TEACHER EDUCATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS IN PAKISTAN:
THE GROWTH OF MARKET APPROACHES AND THEIR IMPACT ON
THE IMPLEMENTATION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
TRADITIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS
By

Fida Hussain Chang

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education - Doctor of Philosophy

2014

ABSTRACT
TEACHER EDUCATION POLICIES AND PROGRAMS IN PAKISTAN: THE
GROWTH OF MARKET APPROACHES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE
IMPLEMENTATION AND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TRADITIONAL TEACHER
EDUCATION PROGRAMS
By
Fida Hussain Chang
Two significant effects of globalization around the world are the decentralization and
liberalization of systems, including education services. In 2000, the Pakistani Government
brought major higher education liberalization and expansion reforms by encouraging market
approaches based on self-financed programs. These approaches have been particularly important
in the area of teacher education and development. The Pakistani Government data reports
(AEPAM Islamabad) on education show vast growth in market-model off-campus (open and
distance) post-baccalaureate teacher education programs in the last fifteen years. Many
academics and scholars have criticized traditional off-campus programs for their low quality;
new policy reforms in 2009, with the support of USAID, initiated the four-year honors program,
with the intention of phasing out all traditional programs by 2018. However, the new policy still
allows traditional off-campus market-model programs to be offered. This important policy
reform juncture warrants empirical research on the effectiveness of traditional programs to
inform current and future policies. Thus, this study focused on assessing the worth of traditional
and off-campus programs, and the effects of market approaches, on the implementation of
traditional post-baccalaureate teacher education programs offered by public institutions in a
southern province of Pakistan.

This study included seven regular and three off-campus programs in eight public teacher
education institutions. Following a mixed-methods approach, the researcher collected data from
survey questionnaires administered to students and faculty, interviews of senior faculty and
department chairs, and document analysis of program and policy documents. The analysis of the
data yielded descriptive quantitative indicators of program implementation, and thematic
qualitative descriptions of the effects of market approaches on teacher education.
Findings show a disproportionately high enrollment in market-model off-campus teacher
education programs in relation to a significantly small demand for new teachers in the system.
Program implementation indicators of quality are low for both regular and off-campus programs.
Participants’ composite average scores in six categories of opportunities to learn to teach indicate
low levels of program performance in these areas. In addition, faculty viewed the market
takeover of teacher education as detrimental to teacher education program quality, including a
watering down of program requirements and a decrease in the credibility of teacher education
certificates in the school system. In short, they concluded that teacher education is now viewed
as a commodity, and it is indeed a profitable business for many opportunistic entities.
Policy recommendations include a call for regulating teacher education markets,
collecting and publishing evidence, strengthening professionalism, and conducting further
research on policy effects for sustainable teacher education reforms in Pakistan.

Copyright by
FIDA HUSSAIN CHANG
2014

This work is dedicated to my family – my father, my mother, my sisters, my brothers, and my
lovely children (Kainat, Aqsa, Sana, Mohsin, and Danish) – and all the peace-loving human
beings around the world.

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am very thankful to my dissertation director and my dissertation committee, USAID
(World Learning and EDC), the Department of Teacher Education, and the College of Education,
and my family and friends, all of whom have been a constant support and inspiration from the
initiation to the completion of my dissertation work.
I am immensely grateful to my adviser and dissertation director, Maria Teresa Tatto, for
insightful guidance and feedback at every stage of my dissertation research. She has been a huge
inspiration in the low key times and a constant support in the high gear work times. While she
encouraged independent learning, she also provided scholarly guidance when needed. I am also
very thankful to the members of my dissertation guidance committee, Peter Youngs, Mary
Kennedy, Robert Floden, and Douglas Campbell. Their guidance helped me in many ways,
specifically to narrow down my research topic and carry out specific analyses.
I offer my special gratitude to Douglas Campbell for his generous and constant help with
editing and refining my work, from developing my proposal to putting together the final draft of
my dissertation.
I am also very thankful to the department of Teacher Education, the College of
Education, and USAID (through EDC and World Learning) for funding support for my
dissertation research. Without their support, it would not have been possible to conduct research
in Pakistan, and to include a reasonably high number of participants and programs from all major
demographics of Sindh, Pakistan.
vi

