TRANSITION FROM HOME TO BOARDING SCHOOL: AN EXPLORATION OF

FACILITATING STRATEGIES APPLICABLE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

by

Amer Alabed

A project submitted to the Faculty of Education

In conformity with the requirements for

the degree of Master of Education

Queen’s University

Kingston, Ontario, Canada

January, 2017

Copyright ©Amer Alabed, 2017

 Abstract

The transition from home to boarding school is considered an exceptional experience

filled with stress and anxiety. While the boarding school can allow the students to gain social

skills, independence, and appreciation for family, the challenges that face the first-year

students at a boarding school can make the adjustment to the new place more difficult than

any other regular school, because of the institutional setting, with the existence of many rules

and regulations, accompanied with less family support.

Many studies have shown that different kinds of strategies, programs, and

extracurricular activities, would definitely play an important role in easing the transition for

the first-year students at boarding schools, and make the boarding life experience more

positive for both the students and their parents.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties faced by first-year

students at boarding schools in the Middle East, and explore the strategies and programs that

assist first-year students in the transition phase, and to help in planning for a healthy, safe,

and comfortable living environment. I conducted a qualitative study that is autoethnographic

in nature.

ii
 Acknowledgment

I am extremely thankful to Dr. Maria Myers, my project supervisor, for her patience,

valuable insights, and constant guidance throughout this project. She believed in me even

when I did not, and pushed me to demonstrate my full potential by her kind words of

encouragement. Thank you so much for everything.

I would also like to thank my second reader, Dr. Benjamin Kutsyuruba, who was my

advisor when I joined Queen's. I will not forget his help and guidance at the very beginning

of my journey, and the valuable advice at the final stage of this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife and my family for their unconditional love and

support in my educational endeavors. I'm truly blessed to have them in my life.

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 Table of Contents

Abstract................................................................................................................................ ii

Acknowledgements.............................................................................................................. iii

Table of Contents................................................................................................................. iv

Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................................... 1

Rationale................................................................................................................. 3

Problem Statement.................................................................................................. 5

Research Purpose and Questions............................................................................ 7

Conceptual Framework........................................................................................... 7

Tinto's Model of Student Departure............................................................... 7

The Ecological System Theory...................................................................... 8

Definition of Terms................................................................................................ 10

Overview of the Project........................................................................................... 11

Chapter 2: Methods............................................................................................................ 12

Background Information and School Experience.................................................... 13

The Three Schools.................................................................................................. 13

The Boarding School in Oman...................................................................... 15

The Boarding School in Jordan..................................................................... 16

The Boarding School in Qatar....................................................................... 18

My Personal Experience.......................................................................................... 19

Personal Journal Entries........................................................................................... 20

The Dormitory Handbook........................................................................................ 20

Chapter 3: Review of the Literature................................................................................. 35

The Effects of Geographic Mobility and Lack of Familiarity................................. 35

The Stress of Moving.............................................................................................. 36

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 Mobility and Emotional Stability............................................................................ 37

Mobility and Violence............................................................................................ 38

Theories of Mobility and Problem Behavior.......................................................... 38

Student Mobility and School Dropout.................................................................... 41

Models of Psychological effects of Transition....................................................... 43

Transition and Homesickness................................................................................. 45

Homesickness Factors............................................................................................. 47

Effects of Homesickness......................................................................................... 48

Chapter 4: Findings.............................................................................................................. 50

Findings Connected to School Experiences and Analysis of Handbook................. 50

Findings on the Role of Extracurricular Activities.................................................. 60

Chapter 5: Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusion............................................ 72

Discussion................................................................................................................ 73

The Role of the Boarding School's Staff................................................................. 76

The Role of the School's Programs and Services.................................................... 78

The Role of Extracurricular Activities.....................................................................79

The Role of Supportive Parents............................................................................... 80

Overall Recommendations....................................................................................... 83

Conclusion............................................................................................................... 86

References............................................................................................................................. 88

Appendix A.............................................................................................................................92

Appendix B.............................................................................................................................93

Appendix C............................................................................................................................ 94

Appendix D............................................................................................................................ 98

Appendix E............................................................................................................................ 99

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Appendix F........................................................................................................................... 100

Appendix G.......................................................................................................................... 101

Appendix H.......................................................................................................................... 102

Appendix I............................................................................................................................ 103

Appendix J............................................................................................................................ 104

Appendix K........................................................................................................................... 105

Appendix L........................................................................................................................... 107

Appendix M.......................................................................................................................... 108

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 Chapter 1

Introduction

In this chapter, I introduce the context for the project, the purpose and the

rationale of this study, and present the conceptual framework.

Attendance at a boarding school is considered a unique and exceptional

experience for many involved whether they are students, parents, or teachers. Teachers in

boarding schools are not only teaching regular classes, but they have to extend their

duties after school hours to be house-parents, advisors, and activities organizers. The

challenges that face the first-year students at a boarding school make the adjustment to

the new place more difficult than any other regular school. In my experience as a

houseparent in a number of boarding schools in the Middle East I can remember how the

first-year students have to go through difficult times during the first weeks or months of

their school attendance. This situation requires more efforts from the teachers to help

their students cope with the new environment, and make them ready for another four

years to come. For this reason, I am investigating the topic of facilitating strategies to

make an easy transition from home to boarding schools in the Middle East.

There are many factors that affect the overall experience of the boarding schools'

students and as a result influence their ability to cope with the new environment. In this

study, I will examine the strategies and practices involved in a positive transition

experience, to prepare the first-year students for successful years ahead.

Boarding schools are found in many areas of the world, but these schools are still

new and limited in numbers in the Middle East, with different attitudes toward them

among the families and parents because the normal situation there is to attend the regular

1
day schools and keep living with the family, even until the university years. This project

will focus specifically on the boarding schools experience in the Middle East.

The existing research literature has examined some of the strategies to help the

students in their year of transition, and in this project I will review Tinto's (1987) theory

and link it to the strategies and suggestions from the literature and the handbooks used in

the boarding schools, all of that in addition to the related entries from the researcher's

observation journal.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties faced by first-year

students at boarding schools and explore the strategies that assist first-year students in

transition from home to boarding school as viewed in studies of the research literature.

This is an ethnographic study based on my experience and connected to a review of the

implemented dormitory guidelines and the relevant research literature. After an overall

discussion, I will be investigating how this could be applicable in the Middle Eastern

boarding schools in light of the results of the analysis of observational data from a

teacher’s journal and professional experience.

The findings of this study will contribute to an understanding of the different

strategies and extracurricular activities that contribute positively to the first-year students’

experience in transition from home to boarding school, exploring the difficulties involved

in “change and transitioning” and how to make this transition an easy and smooth

experience. Another benefit of this research is to help the international and boarding

schools plan and design a welcoming and interesting environment for students.

Additionally, this knowledge could help in attracting more families and their children to

2
attend these boarding schools, and in return, decrease the number of students who

withdraw.

Rationale

I found the first few weeks at a new boarding school to be a difficult and

overwhelming experience for many new students. They may not only feel lost in their

new surroundings, but they may also feel abandoned or angry about the fact that they

have to go to a new school away from their friends and family.

Boarding school provides a different experience than a day school because

students and teachers interact in significant ways both in and out of the classroom. The

learning experience is not limited to academics, but it takes place after class, in the dorm,

on the athletic fields, and during playing and leisure (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002).

Whereas the boarding experience can allow the student to develop socially, gain

independence and have a greater appreciation for family members and home, the

institutional setting, with its rules and regulations, and lack of privacy and freedom, can

make adaptation to boarding school hard for some (Downs, 2003).

While some people are sending their children to boarding schools to develop

wider horizons than they can provide, many parents still think that taking a child away to

a boarding school is not the wisest thing to do for their development, and they argue that

the best place for a child to grow up is with a supportive family - whether it is one parent

or caretaker or two - for their social and emotional development (White, 2004).

Another phenomenon experienced by students who are away from home for the

first time, as noted by teachers and officers of boarding schools, is 'homesickness'.

Homesickness was found to be a complex cognitive, motivational, emotional state

3
(Fisher, Frazer, & Murray, 1986). According to Fisher et al. (1986) it is possible that the

exposure to the new boarding school environment under conditions of reduced contact

with family and friends, is itself threatening and that the homesickness response

represents a desire to leave the environment. All these factors might cause a difficult

transition to the boarding school for first-year students, and in some cases, lead to an

early withdrawal from the school.

Many studies have shown that different kinds of offerings, programs, policies, and

extracurricular activities from within the boarding school would definitely play an

important role in easing the transition for the first-year students at boarding schools, and

make these kinds of schools more interesting for the students and their parents (Billas &

Rossi, 2001).

There is also a growing interest in the developmental consequences of the social

engagement and extracurricular participation (Fredricks & Eccles 2006). The growing

body of research in leisure studies, sociology, sports psychology, and adolescent

development demonstrates the beneficial effects of participation in extracurricular

activities. In their study, Fredricks and Eccles (2006) have noted that activity

participation has been positively linked to academic outcomes, including grades and

school engagement. Another study by Shernoff and Vandell (2007) has emphasized that

extracurricular activities have been found to be an important developmental context

providing opportunities for students to experience heightened levels of engagement,

challenge, enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and initiative.

Given the discussion above, it is obvious that the transition from home to a new

boarding school is an experience that is accompanied by stress and anxiety. Furthermore,

4
different programs and school arrangements in addition to extracurricular activities have

been found to be beneficial to different aspects of the students’ life. In this study, I will

try to link and connect the two issues together, by finding more about the different

strategies and extracurricular activities that contribute to an easy and smooth transition

for students to the boarding school. I will also study the situation in Middle-Eastern

boarding schools, while the previous researchers were studying the phenomenon in

Western countries.

Problem Statement

Change and transition, although they are re-occurring features of life, may be

associated with mental and physical disorder. For both migration populations and internal

migrants there is evidence of higher hospitalization rates for mental disorder. Moreover,

migrant populations have been found to be at risk for both chronic and infectious disease

(Fisher & Hood, 1987).

Geographic mobility has become a way of life for many families and students.

Moving can be a major life event for both adults and children that is often experienced as

a stressful event. School aged children may be particularly vulnerable to the stress of

moving. This transition usually involves separation from family and friends, and the loss

of familiar objects such as buildings, neighbourhood, and other physical elements of the

previous home (Fisher, 1986). Psychologists theorize that children who move must deal

with feelings of loss, fears of the unknown, and lessened parental attention, all of which

may lead to emotional and behavioral problems (Simpson, & Fowler, 1994).

There is also a growing body of research linking adolescent mobility to a host of

negative behavioral outcomes, including poor academic performance (Pribesh & Downey

5
1999), reduced educational attainment, drug use, and early sexual activity (Haynie &

South, 2005). Furthermore, mobile students are approximately twice as likely as their

non-mobile counterparts to drop out of school over a year’s time (South, Haynie, & Bose,

2007).

Changing environment and leaving existing sources of social support behind is

often viewed by many prospective students as anxiety-producing, a cause of

homesickness or a reason not to make the move at all, but to stay at home and attend a

local school or college (Tognoli, 2003). This feeling of homesickness can also contribute

to health problems (including decreased immune system functioning), reduced

psychological well-being, and other maladaptive outcomes (Flett, Endler, & Besser,

2009).

Thus, transition during students' life, and the possible effects of it, is an issue that

must be taken seriously, for it can influence one's level of success in adapting to the new

environment. Surrogate caregivers (camp counselors, nurses, teachers, child life

specialists, resident advisors) should be educated about the most effective treatments for

homesickness and other effects of moving in order to help the children and their families

in achieving a smooth and a positive transition experience.

Involvement in a school's programs and extracurricular activities according to

recent studies is indicative of high levels of motivation, self-esteem, and leadership skills

in addition to high academic achievement, better relationships with peers and family and

overall engagement in healthy life-style choices. However, some studies have noted

possible negative consequences of some types of extracurricular participation, such as the

increase of stress and anxiety while participating in highly competitive extracurricular

6
activities. In addition to that, the type of activity, size of school, and levels of peer

pressure can sometimes produce a negative effect on the development of self-esteem and

general well-being, an area that needs more research and studies in the future.

Research Purpose and Questions

As stated before, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties

faced by first-year students at boarding schools and explore the strategies that assist first-

year students in transition from home to boarding school as viewed in studies of the

research literature and my personal boarding school supervisory experiences. The

following questions will guide this study:

1. What are the difficulties that are faced by first-year students during the transition

from home to a boarding school in the Middle East?

2. What are the facilitating strategies that contribute to a positive and successful

adjustment during the transition from home to a boarding school in the Middle

East?

Conceptual Framework

Tinto’s Model of Student Departure

The Student Departure theory by Tinto (1987) is one of the most widely accepted

theories of student persistence. This theory hypothesized that student persistence at

school is the result of the match between the student's ability and motivation with the

school's social and academic features.

Tinto (1987) argued that students come to school with a variety of personal

characteristics, abilities and skills, and these elements will interact with the social and

academic system of the school bringing new experiences to the student's world. These
7
experiences affect the student's commitment to the school and the decision to persist. It

emphasized that the students’ surrounding environment will result in a direct impact on

their life. Consequently, Tinto assumes that the richer the integration between the

school's social and academic systems with the student’s life experiences, the greater the

likelihood that the student will continue and persist in the new environment. Conversely,

the poorer the integration of the student with the institutional systems, the less likely the

student is to persist.

Tinto's theory initially examined the experience of transition from school to

college campus, and then the theory has been widely used to examine students’

persistence. In this study, I found that Tinto's theory will help in achieving the research

goal in the situation of transition from home to boarding school campus, and it is used to

guide my examination of the literature and findings.

The Ecological System Theory

Researchers investigating extracurricular activities have long been interested in

the relationships between participation in these activities and the social outcomes,

academic achievement, and educational attainment of adolescents (Feldman & Matjasko,

2005). Stemming from decades of investigation by sociologists, this line of inquiry has

uncovered positive associations between participation and adolescent functioning. More

recent literature from psychologists has focused on the developmental aspects of activity

participation and their impact on individual functioning over time (Feldman & Matjasko,

2005).

The field is in need of an overarching theory that pinpoints the mechanisms

behind the effects of these activities. Ecological systems theory, used in concert with the

8
person-environment fit perspective, serves as a valuable framework for integrating the

sociological and psychological literatures on activity participation and influencing

researchers to consider both direct and indirect effects of participation on adolescent

development and well-being (Feldman & Matjasko, 2005).

The Ecological system theory, characterized by Bronfenbrenner (1979) as a

bioecological model, views an individual's heredity as joining with multiple levels of the

surrounding environment to shape development. Extracurricular activities are not isolated

from other developmental contexts; rather, they are embedded in schools and

communities and influenced by families and peers.

Such a model should consider how well adolescents fit with the extracurricular

activity context and whether it compensates for a suboptimal fit in another context. Also,

by controlling for the influence of salient contexts on adolescent development, we can

better isolate the true relation between participation and adolescent outcomes. Such

research could better demonstrate how adolescents influence their own activity

participation and how their participation is influenced by larger social contexts (Feldman

& Matjasko, 2005).

In sum, the Student Departure theory by Tinto (1987) hypothesized that student

persistence at school is the result of the match between the student's ability and

motivation with the school's social and academic features. The Ecological system theory

by Bronfenbrenner (1979) used in concert with the person-environment fit perspective,

considered that participation in extracurricular activities and engaging in the surrounding

environment will have direct and indirect effects on adolescent development and well-

9
being. These theories investigate the influence that institutional characteristics, student

experience, and student interactions have on students during the transition.

Therefore, the more the school committed to the students' welfare and provided

them with adjustment strategies, the greater the level of social integration, the greater the

level of students' social integration, the greater their subsequent commitment to the

school, and the greater the level of subsequent commitment to the institution, the more

likely students persist and perceive the transition as a positive experience.

Major theoretical concepts will be investigated as they apply in relevant studies

and defined for our situational purposes. This will constitute the theoretical basis to lend

the conceptual framework that will illuminate the data gathered through the second part

of the analysis. Studies reported on the relevant topics will be analyzed using meta-

analysis in order to uncover salient features that would also constitute a workable basis in

the context of the Middle East. A list of recommendations will be formulated as a result

of the two first phases of this search.

Definitions of Terms

 Boarding school: refers to a school where some or all students study and live

during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or

administrators.

 House-parent: refers to a staff member, or sometimes a teacher, who usually

lives in the dormitories and is concerned with all the tasks relating to personal

care, boarding accommodation, meals, study, recreation and weekend activities of

students in a boarding school.

10
  Administrators: refer to the team in a school that includes the Principal,

Deputies, Deans of Students, Dormitory Supervisors and House-parents and other

key personnel who are responsible for the running of the school.

 Extracurricular activities: are activities performed by students that fall outside

the realm of the normal academic curriculum of the school.

 Homesickness: is a "complex cognitive motivational-emotional state focused on

missing home".

 Coping: can be defined as "cognitive and behavioral attempts to alter events or

circumstances that are threatening".

