Bahrain is regarded, with Oman, as one of the friendliest centres in the GCC. Even though it is small and it does not enjoy the same levels of wealth as its close neighbours, it has prestige due to its history as one of the region’s leading trading centres.
The culture is Arabic, Islamic and pro-Western. It is significantly less conservative than neighbours, like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and the people are easier to get to know. The expat population does not out-number the national population, as it does in the UAE for example. This is a country where you cannot avoid some level of immersion into local life.
International schools are fewer in number than in Saudi, Qatar and the UAE. There are fewer premium fee schools and consequently, International teachers go in one of two directions: towards the higher-fee schools where they are surrounded by teachers like them, or towards middle-to-high fee schools where the staff will be a mixture of nationalities.
