Education Commons^™

Development And Validation Of A Questionnaire To Explore Teachers’ Knowledge About The Nature Of Mathematics The Teaching And Learning Of Mathematics, Munira Amirali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Investigating teachers’ knowledge about the nature of mathematics and their viewpoints about the teaching and learning of mathematics is important as it has a great influence on what they do in classrooms. This paper describes the two phases of the development and validation process of an instrument named as Mathematics Teacher Survey Questionnaire (MTSQ) developed to determine Pakistani teachers’ knowledge about the nature of mathematics, its influence on their viewpoints about the teaching and learning of mathematics. Phase one includes item writing, item analysis and item administration whereas phase two includes the tool validation process using Cronbach’s alpha and content …

Thinking Global, Acting Local, Ali Gohar Qazi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Ongoing or continuous professional development is essential for teachers to develop and maintain the knowledge base required to produce more powerful learning outcomes among their students. Research has shown that professional development is more effective and meaningful to teachers when it is content focused, involves active learning and collective participation, and when it is sustained in duration, instead of being top-down, episodic, or delivered as ‘one-shot’ training workshops.

Policy Analysis Of Girls’ Primary School Completion In Rural Sindh: Root Causes And Policy Recommendations Using Iiep Education Policy Toolbox, Sajid Ali, Aisha Naz Ansari, Mushtaq Ahmed, Zobia Israr Ahmed, Naveed Saleh Siddique, Naveed Ahmed Shaikh, Shazia Solangi, Mujeeb Rehman Khatri, Tauseef Lateef

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This report emerged from the policy analysis work produced as part of the course titled ‘Diagnostic tools for improving education policy planning’ by the IIEP-UNESCO with support from KIX. This course enabled us to explore diagnostic tools and their implications, specifically for developing countries, and helped the team unpack diagnostic tools and learn the history of their evolution. We further learned how the education management information system works and how data is essential for policy decisions. Finally, we engaged with real policy analysis using the IIEP Education Policy Toolbox. As a team, we chose to study the issue of girls’ …

Online Early Childhood Teacher Education Program: Practices And Future Possibilities, Yasmeen Mehboob, Silpa Aziz Karim

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The study aimed to test the effectiveness and the feasibility of Zoom and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) for early childhood teacher education (ECTE) at a university in Pakistan. The study addresses how a Community of Inquiry (COI) framework can be embedded within Zoom and VLE to make the online course meaningful, interactive and accessible. This is an exploratory case study with a mixed method approach. Data was gathered through survey, focus group discussion, reflective journals, observations and meeting notes. Pre- and post-online knowledge tests and assignments were used to assess changes in participant’s knowledge and understanding. Survey result indicated positive …

Pakistan’S First-Ever Participation In An International Large-Scale Assessment (Timss): Critique And Implications, Sohail Ahmad, Sherwin Rodrigues, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e., TIMSS) for the first time in the 2019 cycle. In light of the global critique on ILSA, this paper presents a critical analysis on Pakistan’s participation in TIMSS by raising questions embedded in contextual realities. The discussion adds to the understanding of ILSA in terms of historical developments, theoretical …

Changing Parental Perceptions Adding Value To School Improvement Processes In Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan, Mola Dad Shafa, Sharifullah Baig

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Parental perceptions and perspectives play a critical role in their motivation, interest, participation, and valuation of children’s education which ultimately influences the quality of education in schools. This article reports the change of perception and perspectives of the parents under the influence of a comprehensive school improvement intervention. A quantitative survey approach was employed in this study including 680 parents from 6 districts. The data was collected in two rounds following the pre- and post- intervention approach. The first round of data was collected at the beginning of the project and the second round was collected at its end. The …

Teaching License In Pakistan: A White Paper 2022, Sajid Ali, Afaq Ahmed

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Teachers’ Perceptions About Mathematics In A Socio-Religious Context: A Case From Pakistan, Munira Amirali, Anjum Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This study investigated mathematics teachers’ beliefs about the nature of mathematics and the contributory factors shaping them. A survey of 200 trained and untrained mathematics teachers from public and private schools was carried out in Karachi Pakistan, a context with a strong influence of religion on the socio-cultural practices of the people. The survey was followed by a focus-group discussion with selected teachers and is the focus of this paper. This is a ground-breaking study in a hitherto under-researched socio-religious context.
Teachers across the system showed a strong similarity in beliefs. A commonly held view was that mathematics is created …