Overview of the Project

Thus far, in Chapter 1 I have reviewed the purpose, rationale, and the conceptual

framework of the project. In this project, a number of topics come under scrutiny, and I

will present the methods and the school experience with background information on the

schools and the guidelines (Chapter 2), the compounding effects of change and relocation

with a review of the literature (Chapter 3), and the findings from the schools' experience

and the handbook with the role of extra-curricular activities (Chapter 4). Finally, I review

some of the difficulties and propose solutions (Chapter 5).

11
 Chapter 2

Methods

In this chapter, I outline our approach to the choice of methods and all aspects

related to it. After a general overview I present the sites, the background of the

researcher, explain the reasons for the journal entries, and introduce the handbook, the

document that is used as a base for the analysis of school experiences enabling

triangulation of results.

The approach used is qualitative and is of an autoethnographic nature.

Autoethnography is an approach to research and writing that seeks to describe and

systematically analyze personal experience in order to understand cultural experience.

Scholars across a wide spectrum of disciplines considered this approach because they

wanted to concentrate on ways of producing meaningful, accessible, and evocative

research grounded in personal experience. Furthermore, autoethnography is one of the

approaches that acknowledges and accommodates subjectivity, emotionality, and the

researcher's influence on research, rather than hiding from these matters or assuming they

don't exist (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2010).

This research is based on my experience as a dormitory supervisor working in

three schools, as well as journal entries made while at the schools, connected to a review

of a handbook to be used as a guide and implemented at one school, plus the review of

the relevant research literature. I explored the research findings surrounding the impacts

of transition and relocation , and selected the effective facilitating strategies in dealing

with this situation. In addition to that, the observational journal and boarding school

practices reflect a real situational experience, and are used to offer contextual information

12
to create a better understanding. I focus on the facilitating strategies keeping in mind the

conceptual framework that suggested the important role of the school's social and

academic features and the engagement with the environment in the students' development

and well-being.

Several perspectives are entailed in this research and I hope that it helps to better

understand what to expect when students move to a boarding school, and identify some

effective strategies to deal with the situation. This approach allows for triangulation of

data, as the data used for analysis stem from the researcher experiences, entries in the

researcher's journal corresponding to three research sites, and the use of the handbook

against the entries in which data is compared. The use of these multi-data sources was

intended to provide richer results.

Background Information and School Experience

This section provides an idea about the boarding schools where I have worked,

and discusses some aspects of the residential life through the practical experience and the

boarding schools' rules and guidelines. The purpose of this overview is to show the

importance of the school's environment in preparing for a successful social and

educational experience for the new students.

The Three Schools

I have acquired the boarding school experience from three schools in the Middle

East when I worked as a teacher, coordinator, and dorm supervisor, and these schools are

located in Oman, Jordan, and Qatar, respectively.

The Omani boarding school was the first to establish a boarding department in the

region in 1977, while the other two schools were considered new to some extent (The

13
Qatari school-2004, and the Jordanian School- 2007). Many wealthy families used to

send their children to boarding schools in Britain and USA before the existence of these

schools, but the establishment of a boarding school such as the Jordanian one has

attracted many families and their children to join the school instead of traveling far to the

West. The students who are enrolled at The Jordanian boarding school for example

represent some 40 countries in the Middle East and around the World. All the three

mentioned schools belong to non-for-profit organizations, and a good portion of the

tuition revenue is set aside for financial aid. The Qatari School is an independent

government-funded agency, and it targets the students athletes specifically to sponsor

their talents and to prepare them for world sports' competitions.

These three schools are all internationally accredited schools by the Council of

International School (CIS), and they are all offering a bilingual curriculum, in addition to

Arabic Language and Islamic Studies as a requirement of the Ministry of Education in

their countries.

The Omani school residential curriculum style is British, while the Jordanian

boarding school's curriculum is American, and the Qatari school's curriculum is local.

Both The Omani and the Jordanian boarding schools are coeducational schools,

while the Qatari one is only for boys.

The dorms supervisors at the boarding departments in Oman and Jordan are

teachers in the school, and they have the responsibility of the academic and boarding life

of the students, while the boarding department in the Qatari school has a dedicated staff

for the dorms who are only responsible for the boarding life away from the academic

requirements.

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 The teacher-supervisor duties are multifarious but it will benefit the students in

finding the social and academic support after school hours as the adults involved are in

contact with the students throughout their days.

The Boarding School in Oman

I worked in the boarding school in Oman for five years from 2000 to 2005. This

school is located in Muscat, the capital city of the Sultanate of Oman. It is a co-

educational school that offers a bilingual Arabic-English education from early childhood

to pre-university. The School seeks to provide a broad and balanced education of the

highest quality which reflects and strengthens Omani and Islamic cultures whilst

encouraging an international perspective and developing critical, creative thinking in its

students.

The student enrollment is around 1300 from Pre-KG through to year 13 with

almost an equal number of boys and girls. The administration and teaching staff are

mainly British and Arab, with some staff from other nationalities.

The school has a 250,000 square meter campus with many facilities in addition to

the classrooms, and that includes: sport hall, auditorium, dining hall, swimming pool,

library, art rooms, music rooms, and grass fields. All these facilities are shared between

girls and boys except for some sport facilities such as the swimming pool which is used

alternatively between them.

The dormitory is a large building with one main entrance. It has around 50 rooms

and each room prepared to host two students. There is also a big common room, and TV

and video room. The dorm's supervisors live in six apartments each of them has an extra

15
door to enter into the students' hallways and to help them carry out their daily duties of

supervising and monitoring of the dorm.

The dormitory is only offered for the boys who come to school under the Royal

Court scholarship program, and they have no other option but to stay in the dormitory

because they are all coming from rural areas or small cities far away from Muscat the

capital city of Oman. The families in these areas are usually conservative, even though

they accepted for their children to join a coeducational school, but they will not accept

the idea of girls living in a dormitory away from their families.

With mixed reactions to the coeducational schools, people started to see some

benefits from having this type of schools where boys and girls learn together and enhance

the understanding of the two genders and equip both genders with necessary skills for

their personal lives. But still the idea of a boarding life for girls is not accepted among the

families in the Gulf countries.

The Boarding School in Jordan

I worked in this Jordanian boarding school for two years as a teacher and dorm

supervisor. This international and bilingual school is located southwest of Amman the

capital city of Jordan.

The Jordanian boarding school is home to 660 male and female students, in

grades 9 through 12, and recently the school started to accept students from grade 7.

These students came from 40 different countries. About 70 percent of the students are

boarders, and 45 percent are female and 55 percent are male. The boarding students and

residential faculty ratio is five to one.

16
 The campus has 33 major buildings built on 144 acres. The dormitories are

offered for both boys and girls, and they are housed in separate dorms under 24-hour

supervision by faculty members who live in their own apartments within the dorms. The

campus includes nine dormitories that accommodate some 450 students in single

bedrooms.

Students are housed in single bedrooms, including six disabled student bedrooms.

Each student room is furnished with a bed, desk, chair, nightstand and closet. This

Jordanian boarding school may be the only boarding school in the world in which every

student has a single room. Rooms are deliberately small in order to allow students to

focus their alone time on silent study, reflection and getting a full night’s sleep, and also

to emphasize the larger, common areas as the center of community dorm life.

All dormitories include common rooms, kitchenettes, common bathrooms,

laundry rooms and faculty apartments. Dormitory common rooms are equipped with a

wireless internet connection.

Single women faculty live in the girls’ dorms and usually male faculty or families

live in the boys’ dorms. Girls are not permitted to enter the boys’ dorms and boys are not

permitted to enter the girls’ dorms.

Students have constant and continuous access to faculty who-in addition to being

teachers-are supervisors, coaches, mentors and counselors. Faculty members eat together

with students in the Dining Hall and participate with them in athletic and cultural

activities in the afternoons. Parents of students entrusted to the care of the Jordanian

boarding school are assured that their children are living in a safe and healthy family-like

environment.

17
 Each house includes a laundry room and comfortable common rooms where

students can watch TV, catch up with one another or have a quick snack. Every floor also

has a common bathroom and at least one faculty apartment. Faculty residents and

associate residents live on every floor to ensure 24-hour supervision of students. All

common rooms are equipped with wireless internet connections. All student rooms have

internet ports.

The Boarding School in Qatar

I have joined this school for two years as an educator and a member of the

steering committee to develop the curriculum and policies related to the school and the

dormitory. This academy is located in Doha the capital city of Qatar. It is established

mainly for sports excellence, and it has a dual program for sports and education. The

school has students from many nationalities and most of them are Qatari. All the students

are boys and the dormitory is offered to secondary school students only.

The dormitory facility of this school consists of 132 fully furnished rooms that

include 4 suites and 128 double bed rooms and can provide accommodation for up to 255

students. All rooms are equipped with a studying area, bedroom and bathroom.

The dormitories are well equipped as accommodation for students who are

athletes and for visiting international teams featuring meeting rooms, playing and leisure

activities, cable TV and games.

Full board catering and laundry services are offered on a daily basis. The rooms

are inspected daily to ensure the highest housekeeping standards.

18
 Day students in the 10, 11, 12 grade levels can expect to be required to spend

additional time boarding during the week. During this scheduled boarding time student-

athletes will have the opportunity for:

 Additional study

 Leadership and life skills classes

 Career and university seminars

My Personal Experiences

I started my career as a dorm houseparent when I joined the Omani Boarding

School in 2000. This experience opened the door for me to work in two other prestigious

schools in Jordan and Qatar, and a university hostel in the United Arab Emirates. My

work started as a teacher and over time I became a dormitory supervisor and social

advisor besides the teaching duties.

My work at the three Middle Eastern boarding schools -especially the Jordanian

school- had allowed me to gain the best possible dormitory experience. The Jordanian

boarding school in particular has adopted a well built American residential life

curriculum. This school has benefited from the long experience of a well-known boarding

school in the USA, and was established with the help of its officials. The idea was to

transfer the American-style boarding school to Jordan, and to bring the best boarding

experience to the region. Throughout the project, I report on my personal experiences in

relation to the topics under scrutiny.

The experience in these schools allowed me to work with colleagues from

different cultures and backgrounds, and gave me the opportunity to gain educational

knowledge from different perspectives.

19
 I gleaned a lot of important information from my work at the three schools. I

found these experiences of great value for any new boarding school faculty, and I wanted

to shed more light on them. A number of critical aspects were recorded in the personal

journal I held in each site over the period when I was active at the school. In connection

with my work, I was also expected to follow the school's recommendations on the duties

I was to perform, and specifically in one case connected to the dormitory handbook by

Hotchkiss and Kowalchick (2002). That I report on after the journal entries.

Personal Journal Entries

The recorded journal entries have started initially when I was working at the

Omani boarding school. The dorm supervisors were asked to record all the necessary

information related to their hallways and their students, and to prepare a portfolio for

each student to be used as a reference when there was a need. Then, in the other two

schools the same strategy was followed, and these are the journal entries I am referring to

in this study. When I found an issue, I wrote a title in my journal and subsequently I

added what I observed and my thinking. Afterward, I gathered the entries that are related

to this project from my computer entries using the relevant keywords. In the project,

when I discuss a point I add the journal entry that corresponds to it with the reference to

the page and the lines in my journal as follows, Personal Journal (PJ), p. X, line i-iii.

The Dormitory Handbook

As a houseparent at the Jordanian boarding school, I have learnt a lot from the

available resources there, and one of them served as a guide for the new appointed staff

which was (The Handbook for Dormitory Supervision and Program development)

prepared by Carol Hotchkiss and Edward Kowalchick (2002). The authors of this

20
reference have more than 60 combined years of experience in boarding schools in the

United States, and their extensive experience in this field has allowed the school to

prepare for a number of workshops and orientation sessions for the new dorm supervisors

using this reference which serves as a thorough and detailed guide.

This handbook includes an overview of the residential curriculum and

fundamental information regarding different programs, procedures, and policies of an

effective school dormitory. The information in this handbook is designed for faculty

members and staff who are or will be supervising boarding school dormitories, and it has

been used as an introduction to dormitory work, a valuable training or orientation manual

and a rich resource for questions and program development during the school year.

The following rules and routines reflect some practices in the boarding schools

that I worked at, and summarize the main points of more than 300 pages of the dormitory

supervision handbook by Hotchkiss and Kowalchick (2002). I tried to connect similar

issues together and added some personal notes when possible to illustrate with real

examples of the residential life. Following are a number of views held by the authors

under a number of Handbook entries.

Basic Framework for Healthy Residential Life

Living together in a residential community provides a laboratory for human

relations training and experience. Many schools have taken good advantage of this

opportunity to address these important issues. On an everyday basis, there will be

interactions among students and between students and the adults who live with them.

Personal and professional lives, for both faculty and students, blend in rich,

complex and sometimes exhausting ways. For residential students, the adults at school

21
are more than teachers. They also parent, direct, counsel, discipline, encourage,

chauffeur, comfort, restrain, support, censor and honor these young people during four

critical years of personal, social and spiritual development. This is a demanding, but

frequently rewarding role.

Students should learn to take increasing responsibility on themselves and

recognize their obligation to be cooperative, considerate and respectful with others.

Students require developmentally appropriate levels of supervision, direction and

involvement in many aspects of their lives. 9th graders need carefully managed limits,

structures and support, while 12th graders should have learned to manage their time and

responsibilities in more independent and responsible ways. Differences will exist at either

age and residential faculty must be able to balance group control with individual concern,

accountability with flexibility (p. 64- 67). Additional details are in appendix A.

A Common Goal

Everyone has come to the boarding school to live in a way that contributes to

students’ development and education. Staff and students should abide by the established

set of rules and routines that will help accomplish this goal.

Without a common goal and cooperative effort, the faculty becomes territorial and

divisive; students become resistant and combative. Trustees are necessarily concerned

about the financial viability of the school, but they must also be committed to making

business decisions within the guidelines of the school’s educational philosophy and

purpose.

A common goal allows each participant, adult and adolescent, to share

responsibility for dorm rules, achievement and relationships. Residential staff and

22
administrators support each other’s efforts and expertise. Students are actively

responsible for their own learning and behavior (p. 31).

Healthy Adult Relationships and Role Modeling

Students are perceptive observers of the adults and adult relationships around

them. Their imitation of faculty manners is obvious. Since adults have a prescribed

amount of power in the dormitory and school community, it is to a student’s benefit to

understand the values and vulnerabilities of the adults who live with them.

Temporarily cut off from parents and other adults, students observe the residential

staff and faculty as the adult role models that suggest and define appropriate adult

behavior. Residential adults can be more objective and less threatening than family

members; students can form new adult relationships without all the baggage of family

connections.

Residential staff members are human and imperfect, but a healthy school will

support its dorm personnel to be the best they can be. Professional educators will strive to

practice what they preach and provide stable adult role models for students. A residential

staff member cannot effectively teach students to take serious responsibility for their

physical and emotional wellness and ignore his own.

Students may hear what we say, but they learn what we do. Living together,

students are exposed to adult lives, vulnerabilities, and character in real and meaningful

ways. Students do not need perfect role models; they need honest and compassionate

ones who are enthusiastic and committed to what they are doing (p. 33-34). Additional

information about this aspect is to be found in appendix B.

Respect

23
 Residential staff must respect the value and potential of each student in the dorm.

It is their job, their profession, to nurture and challenge each individual. Residential staff

must remember to focus on the successes and the unique strengths and qualities each

student brings to the dormitory (p. 37).

Rules and Policies

Dormitory rules and procedures exist not only to keep the dorm running smoothly

and protect common sanity. They are also clearly articulated tools and opportunities for

students to gain important personal and interpersonal skills that prepare them for college

and for life. Students do not arrive with these skills; it is through practice and instruction

that they learn and perfect them. Failure is part of the learning process and should be

addressed educationally rather than judgmentally. Some may require remedial help, and

students should be commended for progress and accomplishment. Students should

understand the reasons behind residential expectations and what they personally gain

from each skill or experience (p. 83). Additional details are in appendix C.

Controlling and Understanding Behavior

There should be clearly outlined responses for emotional outbursts, self-

destructive behavior or interpersonal conflict or harassment. A boarding school usually

has counselors, advisors, and dorm supervisors, who are trained to listen and provide

social coaching for students who are struggling with social or personal conflicts (p.53).

Additional information about this aspect is to be found in appendix D.

Academic Support in the Dorm

The residential life arrangement is not the only task required by boarding schools.

It is essential to provide a good environment for study and academic growth. Living at

24
school gives students access to their teachers and school facilities after school hours.

Libraries, computer and science labs, telescopes, music rooms, art studios, and other

resources extend the learning day and encourage independent learning.

Residential faculty members often provide academic help in the evening and

weekends and many faculty members living on campus are available for questions and

extra tutoring. Students who are new to boarding schools are usually amazed at the access

and willingness of faculty members to help with their academic work outside of the

classroom. Study groups, extra help, and student tutors are all some of the academic

possibilities in a residential setting (p. 169).

House-parents and Supervision

At least one residential staff member must be in residence and available at all

times that significant numbers of students are in the dorm. The school, and as its

representative, the residential staff, is responsible for the safety and security of the

building and the students in its care. Reasonable and responsible effort and policies must

be in place to ensure that safety. A rural, isolated campus will have different security

needs than a highly populated, urban community. Younger students may require different

types of supervision from soon-to-graduate seniors.

