a review literature on aspects of provision of educational opportunities that will extend and/or enrich the learning of the gifted students. It could be argued that using accurate methods of identification is critical in determining the nature of provision. For example, Gubbins (1995) believes that identifying gifted and talented students is not just about answering the question, who are they? but it must also address the question, how do we find them? and what do we do when we find them? The process of identification may differ from one programme to another. In some programmes, the only means used for identification is the use of standardized tests. In others, the standardized test is only one of the factors in the identification process and in addition to test scores, nominations and recommendations of teachers, parents, staff, and even self-nomination are used (Blackshear 1979; Denton and Postlehwaite, 1984; LPS 1995). ( check spelling of of Post..) Bondagjy (2000) believes that a single test to determine general ability may not be sufficient and that subject specific tests may need to be used: Standardized tests of intelligence offer a good base for staff to identify potential capability, including that of some pupils whose performance is otherwise undistinguished as poor. In a few schools the tests are used in isolation without reference to individual aptitudes in specific areas of the curriculum, either as a short cut for selecting pupils for special enrichment courses, or for determining the composition of teaching groups of. This is less useful than if combined with a subject-specific test. (Bondagjy, 2000, p.20) Standardised tests are used widely by the supporters of the theories of a one-dimensional view of ability, which go back to the first theories of intelligence, such as Spearmans theory ( date) mentioned in the previous section, which has been received with enthusiasm and also with scepticism and rejection. The arguments against this single-dimension view of ability (based on general intelligence that consists of areas that are highly correlated with each other and that are mainly intellectual and tested using IQ tests) led to the creation of multi-dimensional theories of ability, such as that of Renzulli, (1978) Gardner (1983,1993), Sternberg (2000) and others. The multi-faceted theories of giftedness are viewed by many to be more appropriate to define and identify high ability. These authors along with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, ( date ) and Benjamin Bloom (1985) have all made compelling arguments for a much broader conception of giftedness. Chongde Tsingan, (2003) describes the cont ribution to the more liberal conceptions of giftedness as: Many western theories of intelligence focus on its physiological or cognitive components. However, Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences (1983, 1993), Robert Sternbergs triarchic theory of intelligence (1985) and Stephen Cecis bioecological theory of intelligence (1996) are much broader in scope. They combine and extend aspects of the biological, hierarchical and contextual views of intelligence which include interactions between mental processes, contextual influences and multiple abilities. (p.) The following section provides greater detail of the specific models of identification of giftedness and associated views on high ability, which have informed the nature of data collection in the present study. Saudi Arabia has conducted research to find out the best approach to gifted education, but of course for females who are severely restricted in the subjects they are allowed to study, these moves are somewhat academic. An interesting survey of computer use in Arabic countries was made by a Jordanian, Subhi (1997). He recommended that gifted pupils records should be computerised for easier monitoring of their progress, and he has designed a programme to help this. The problem, he found though, is that although there are computers in Jordanian schools, there are very few of them and the teachers do not generally know how to use them. It looks as though most, if not all, Arab countries are willing to recognise and help the gifted, and several have made forays into out-of-school activities, but the overall outcome is still difficult to define. Some authors (such as Sternberg et al., 1986, Ziegler and Heller, 2000) believe that a consensus is yet to be reached on what is meant by the term (gifted), and yet multiple efforts have been made to establish criteria for this, which include components such as motivation, creativity, task commitment, and problem solving. However, personal talent is described by Renzulli (1999a, p.4) as exceptional ability to select and achieve difficult goals that fit ones interests, abilities and social contexts. In his view, personal talent is a capability developed in the field of self-management that is concentrated by the individual in the direction of selected outcomes that contain well-being, happiness, personal relationships, hobbies as well as career achievements. He proposes that personal talent can be referred to as a range where those in the centre of this continuum can be explained as personally competent, while those at the high end of the range can be categorized as personally talente d. On the other hand, Masten et al. (2002) argue that resilient individuals learn how to overcome obstacles in order to achieve their anticipated goals, and that this can be described as personal talent. Also, Bland et al. (1994) refer to specific characteristics of resilience as an indicator of exceptional abilities and talent regarding