I am extremely thankful to my children, to my parents, and to my extended family, who
have been supporting me unconditionally throughout my program. My special thanks to my
brothers and sisters and my parents, who have patiently looked after my children. And thanks to
my children for keeping my spirits high by skyping almost every day, and to my dad for calling
several times a week.
I am also thankful to my friends back in Pakistan, who have passionately given a helping
hand, whenever needed, from connecting with research participants to helping in arranging many
logistics. Thanks to my friends here is the US, and in other parts of the world, for their moral and
social support.
Finally, I extend many thanks to colleagues and supporting staff in the Teacher Education
Department, in the College of Education, on the MSU campus, and in the communities in the
East Lansing and Lansing area who have been great sources of learning.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... xi
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. xii
CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1
Over-arching Research Question………………………………………………….…………….3
Subsidiary research questions…………………………………….………………………….3
Significance of the Study .........................................................................................................4
Timeline of Preliminary Evidence and Problem Statement .......................................................5
Organization of the Dissertation ..............................................................................................9
CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................ 11
LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................... 11
SECTION 1: GLOBALIZATION AND THE MARKETIZATION OF EDUCATION IN
PAKISTAN .............................................................................................................................. 11
SECTION 2: RESEARCH ON TEACHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN ............................... 14
Identification of Issues in Teacher Education ......................................................................... 15
Policy Initiatives and Emphasis on In-service Professional Development............................... 18
Local Faculty-published Literature and Quality Issues ........................................................... 24
Open and Distance Learning Teacher Education .................................................................... 25
CHAPTER III ........................................................................................................................... 30
CONTEXT OF THE STUDY ................................................................................................... 30
SECTION 1: OVERVIEW OF THE CREATION OF PAKISTAN AND ITS SYSTEMS ......... 30
A Brief Background of the Creation of Pakistan .................................................................... 30
Demographics of Pakistan ..................................................................................................... 31
The Government System of Pakistan ..................................................................................... 32
Economic Overview of Pakistan ............................................................................................ 33
SECTION 2: EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN ............................................................................. 34
Establishment of Modern Schooling in India ......................................................................... 34
A Glimpse of the History of Education Changes .................................................................... 36
Existing View of School Education in Pakistan...................................................................... 40
Public School System ............................................................................................................ 40
Military Schools .................................................................................................................... 44
Private Schools ...................................................................................................................... 46
Elite private schools ........................................................................................................... 47
Middle-class English medium schools ................................................................................ 48
Second-tier private or NGO-run schools ............................................................................. 49
Madaris or Religious Seminaries ........................................................................................... 51
SECTION 3: OVERVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN .................................. 51
Universities/Degree-awarding Institutions and Degree Colleges ............................................ 53
viii

Technical and Vocational Institutions .................................................................................... 55
SECTION 4: HISTORICAL AND CURRENT OVERVIEW OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN
PAKISTAN .............................................................................................................................. 55
Teacher Education in British India ......................................................................................... 56
Overview of Teacher Education after the Establishment of Pakistan ...................................... 56
Period I: 1947 to 1973 ........................................................................................................ 57
Period II: 1973 to 1990 ...................................................................................................... 58
Period III: 1990 to the present ............................................................................................ 61
Current Landscape of Teacher Education in Pakistan ............................................................. 64
SUMMING UP ......................................................................................................................... 66
CHAPTER IV ........................................................................................................................... 68
METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 68
SECTION 1: MIXED-METHODS APPROACH ...................................................................... 68
Sample Selection ................................................................................................................... 69
Description of the Programs .................................................................................................. 70
Regular programs ............................................................................................................... 70
Off-campus programs......................................................................................................... 71
Research Participants ............................................................................................................. 72
SECTION 2: DATA COLLECTION......................................................................................... 74
Document Analysis ............................................................................................................... 75
Surveys.................................................................................................................................. 76
Institutional survey ............................................................................................................. 77
Faculty surveys .................................................................................................................. 78
Student surveys .................................................................................................................. 79
Interviews .............................................................................................................................. 81
SECTION 3: DATA ANALYSIS .............................................................................................. 82
Quantitative Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 82
An important aspect of quantitative analysis....................................................................... 84
Qualitative Data Analysis ...................................................................................................... 85
Ethical Considerations ........................................................................................................... 86
Limitations of the Study ........................................................................................................ 87
CHAPTER V ............................................................................................................................ 89
FINDINGS................................................................................................................................ 89
SECTION 1: POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND GROWTH TRENDS ................................ 91
Policy Description and Its Unintended Consequences ............................................................ 92
Growth in Teacher Education ................................................................................................ 95
Ratios of Untrained Teachers and Enrollment in the Programs ............................................. 100
Enrollment in Teacher Education and Addition of New Teachers ........................................ 103
Emphasis on the Quantity of Graduates in Traditional Teacher Education Programs ............ 107
SECTION 2: EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION ............................... 108
Goals of Traditional Programs ............................................................................................. 108
Requirements in Traditional Teacher Education Programs ................................................... 111
Background of Program Participants .................................................................................... 113
Indicators for Learning Opportunities in the Programs ......................................................... 114
ix