The dormitories are locked in some schools during the academic day when dorm

faculty cannot consistently monitor the buildings. Other schools depend on student honor

and random checks to cover the dorms during class-time, granting a level of trust and

freedom to students during their free study periods. Some schools restrict non-resident

access to the dorms through a security system or through rules limiting the right to enter

various buildings. Some dorm rooms have locks and students are expected to keep their

25
doors locked whenever they are not there. Other schools have no locks on individual

doors and expect students to respect each other’s private space and possessions. Some

schools have a non-faculty residential staff with a rotation schedule that monitors the

dormitories 24 hours a day. All of these systems are based on a school’s distinct

expectations and each system can work effectively depending on the culture and realities

of the school (p. 74-78).

Some schools have a separate residential staff whose only responsibility is to

monitor and oversee the operation of the dormitory. The obvious advantage of this

approach is that the residential staff focuses primarily on the residential curriculum and

has the time and energy to do so. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that it can

separate the residential and academic components of the school and staff, diminishing

some of the unique advantages of a coherent educational community. In schools with a

separate residential staff, great care should be taken to incorporate this staff into the

general mission and running of the school. Compensation and benefit packages should be

significant enough to attract outstanding professionals who understand and genuinely

care for adolescents.

Other schools provide housing and some relief time and/or compensation for

faculty members who live in the dormitory and supervise students. This can be an

exhausting, end-of-the-day responsibility, but it also offers faculty members an excellent

opportunity to know and teach students in qualitatively different ways. In the best

circumstances, it can actually enhance their effectiveness in the classroom as well.

Students know and learn from faculty in the full context of human interaction and

26
community. The value and depth of these relationships is often the core of a residential

education for both students and faculty.

Resident faculty should view their job as much educational as supervisory.

Energetic and responsible faculty members must be recruited and trained to run the

dorms and provide positive role models, caring adult supervision and dynamic mentors

for the boarding students. Each residential faculty must have the time, training and

commitment to take an active role in each student’s non-academic education.

Unquestionably, the most important obligation is to recognize and meet the

developmental needs of students, both in theory and in practice. When we understand

how important residential work is to the well-being of the students and the school, we

realize that we must seek out individuals who have a collaborative nature and who are

capable of working in many different roles. Being a residential faculty member is a

demanding job with many responsibilities.

The single most important factor for attracting and retaining dedicated and skilled

dormitory faculty is attractive, comfortable housing. Residential faculty members work

long, demanding hours and are the deciding factor in any successful residential program.

Good housing, competitive wages and adequate relief for residential faculty are essential

to build a strong residential program (p. 249-263). More details about hiring residential

faculty and their responsibilities in boarding schools are given in appendix E.

Leadership Program

In this program, older students give up their time to help new students in a caring

and supportive environment, and they are ready to offer advice on all aspects of the

school and boarding life. Boarding schools usually have leadership and peer counseling

27
programs that train students (Prefects) to support and assist other students without taking

over responsibility for their problems or behavior (p. 227).

A comprehensive student leadership program should provide training and

opportunities for students to learn effective leadership skills and actively contribute to the

strength and breadth of the residential life program. Possibilities for leadership should

begin in 9th grade and increase in significance as students mature. All student leaders

should be given legitimate responsibility and be held accountable for both their mistakes

and their accomplishments.

Important student leadership positions in the dorm not only provide students with

opportunities to develop valuable leadership and community skills, but can also

significantly assist residential staff members in managing the dorm. Prefects or proctors

work closely with the dorm faculty to create a safe, orderly, and pleasant dorm

environment.

Student leaders need to develop an empirical understanding of personal authority,

group dynamics, and leadership. Dorm leaders will confront frequent personal, group,

and ethical challenges and have an opportunity to mature, discover, and develop

important life skills. It is an important part of the residential curriculum to help students

develop these skills and make significant contributions to the dorm and school

community (p. 228-233). Details about the leaders’ qualities are found in appendix F.

Relationships with Students

Regular and caring connections between adults in the dormitory and the students

living there are essential. The basis for all student services and support lies in these

relationships. These relationships should be friendly, but they are not friendships. It is

28
essential for the residential staff to maintain the role and authority of an adult, as

protector, supervisor, superior, and mentor.

The effective adult must firmly hold students accountable and celebrate their

victories. Students need adults who will speak honestly with them and listen

compassionately to them. The residential life is full of demanding, nervous, important

teenage relationships, but the adult presence provides the instruction and direction until

the student has learned to steer these relationships for himself (p. 125).

Communication and Confidentiality

Most of the issues that come up in the dorm will be related to the normal

developmental and growth situation. Some students, however, bring personal and social

problems that require more focused attention and awareness. In these cases, it is essential

that the residential staff and the school-wide student services team work closely and

effectively together. The two basic issues that must be clarified are communication and

confidentiality (p. 132). Appendix G has more details on this.

Relationships with Parents

Many schools have a formal covenant or contract that parents and students sign

when accepted to the school or at the beginning of each school year. Some schools even

base a student’s continued enrollment in the school on both student and parent adherence

to this contract. A formal covenant should clearly articulate the mission of the school and

the academic, residential, and ethical expectations of students, parents, and school

personnel (p. 277). More details on this can be found in appendix H.

The Homesickness Issue in Boarding School

29
 Many parents miss their children when they are away at school and some parents

are unprepared for the sudden loss or emptiness they feel. Their phone calls and sadness

are upsetting and trigger their child’s sadness. Some parents have mixed feelings about

sending their child off to boarding school in the first place and send out many mixed

messages. It is a good idea to talk with the parents of any homesick student and provide

assurance and suggestions about how they can cope and help their child to adjust.

Homesickness mimics depression in that some people want to sleep constantly

and others can’t sleep at all; some lose their appetite completely while others eat

incessantly to comfort themselves. Tears well up at the slightest provocation and the only

solution seems to be to go home immediately (NOW). Homesickness is not a particularly

rational illness, lists of pros and cons and attempts to keep busy may provide momentary

relief, but recovery typically takes time and a few patient listeners because many of the

conversations will go in circles. Small victories and resolutions will randomly disappear

and reappear just as unpredictably.

It is important to listen, empathize, and let the homesick student know that we are

sorry he is feeling so badly and that we hope he ends up staying. Distraction, food, and

humor are all good in measure, but it is also valuable to empathize and allow the student

time to work through his fears and sadness. In these situations it is important to

encourage prefects and other students to be sensitive and include the homesick student,

but there might be a need to call on the school counselor or advisor in serious

homesickness situations (p. 145-147).

30
 In the case of child homesickness, the following aspects correspond to

recommendations to parents in the handbook (p. 147), these recommendations imply that

parents should:

 Acknowledge their child’s homesickness and reassure him that they are confident

that attending this school is a good choice and that he will make it through this

difficult time.

 Ask questions and express interest in his classes, friends and activities, make

plans to visit or keep track of the activities at school. Encourage their child to join

a team or get involved in a community service group or club. Stay upbeat and

excited about the possibilities. Treat the homesickness as a regrettable, but

temporary problem.

 Reassure their child about what is going on at home. Sometimes, homesick

students are afraid they are missing something important or threatening at home.

It is OK to let him know that you love him and miss him and are also excited to

hear all about his new adventures.

 Establish set times to call - gradually decreasing the frequency. The school must

offer the students means of communication with their parents and make it easy for

both of them to reach each other when needed.

Additional information about what parents should do, are in Appendix I.

Roommate Issues

Living with a roommate may be one of the most valuable and challenging

educational opportunities of boarding school life. Most students have never had to share a

room before and, whether a student ends up with the best friend or a stranger with

31
unbearable qualities and habits, two teenagers with all their equipment, noise, and moods

in even the best designed double room will have countless opportunities to develop

tolerance, patience, compromise, cooperation, understanding, assertiveness, and a sense

of humor (p. 144).

Mediation and conflict resolution will become valued skills required of both

students and the staff. Successfully learning to respect, understand, and coexist with a

roommate will provide the student with wonderful training for marriage, business, and

community life.

The Issue of Isolation and Exclusion

Most dorms have one or two students who appear to be isolated or excluded from

the general social connections in the dorm. This can be especially painful for a student

because he cannot escape from the social context at the end of the school day. Because he

can’t escape, however, school life also offers the opportunity for isolated or excluded

students to practice and develop stronger social skills and friendships. Furthermore, each

and every student must develop empathy and respect for all members of the dorm, so

while the isolated person has the responsibility to reach out and develop effective social

skills, the group also has the responsibility to accept and support that person’s efforts.

Everyone belongs and should be treated with respect (p. 148-149). Other additional

information in the handbook is to be found in appendix J.

Diversity Issues

In order to truly and ethically diversify a school community, a school must

embrace the value of all of its students and embody that respect in its policies and

programs. Special needs presented by diverse backgrounds and cultures should be

32
carefully respected and accommodated for. A school that accepts students with little or no

English is obligated to provide ESL support and accommodations. While junk and quick

food may rapidly be becoming the international cuisine of adolescence, a fourteen year

old child who is far away from home deserves to have some comfort food that recognizes

his culture. The school’s health services should understand and respect culturally

different approaches to health care and wellness. Parental language barriers should be

navigated thoughtfully and respectfully. Economic differences among the student body

should be considered in required activities and fees (p. 150).

Coping Strategies

The goal of a safe, cooperative, and educational residential life program is to help

each student learn and get the skills to cope with the new environment. Assistance should

be given with an objective to making the student more and more capable of handling his

or her own problems (p. 52-56). A list of recommended strategies and steps to help

students cope with the requirement of the personal and social life at a boarding school

can be found in appendix K.

Red Flags and Responses

Everyone has normal mood swings, good times and bad times and interpersonal

problems to resolve. These normal stresses may seem particularly traumatic during

adolescence as students learn how to cope with them independently. The dorm

supervisor is an important observer and resource for students when times get tough.

Sensitivity to unusual changes in a student’s mood or behavior will enable the school to

respond to especially difficult problems in helpful and supportive ways (p. 153-

33
160). Appendix L has more information about the red flags that need immediate attention

and response.

Make a Dorm Like a Home

A dormitory is not a home, and three adults and forty teenagers are definitely not

a family, but an essential part of a residential curriculum expects the place where we live

to be comfortable and accepting, and the people that we live with to be kind and

respectful. Part of that process includes the families and backgrounds of the students who

live together (p.305). Further information about this aspect is to be found in appendix M.

After the presentation of the overall methodological approach, the description of

the sites in which the research took place, personal details about the participant researcher

and his experience, the researchers’ journaling and a description of the document namely

the handbook that contains the guidelines for the researcher’s duties, I proceed with a

review of the connected literature in the next chapter.

34
 Chapter 3

Review of the Literature

In this chapter, I investigate the effects of moving and relocation in order to

understand the kind of difficulties that first-year students face during the transition from

home to the dormitory. The chapter also gives some details about the theories and models

of psychological effects of change, and I discuss the phenomenon of homesickness. The

understanding of these aspects will help educators plan for strategies and resolutions to

ease this transition, and let students and parents know what to expect and how to get

ready for the new boarding school experience.

The Effects of Geographic Mobility and Lack of Familiarity

Geographic mobility has become a way of life for many families. Moving or

transitioning is not the most traumatic event of one’s life. It would be difficult to compare

it to the death of a family member or to war. However, it is a frequent event that is often

experienced as stressful, even when chosen voluntarily by some of the individuals

involved. Moving not only involves separation from family and friends but also the loss

of familiar objects such as buildings, neighborhood, and other physical elements of the

previous home (Fisher, 1986).

Although moving is perceived as stressful by all age groups, it appears to be

especially difficult for children and adolescents as they are displaying vulnerability at the

social, family, and physiological levels during the period of the move. Both parents and

teachers perceive children as a "more vulnerable" population during a move. This

vulnerability expresses itself in periodic difficulties in adaptation to the new environment

and the adopting of a regressive attitude (Raviv, Keinan, & Abazon, 1990).

35
The Stress of Moving

Mental health workers and teachers, participating in a study conducted by

Chandler (1981), rated moving for children to be 19th out of 37 stressful life events.

Another study (Hutton, Roberts, Walker, & Zuniga, 1987) indicates that children

perceive moving to be more stressful than was previously considered. Ninth-grade

students participating in the study rated moving as 7th out of 37 stressful life events

following physical abuse and change in acceptance by peers and preceding material

separation of parents.

The stresses and difficulties experienced in a move are numerous and varied.

Fisher (1986) related some of the difficulties aroused during transition periods to a loss of

control due to a reduction in mastery over one’s psychosocial environment. This lack of

control was observed in the schools, up to a point of severe inability, as if in shock. The

following journal entry supports this concern,

I noticed that many first-year students suffer from anxiety and stress during the
first days, they would appear so overwhelmed that their ability to study, follow
daily routine, or interact with others is affected. (Personal Journal (P.J), p. 6, line
7-9)

Lehr and Hendrikson (1968) mentioned some of the various difficulties that young people

undergo while moving. These include physical changes, leaving one’s social circle and

assimilating into another, and a change of school, which involves adapting to new

teachers and new work methods. In moving away from a familiar place of residence, the

individual loses, at least in part, the opportunity to receive social support.

The nature of the difficulties encountered by children and adolescents while

moving is also a function of the mover’s age. Young children may interpret the move in

fantasy as a disintegration of their immediate world and loss of their home as a

36
transitional object. Six-year-olds are occupied with their transition to school and are left

with less energy with which to deal with the move. Older children are involved in the

construction of their self-identity and with investment in the social sphere; moving tears

them away from their peer group, playing a dominant role in their difficulties (Brett,

1982).

Mobility and Children’s Emotional Stability

Children who move three or more times are at increased risk for emotional,

behavioral and school problems. Thus, pediatricians, other health professionals, and

educators should be alert to the potential educational and psychological problems among

children from highly mobile families (Simpson & Fowler, 1994). Health workers seemed

well aware of all the implications and the gravity of effects, as was witnessed by this

statement,

During my work in Jordan the school medical staff has advised us as house-
parents to be aware of the signs of anxiety and stress among students , they might
be suffering emotionally and show some physical symptoms, these usually appear
on the students in the form of stomach pain, nausea, dizziness or difficulty
breathing. When we find someone with these symptoms we must take an action
before the situation get worse. Otherwise, there will be a range of negative
consequences that can happen, these include struggling socially and academically,
drop out of school, severe feeling of loneliness and homesickness. (P.J, p. 6, line
12-19)

Psychologists theorize that children who move must deal with feelings of loss, fears of

the unknown, and lessened parental attention, all of which may lead to emotional and

behavioral problems. What makes the situation more difficult is that parents are

preoccupied or exhausted with the physical and social demands of moving, such as

locating medical or child care in a new community, and getting established in new

37
employment situation during a move, therefore, they are less attuned to their child’s fears

or needs (Simpson & Fowler, 1994).

Multiple moves are reported to have had less negative impact on children in

military families. However, because the military has support services to facilitate moving,

military families may not be comparable to civilians. Some studies of civilian families

indicate that children have some emotional difficulties after a move. Other studies

suggest that mobility is inversely associated with educational achievement (Simpson &

Fowler, 1994).

Residential Mobility and Adolescent Violence

There is a growing body of research linking adolescent mobility to a host of

negative behavioral outcomes, including poor academic performance (Pribesh & Downey

1999), reduced educational attainment, drug use, and early sexual activity (Haynie &

South, 2005). In my journal entries, disruptive behavior is mentioned, with the following

examples,

There are a number of behavioral issues among the boarding school's students. I
haven't observed many cases of severe violence among them, but I noticed that
some parents expressed that their children pattern of violence has been changed to
the worse since they joined the boarding school, and they think its related to the
new change they are experiencing. (P.J, p. 3, line 16-20)

Theories of Mobility and Problem Behavior

Four broad categories of explanatory factors have been invoked by current

theorizing on the effects of residential mobility on adolescent problem behavior: parent-

child relationships, psychological distress, experiences of victimization and peer social

networks. Although the specific mechanisms falling into each category are not always

mutually exclusive, these factors encompass the most frequently cited explanations for

38
the detrimental effect of residential mobility on adolescents' participation in violence

(Haynie & South, 2005).

Parent-Child Relationship

One reason why residential mobility might increase adolescent violence is

because moving negatively affects parents' relationships with their children and parents'

ability to adequately supervise and monitor their children's behavior. Coleman (1988)

views residential mobility as potentially problematic for children and adolescents because

residential relocation disrupts social relations that bind parents, children, teachers and

other community adults. Upon a change of dwelling, community or school, many of the

connections among actors in a child's network become severed, thus resulting in a loss of

social capital. In turn, the deficit in social capital incurred by residential mobility is

hypothesized to negatively impact adolescent development, which in turn may increase

adolescents' risk of engaging in violence (Coleman, 1988).

Psychological Distress

A second general category of mediating factors that might explain the effect of

residential mobility on adolescent violence is psychological and psychosocial states.

Observers taking this approach note that adolescence has traditionally been considered a

time of substantial turmoil in the life course, as youth struggle with establishing self-

images, finding appropriate and supportive peer groups, and begin their psychological,

emotional, and in some cases, physical separation from their parents. Perhaps partly as a

result of deteriorating relations with parents, peers and schools, residential mobility has

been characterized as a stressful life event for adolescents (Raviv et al., 1990), and one

that threatens their self-concept and self-esteem (Hendershott, 1989). In turn, such

39
psychological distress might lead adolescents to develop a "nothing to lose" attitude

towards violent activities. Adolescents may attempt to shed such stress by engaging in

acts of bravado, including exhibiting physical aggression (Haynie & South, 2005).

