The Ministry of Education implements the professional development guide via the Fares system 1447

In a move reflecting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's commitment to enhancing digital transformation in the education sector, the Ministry of Education has activated the second edition of the "Teachers' Professional Development Service" user guide through the Fares system, covering the academic year 1447 AH (2026 CE). This step complements the Ministry's efforts to automate administrative and professional procedures, aligning with the goals of the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which aims to improve the efficiency of government performance and enhance educational outcomes.

The context of digital transformation and the importance of the guide

The Fares system is a cornerstone of the Ministry of Education's digital infrastructure, managing human, financial, and administrative resources. The implementation of this guide comes at a time when the education sector is witnessing significant momentum toward professionalizing teaching, with professional development documentation becoming a fundamental requirement for teacher promotions and license renewals. The new guide aims to streamline the procedures for registering professional development activities for educators and ensure the accurate electronic calculation of their points, thereby eliminating paperwork and reducing human error in data entry.

Work mechanism and individual responsibility

The new guidelines clarify that the responsibility lies directly with the teacher, as professional development activities must be entered exclusively by the teacher themselves through their account on the Fares system. Delegation is not permitted in this process. The Ministry emphasized the necessity of ensuring that the entered data matches the official documents approved for the activity. The system also offers a flexible feature allowing teachers to enter a single activity or a group of activities at once and submit them for approval by their direct supervisor. It should be noted that new activities cannot be added while existing requests are still pending processing and have not yet been decided upon (either approved or rejected).

Activity classification and point calculation

The guide details the mechanism for calculating durations and points based on the type of activity, to ensure fairness and transparency:

• Hourly rates: These are calculated for in-person training, online training, and workshops.
• In days: These are counted for educational conferences and meetings.
• Qualitative activities: such as lectures, seminars, guided reading, and participatory learning (practical lessons, field visits), in addition to knowledge production such as books and action research, which do not require the inclusion of a specific time period but depend on the type of output.

Reports and periodic follow-up

To enable teachers to track their professional development, the system provides tools for generating detailed reports. Users can view a comprehensive report of all activities and export it as an Excel spreadsheet, or generate a professional development points report as a PDF document showing their cumulative points balance. The system also offers an annual report detailing the total points earned during the year, helping teachers plan to fulfill the professional development requirements necessary for promotion or license renewal.

The ministry concluded by emphasizing that these measures aim to enhance transparency and support the professional development of teachers, which will positively impact the educational environment and the academic achievement of students at various educational levels.