children from poor backgrounds. In this regard, Marker et al. (1996) propose that numerous of the principles of distinguishing curriculum for gifted and talented learners support the development of personal talent. They refer to learning environments that foster independence, flexibility and high mobility as being potentially more promising for fostering personal talents than the more traditional teacher-centred classrooms that concentrate on lectures with academic content. However, some researchers regret the fact that research on giftedness has been somewhat biased, having mainly concentrated on IQ-related abilities that address academic skills, and b y-passing or simply ignoring other basic skills such as vocational skills (Bals, 1999), practical intelligence in everyday life (Sternberg, 2000), and, most importantly, social skills (Persson, 1997). Motivation is another issue that has been the focus of research with regard to gifted children. According to Sternberg (2000), some theories depict motivation as an assisting internal factor in the expansion of giftedness. One of these theories is Gages dynamic theory of giftedness which depicts motivation, volition and self-management as interpersonal catalysts that help convert gifts into talents. However, these theories have failed to provide guidance in assisting youths of high ability to develop motivation. For this reason, some researchers (for example, Colangelo et al. 2000; Alrasheed, 2001) believe that talented students should be identified and given tasks at a higher level than the normal school curriculum. Renzulli (1999b) is of the opinion that gifted students should be pro ducers of knowledge rather than mere consumers of existing information. He believes that specific programmes and services for the talented and gifted are the only solution to allow them to live up to their potential. This idea is further supported by Reis et al (1995) who argues that it is not fair to make a gifted child sit in a classroom where learning something new will not happen until the second half of the year. Historical review of school counselling in the KSA Initially, in 1981, the Ministry of Education established the General Directorate of Guidance and Counselling. Since that time, guidance and counselling has become formalized and recognized as a profession, and counsellors have been appointed to deal with psychological, social, educational, and vocational problems and deliver protective counselling (Ministry of Education KSA, 1999). It should be mentioned here that the model for and practice of guidance and counselling in SaudiArabian schools was derived from western sources, mainly the United States. More than two decades have passed since the guidance and counselling programme was established in Saudi schools. Its development has progressed at a slow rate and, currently, it faces various problems. The major difficulty relates to the definition of the role and function of the school counsellor (Al-Gamdi, 1999) which is unclear to principals, teachers, parents, students and school counsellors themselves. Due to this problem, counsell ors have found themselves overly involved in paperwork and administrative tasks and duties not related to school counselling. Additionally, counsellors often complain about lack of support and cooperation from others involved in the counselling service, especially parents (Al-rebdi, 2000). In this situation, if school counsellors in Saudi Arabia are to provide better services for students, their role must be clearly defined. It is also necessary for those involved in counselling to have a clear view of what counsellors should and should not do. Added to this, counsellors must choose carefully how they spend their time and energy. As the role and functions of the school counsellors become clearer, they should be able to respond better to the needs of their students. Furthermore, in 1981, following decree number 216/k issued by the Ministry of Education, the Social Educational Administration was replaced by the Student Guidance and Counselling Service, and guidance and counselling in Saudi schools became formalised. That same year, the name was changed again to the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling (Ministry of Education, 1999). The responsibilities of this administration are as follows: 1- To plan, prepare and develop the programme and services of guidance and counselling. 2- To provide professional staff who are capable of delivering such services to all students at various stages of education. 3- To provide students with the appropriate care applicable to their ages and their psychological, educational and social needs. 4- To assist students to develop their capabilities, potentialities and talents, to allow them to face their problems and to help them feel comfortable with themselves and with the community in which they live. 5- To attain a high standard of mental health in a way that reflects the targets and goals sought by educational guidance in general (Ministry of Education, 1999). Saleh (1987) pointed out that, due to the immediate need for professionals to monitor and guide the counselling service in schools, the Ministry of Education sought personnel from among the existing social education supervisors to act as the supervisors; counselling and guidance programmes in addition to carrying out their normal duties. The Ministry of Education also sought personnel from within the existing teaching force, provided they had the relevant experience, to work temporarily as counsellors in schools. To meet the need for school counsellors in all schools, the