Victimization

A third possible explanation for the effect of residential mobility on adolescent

violence involves adolescents' experiences with victimization. Newcomers may be

particularly vulnerable to victimization because others view them as having fewer

resources to counter personal attacks. Ethnographic research shows that aggressors are

more likely to victimize those they perceive as alone, weak or compliant – all traits that

are likely to characterize adolescent newcomers to their communities and schools (Miller,

2001). Higher rates of victimization might lead residentially-mobile adolescents to

subsequently engage in violent behavior for purposes of defense, retaliation or to

eradicate strains induced by victimization (Haynie & South, 2005).

Peer Social Networks

An alternative explanation for the impact of residential mobility on adolescent

violence emphasizes differences in the peer social networks of mobile and non-mobile

youth. Studies of youth social development point to the paramount role of peer social

networks, broadly defined, in shaping adolescent behavior, but little is known about the

impact of residential mobility on key characteristics of these networks. Mobile youth

report having fewer close friends and less personal intimacy with the friends they do have

(Vernberg, 1990) and they are less likely to be the center of peer social networks, factors

that in turn might increase the propensity toward violence or delinquency (South &

Haynie, 2004). Concerns parents had around this issue were reported in the Journal, they

40
were well aware that it would be better not to sever all existing ties for the benefit of their

child,

While in Jordan I met some parents who were concerned about their children's
future in the school and their social relationships and behavior, they mentioned
that they have chosen this boarding school in particular because their children
have some friends there, and they believe this would make the situation easier for
them. (P.J, p. 3, line 22-26)

Student Mobility and School Dropout

Although several studies have linked adolescent residential and school mobility to

an increased risk of dropping out of school, the reasons for this association have not been

examined thoroughly (South, Haynie, & Bose, 2007).

There is a growing body of research that reports significant negative effects of

student mobility on a range of compromised educational outcomes, including diminished

academic performance (Pribesh & Downey, 1999), high rates of school dropout and

ultimately lower levels of educational attainment during young adulthood (South et al.,

2007). Another research study also shows that changing schools is often associated with

reduced academic performance and school completion, social competence, and self-

esteem (Rumberger & Larson, 1998).

South et al. (2007) in their study found that mobile students who have recently

changed both residences and schools, are approximately twice as likely as their non-

mobile counterparts to drop out of school over a year’s time. Characteristics of

adolescents’ peer networks, particularly students’ centrality in those networks and the

academic performance of their friends, emerge as the most important mediators of the

mobility-dropout association. South et al. (2007) have also indicated an increased risk of

dropping out among both mobile and non-mobile students attending schools with high

41
rates of student mobility, which appears partially attributable to lower levels of school

attachment and weaker academic performance in high mobility schools.

Among the explanations for this dropout from school; South et al. (2007) found

that the differences between mobile and non-mobile students in the structure and

composition of their peer friendship networks are best able to explain the movers’ higher

dropout rate. A desperate need of a support system could well lead to dropping out if

none is found, as students struggle with establishing connections. There is an entry in my

journal supporting this view,

One of the first fears our students used to express to their houseparent that they
are terrified that they would not find true friends in this place to hang out with
because they still knew no one at all and no family is there! They felt lost and
unattached to the new place. (P.J, p. 4, line 11-14)

Mobile students tend to have smaller, denser networks, and to be less centrally located in

their networks. In addition, mobile students’ friends exhibit weaker academic

performance than do the friends of non-mobile students. In turn, students who are

peripherally involved in their friendship networks and who associate with friends who

have low GPAs are more likely to drop out of school. Mobile students’ comparatively

lower levels of academic performance and their poorer relationships with their schools, as

indicated by infrequent participation in extracurricular activities and low levels of school

engagement, also explain a small portion of the apparent effect of student mobility on

school dropout (South et al., 2007). Parents’ awareness of this problem and their

flexibility can help alleviate the severity of the problems experienced as is reported

below,

The dropout among boarding school students was not significant, but was mostly
noted during the first two months of school for the new students. Some parents
alternatively change the status of their child from boarding student to a day
42
 student for a semester, until their child gets used to the new place and establishes
a social relationship that makes him ready to return to the dorm later on. (P.J, p.
11, line 5-9)

Models of Psychological Effects of Change and Transition

Change and transition, although identified as recurring features of life, may be

associated with mental and physical disorder. For both migration populations and internal

migrants there is evidence of higher hospitalization rates for mental disorder. Moreover,

migrant populations have been found to be at risk for both chronic and infectious disease

(Fisher & Hood, 1987).

There are a number of models that evolved from different perspectives which

have sought to explain the symptoms which accompany the experience of transition:

1. Separation anxiety

The separation-anxiety model is based on research involving separation of the

young infant from its mother (Bowlby, 1982). Separation results in anxious, searching,

angry, distressed behavior which may later shift to apathy and helplessness. Similar

attachment behavior may be manifest in adults by relationships between friends, within

marriages and between parents and older children. The loss of immediate contact with a

significant friend or relative would be expected to have adverse effects (Fisher & Hood,

1987). Different ways of coping with the first move to boarding school is evidenced in

the following Journal entries,

The first day and night at boarding school will usually be filled with emotions and
stress among the parents and their children. The separation anxiety is spreading its
wings over the crowd, while the school will prepare for a full orientation program
to make the students very busy during the first day. (P.J, p. 2, line 4-7)

43
 What increases the stress during the first day is that some parents would feel sad
and cry while saying goodbye to their children, and this would make the situation
worse. (P.J, p. 2 , line 9-11)

In many boarding schools I've seen mothers crying once they realize their
children are not returning home with them at that night. This will make the first
night at a boarding school filled with emotions and tears, especially that many
students still don't have close friends around them, and for me as a dorm
supervisor I always have to deal with many similar cases to make things easier
and let the night pass peacefully. (P.J, p. 2, line 14-19)

In the boarding school in Oman there was a little difference, in their culture
usually the father and not the mother is the one who accompanies the child to the
dormitory, and the father usually would appear emotionally stronger than the
mother and would not show his child any tears. In Oman there was a guest room
in each floor of the dorm where the parents are allowed to spend the first night
closer to their children helping them adjust to this completely new place. Some
parents were strong enough to leave the first night without staying with their kids,
while others would spend the whole night talking to their children. (P.J, p. 2, line
21-28)

2. Interruption of plans

Laboratory-based research on the effects of interruption on memory and task

performance has also provided a basis for understanding changes in cognitive activity and

mood evident in the homesickness response. It is assumed that interruption causes the

thwarting of ongoing planned activity creating tension release manifest in raised level of

arousal or anxiety (Fisher & Hood, 1987).

3. The control model

An explanation of the stress can also be provided on the assumption that transition

creates a shift in the level of control available to the individual according to Fisher

(1986). The result is increased perceived threat because the individual feels unsure of the

action to be taken to cope with changed circumstances. This model as noted by Fisher

and Hood (1997), shifts the emphasis towards aspects of the new environment as

determinants of the effects of transition.

44
 Transition and Homesickness

Homesickness Definition

The definition of homesickness shows that homesickness is not a unitary concept;

rather, it is a term that encompasses a wide range of individual thoughts, feelings and

attitudes, focusing primarily upon the former home and family. Less dominant features,

in terms of reported incidence, involve feeling insecure and unhappy in the new

environment (Fisher et al., 1985).

Fisher and Hood (1987) define homesickness as a complex cognitive-

motivational-emotional state concerned with grieving for, yearning for and being

preoccupied with thoughts of home. Implied in this statement is that homesick persons

have lost their home or, at least, are no longer living in the place they call home.

Homesickness was defined by Thurber (2005) as the distress or impairment caused by

actual or anticipated separation from home.

For a person who leaves home to reside in a new place whether for educational,

vocational or occupational reasons, there is the added problem of distancing of the

existing social support and nurture produced by families and close friends. University

students, college students, boarding school students, student nurses and military cadets

are populations likely to experience such conditions when they leave home to take up

their places in the relevant institution (Fisher, Frazer, & Murray, 1985).

Some people see the transition in the student life as a positive event. However, the

changes that result can at times be stressful for the student, as he or she leaves existing

sources of social support behind. It is often viewed by many prospective students as

anxiety-producing, a cause of homesickness or a reason not to make the move at all, but

45
to stay at home and attend a local school or college (Tognoli, 2003). Commonly, this

stress creates feelings of homesickness and the intense desire to return home. While

initial feelings of homesickness are obviously common for most, if not all, new students,

prolonged feelings often prove to be problematic (Urani, Miller, Johnson, & Petzel,

2003).

It is also possible that the exposure to the new environment under conditions of

reduced contact with family and friends, is in itself threatening and that the homesickness

response represents a desire to leave the environment (Fisher, Frazer, & Murray, 1986).

The researcher noticed that the homesick student can get better over time, but the feeling

of homesickness can come back again if the student is exposed to the change experience

again, perhaps compounded by the facts of wintry weather and lack of sunlight. There is

a journal entry that supports this aspect,

From what I've seen among students, the feeling of homesickness will be
improved by the end of the first semester, but I have noticed some students in
Jordan get this feeling again when they return after Winter break, at that time the
weather gets cold with less outdoor activities, midyear exams and assignments
will be due, and again being far away from the family! (P.J, p. 8, line 15-19)

A child at school, for example, is exposed to a structured, disciplined world dominated by

teachers. The teacher-dominated world is likely to be different from the parent dominated

world in that the teacher requires activities and competence and is less likely to provide a

child with emotional support. Interactions with parents are sometimes negative but

individualized and frequent, whereas teachers are more likely to make demands and to

emphasize competence in the activities of the child (Fisher et al., 1986).

This state of mind produced by such major environmental change is called

'homesickness'. The term is commonly used as a description or explanation of any

46
malaise associated with arrival in a new environment (Fisher et al., 1985). The

implication is that there is a generally accepted belief that a person grieves or yearns for

the old environment and is depressed because of removal from it (Fisher et al., 1985).

Homesickness Factors

To understand the factors that make someone feel homesick Fisher and Hood

(1988) found in their study that first-year college students who exhibit signs of insecurity

and poor social skills prior to entering university life have a greater tendency to exhibit

signs of homesickness during the sixth week of their first term. Additionally, Fisher and

Hood (1988, p. 316) found that "homesick individuals reported greater perceived stress in

association with all residential moves than their non-homesick counterparts."

In a second study, Flett, Endler, and Besser (2009) indicated in their findings that

people are prone to experience homesickness if they typically have elevated levels of

separation anxiety. Although they did not assess the duration and persistence of

homesickness, it is plausible that individuals with high levels of trait separation anxiety

are likely to experience chronic problems with homesickness.

Other researchers explored factors that may make an individual susceptible to

homesickness. For example, Kazantzis and Flett (1998) focused on family cohesion as a

determinant of homesickness in first-year college students. Their findings showed that

family cohesion and dependency were significant predictors of the occurrence of

homesickness.

Homesickness and Environment

Whilst an environmental move could be considered a necessary condition for a

homesick experience, it is not in itself a sufficient condition in that a proportion of

47
subjects experiencing a move do not report homesickness. However, environmental

factors may provide factors for a homesickness experience (Fisher et al., 1985).

The geographical distance factor could be assumed to operate as an 'initiating'

rather than an 'augmenting' factor. One obvious explanation is that increased distance

increases the cost of personal visits home and therefore decreases control over whether or

not home can be visited (Fisher et al., 1985). This implies that increased distance will

increase a sense of isolation from home due to the increased difficulty of visits home. It is

also plausible that not liking conditions in the new environment create the pre-conditions

for homesickness; home is seen as better and more desirable (Fisher et al., 1985).

Personal and Circumstantial Determinants of Homesickness

Against the view that homesickness is environmentally determined is the view

that circumstantial and personal factors surrounding the move have an influence. For

example, responsibility for the initial decision to leave home and attend university was

found to reduce homesickness reporting (Fisher et al., 1985).

One explanation is that those who are positive about leaving home for university

do not expect to be homesick and are quite happy to leave home, whereas those who are

urged by parents lack the necessary positive attitude. A second explanation is that low

control over decisions in life events increases the perception of threat because of

perceived helplessness, and low decisional involvement to go to university implies low

control over the decision to leave or stay. Finally, it is possible that dominant parents who

make decisions for their children even at quite a late age produce children vulnerable to

change (Fisher et al., 1985).

Effects of Homesickness

48
 The transition to a new place and separation from home are regarded as

significant stressors that not only can result in feelings of homesickness, but can also

contribute to health problems (including decreased immune system functioning), reduced

psychological well-being, and other maladaptive outcomes (Flett, Endler, & Besser,

2009).

Physical, behavioral, and emotional symptoms have been noted as manifestations

of homesickness. Emotional reactions include depressive and anxiety symptoms. Social

withdrawal, feelings of loneliness, insecurity, lack or loss of control, disrupted identity

and lower self-esteem have also variously been associated with homesickness (Downs,

2003). Burt (1993) showed that persistent feelings of homesickness can lead to a lack of

concentration and ability to perform, along with absent-mindedness and cognitive

failures. Thus, homesickness in students is an issue that must be taken seriously, for it can

influence their level of success in adapting to their new environment.

After shedding light on the challenges that accompany the relocation and moving,

we can understand how difficult the move from home to dormitory is, and this imposes a

responsibility on educators to give these issues the proper attention and take the required

course of actions. Needless to say, the specific school environment and the level of

support provided will have an impact on the way the students feel. I present the findings

in the next chapter.

49
 Chapter 4

Findings

Findings Connected to School Experiences and the Analysis of the Handbook

These entries reflect the connections that were made between personal experience

and recommendations in the handbook.

The Boarding School Community

The most important aspect of a residential community is how the residential staff

and the students live together and interact in the classrooms and dorms. A safe and

supportive environment will result in a healthy residential life and will contribute to a

successful educational and personal development.

A successful residential community requires a shared vision and mission. In

Qatar, for example, every three years there is a general meeting for representatives of all

stakeholders to discuss the school vision and mission to unify the purpose that brings

them together, and to make any changes if necessary.

Teachers and administrators who choose to join a boarding school must be willing

to share their lives and actively challenge students both in and out of the classroom.

There is a standard document for Boarding schools that is recognized internationally and

used in many contexts and serves as a reference in the Jordanian boarding school.

The Dormitory Handbook (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002, p. 64) indicates that a

healthy residential community should provide each student with personal recognition, a

healthy lifestyle, respected privacy, and clear boarding rules and procedures. Every staff

member has come to the boarding school to live in a way that contributes to students’

development and education. Staff and students should abide by the established set of

50
rules and routines that will help accomplish this goal, and support should be provided for

students who are not immediately successful. However, some students either have not

developed the necessary skills or are paralyzed by the cumulative demands in the new

setting and experience added difficulties which is evidenced by an entry in my journal,

The new students at the beginning need someone to help them and let them know
how to organize their time. I have seen them overwhelmed with many things they
have to deal with for the first time: getting to know their roommates, taking care
of room chores, interacting with people from different cultures, all of that in
addition to the many academic demands. (P.J, p. 5, line 10-14)

For this reason, these routines and expectations should be realistic and create a balance

between work, play, and personal needs.

Diversity and Respect

One of the main values which we teach our students at school is respect. Many

boarding schools have brought together students and teachers from many different

countries and backgrounds. The boarding school in Jordan as an example has students

from more than 40 different countries, and the Qatari school has teachers and staff from

more than 20 different countries. The residential community celebrates both its diversity

and common culture. The fact is that this enhanced feeling of pride in belonging to a

specific community had an additional positive effect as was observed in this journal

entry,

In Qatar we used to have a Global day celebration, that day all the students will
come dressed in their traditional costumes and share traditional food. Everyone
feels proud about their own culture, and this way we promote the respect among
our students and the acceptance of others. (P.J, p. 9, line 15-18)

It is also important that the boarding school staff be well informed about individual and

cultural differences among the students and be trained to deal with situation of conflict.

51
Staff awareness of the subtle needs dictated by cultural idiosyncrasies is required as well

as their ability to negotiate and mediate, a fact I referenced in my notes below,

I remember that some students used to ask me to switch roommate due to conflict
and differences between them, as a houseparent I have to solve these problem
before looking for alternative roommate. The students sometimes complain from
problems with the roommate related to conflict in their beliefs and views, or
problem such as lack of cleanliness, or disrespect of property and the use of own
possessions without asking. In these cases it is much better to advise the students
to respect the differences between each other, and to behave in a respectful way
so that they can stay together. Many students come to the boarding school without
having the required skills to interact and solve problems with others, and it is the
houseparent duty to improve these skills among them. (P.J, p. 8, line 3-12)

In order to truly and ethically diversify a school community, the Dormitory Handbook

(Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002, p. 150) emphasizes the importance of respect and

acceptance of each other, and indicates that the school must embrace the value of all of

its students and embody that respect in its policies and programs; special needs presented

by diverse backgrounds and cultures should be carefully respected and accommodated,

parental language barriers should be navigated thoughtfully and respectfully, and

economic differences among the student body should be considered in required activities

and fees.