Developing A Rubric To Assess Critical Thinking In A Multidisciplinary Context In Higher Education, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta, Sahreen Chauhan, Syeda Kausar Ali, Raisa Gul, Shanaz Cassum, Tashmin Khamis

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Critical thinking (CT) is a generic attribute that is greatly valued across academic disciplines in higher education, and around the globe. It is also defined as one of the graduate attributes of higher education for the sample private university where this research was conducted, as it is perceived that CT helps the graduate to become ‘engaged citizens’ in the twenty-first century. Despite the well-documented importance of CT, its assessment remains a challenge. This study addresses this challenge through the systematic development and field-testing of a rubric for assessing critical thinking in a multidisciplinary context in higher education. A multidisciplinary group …

Conversations On Critical Thinking: Can Critical Thinking Find Its Way Forward As The Skill Set And Mindset Of The Century?, Maura Sellars, Razia Fakir Mohammad, Linh Bui, John Fishetti, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Ruth Reynolds, Nisha Thapliyal, Yuling Smith, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The capacity to successfully, positively engage with the cognitive capacities of critical thinking has become the benchmark of employability for many diverse industries across the globe and is considered critical for the development of informed, decisive global citizenship. Despite this, education systems in several countries have developed policies and practices that limit the opportunities for students to authentically participate in the discussions, debates, and evaluative thinking that serve to develop the skill set and mindset of critical thinkers. This writing examines the status of critical thinking in four different contexts across the globe as reflected in educational policies and academic …

Barriers In Adopting Blended Learning In A Private University Of Pakistan And East Africa: Faculty Members’ Perspective, Nusrat Fatima Rizvi, Saleema Gulzar, Wachira Nicholas, Beatrice Nkoroi

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Background: Education methods have undergone transformation over the centuries. Use of technology is the cornerstone for innovation in teaching methods. Hence, blended learning which includes face to face and online modalities is being increasingly explored as effective method for learning. This pilot study determines the perceptions of faculty members in a private international university on barriers influencing adoption of technology for teaching and learning.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted through a self-reported questionnaire using ‘survey monkey’. The data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). Frequencies and proportions are reported.

Results: Findings …

Science Education For The Future: Five Recommendations A Policy Brief For Pakistan, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

High quality education and particularly in the area of what is generally called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) is the greatest indicator of quality of life. Sustainable human development, eradication of poverty and removing unequal distribution of resources all depend on high quality education. High quality education in the area of science has been defined as far back as 1962 by Schwab and Brandwein as teaching through inquiry-based methods. Continuing to teach science content through rote memorization produces teachers who know of no better method to teach other than memorization. These teachers themselves lack conceptual understanding of science content …

The Effects Of Cluster-Based Mentoring Programme On Classroom Teaching Practices: Lessons From Pakistan, Meher Rizvi, Philip Nagy

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper presents and evaluates a teacher training approach called the cluster-based mentoring programme (CBMP) for the professional development of government primary school teachers in Pakistan. The study sought to find differences in the teaching practices between districts where the CBMP was used (intervention) and control districts where it was not used (non-intervention). Data were analysed to examine the effectiveness of the CBMP in terms of enhancing teacher practices and student behaviour. The paper differentiates those aspects of classroom teaching where the CBMP has been the most effective and where it has been marginally effective or not effective at all, …

From Hallaj To Heer: Poetic Knowledge And The Muslim Tradition, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

How do we comprehend the poetic universe of Muslim South Asia, and why is it important to do so? This is the larger question — at once historical, sociological, literary, and political — which forms the heart of the inquiry in this paper. In my attempt to address this question, I attend particularly to the themes of language, time, love, spiritual subjectivity, key figures, and resistance in understanding the place of the poetic in Muslim tradition. I then offer glimpses of the Seraiki poetic landscape from southern Punjab in Pakistan, to illuminate the continued power and politics of poetic practice …

Role Of Civil Society Institutions In Promoting Diversity And Pluralism In Chitral District Of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, Mir Afzal Tajik

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Pakistan is a country with a fast growing population of nearly 190 million people divided into a large number of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, political and religious groups. The basic ideology behind the creation of Pakistan was Islam and it was considered to be the unique force which could bind together the religiously, ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse society.

An overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s population is Muslim with Sunni and Shia as the two major schools of thoughts but there are many other smaller sects within Muslim and non-Muslim population. Ethnically, Pakistani society is divided into major groups such as Punjabis, …

Successful Alternative Education: Still Reproducing Inequalities? The Case Of The Community School Program In Egypt, Lucy El-Sherif, Sarfaroz Niyozov

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Community schools are an alternative form of education that center on partnerships between the community and/or the state, aid organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The Community School Program (CSP) in Egypt sparked a social movement in education in that country, with disparate actors all coalescing around the CSP as an alternative, empowering model of education. This study examined the relationship between the CSP and the dynamics that formed, shaped and co-opted it through in-depth interviews and observations. Our analysis examined the program’s processes and legacies on its former students. The study found that critical factors in the program’s success were its …

Chronicles Of Change : Strengthening Teacher Education In Pakistan, Nida Dossa

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

A step towards improving education in Pakistan; being able to sit in a classroom, feel safe, learn about how the world works: being able to read a book, make up stories and discover new ideas - these are the basic rights of every child. however, millions of children in Pakistan have never seen a classroom or attended a lesson. Here, educational challenges are innumerable and oftentimes seem insurmountable. STEP - Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan works to improve the quality and delivery of elementary education services appropriate to the poor in the country, particularly women and children in Pakistan.

Creating An Enabling Environment For Community Engagement In School-Based Governance: A Glimmer Of Hope", Dilshad Ashraf

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In 1960, the global enrolment of primary school aged children was less than half. By the 1990s, in spite of rapid population growth in much of the world, the proportion of primary enrolled school children was more than 75 percent. The credit to this spread in educational access does not only go the western of often called the formal form of school operations but to indigenous educational provision and management models as well. It has been observed in many developing countries around the world that indigenous development of a targeted geographical area.

Navigating With Trust: A Proposal For Transforming Public Sector Schools Towards Learning Organizations In Pakistan, Zubeda Bana

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

While working with teachers, teacher educators, educational leaders and principals of schools and teacher education colleges throughout the country, I am informed that the most significant factor for transforming public sector schools is winning the trust of teachers. Teachers, no matter how they are recruited and what their current competencies are, have become part of the work-force in public sector schools. It is observed that the school administrators have exhausted their trust and treat all kinds of teachers including good and committed teachers, with the same administrative approach which places them in odd situations, wherein they start losing their own …

Students’ Attitude Towards Science In Lower Secondary Classes : Comparison Across Regions, Nahid Parween Anwar, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Science education is an area of interest for long and has gained a lot of attention from science educators. Keeping this in view, the current study explored the attitude of grade VI-VIII students towards science in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. This research study was conducted as part of a 5-year project titled ‘USAID-LINKS to learning: Education Support to Pakistan’ (USAID-EDLINKS). A 5-point rating scale, Science Attitude Scale (SAS) was adapted from previous research. SAS has 32 items arranged under five constructs: learning science in school, self-concept in science, science outside of school, future participation in science and importance …

Education Policy And Social Justice: Exploring Possibilities Within Education Policy Context Of Pakistan, Sajid Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

One of the major purposes of education policy is to ensure social justice in a society. The social justice needs to be thought of not only in conventional sense of ‘distributional’ justice, but also in the sense of ‘relational’ justice. Looking from this perspective the policies in Pakistan have historically focused only on distributional justice, albeit with dismal progress on this front. However, they have completely ignored the attainment of ‘relational’ justice as a policy objective. As a result power differentials not only exist but worsened through educational policies such as undermining of public schooling while encouraging privatization of education …

Spaces Of Nature: Producing Gilgit-Baltistan As The Eco-Body Of The Nation, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