General Administration for Guidance and Counselling allowed those with a Bachelors degree in psychology, social work or sociology to perform the role of the school counsellor until enough trained professional counsellors could be provided. In order to meet the need for trained full-time counsellors to work in schools, universities in Saudi Arabia were requested to offer guidance and counselling programmes at masters level. Statistical information for the year 2000 shows that there were 229 counselling supervisors and 3381 school counsellors overall (Ministry of Education, 2000). By 2003, the number of counsellors had increased rapidly toabout 4000(Al-Rebdi, 2004). The Ministry of Education (1999) defined the term counselling as the interactive process though which the counsellor assists the student to understand himself and recognise his capabilities and potentialities and gives him a more enlightened approach to his problems and how to face them. Counsellors also help students to enhance their responsible behaviour and to show conformity with their community. Counselling gifted students Landau (1990) noted that gifted students might become isolated and alienated. Moreover, Rogers (1983) pointed out that in an egalitarian system children not only lack the opportunity for confirmation and social acceptance, but they also often lack the freedom to learn. The need for confirmation and emotional support is well known in the literature which focuses on giftedness and talent (Csikszentmilalyi et al., 1993; Kelley, 1999; Stednitz, 1995). Donna (1999) suggests that teachers and counsellors need to encourage minority students to consider a teaching career in general and gifted student education in particular. Ford (1995) however, believes that from an historical point of view, the counselling of gifted students has not been an important part of educational and counselling discourse. He points out that misconceptions and stereotypes of gifted students as being immune to social, emotional, and academic problems have contributed to the lack of counselling for these students, and in cases where counselling is available it is only limited to academic, assessment and placement issues. According to Ford, the fact that more children are entering school with serious personal and academic problems should entail an expansion in the responsibilities and roles of counsellors to meet the needs of all children who seek guidance and assistance. But nonetheless according to Alrasheed, (2001) the limited availability of counselling services has failed to meet the enormous need for counselling services and research regarding gifted individuals. In this respect he endeavoured to provide counsellors, classroom teachers and educationalists as well as parents with advice regarding the understanding of the academic and social needs of gifted and talented students. Persson (2005) considers mentorship as a possible solution to aid the immediate psychological and intellectual needs of gifted individuals, particularly received mentorship. According to Person, mentorship could be direct or indirect by cooperating with the student to find a mentor of his choice, given the fact that not a ll gifted students would be likely to choose their counsellors to be their mentors. Person expresses the conviction that mentorship is the only viable counselling solution in an egalitarian context, which lacks recognition and particular provision for gifted individuals. Ford (1995) outlines the goal of counselling as that of promoting healthy self-concepts and ensuring psychological growth. Bearing that in mind, counsellors must have an awareness and understanding of the many issues that hinder gifted students and affect their psychological, social and emotional well-being. He recognises the role of counsellors in ensuring that such students remain in gifted programmes once identified and placed. Finally the concept of counselling needs to be defined within a context where it is not a task assigned merely to a particular group. Instead, as Brown et al. (1992) suggest the task has expanded from an initial concern with educational and vocational guidance to the remediation and prevention of personal, interpersonal, vocational and educational concerns. Consequently, according to Persson (2005), the aim of the intervention is for the individual to gain an understanding of self and context, in which case individual differences become a sensitive and even problematic issue, particularly in cases where gifted individuals are involved. Research Problem There have been few programmes for gifted students offered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Even though there has been programmes existing, it is new and is for further evaluation to be able to develop it more for the students. It has been believed that if there has been more developed programmes for gifted children then they will be more enhanced and so, benefiting the country. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have put up programmes for gifted students but is new and rare. There has been studies regarding the support of the authorities in the schools on how to support gifted students. The research questions Based on the aims articulated in the previous section, the following specific research questions have been formulated: How does the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia support gifted students? Does the authorities in the schools help in the development of the programmes? How do we determine the effectiveness of the programmes with the school counsellor, principal, and teachers help? Sub-questions Two sub-questions will also be explored: Do the teacher, student counsellor and principal who work with gifted students have special qualifications? What is the level and nature of the response of gifted students to these programmes? Research Design The design of the study is intended to determine: first, the relationship of the roles of student counsellor, teachers, and principals to the performance of the gifted students; second, the effectiveness of the programmes in developing the capacity of the gifted students. Instrumentation and Data Collection The researchers visited the [Insert name of University Library or City Library] for journals, articles and studies needed for the research paper. The researchers gathered time-series data from different physical training institutions to assure of its validity and consistency. The primary data will be gathered using quantitative method, as this is best useful with questionnaires. The use of quantitative method will be appropriate for the research because the results in the questionnaires consist of numerical information, mostly based from the ratings included in the questions. Quantitative methods are used to provide reference to numeric calculations and are often used with questionnaires that have a specific goal and a target to achieve. This is helpful in the research, and its instigation in the process needs to be further culminated so that the problem is solved with efficiency and precision. In gathering data, the researcher would like to clear certain ethical issues that might hinder the processing of data. First, confidentiality will be kept at all costs. As the main reason why questionnaires will be used in the research is for the respondents to feel secure and to be assured that their answers will not be related to who they are. There may be instances wherein the respondent will divulge information that will be detrimental to the company, or to its competitors, depending on the case. Hence, there is a better chance at more responsive respondents if they can be assured of their confidentiality. Second, the Data Protection Act will be followed at all costs. The compliance with the act will be transparently said to the respondents so that they are further assured that anything they say in response to the questions asked them will only be used for the benefit of the research and not in any other practices. It should also be clear to the researcher that any information regarding the respondents cannot be released to anyone who is not immediately connected with the research unless permission from the subject respondent has been secured beforehand. Third, the research must always bear in mind the objectives of the study and never stray away from them. A researcher who has no definite purpose in doing the research is going nowhere and is exerting effort in a research that is not delimited properly and punctually. The purpose of the research is explicitly stated at the beginning of the research and is implied in every step of the realization of the research so as to not delineate the researcher from his goals. Lastly, the researcher must opt to practice objectivity. As the researcher, he is expected to keep an open-minded approach to the topic, keeping from his mind and personal bias in the subject matter or on the people involved. The reason for doing research is to test existing information, validate, prove or disprove existing ideas, or to test the limits of a certain prospect. Given this simple definition, it is clearly seen that in no form is the personal opinions of the researcher expected to hinder in the subject. Any act that might be biased or subjective will hint of the researchs failure to achieve its goals. Planned Method of Analysis The researchers plan to analyze the different test conducted through constant evaluation of the gifted students and how they perform. There will be a weekly evaluation in terms of how the programmes and the role of the authorities, and the effect of it to their performance. The performance in the field will be evaluated by the gifted students progress and development. Conclusion This study adds to a growing body of literature that reinforces the importance of examining the programmes for gifted students adopted by the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for further development. There is no, to the researchers knowledge, research that investigates such programmes. This study is identified as being the first study at the level of a doctorate research project which evaluates the gifted programmes in the Ministry of Education from the point of view of the students, the schools and the workers in such programmes. The study further attempts to use the most effective methods of collecting information, which the researcher obtained data in the form of questionnaires, interviews, observation and documentation. The mixed methods employed in the research made it possible to triangulate both qualitative and quantitative research. Further to these methods, the study used the most popular electronic program (SPSS) to gather and analyse the data as well as to design the tables and diagrams. The study focuses on the research questions at every stage of the research, either theoretically or practically. The researcher also oversaw the validity and procedural aspects of the questionnaire through sitting with students and workers when they answered the questions in order to clarify any ambiguity and confusion on their behalf. In general, the results of the study agree with many of the theoretical studies mentioned in chapter two. Finally, this is a serious explorative study, which has