Quality of Care

Every academic year the residential staff has to deal with the new students' special

academic, physical, and psychiatric needs. They have to provide the required support and

counseling when needed. Proper arrangements should be available to provide the students

with adequate health care, security measures must protect the residence from any threat,

and clear procedures and guidelines have to be established to deal with any emergency

situations.

52
 The quality of care was found to be a key factor in making boarding schools an

interesting place for students (Mason, 1997). One of the most important aspects of the

school care is the academic support provided at dorms. Many parents send their children

to a boarding school because they are looking for an environment that helps students to

study and develop independence and responsibility that prepare them for the university

life.

The dormitory staff is usually willing to help students with their studies after

school hours. The Dormitory Handbook (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002, p. 169)

highlighted that the residential life arrangement is not the only task required by boarding

schools, it is essential to provide a good environment for study and academic growth.

Living at school gives students access to their teachers and school facilities after school

hours. Libraries, computer and science labs, telescopes, music rooms, art studios, and

other resources extend the learning day and encourage independent learning. The role

played by dorm supervisors can be all encompassing and thus their communication skills

also have to be honed in order to find adequate sources of academic support for the

students. This need is reported in a journal entry,

The first year students usually need extra support with their academics, because
they will be required to do more work at school and dorm independently, and that
is a stressful situation. We as dorm supervisors usually encourage them to form
study groups with other students or seek teaching assistance from the teachers and
advisors. It takes time to achieve the academic adjustment but with this support
most students will succeed. (P.J, p. 6, line 1-6)

Residential staff also provide caring, professional supervision and feedback intended to

help students master residential life skills in line with the recommendations in Hotchkiss

and Kowalchick (2002, p.41). They should be good listeners if they want to see a real

change in their stressed students. A shift in seeking support can be noticed over time,
53
with a move from complete dependence on the parents to reliance on the support system

at school, which is reported in the journal,

I used to encourage my students to seek advice from any of the staff if they found
themselves in emotional distress, but many of the new students would turn to their
parents as a primary source of support when times get tough. However, this
situation will change significantly when the time passes, and even some students
when they find a true listener at school they wouldn't bother their parents with
their problems at school. (P.J, p. 4, line 17-22)
The House-parents

The job of the houseparent or residential faculty is seen as educational and

supervisory in its nature. This kind of work requires responsible and motivated staff

members who are willing to take care of the students and do all they can for the students'

well-being. They need training, support, and professional development opportunities so

they can run their supervision duties effectively.

In Jordan and Oman the residential supervisors were selected from the teaching

staff, while in Qatar the supervisors were only dedicated to monitor the operation of the

dormitory. There are some advantages to each style, but in both cases it is required to

involve the dorms supervisors in the educational and social life of the students, so they

can help them without separation of these crucial aspects of their school life. The dorm

monitoring sometimes had to go very far, requiring the supervisor’s total attention as is

evidenced by the following quote,

As a houseparent I learned that I was not living next to the students, but living
with them. This required me to have my apartment door open into the dorm most
of the time during my duty day. Students need someone to listen to them, help
them with their studies, social issues and more. (P.J, p. 7, line 16-19)

Careful attention should be paid to the process of hiring, training, and supervising the

residential faculty based on their knowledge, background, and competencies. The

54
Dormitory Handbook (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002, p. 250) mentioned some of the

necessary criteria or competencies that should be considered when hiring a residential

factually such as:

 The ability to integrate educational theory and practice to provide learning

environments that positively affect the students’ development.

 The ability to handle conflict resolution, provide emergency and crisis

management, counseling, and student advising.

 The ability to provide advising for the residents.

 The ability to train, advise, and meet with students who have issues or problems.

 The ability to create, support, and maintain multi cultural development programs.

 The ability to establish goals, for faculty and student residents, as well as

awareness of performance appraisals.

I found that my colleagues usually displayed these abilities in the Jordanian boarding

school, and many of the staff in the Omani school. Being a good residential faculty

member presents endless opportunities to contribute to the development and education of

students. Selecting staff, who are committed to their work and serious about improving

their effectiveness in the dorm, is the foundation of a successful dormitory.

Peer Mentoring and Leadership Program

The peer mentoring program is a valuable way to help new students have a

successful transition to boarding school. In residential life, we usually looked for

opportunities to integrate the role of peer mentor into the daily life of the students,

because more frequent contact is likely to lead to more powerful experience, and can

provide the new students with support for academic success and interpersonal

55
development. In this program, which was in place in all three schools, older students give

up their time to help new students in a caring and supportive environment, and they are

ready to offer advice on all aspects of the school and boarding life.

The students who joined this program were called Prefects in Jordan, Monitors in

Oman, and Leaders in Qatar. They usually received some training to prepare them for the

task. Observations of student monitors would indicate that these students are well

integrated, and perhaps the training they receive would be beneficial to others as well, but

in turn their personality probably also impacts their way of being in allowing them to be

effective, as is evidenced by this journal entry,

The first-year students usually express how much they value the peer mentoring
system, because it helps them feel welcome in the new school, and they can find a
role model who can guide them and equip them with the skills and the
information needed to establish a new residential life. I have noticed that the
students involved in the peer mentoring system have more positive relationships
with their families and friends, and will show a better performance in their social
and academic life at school. (P.J, p. 10, line 20-25)

Student leadership positions in the dorm not only provide students with opportunities to

develop valuable leadership and community skills, but according to the experience and to

the Dormitory Handbook (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002, p. 227) it can significantly

assist residential staff members in managing the dorm. Prefects or proctors work closely

with the dorm faculty to create a safe, orderly, and pleasant dorm environment.

The dorm handbook suggests that the dorm leader should have the following

qualities to get the most of the leadership program, they should be:

 Dependable and responsible, and willing to make the time commitment.

 Able to act honestly and independently, regardless of peer pressures or judgment.

 Respected and listened to in a group.

56
  Able to receive and give constructive criticism.

 Able to explore alternative solutions to a problem.

 Able to work cooperatively and effectively in a group.

 Perceived as a trustworthy and caring person.

Most of the students involved displayed these qualities especially in the Qatari school

where the student leaders have to join an academic course for three years called

(Leadership Development Program-LDP) and that resulted in a dynamic and effective

leadership program. However, students who decide to take on this responsibility should

thoughtfully consider the challenges and time commitment especially during the exams

period.

Relationships with Parents

At the beginning of each year, the boarding schools start to establish the

connections and communications with the parents by providing them with materials

regarding the school's expectations and how to get involved in their child's school

progress. The three schools provided such information in different styles, in Jordan the

parents get the same copy of the student handbook, while in Qatar the school publishes a

community handbook which is broader and includes special information and general

school rules and expectations.

A parents’ handbook is usually a very useful resource for parents, it can answer

many of their questions and let them know what to expect. Parents want to make sure that

their children are in safe hands and receive responsible care and supervision. The

emphasis parents place on good communication with the school is to be expected, it also

57
appears that they want to be kept up to date and contacted in the case of any emergency

or concern on the part of school staff, there is an entry in the journal to that effect,

The parents usually ask for good communication between the school and them
about their children's social and academic progress. They said this will make them
feel confident that their children are receiving good quality care, and most
importantly makes them less worried about their children safety and well-being.
(P.J, p. 11, line 19-22)

In addition to the school handbook, the boarding schools usually offer some training

sessions for the parents to let them understand the new school's culture, and to prepare

them to participate in the supportive mission of the school. Efforts were observed in

communicating with parents, especially initially, in order for them to gain a better

understanding of the whole school experience, for example,

In Jordan the school was arranging orientation sessions designed to help anxious
parents who are struggling with the notion of letting their children go. These
sessions aimed at easing the pain of separation. (P.J, p. 7, line 6-8)

Supportive parents can help their children cope and get engaged in the new environment

by teaching them some essential life skills at home, and transferring this experience to

their dormitory. Preparedness for the children can be crucial even as small details are

concerned, perhaps even if such tasks make them busy and take their minds off their

sorrow and all parents should take pre-emptive measures, but this was only the case in

Jordan and not in each case, as is recorded in the Journal,

In Jordan some parents were smart enough to teach their children - especially the
girls- a number of life skills before coming to school such as how to do laundry,
iron, clean up, wash dishes, and prepare a quick meal, these skills help the
children to survive in their new place, and feel more confident and independent,
which will improve the overall feeling toward the boarding life. The boys are not
much interested in learning some of these skills, but when they are faced with real
situations they used to ask the houseparent to teach them how thing can be done..
(P.J, p. 7, line 9-15)
A Family-like Atmosphere
58
 It is the goal of boarding school to create a safe, cooperative, and productive

residential life, by offering opportunities to learn the essential life skills, and by balancing

the dependence and independence traits of the boarding school students. All of these

aspects should be accompanied by creating a comfortable and accepting environment

where people can feel like at home.

In order to create a home-like atmosphere, the residential staff has to be creative

in their hallways, and try to include the parents and the day students in these

arrangements. Some suggestions are mentioned in the Dormitory Handbook (Hotchkiss

& Kowalchick, 2002, p. 304) such as the need to encourage the students to talk about

their families and bring their home life into the dorm. Students can help each other

resolve family conflicts and celebrate family relationships. There is little doubt that the

physical set up can help to create the feeling of community, which was evidenced in a

journal entry,

In Oman and Jordan because of the dorm design that allows a direct entrance to
the students’ hallways from the supervisor apartment, the dorm supervisors used
to create a family-like atmosphere in their hallways by inviting their students to
quick homemade food and chat. This made the students get the sense of a family
and care, and let them feel that they belong to this place. (P.J, p. 9, line 9-13)

In addition, parents are encouraged to visit the dorm and get to know their child's friends

and school time activities. They are also provided with a list of the parents of other dorm

residents and encouraged to get to know them and support each other.

The handbook authors also suggest to provide decorations, artifacts, flags, maps,

and recognition of all the different cultures, countries, and communities represented in

the dorm. In addition, the culture and foods of the dorm members should be reflected

59
with special celebrations, feasts, and cooking. Students should be encouraged to learn and

share with each other.

To further support the regular students, it is suggested that day students (i.e.

students who still live at home) be assigned to a dorm or house and encouraged to take

part in dorm activities. This can be done by establishing a system that integrates day and

boarding students and allows day students to spend a night or more occasionally at the

school and participate in the dorm programs and activities. In addition, day parents are

encouraged to add to the hominess of the dorms by inviting boarders over for a meal or

evening of games or videos. All these features are intended to ease the transition for the

new boarders, and to create an atmosphere where students can function effectively

regardless of their cultural differences. These aspects were observed to some extent in the

three schools, but the Jordanian school has an advantage over the other schools because it

has large dormitory buildings that can host many parents and day students, and the

residential faculty there showed a unique experience in building a spirit of community

among the students and their families.

Findings on the Role of Extracurricular Activities

The findings here reflect the role of extracurricular activities as gleaned through

personal experiences, journal entries, findings in the literature, and references in the

handbook.

A great number of directions are given in the dormitory handbook to meet

challenges head-on and there is a lot of complexity and detail involved which require not

only good will but preparedness and good communication skills on everyone’s part. The

information contained in the handbook is extremely detailed and encompasses many

60
areas of school life. However I only looked at what seemed most relevant in this study. It

would also appear that only with experience and over time, a staff member will be able to

inter-relate the different recommendations and see to their embodiment as they gradually

take them in.

In addition to direct school involvement and support in areas of academics and

with personal demands, the students also participate in extra-curricular activities. The

impact of these is examined here. I explore the influence of participation in different

types of extracurricular activities. Boarding schools' administrators and staff need to

understand the role of the activities in enhancing the social and educational skills of their

students. This section will give some practical suggestions that teachers can implement in

order to provide a better boarding experience for the students.

Why Extracurricular Activities?

Extra-curricular activities and sporting programs are considered successful

contributors to the transition process. Offering the children recreational and sporting

activities to participate in corresponds to creating an environment of friendship. It is a

way the students get to meet peers that have similar or the same interest, and it gives

them something to do to forget about the emotional strain of leaving home which surfaces

when the student has nothing to do and became bored and therefore lonely.

A coping strategy based on student involvement in sports and other forms of

activity seems to be a significant vehicle in achieving a smooth transition (Baills & Rossi,

2001). Those students who immersed themselves in every activity on offer at school,

whether it be music, cultural, and recreational activities, became involved in a positive

environment where friends were made very quickly.

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 Boarding schools are offering a broad academic curriculum, in addition to that,

the students are required to participate in various extracurricular activities; these include

organized sports, special-interest academic pursuits, vocational clubs, supervised student

government, newspapers, yearbooks, and various other activities. Extracurricular

activities differ from standard courses in school because they are ungraded, and are

usually conducted outside classes in the school facilities.

Extracurricular activities appear to be unique venues in providing students with

opportunities to simultaneously achieve autonomy, skill development, and relatedness-

perhaps the three most fundamental motivational forces in human nature according to

developmental psychologists (Shernoff & Vandell, 2007).

There is a growing body of research in leisure studies, sociology, sports

psychology, and students’ development demonstrating the beneficial effects of

participation in extracurricular activities. Activity participation has been positively linked

to academic outcomes, including grades, test scores, school engagement, and educational

aspirations. Some other researchers have documented a relation between extracurricular

involvement and psychological outcomes, such as higher self-esteem and lower rates of

depression (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006).

The positive influence of involvement of extra-curricular activities has been

noted, especially early on in the student adjustment phase, and appeared to benefit their

social involvement. This aspect is supported by this journal entry,

Many of our first-year students who feel worthless or there is nothing they are
good at, are encouraged to join extracurricular activities and teams. These
activities give them the opportunity to get involved in doing something
productive. I can clearly say that those students involved have a better self
esteem, and are less likely to become addicted to bad habits. (P.J, p. 11, line 13-
17)
62
A recent study has examined the influence of adolescent motivation and free time activity

participation on adolescent initiative. The discussion focuses on the relative importance

of structured activities to adolescent development and how free time contexts can support

these factors through supporting youth's self-determination. The researchers found that

structured activities helped strengthen intrinsic motivation and, in turn, initiative.

Conversely, the effect of the absence or lack of structured activity participation was

partially channelled through a-motivation which negatively predicted initiative. Findings

suggest that a-motivation was most potent when youth reported low participation in

structured activities, as these youth also reported the lowest levels of initiative (Watts &

Coldwell, 2009).

A substantial research literature has found extracurricular activities to be an

important developmental context providing opportunities for students to experience

heightened levels of engagement, challenge, enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and

initiative (Shernoff & Vandell, 2007).

Adolescent perspectives about participating in the activities were found in the

study of Shannon (2006). In this study the students were interviewed and they have

explained that leisure activities are an important part of their lives. When asked to explain

why they are important, participants identified mainly the restorative functions that come

from engaging in leisure such as helping to relieve stress, providing an opportunity to

relax, and offering a break from schoolwork. Adolescents were aware of the contributions

that leisure and extracurricular activities could make to their personal development.

Leadership, team building, communication, organization, time management, and social

63
skills were mentioned by these youth as critical skills that could be acquired through

participation in extracurricular activities.

Sports

Sports are among the most popular and pervasive leisure activities, playing an

important role in the lives of many students. Participation in sports is typically one of the

most enjoyable experiences reported by students associated with positive feelings about

one’s body, improved self-esteem, confidence, independence, and energy. Positive

interactions relating to building friendship with teammates and gaining social support

have also been identified as enjoyable aspects of sports involvement.

Improvement was observed through involvement in sports, and perhaps on-going

involvement in sports should be advocated, this is supported by the following journal

entry,

I was amazed by how much improvement is demonstrated by the depressed

students when they participate in the physical activities, I can clearly notice an
enhanced mood and reduced stress after these activities. (P.J, p. 6, line 8-10)

The findings of the study of Shernoff and Vandell (2007), showed that participants in

sports activities frequently reported peak engagement and intrinsic motivation.

Participation in sports can also help youth to develop self-efficacy, confidence, and

feelings of competence by virtue of mastering complex physical and social skills. In

addition, it is interesting to note that negative effect, which includes measures of feeling

stress, worry, and anger, was not high in sports activities. Also, some studies have linked

sports to some negative outcomes such as competition anxiety (Fredricks & Eccles,

2006), and self-centeredness, and bodily injury, or sometimes finding sports participation

64
to be associated with experiences of stress and social exclusion (Larson, Hansen, &

Moneta, 2006).

Arts

While few studies have focused on the experience of arts participation in

particular, students generally report positive motivation and emotions while practicing

their skills in artistic pursuits. Practicing the arts can improve academic performance by

increasing engagement, motivation, and self-esteem. For example, music has been found

to be an important part of how young people think about issues and express their

emotions (Shernoff & Vandell, 2007).

Socializing

Extracurricular programs also provide important opportunities for socializing.

Socializing can serve as an arena for exploring roles, learning cultural norms, and

developing cognitive, social, and emotional self-regulation. Socializing is one of the most

common leisure activities among students, who generally feel the most positively when

in the presence of chosen friends. In contrast, students’ most negative mood states are

frequently reported when alone. Shernoff and Vandell (2007), have found that the

negative affect while socializing was low, but positive affect and intrinsic motivation

were not high as one might expect. This pattern suggests that students may socialize in

after-school programs to stave off negative emotions like loneliness or boredom, but do

not experience the same momentary intrinsic rewards socializing as when playing sports,

engaged in the arts, or other such structured activity.