A while ago, when I was studying in Grade 8 at an English-medium school in Lahore, our class was divided up in four groups for a Geography project on Pakistan. The group of which I was a part had to make a sculptural map of Pakistan, demonstrating the diverse physical and social qualities of its landscape. And so we had set about carving our country with materials like styro-foam, cotton, cloth, and cardboard. In the final map that we made, the region of Gilgit-Baltistan - then the “Northern Areas” – had remained unlabeled and unpeopled, marked only with mountains made …

Survey: Teacher Education In Private Sector, Nelofer Halai

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

A Journey Of Transformation : A Reflective Recount Of The Evolution Of Akes,P, Sadrudin Pardhan, Aien Shah, Samina Saad, Karim Panah, Mir Zaman, Khadija Khan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper presents an overall picture of the evolution of the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES,P) over a century. Reaching out to the remotest areas of Pakistan, AKES,P, has been providing quality education for over a hundred years. The first school of AKES,P, was established in 1905 in Gwadar, Balochistan. Over a century later, AKES,P, now operates 179 schools and 5 hostels in Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Punjab and Sindh, mostly in rural areas. These represent very diverse schools, ranging from a rural school with less than 30 children to a large urban school with over 3000 children. AKES,P, places special …

Building Capacity Of Teacher Educators To Implement Action Research : Feasibility Of A Local Model, Nahid Parween Anwar

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

In the area of in-service professional development programmes, action research is considered to be a tool for generating practical knowledge and bringing improvement in practices. Teacher could use action research as a process for professional learning, and to improve classroom practices, where students could be one of the beneficiaries. However, the task is challenging in a developing country like Pakistan, where the concept of classroom research is not well recognized. Therefore, responding to the demands of the changing world and knowing the significance of action research, AKU-IED had offered Action Research course to two cohort of participant under Strengthening Teacher …

Exploiting Globalization While Being Exploited By It: Insights From Post-Soviet Education Reforms In Central Asia, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Nazarkhudo Dastambuev

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

Building on an examination of comparative and international literature and their research and development experiences, the authors highlight a number of continuities, changes, and issues between Soviet and post-Soviet, international and Central Asian experiences of borrowing and lending of education reforms. Even though Central Asian actors and institutions are not totally helpless victims and though international experts and NGOs appear well-meaning in these globalizing education transfers, the processes are leading toward reproducing global and local dependencies and inequalities.The trajectory of education reforms in Central Asia echo those of other developing countries. In response, the authors urge local policy makers and …

Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge Of Science Teachers Through Action Research: A Case Study From Pakistan, Nelofer Halai, Manzoor Ali Khan

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

The aim of this study is to analyze the action research undertaken by Khan as a teacher researcher in a private school as part of the degree requirement of his M.Ed. program in Teacher Education at the Aga Khan University, Institute for Educational Development. The purpose of this analysis undertaken by the first author and supervisor of the study in collaboration with Khan was to understand the development of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) of the teacher researcher through action research in a science classroom in the context of Pakistan. Khan taught the concepts of heat and temperature using an inquiry …

Outrageous State, Sectarianized Citizens: Deconstructing The ‘Textbook Controversy’ In The Northern Areas, Pakistan, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper examines the ‘textbook controversy’ (2000-2005) that arose when the Pakistan state introduced new, overtly Sunni textbooks in the Northern Areas, and the local Shia population began to agitate for a more balanced curriculum. The conflict reached an acute stage during 2004-2005, as violent confrontations took place between Shia and Sunni communities, and a constant curfew paralyzed daily life in Gilgit for eleven months. I argue that the Shia mobilization against textbook Islam was not just a form of “sectarian” outrage; rather, it symbolized a broader political claim to inclusion in a context of long-standing regional subordination and religious …

An Appraisal Of The Criticisms Of Educational Research In Recent Years, Sherwin Rodrigues

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

According to Hodkinson (2001) educational research in the UK has been passing through "a crisis of confidence" in the last decade as a result of several attacks upon its quality. The scope of this paper is to briefly highlight these „attacks‟ on educational research and then focus on one of its primary criticisms for an in-depth analysis. I mainly draw upon the work of Hargreaves (1996), Hammersley (1997) and Hillage, Pearson, Anderson and Tamkin (1998) but allude to other sources as well.

In The Name Of Educational Research, Shafqat Hussain

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.