Academic Enrichment Activities

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 Academic enrichment refers to supervised activities that are academic in nature

without the assignment of homework. This may include hands-on science projects and

other group activities, discovery units, and educational computer use. A variety of

positive outcomes have been associated with school-based academic extracurricular

involvements. For example, students involved in academic clubs in high school have had

higher academic performance, a greater likelihood in enrolling in college, and more years

of college completion than their uninvolved peers (Shernoff & Vandell, 2007).

Extracurricular Activities in a Boarding School

A full and varied program of social, educational, and sport activities is an

important part of a successful residential program. Boarding and day students should

work together to organize and run these activities, both on and off campus. There should

be opportunities for individual pursuits, small group outings and full community special

events (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002).

Community Service, both on and beyond campus, provides an important bond of

caring, empathy and social responsibility. By contributing to the larger community or

helping those less fortunate, students learn to balance their own needs and desires with

their obligation to others. This balance is a key element of a successful residential

community.

Balance of Demands

Students and faculty complain that there is no time to relax, to reflect or to give an

adequate amount of attention to their personal relationships and pursuits. An overload of

academic work, extracurricular activities and student leadership often make it difficult to

find the time for the play and love that everyone needs (Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002).

66
 A balance is needed in programming as it helps with adjustment, especially for

the new students who have yet to get familiarized with the expectations, and those who

might have a tendency to want to take on too much, this is recorded in the following

entry,

Some students have reported that the busy schedule and workload made the
homesickness get worse, they said that a too busy schedule will not allow them to
hang out with friends, and that makes them feel isolated and lonely. For this
reason the dorm team asked the school teachers to reduce the study load during
the first weeks to let the student adjust to the many new things they face. (P.J, p.
9, line 20-24)

Breaking the routine with special activities, speakers or trips gives everyone time off

from the task to strengthen and heal. Community service, school traditions, twilight

leagues, and trips to the cinema bring a sense of friendship and fun that strengthen the

whole community. Faculty retreats, skits, and group activities renew faculty energy and

commitment. Healthy boarding schools value and find time for laughter, playfulness, and

caring within their community.

Activity Suggestions

Here are some informal dorm activity ideas that schools have used successfully,

with suggestions from the school handbook by Hotchkiss & Kowalchick (2002):

Weekend Night Out

On weekends, non-dorm faculty members take turns hosting a group of boarding

students in their homes for dinner and movie, games, or whatever.

Holiday Decorations

For holidays, they have hallway decorating contests with “lighting of the hallways”,

judging, prizes and food. It makes the campus look festive and creates a friendly

competition between dorms.

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Dorm Competition

We had special competitions and awards between dorms for cleanliness, to make

assembly announcements, and awarded prizes.

Tournaments

Our students engaged in basketball, volleyball, ping pong, pool, softball, croquet,

chess, backgammon, etc.

Staff-student tournaments

The residential staff and the students formed their teams and challenged each other

playing in any two teams’ game.

After hours challenge

After dorm curfew, one dorm called to challenge other dorms to some activity

which was usually athletic. Rules were set, everyone participated. It was late night

fun, and there was food. (This happened many times every year; each dorm was

given one challenge. . .)

Mug Night

Resident staff established a regular open invitation for tea and cookies in their

apartment at night, one or more nights a week, using a nice tea set, lighting candles,

and just letting students relax and chat. Some resident staff members liked to have a

puzzle or ongoing game on hand for those so inclined.

Frostbite Dance:

We organized outdoor dancing in the winter with cocoa, bonfires, and a DJ.

Special dress days

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 Examples of how students dressed were in PJs, or as movie stars, or in special

colors, dressing backwards, or as twins, or dressing formally, or like a teacher, or

for school spirit days, etc.

Movie Nights

A good idea was to bring a special projector and big screen outdoors and project a

horror or action movie, students could bring chairs, blankets. Popcorn and

refreshment were served.

Birthdays

Parents sometimes offered to provide birthday cake and ice cream for their child’s

dorm floor or even the whole dorm. Prefects helped to set up some decorations or

special party events.

Discussion Groups

Some schools used evenings in the dormitory to provide discussion groups and

presentations on social and personal issues everything from relationships, smoking,

drugs, and eating disorders to local and global political issues.

Community Service

Each dorm or hall organized and completed a community service project together at

some point during the year or semester. This could have been a single event such as

holding a holiday party at a local retirement community or ongoing participation in

a local project. The floor or dorm committed to a certain number of volunteers for a

given time each week and individual students signed up to go. In such cases the

group needs to be committed to the project so that the organizers aren’t stuck trying

69
 to fill the requirement each week. Some dorms asked each person to commit to a

minimum of 2-3 sign-ups each semester.

Campus Cleaning

We organized an all dorm or all school cleanup. Lots of music, faculty

involvement, and real work made for a productive and enjoyable community event.

This was usually followed with food and play.

Coffee House

The idea was to find a suitable space, decorate, and invite students and faculty to

come for refreshments and poetry readings -either their own or their favorites. We

put student art on the walls, and offered a stage for student and faculty talent.

All Night Read

We had the librarian hold an all-night read when students brought their sleeping

bags and PJ’s and spent the night in the Library reading some long and wonderful

book aloud to each other.

International Cuisine Night

We sometimes set aside one night a week or every other week as International

Cuisine Night. We took a group of students out to a series of ethnic food

restaurants. This can also be arranged by the dining hall staff who can prepare this

special food from time to time.

Benefits of Activities and Interactions

The participation in the school activities will provide the students with a number

of benefits and skills. In addition to the physical benefits, it will teach the students how to

organize their time, balance dependence and independence, and honoring commitment.

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The social skills will also be improved by participation in activities, students will learn

how to get along with others, respect differences and build self-reliance and competence

(Hotchkiss & Kowalchick, 2002).

There is no doubt that extra-curricular activities can provide the support needed to

ensure all students feel included. Needless to say this involves a lot of work on the part of

many people and requires as well student willingness to get involved.

We cannot minimize the importance of providing the best possible physical

context and the best psychological environment in a school setting. There are a great

number of valuable ideas in the handbook, the details of which are apparent in the

reporting carried out above. The examples provided illustrate only a few of the aspects

touched upon, however they provide some contextualization to key issues.

As the objective was to provide a good overview in order to make some valuable

recommendations, I proceed to do this in the next chapter.

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 Chapter 5

Discussion, Recommendation, and Conclusion

In this chapter, I present a summary of the discussion on the challenges and the

solutions connected to the topic examined, make recommendations, and draw

conclusions.

It was the intention for this study to explore the strategies that facilitate the

transition from home to boarding school. I examined the literature surrounding the effects

of moving and relocation, and explored the strategies in dealing with these effects. Then I

put these findings together with the personal experience and the practices in the boarding

schools to reach an overall picture of the challenges and the effective strategies that

facilitate the transition for first-year students.

The emotional, social, and educational effects of the transition were evident in the

related research, and the role of the boarding school's environment and residential

curriculum, in addition to the extracurricular activities, were found to contribute to a

positive residential life experience.

This research focused on the effectiveness of specific strategies that appear to

confirm the conceptual framework. With this in mind, and based on the recent literature

findings and the boarding school experience, I proposed a number of strategies and

recommendations to guide the boarding schools staff in their planning for an effective

residential life curriculum.

Solutions uncovered are stemming from the literature review, entries in the

handbook, and corroborated through personal experiences both as stated in the narrative

and the quoted journal entries.

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Discussion

Although one might like to think of the move from home to boarding school of

many school students as a positive venture from an old and familiar world to one that

represents new ideas and a multitude of new experiences, it is often viewed by many

prospective students as anxiety-producing, a cause of homesickness or a reason not to

make the move at all, but to stay at home and attend a local day school.

There are many reasons that affect the parent's decision to send their children to

boarding school. Some of these reasons are related to the family circumstance such as

frequent travelling parents who are involved in a business that requires multiple trips out

of the country and as a result can't give their children enough time for care and studying

assistance. Sometimes the reason can be very specific to an individual child's needs or

how the parents or guardians believe their children should be educated and disciplined.

Some parents believe that heading to boarding school will provide their children with

stronger academic and social skills, and that it will prepare them for university and the

world after school.

The boarding schools sometimes attract the parents with their college and career

counseling programs, they usually have a well-trained admission team who is connected

with admissions committees at the best world university, so they can advise the students

about how to present themselves and which schools are best fits, and enhance their

university admission chances. Furthermore, some parents see the boarding school as a

one-stop-shop, where they can find academic excellence in addition to elite community,

athletic facilities, and extracurricular programs.

73
 Whereas the boarding experience can allow the student to develop socially, gain

independence and have a greater appreciation for family members and home, the

institutional setting, with its rules and regulations, and lack of privacy and freedom, can

make adaptation to boarding school hard for some students (Downs, 2003). At boarding

school a student’s school life is effectively extended until bed-time because attention to

routines and discipline is on-going and the students remain responsible for their uniform,

clothes, and personal possessions. In comparison with a day-school, there are more

potential sources of problems and less access to parental help to solve them. The student

has to cope with a new school as well as learn self-reliance and independence.

The initiative of boarding schools in the Middle East is not widely spread and

accepted, and there isn't any documented research concerning children who leave home

to attend a boarding facility in the Middle East, the studies that have been conducted

seem to explain conditions of boarding schools in other countries, especially Britain,

America, and Australia.

The research literature on transition from home to boarding school can be roughly

divided into those studies which focus on the effects of moving, in particular

homesickness and its causes and consequences, and some studies which focus on

students' adjustment to boarding life.

Research on the effects of moving and relocation has revealed that there is a great

deal of stress on young children during the transition phase to a new place. The findings

of this study contribute to an understanding of the effects of relocation to boarding

school, and the difficulties faced by first-year students especially the phenomenon of

74
homesickness, and its potential effect on adjustment, as well as some important strategies

to smooth over the transition.

By doing a thorough examination of effects of transition and the difficulties faced

by first-year students at a boarding school, I feel that I personally as well as others who

work to help freshmen with their transition to boarding life may be better informed about

the needs of these individuals and come to a better understanding as to how to assist them

by decreasing their levels of depressive and homesickness symptoms and providing a

means of fostering a positive adjustment.

In this project, I tried to present the related literature and the boarding schools'

practices and observations in order to get an answer to the main question in this study.

The objective was to learn about the best strategies that can mitigate the negative impacts

of the move from home to boarding school for first-year students.

In order to get the best answer to the question, I had to investigate the various

types of difficulties faced by boarding school students, because this diagnosis would give

researchers and educators the knowledge to provide the required support and help for the

students, and to give an account of the best boarding life experience possible. Previous

research has indicated that difficulties encountered are numerous and vary, and their

effect varies from student to student and from one school to another.

Overall, the findings showed that the students at a boarding school might be

vulnerable to behavioral, emotional, social, and educational difficulties, and all

stakeholders need to be aware of them, and should develop solutions that address these

aspects in particular.

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 We can summarize the most effective strategies from this project's findings

through the impact of the following:

1. The role of the boarding school's staff.

2. The role of boarding school's programs and services.

3. The role of the extracurricular activities.

4. The role of supportive parents.

Within these, there are also a number of solutions that play an important role in

increasing the students’ ability to adapt to the new boarding school's environment

according to the experience and the related literature. The following will be a discussion

of the main findings and related aspects.

The Role of the Boarding School's Staff

The boarding school's supervisors, teachers, and counselors have a key role to

play in helping first-year students dealing with the anticipated challenges. Through them,

the students can be informed about the school rules and policies. They are acting as

parents, and through their advice and guidance, the students learn how to deal with the

issues they are faced with.

I have noticed different levels of readiness among the three boarding schools in

relation to this aspect. Some schools were very keen to attract the best qualified and

experienced dormitory supervisor, and that has allowed the schools to benefit from their

transferred expertise, and enhance the aspects of the dormitory life.

On the other hand, some schools didn't give enough attention to the process of

hiring and selecting the boarding staff, which resulted in having some less experienced

supervisors. This can be explained by the lack of attractive salaries and benefits for a job

76
that required accepting huge burdens and commitment, not every employee’s choice.

This has led some schools to rely on local staff who are willing to work but lack some of

the necessary skills and experience to deal with emerging adolescent’s issues in boarding

schools.

To solve this situation, the school administration has to provide the staff with

adequate training and professional development, and offer them the opportunity to benefit

from other international school's experiences. In the Jordanian boarding school, it was a

traditional practice to organize exchange visits for staff with some world elite boarding

schools, and let the newly appointed supervisors acquire the experience from well known

institutions, and transfer it to their local school, a strategy that I didn't observe in the

other two schools.

The training might provide the new supervisors with some core skills to be able to

interact with a diverse population, understand students' behavior, mediate conflict among

students, and respond to an emergency situation. The supervisors will also gain some

effective leadership and organization skills, and will learn how to make wise and timely

decisions to provide their students with the appropriate directions. The exchange

programs will also provide the supervisors with new ideas and practices that can be

shared with their colleagues to be implemented in their hallways.

Additionally, the school counselors are supposed to be instrumental in dealing

with the boarding students' issues and provide the advice needed by them. I have found

that this aspect has not received sufficient attention in the boarding schools where I

worked. The situation was to have one counselor in each school, which is not enough

77
compared to the students' numbers, and as a consequence the counselor usually has to

deal with many students' issues with insufficient time for discussion and advice.

The need to appoint more counselors in a boarding school is important, even if

this will require more of the school budget, taking into consideration the critical role that

the counselors play in boarding life as evidenced in our findings, and the effective advice

that they can provide to struggling students.

Furthermore, the boarding school's supervisors and counselors need to be aware

of the challenges that face the students, and be capable of detecting them early before

they escalate. During the first years of my experience, I felt sometimes unprepared to deal

with some of the issues and only over time and with experience did I feel I was better

equipped for this. This is exactly what new supervisors and counsels need to know and

learn as early as possible, in order for them to execute the dormitory duties effectively.

The Role of the School's Programs and Services

One of the most important sources of support for the new boarding school

students stems from the organizational structure of the school's programs in helping to

provide a caring and supportive environment. These programs need to address the

psychological, social, and educational needs. My practical experience and findings in the

literature support this, i.e. the parents are looking for the schools that provide their

children with the best improvement opportunities. They want to see them in a safe and

caring environment getting the skills needed for a successful life.

A good boarding school needs to build a balanced residential life curriculum that

offers the students a variety of programs to match their developmental needs. The school

should also value and respect the differences and diversity within its community. With

78
the quality of care and support in the boarding schools, it was noted that the students are

performing better socially and academically, and that includes first-year students as well.

During my work, I found that the Jordanian boarding school was distinguished by

its preparedness with a well crafted residential curriculum, and had put together a

dedicated team in the Students Life office, a team that spent their days and even some

nights developing supporting programs and activities to match the students’ needs. One

of their responsibilities was to make sure that the dormitory supervisors are well trained

and ready to deal effectively with their hallways issues.

On the other hand, I found that the Omani boarding school was giving special

attention to the academic programs more than the boarding programs. The Qatari

boarding school was also more concerned about the sport programs since it was

established to develop the student athletes’ physical skills. Even though the academic

side is one of the most important aspects of the schools, boarding schools should give

special attention to develop supporting programs and deal with the students' social and

emotional issues, and provide them with facilities not limited to the classrooms and

laboratories, because the students in the boarding school had left behind their homes and

families, and were under the direct responsibility of the boarding school in all aspects of

life.

The Role of Extracurricular Activities

The students at boarding schools have plenty of spare time, extended from the end

of the last studying class until the following day's morning class, including the weekends,

and the public holidays. If this long amount of time is not filled with productive

79
activities, it will constitute a source of trouble for both the students and the dormitory

staff, and it will cause an escalation of the students’ problems and struggles.

As noted in this project's findings, extracurricular activities are the most effective

way to fill the students' spare time. These activities provide the students with

opportunities to acquire the life skills and enhance the physical, social, and educational

aspects of their life. The extracurricular activities, if planned carefully, can be the most

effective and productive way to engage the students in opportunities to build new

relationships, with the development of self-confidence and leadership skills. Academic

and educational enrichment activities are also supporting the low achieving students, and

this can be a major reason for parents and students to persist and stay in the boarding

school.

The boarding school in Qatar was distinct from the other schools in its unique

activity programs. The school was established as a specialist academy for sports

excellence, and has prepared a wide range of activities and facilities to achieve this goal.

In return, these activities will keep the students busy, and reduce the feelings of

homesickness while away from home and family.

In this regard, there is a need for the boarding schools to plan for a variety of

activities that suits the different interests of the students. The students usually come to the

school with different hobbies that range from sports, to arts, to social and educational

interests. Generally, the three boarding schools have shown good planning for this aspect

by having large campuses, sports fields, swimming pools, in addition to the field trips and

out of campus activities.

The Role of Supportive Parents

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 Both my practical experience in the boarding schools and the project's findings

have confirmed the important role of parents. Parents’ support was found to be a key

factor in increasing the students' ability to overcome the difficulties encountered by them

during the transition from home to boarding school. The parents’ involvement before, and

after joining the school, will lead to a better social and emotional state for their children.

From my observation, many parents appear to be unaware of the role that they can

play in their children's boarding life, and some of them lack the knowledge of the

strategies to deal with their children's issues during the boarding school years. It is the

boarding school’s responsibility to build the bridges between school and parents, and

establish means of communication that insure the involvement of parents in the process.

The three boarding schools have made some efforts in this regard, especially the

Qatari school, where the parents have the opportunity to visit the dormitory and the

school facilities several months before the school year begins. A number of orientation

sessions and parent-teacher meetings were conducted during the school year to make sure

that the parents are aware of the school's policies and rules, and to let them participate in

making decisions regarding the school and their children. This issue still needs some

improvement on both the school and parents part, especially because some parents need

encouragement to participate in the training and orientation sessions, in order to enable

building stronger connections between school and parents for the benefit of the students.

Moreover, the findings in this ethnographic study confirm that the negative

impact of the transition to boarding school may well be moderated by a number of

strategies within the boarding school environment, and through the cooperation of the

whole school community.

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 It is worth noting that the boarding school in Jordan was found to be well

equipped and prepared to deal with these difficulties compared to the other two schools in

Qatar and Oman. The reason behind that is that the Jordanian school has adopted a well

built American residential life curriculum, and introduced its faculty to one of the best

references in building the dormitory policies and rules which was (The Handbook for

Dormitory Supervision and Program development) prepared by Carol Hotchkiss and

Edward Kowalchick. The authors of this reference have more than 60 combined years of

experience in boarding schools in the United States. Many guidelines and rules from this

handbook have been mentioned in this project and are worth serving as a reference for

new boarding schools who want to create a strong residential curriculum. Moreover, the

Jordanian school has hired many of the dormitory supervisors from overseas, people who

already have years of experience in boarding schools in the United States and Britain, and

this helped the school to deal proficiently with the issues faced by first-year students.

Looking at the current situation of the boarding schools, we can conclude that

there is always room for improvement, and more could be done. Boarding schools may

vary in their staff experiences, their students' abilities and skills, and their financial

resources, but they ultimately need to put more efforts, dedicate more time, and spend

more money, to provide the support needed by the students and boarding staff, especially

given the fact that many boarding schools belong to non-for-profit organizations, and

have no problem in increasing the budget to spend on campus development, staff

training, extracurricular activities and supporting programs, in order to provide the first-

year students with a positive transition experience that is as free as possible from stress

and anxiety.

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 Overall Recommendations

In spite of the limitations, this study has provided a good deal of information

about the experience of first-year students at a boarding school and how to facilitate the

adjustment to the new residential life. In order to facilitate this adjustment, we need to

ensure that our students are provided with a caring environment, supportive staff,

opportunities for effective communication between school, students, and parents, and

finally services and programs that take into consideration the unique needs of our

students. Each, and every one, of these factors work together in helping a young

adolescent get a positive learning experience out of such an emotionally driven transition.

In addition to the coping and facilitating strategies mentioned previously, there

are a number of recommendations that will aid in enhancing the planning for a successful

boarding school program. These recommendations are based on the findings of this study

with consideration of the situation of the boarding schools and their needs:

 The boarding schools in the Middle East need to put efforts to build a purposeful

and coherent residential Life Curriculum. Some schools still focus on the

academic programs without paying much attention to aspects of residential life.

The planning must include provision for educational programs and services,

residential facilities, management, strategies, policies and regulations, in order to

create and enhance a healthy, safe and comfortable living environment.

 It is highly recommended that the boarding school staff in the Middle East benefit

from the long experience of the Western boarding schools in planning and

building residential curriculum. Visits and partnerships with these schools will

help in exchanging the experience, and identifying the best practices in the

83
 boarding schools. It is also recommended that the boarding schools in the Middle

East benefit from each other's experience since they are sharing the same culture

and needs, and might have the same issues with newly enrolled students. The

Boarding school in Jordan seems to be well equipped and prepared to deal with

new students’ issues, because they adopted a well built American residential

curriculum, therefore it is possible that other schools can benefit from looking at

what they have.

 Careful attention should be paid to the process of hiring, training, and supervising

the residential faculty based on their knowledge, background, and competencies.

Regardless of the size and type of school, or its financial resources, the school

must identify the required qualifications or criteria for faculty and staff that will

meet its greatest priorities.

 Transition during students' life and the possible effects of it, is an issue that must

be taken seriously, for it can influence one's level of success in adapting to a new

environment. Supervisors and caregivers (camp counselors, nurses, teachers, child

life specialists, residential advisors) should be educated about the most effective

treatments for homesickness and other effects of moving, in order to help the

children and their families in achieving a smooth and a positive transition

experience.

 Lack of ongoing staff training was another issue that needs correcting, with the

desired objective being training house-parents capable of recognizing the signs

and the importance of the stress that the young adolescent goes through, and the

stress parents are going through, so as to work effectively with them.

84
 School counselors must plan for early detection of young people who may not be

managing the transition into boarding school (e.g., socially, academically) to

enable additional supports to be deployed to assist in the transition to the new

academic and social environment.

 There is a need for research that explores adolescents’ perceptions of themselves

and experiences in order to further understand the impact of transition to a

boarding school. Integrating young people into the new school system is essential,

this can be achieved, for example, by asking incoming students about their

thoughts leading to transition, and asking recently transitioned students about

their experiences and what they could suggest should be maintained and improved

for other students.

 It is recommended that the boarding school reaches a balance between academic

and activities demands and give the school community a time to relax, to reflect

or to give an adequate amount of attention to their personal relationships and

pursuits. An overload of academic work, extracurricular activities, and dorm

responsibilities often increases the stress and leads to a negative experience for

both the students and teachers.

 There is a need to maintain effective school-parents communication to build a

trusting relationship. These efforts will help children to adjust successfully and

expand their world and feel competent in adjusting to life changes. Because

young children are influenced by those people around them, if parents and

teachers perceive the moving experience as positive, children will generally do

the same. On a positive note, it seems that many of the negative effects of the

85
 transitions may be attenuated by positive and supportive relationships among the

boarding school community members.

Conclusion

The topic under scrutiny involved taking into account a lot of complex aspects

which were brought to light through the exploration of the relevant findings in the

literature, data concerning the school backgrounds, demographic data as regards the

researcher’s experience background including quotes from his journal, and the

examination of text in the handbook connected to problems being investigated. The

triangulation these various texts allowed, enabled me, the researcher, to shed light on

underlying issues of concern to me professionally and the usefulness of which extends to

all boarding or “away from home” schooling contexts.

Many solutions proposed, either by quoting findings from researchers who

investigated similar situations and the authors of the Handbook, or my own comments

and recommendations will no doubt be of interest to many institutions, not only Boarding

schools but including Colleges and Universities. In addition, by expansion, in Canada,

many children who are newcomers to the country and to schools will experience similar

difficulties, thus the explorations in this project should also prove useful to all school

boards and the population at large, for the references and descriptions of very useful

techniques and strategies or if only in terms of awareness raising.

As a researcher, I made every attempt to remain objective and relied on my 10

years of experience in the three school settings I refer to. If my recommendation to use

the Jordan system as a model could appear as showing bias, I have to state that the

determination was made only as a result of my comparison of the three systems in place,

86
taking into account the situation at the time I was working in the given environments. The

present situation at the three locations could now be of a different nature.

By combining findings from different studies and theories, we hoped to shed light

on central themes in the literature and to identify the key findings in the field. The

theories that examined the role of extracurricular activities and the school's academic and

social features in the development and well-being of students showed encouraging

results, and open the door for future research that could include more systematic review

procedures, to examine the relationship between participation in activities, the social and

academic engagement, and the overall student experience at boarding schools.

87
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 Appendix A

Basic Framework for Healthy Residential Life

As a framework for healthy relationships and learning, the residential community should
provide each student with:
1. Daily recognition and personal attention:
Staff should know and keep a thoughtful eye on each student in his or her charge.
Students should feel valued and cared for.
2. Accountability and fairness:
Students and staff should be held accountable for their behavior and for making amends
when appropriate. The theory of justice should be explored, encouraging a sophisticated
understanding and integration of fairness in the community.
3. Enough Sleep and healthy lifestyle
Lights out are enforced and provide opportunity for a sufficient amount of sleep and
quiet. Meals should be nutritious; healthy eating/ exercise encouraged throughout the
community.
4. Privacy and silence:
In community life, privacy is an important matter. Procedures should ensure quiet
personal time for both students and residential staff.
5. Social coaching:
Residential faculty should teach appropriate social skills through their interactions and
responses to disciplinary or social infractions.
6. Honesty and encouragement:
Residential staff should be caring and responsive in a helpful, constructive manner.
Students should also be expected to be honest and caring with each other and with the
adults in the dorm.
7. Important responsibility:
Students have significant, vital responsibility for the physical and social operation of the
dorm.
8. Reasonable insulation from "peer culture" :
Times and places should be built into the structure of a dormitory that give students
protection and relief from constant peer culture and interaction.
9. Limits and consistency:
Rules, responses, and daily procedures should be clearly and consistently articulated,
predictable, and enforced.
10. Time out for fun:
There should be a healthy balance of work and play in the dorm with time out for
laughter, relationships, and pleasure (p. 64- 67).
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 Appendix B

Healthy adults relationship and role modeling

 Relationships among the faculty and administration are consistent with the prescribed
values and expectations of the school.
 Faculty members are supportive and appreciative of each other’s efforts and
accomplishments.
 Residential staff members have adequate training and support and feel comfortable
with their responsibilities.
 Faculty members treat students in ways that are consistent with the values of respect
and consideration prescribed by the school mission.
 Residential staff provide caring, professional supervision and feedback intended to
help students master residential life skills. They should be good listeners if they want
to see a real change in their stressed students.
 School expectations for residential staff provide support and respect for the
residential work of the school.
 Residential staff are hired and trained to work with students in a caring and
educational manner.
 Residential faculty teach life skills in the dorm as much as they teach academic skills
in the classroom. They teach through the rules and through their relationships. They
teach through the school's mission statement. They teach through their personal
interaction with students both through words and advice, and through the way that
they handle each student and each situation.
 Teachers, especially residential supervisors, inevitably teach by example. Students
rarely remember what teachers say (even ten minutes later. . .), but are unlikely to
forget how they treat them when they are sick or discouraged, how they respond to
injustice or intolerance in the dorm, or whether or not they have been reliable,
thoughtful, resilient, and fair. The bottom line is that residential work is important
work and an essential part of a boarding student’s education.
 Residential supervision must be approached professionally, with creativity, energy
and an eye to the teachable moment. If it is viewed as babysitting, hotel management,
this important trust will not measure up to the objectives or standards of a quality
residential life. Residential supervisors, either staff or faculty, must have a valued and
protected position in the school community. They need training, support, and
professional development opportunities. Schedules, compensation, benefits, and
bonuses should make it possible to attract and retain strong, dedicated professionals
in some schools, only the most senior, proficient masters are allowed to run a
dormitory.
 The residential faculty plays a most crucial role in affirming and implementing the
mission of our schools. The responsibilities of the residential faculty include
responding to the need for a true community, the need to appreciate diversity, and the
need to provide information and education. The hiring, training, and supporting of
residential faculty has never been more important than it is today (p. 33-40).

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 Appendix C

Rules and Policies

Common Community Goals and Objectives

 First and foremost, a residential life programs and rules must provide a safe, healthy and
comfortable living environment.
 Students, faculty, administrators, trustees and parents each have a unique personal
agenda, but for a school or dormitory to work as a whole, there must be a unifying
purpose that replace individual interests. Most importantly, everyone in the community
must agree on the mission of the school - on why they have come together. There must
also be agreement about how the mission is to be accomplished (p. 31).
Appropriate Roles and Expectations:
 Students often don’t like or even agree with school rules, but they do like to know where
they stand and they need to know there are limits and guardians of those limits. It is
important that students and faculty know what the community boundaries and
expectations are and have a reasonable idea of what will happen if they are violated.
Consequences need to be fair and enforceable.
 Students need adults to be adults with thoughtfully determined values and expectations.
Some expectations may be negotiable, most should be reasonable, and all of them must
be consistent with the school’s commonly agreed upon objectives (p. 34).
Articulate community values:
 The values and code of conduct in the residential community must be clear to everyone,
students and faculty agree with the purpose of community rules. Honesty, trust,
responsibility, courtesy and kindness are the foundation of any residential community.
 Residential staff can trust students to respect the rules, traditions and values of the
school.
 Students can trust the residential staff to be honest and act in a student’s best interest.
 Parents understand and support the residential values and expectations.
 Students should understand that while they are not expected to be perfect, they are
expected to accept and work towards the values and ideals of the community. However,
the basic non-negotiable are:
- I am not the only important person in the world or in the dorm.
- Community life requires patience, consideration, respect, and compromise.
- People can disagree with me and still have a valid point.
- I can’t always do what I want.
- When I make a mess, physical or social, I need to clean it up.
- Even ridiculous rules apply to me too.
- The Golden Rule DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO
YOU will help to avoid a lot of trouble (p. 46).
Handbooks and Communication:
 Residential Student Life Handbooks, Parent Handbooks, and Faculty Handbooks are all
documents that illuminate the details of the contracts that schools enter into with students,
families, and faculty members. Handbooks serve the important function of explaining an

94
 institution's expectations of students, their families, and faculty members. These
handbooks are essential guide the new students and their parents for a better and smooth
involvement in the residential life.
 A well-written handbook can help light the way. But, even with a very clearly written
handbook, schools must continue to educate their communities about how to get the right
information into the hands of the right people. When families are aware of the school's
administrative structure, and of the proper channels for voicing questions, concerns, or
complaints, they can enter into conversation that can help their child and reinforce the
partnership between parents and the school.
 Open dialogue is a celebrated aspect of learning and the life of the mind. Respectful,
honest, and caring communication is the cornerstone of healthy partnerships between
individual faculty members, faculty and students, and families and the school.
 Some schools publish a student handbook and give it to students and parents, some
publish a separate parent handbook and student handbook. Others schools publish a
residential student handbook in addition to the school handbook to cover concerns unique
to their boarding population. Whatever the school's preference of publication, a student
handbook is a valuable resource for students and an effective way to educate students
about school values, rules, regulations, and responses (p. 101).

Boarding Procedures
Rules, procedures and disciplinary responses should encourage individual responsibility,
honor and accountability. Expectations should be clear and quickly enforced. Students
should respect the needs and rights of others and contribute regularly to the general good
of the dormitory. Each individual in the residential community should behave in ways
that make him or her proud of self and respected by others.
Residential Expectations:
Each school must know its own population and establish structures and expectations that
are appropriate for each grade level. Most importantly:
1. Expectations should be realistic:
Most students should be able to function without extensive help or adjustment, but the
requirements should push students to stretch and gain confidence and competence from
their efforts. Support should be provided for students who are not immediately successful
and some reassurance and exceptions should be available for students who are
exceptionally competent in a particular area.
2. Some expectations should increase with time:
Some privileges and responsibilities should be reserved for longevity and perseverance –
senior students should have protected rights and responsibilities. This means there should
be a gradual adaptation and increase in demands, but the question remains as regards the
levels of increased demands each student is able to handle at a given time.
3. Some expectations should depend on demonstrated competence:
4. Expectations should be clearly articulated, fair and consistent:
Students and their parents should understand the school’s residential expectations and
purpose from the admissions process through graduation.
5. Expectations should always be viewed as tools for teaching (p. 61).
Daily Schedul :

95
 There should be a consistent daily routine that helps students organize their time and
develop self-discipline.
 The daily schedule must be clear and predictable, published and respected by students,
parents, school faculty and programs.
 Exceptions to the routine are infrequent primarily to respond to individual and
community needs and to recognize the role of spontaneity and play in residential life.
 The daily schedule provides a balance of time for study, maintenance, sleep, personal
reflection and social interaction.
 Study time is protected from noise, distraction and interruption.
 The schedule allows regular down time in which students can relax and make personal
decisions about the use of their time.
 Students are recognized for personal responsibility and improvement in managing their
time and dormitory expectations.
 There are developmental and gradual stages of structure and freedom built into the daily
schedule that prepare students for college freedom and responsibility (p. 84).
Quality of Care:
 A successful residential life program requires caring arrangements that include a
residential curriculum, dormitory policies and handbooks, extracurricular activities,
academic and social support, adequate health coverage, security and emergency response
procedures.
 A 24-hour health center provides important care for students and support for dorm
faculty. Security measures must be comprehensive and integral to the residential
program.
 Dorm faculty should be trained in emergency response procedures and have
administrative backup at all times. Established procedures should have clear guidelines
for immediate response, communication, and follow-up.
 To effectively accomplish the goals of the residential life program a school should
provide:
- A learning environment that enhances individual growth and development.
- Management services that ensure the orderly and effective administration of all aspects of
the program.
- Facilities that ensure well-maintained, safe, comfortable and sanitary housing conditions
for students and supervisors of the residential life program.
- Food, dining facilities and related services that effectively meet institutional and
residential life program goals.
 The residential life program should promote students development by encouraging:
- Positive and realistic self appraisal.
- Intellectual development.
- Physical fitness and healthy life choices.
- Appropriate personal choices.
- The capacity to work independently and interdependently.
- The ability to relate meaningfully with others.
- The capacity to appreciate cultural differences.
 The boarding school must give a special care to the following processes:

96
1. Assisting students in overcoming their specific personal, physical, or emotional
problems.
2. Identifying environmental conditions that may negatively influence welfare and propose
interventions that may neutralize such conditions or improve the environment.
3. Accepting the concept that the educational experience of students consists of both
academic efforts in the classroom and developmental opportunities through residential
life (p. 4).
Tolerate and respect differences:
 All members of the residential community must safely expect to be treated with honesty,
kindness and respect.
 Each dorm member feels valued and included in dorm activities and decisions.
 Hazing or harassment is not tolerated.
 Students and residential staff are expected to respect and understand other feelings, needs
and perspectives in the community.
 Housekeeping, kitchen and grounds personnel are valued and respected by students and
adults.
 The individual strengths and talents of each student are recognized and nurtured.
 The special needs of each student are understood and realistically addressed.
 Residential staff is aware of special medical, psychological and educational needs of the
students in their dorm.
 Cultural differences are explored and appreciated. A special consideration of
international student needs is incorporated into dorm life when possible.
 The residential community celebrates both its diversity and common culture.
 Decisions are made inclusively with thoughtful consideration of the needs and well-being
of all members of the community.
 All students have role models, activities and community awareness that positively reflect
their race, gender and ethnic background (p. 44).

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 Appendix D

Controlling and understanding behavior

 Human development classes or seminars are a good opportunity to help students

understand and work through strong feelings and relationships.
 The boarding school is responsible to give the opportunities for all students to be
genuinely successful and valued within the residential community
 The boarding school must arrange for Stress Management programs in the dorm, and
establish a committee that identifies and intervenes with students who are
experiencing serious emotional problems
 Information regarding student diagnosis and treatment plans should be available to
dormitory supervisors.
 One of the most important steps is the recognition and reinforcement of situations
where a student has effectively coped with loss, failure, disappointment, frustration,
anger or sadness (p. 53).
Respecting differences in self and others
 The boarding school is responsible to put rules and responses that protect the rights of
every individual in the residential community, and to make sure that everyone is
treated with dignity and respect. This goal can be achieved by planning for:
 Discussions, classes, retreats or activities that allow students to understand, appreciate
and respect individual and cultural differences.
 Residential staff training in specific individual and cultural differences that may
affect dorm behavior.
 Discussions or speakers that increase empathy and understanding of others
 Dorm trips or activities that encourage dialogue and force students out of their
comfort zones to experience different foods, arts, lifestyles and cultures.
 Presentations, dinners or activities that celebrate the diversity in the dorm.
 Awareness and protection of individual differences in race, religion, citizenship,
economic status, or geographical background...
 Programs and support for students with special needs.
 Mediation and resolution of individual conflict or misunderstanding.
 Community service opportunities that help students understand and respect others (p.
58).
Student Services and Support
 A healthy community must always maintain a thoughtful balance between the
community and the individual, and the core of the school community is to educate
and nurture each individual student.
 An important element of the residential curriculum is to teach the individual how to
live and function in community, disciplining own immediate wishes or needs to
contribute to the common good. In return, the residential and school community must
honor and support each student’s efforts to learn and grow. All students need to be
known and acknowledged as individuals, both for their strengths and
accomplishments and their unique needs (p. 123).

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 Appendix E

Responsibilities and supervision of the boarding school

 All appropriate measures must be taken to provide for a student’s physical safety
and well-being.
 Regular and helpful channels of communication should be in place within the
dorm and between the dormitory, school personnel, and parents.
 Procedures should be in place that responsibly monitor a student’s whereabouts
and activities.
 Appropriate records of contact and medical information should be available to the
residential staff member on duty at all times.
 Residential staff, student leaders and students should be given appropriate levels
of emergency training and instruction.
 Parents have the right to assume that their child will be supervised and monitored
by caring and adults (p. 69).

Hiring a residential faculty

Careful attention should be paid to the process of hiring, training, and supervising the
residential faculty based on their knowledge, background, and competencies. Regardless
of the size and type of institution, or its financial resources, the school must assess certain
qualifications or criteria that will meet its greatest priorities.
Some necessary criteria or competencies might be:
- The ability to integrate educational theory and practice to provide learning
environments that positively affect the students’ development.
- The ability to handle conflict resolution, provide emergency and crisis
management, counseling, and student advising.
- The ability to provide advising for the residents.
- The ability to train, advise, and meet with students who have issues or problems.
- The ability to create, support, and maintain multi cultural development programs.
- The ability to establish goals, for faculty and student residents, as well as
awareness of performance appraisals.
- The ability to oversee maintenance and custodial services.
Some of the residential faculty responsibilities and obligations:
1. Enhance the individual personal development of each student.
2. Create, foster, and maintain an environment that stimulates and supports the
student’s personal and educational development.
3. Monitor and support an environment that is healthy, psychologically safe, and
aesthetically pleasing (p.250).

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 Appendix F

Prefects and Dorm Leaders Qualities

A prefect should have these qualities to get the most of the leadership program:

 Dependable and responsible Able and willing to make the time commitment.
 Able to act honestly and independently, regardless of peer pressures or
judgment.
 Respected and listened to in a group.
 Able to receive and give constructive criticism.
 Able to explore alternative solutions to a problem.
 Able to work cooperatively and effectively in a group.
 Perceived as a trustworthy and caring person (p.228).

A successful Prefect should be:

 An organizer: helps identify tasks that need to be done, makes assignments

and delegates authority, sees that all work is completed efficiently.
 A motivator: gets others excited and focused to accomplish the group goals
and work.
 A harmonizer: helps the group resolve conflicts and work effectively together
as a team.
 An innovator: provides the group with new ideas and innovative ways to
accomplish its goals and task.
 An advocate: supports and trains group members to develop the skills and
relationships necessary for effective group functioning (p. 231).

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 Appendix G

Communication with Students and Confidentiality

The residential staff must have adequate information regarding the students in their dorm.
This includes health records, academic concerns, and any diagnosed psychiatric or
medical conditions. There are some legal limits of medical and psychiatric confidentiality
that also must be observed.

It may be very helpful to the student that the residential staff to be aware of family or
personal problems that are affecting his behavior, but letting people know and help is an
important developmental skill that a student needs to learn.

A counselor can, and should, encourage a student to talk with the residential staff or a
student leader in the dorm to get support and understanding during difficult times. A
residential staff member might initiate a conversation of concern to facilitate a student
getting the support he needs.

In some situations, the nurse or counselor may ask the student’s permission to discuss a
situation with a residential staff member or teacher. All of these things may help a student
be aware of potential support and learn how to ask for help.

The residential staff should be trained and supported to recognize problems or special
needs in the dorm. The dorm, at the end of a long day, is the place where students most
often begin to exhibit the signs of distress or breakdown. Problems with sleep or eating or
personal relationships will be most obvious in the residential setting.

The residential staff should be trained on how to identify these problems and have a
regular line of communication with the school deans, advisors, teachers, health center and
counseling office. The residential staff can offer valuable observations and concerns from
the dorm and should be able to gather important information from other areas of a
student’s life.

Parents who have not set consistent limits for their children may find the school structure
and discipline both refreshing and unfamiliar. Students who have not had a cause to
share, do chores, follow rules, or tolerate the needs of others may experience some
difficulty adjusting to the demands of residential life.

Assuming that students arrive with the community skills that they should have or used to
have or that we wish they had will be an incorrect assumption. Experience suggests that
while some will fail or flee, with clear expectations and encouragement, most students
will adjust and develop important community skills and values. Some students also arrive
with specific academic, physical or psychiatric needs that require support and
accommodation in the dormitory as well as the classroom, It is important that the
residential staff is aware of these needs and has been given information and training
regarding these special requirements (p. 125-134).
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 Appendix H

A Boarding Parents Handbook and Sharing of Information

 Some schools publish a student handbook and give copies to parents, some publish a
community handbook which is broader and covers all constituents, and some schools
publish a special parent or residential parent handbook which includes special
information and procedures for boarding parents as well as the general school and
residential expectations. A parent handbook can be a very useful resource for parents and
an excellent way to spell out the schools residential mission, expectations, and
procedures.
 Information sessions for the parents are of great importance, this will help the parents
understand the new school's culture and prepare them to deal with coming change in their
children's life (p. 284).

 What can parents reasonably expect from a school?:

- Genuine care and respect for their child

- Safety and responsible supervision for their child
- Open and regular communication regarding their child’s progress and behavior
- Early warning and consultation when a child is having difficulty (p. 277).

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 Appendix I

In case of Homesickness parents should:

 Understand that their child will most often call when he is sad or lonely making
the situation look much worse than it may be. Homesick students rarely need to
pick up the phone and call home when things are going well, no news is good
news, but this may present an imbalanced picture to a concerned parent.
 Plan ahead to the first vacation or visit. Let the child make some plans to show
you around or do something special as a family. These plans can be something to
look forward to while things are still shaky on a day-to-day basis.
 Talk to their child's residential staff and/or advisor to work with them to support
their child’s adjustment. Provide information and suggestions about how the
residential staff can get to know and support their child.
 Parents should stay busy and try not to obsess over their child’s adjustment. It is
difficult to be far away and not be able to protect and comfort their child,
especially when he is calling in tears, begging to come home. Parents will need
some comforting and reassurance themselves!
 Parents can help their children cope and get engaged in the new environment by
teaching them some essential life skills at home to transfer this experience to their
dormitory (p. 145-147).

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 Appendix J

Dealing with Isolation and Exclusion

 Some students have no idea how to make friends or live communally. Some are
used to being the center of the universe and can be demanding and narcissistic in
their relationships. Other students lack confidence or are shy and avoid situations
where they are required to reach out of their comfort zone. Some students may be
experiencing serious pressures in other parts of their lives and are unable to cope
with their immediate social environment. Some student’s behavior irritates and
offends others everything from stealing to snoring. Anything from superficial
qualities like appearance or taste in music, to core qualities such as integrity or
kindness may influence an individual’s position in the dorm. Some students are
misjudged or isolated because of obvious or underlying bigotry. Some are simply
misunderstood and lack the skills to assert themselves more accurately. Bullies
exist in most communities and may either isolate others or become isolated
themselves.
 In each of these cases, both the isolated student and the community responsibility
should be considered. The student usually needs help identifying the qualities or
behaviors he contributes to the problem. The student may need support and
coaching to develop better social and coping skills. And often he needs
consolation and reassurance to ride out the rejection. With training, student
prefects or peer counselors can provide honest, caring support for students going
through a hard time in the dorm. The school counselor, the student’s advisor, or
professional therapy may also be helpful. Parents may offer ideas or information
that will help the residential staff support and understand this student.
 The dorm community also has important responsibilities and lessons when a
student is isolated or excluded. This is a time to reinforce the community values
of respect and inclusion. Students should be expected to reach out and try to
understand others who are different or annoying. Adolescent social pressures can
be petty and hurtful; it is part of the residential curriculum to help students move
beyond these peer judgments and establish thoughtful and considerate
relationships and character.
 Treating others as one would like to be treated should be the core of any
residential program. Understandings and kindness should be fundamental
expectations of everyone. This is an ideal that is not easily or consistently
realized, but it should shape and direct our efforts to manage and deepen student
relationships (p. 148-149).

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 Appendix K

Coping Strategies

1. Independently managing his or her time and studies.

2. Taking care of physical needs and environment.
3. Developing self-reliance and competence.
4. Getting along with others.
5. Developing individual strength of character and understanding of others.
6. Becoming prepared to function confidently and competently in a less controlled
college environment and later life.
7. Respecting differences in others and self.
8. Balancing dependence, independence, and interdependence .
9. Gathering the courage and wisdom to be true to self and fair with others (p. 49-
50).

Social Relationships

Strategies and Steps to Help Students "Getting along with others"

 Counseling and/or mediation provided for interpersonal conflicts, harassment,

loneliness or inappropriate behavior
 Human development class or seminars that help students understand and build
good relationships and social skills.
 Expectations in the dorm which protect and respect each individual.
 Formal dinners, activities or outings which reinforce manners and a student’s
ability to function comfortably and confidently in a variety of social occasions.
 Discussions, speakers or counsel that increase empathy and understanding of
others
 Recognition and reinforcement of students who work well with others
 A student and/or faculty resource committee that identifies and intervenes with
students who have weak social skills or need extra support or counsel around
these issues.
 Opportunities for new or shyer individuals to meet new friends.
 Activities or programs in which students are encouraged to step outside of their
normal circle of friends.
 Respect and reinforcement of genuine friendships and care for others.
 Peer leadership or counseling programs that train students to be good listeners and
helpers
 Community service programs (p. 55).
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Strategies for Balancing Dependence and Independence (p. 56)

 Caring support and assistance when an individual does need help and
understanding; encouraging empathy and compassion for others in need as well as
the ability to ask for help.
 Discussions, advising or classes which help students identify personal values,
preferences, and directions.
 Opportunities for students to identify and commit to values and priorities larger
than their own wishes and comfort.
 Dormitory rules, procedures and expectations that balance individual rights and
privacy with the needs and moral order of the group.
 Training and experience in mediating conflict and knowing when and how to
compromise, balancing individual rights and feelings with respect for the rights
and feelings of others
 Group community service projects both in the dorm and off campus that provide
opportunities for students to work together for the collective good.
 Significant opportunities to lead and contribute to the dormitory and school
community; training for effective leadership and delegation.
 Recognition and reinforcement of cooperation, humility, compliance, unity and
ability to work well in a group.
 Activities, classes or exercises that help students understand group dynamics and
effective group behavior.
 Routine and unconditional expectations that the individual will be responsible and
respectful of others and of the school community (p. 56).

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 Appendix L

Red flags that need responses

Physical Red Flags:

1. Changes in Eating Patterns Noticeable weight gain or loss.

2. Unusual Sleep Patterns looking over-tired, falling asleep in class, insomnia,
sleeping more than normal.
3. Somatic Symptoms -Constant, interchangeable somatic complaints, frequent
headaches, stomach or bowel problems, vague, unverifiable physical complaints.
Social Red Flags:

1. 1 . Constant Loner- unattached to peers, may be overly dependent on adults.

2. Weak social skills- age inappropriate.
3. Aggressive -destructive, bullies others.
4. Amoral - lack of ethical basis to behavior, lying cheating, stealing, hurting others.
5. Acting out- always in trouble , breaking rules.
Signs of Depressions:

1. Increase or decrease in appetite.

2. Changes in sleep patterns often falls asleep quickly, but wakes during the night,
unable to get back to sleep.
3. Restlessness hard to sit still, not tuned in
4. Loss of interest in usual activities.
5. Sense of helplessness, worthlessness, guilt.
6. Diminished ability to think clearly.
7. Inability to relax and have fun.
8. Extreme neediness, can never get enough attention, or complete social
withdrawal.
9. Masked Depression is very common among adolescents. Teens may externalize
depression by: getting into trouble, self-destructive or high-risk behavior, under-
achieving, explosive anger, being sexually permissive, law-breaking behavior,
abuse alcohol or drugs (p. 153-159).

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 Appendix M

Recommendations to Make a Dorm Like a Home

 Encourage students to talk about their families and bring their home life into the
dorm. Students can help each other resolve family conflicts and celebrate family
relationships.
 Encourage parents to visit the dorm and get to know their child's friends and school
time activities. Provide parents with a list of the parents of other dorm residents and
encourage them to get to know and support each other.
 Provide decorations, artifacts, flags, maps, and recognition of all the different
cultures, countries, and communities represented in the dorm.
 Reflect the culture and foods of your dorm members with special celebrations, feasts,
and cooking. Help students learn and share with each other.
 Occasionally break the routine and allow students to sleep in or miss a room check or
have study hall in the afternoon so they can watch a big sporting event.
 Invite parents into the dorm for a special activity or discussion during parent’s
weekend.
 Take pride in the dorm and include parents and families. Have a site on the web for
dorm pictures and activities. Let parents or baby siblings order dorm spirit T-Shirts.
 Provide some activities or times when the dorm has a definitely homey feel. Have
students in to your apartment to bake cookies or cook a homemade comfort dinner.
Get a couple vans and take everyone out for ice cream. Pop popcorn and have a late
night movie fest. Organize an after study hall capture the flag game. Identify one
special TV show that students can watch during regular study hours. Decorate the
dorm. Put up pictures of dorm members -and their families, pets, friends at home.
Encourage students to help and cheer each other on. Ask students to help you too
when you need it.
 Parents may offer retired furniture or decorations that make the dorm feel more like
home. Students can paint or personalize old pieces that will add to the personal feel of
the dorm.
 Make parents feel welcome and respected in the dorm. Teach students how to be
gracious hosts and hostesses if necessary.
 Assign day students to a dorm or house and encourage them to take part in dorm
activities. Encourage day parents to add to the hominess of the dorms inviting
boarders over for a meal or evening of games or videos.
 Encourage dorm faculty to appropriately share their family and pets with the students
in the dorm.
 Establish a system that integrates day and boarding students and allows day students
to spend the night occasionally or have boarders over for an overnight off campus (p.
304-305).

108