SECTION 3: IMPACT ON PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS AND THE OVERALL QUALITY
OF TEACHER EDUCATION ................................................................................................ 121
Impact on the Effectiveness of Teacher Education Programs ............................................... 122
Less rigorous work for high grades .................................................................................. 123
Struggle over enrollments ................................................................................................ 124
Compromise on program requirements ............................................................................. 125
Attendance of classes relaxed ....................................................................................... 126
Courses made easy-to-complete .................................................................................... 128
Practice teaching/internships compromised ................................................................... 129
Effects on the Overall Quality of Teacher Education in the Region ...................................... 131
Teacher education viewed as a business ........................................................................... 131
Teacher education degrees as additional qualifications ..................................................... 133
Lack of institution-based innovations and reforms ............................................................ 136
Decreasing credibility of teacher education certification ................................................... 137
SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 138
CHAPTER VI ......................................................................................................................... 141
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................... 141
SECTION 1: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ........................................................................... 141
Unchanged Program Goals and Lack of Institution-based Reforms ...................................... 141
Compromise on Program Implementation and Unchecked Market Approaches.................... 142
Market Approaches and the Deterioration of Internships ...................................................... 143
Disconnected Centralized Policies and Lack of Checks and Balances .................................. 144
Interconnection between Policies, Market Approaches, and Program Implementation ......... 147
Centralized Policies and Challenges for New Reforms ......................................................... 147
SECTION 2: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH.......................................... 150
Implications for Policy Making, Policy Reforms, and Policy Evaluation .............................. 150
Regulating teacher education markets .............................................................................. 150
Sustainability of reforms and development of professionalism ......................................... 152
Continuous monitoring and development of policy research institute ............................... 153
Publishing detailed data about teacher education programs .............................................. 154
Integration of policy making and policy evaluation .......................................................... 154
Implications for Future Research ......................................................................................... 155
SUMMING UP ....................................................................................................................... 157
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................... 159
REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 162

x

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Comparison of South Asian Countries on Percent GDP Public Expenditure of Education
by Key Education Output Indicators .......................................................................................... 38
Table 2: Comparison of Increase in Key Indicators of School Education between Public and
Private Sector in the Last Two Decades. .................................................................................... 39
Table 3: Comparison of Level-wise School Types and Enrollment in Pakistan (2011-2012) ...... 40
Table 4: Facilities in Public Schools of Pakistan. ....................................................................... 42
Table 5: Military Schools in Pakistan ........................................................................................ 45
Table 6: Key Indicators about All Types of K-12 Private Schools in Pakistan ........................... 47
Table 7: Key Indicators about Institutions of Higher Education in Pakistan ............................... 52
Table 8: Comparison of Institutions and Enrollments by Region, Gender, and Sector ................ 54
Table 9: Enrollment in Technical and Vocational by Gender and Institution Type ..................... 55
Table 10: All Kinds of Teacher Education Programs in Pakistan ............................................... 65
Table 11: Overview of Institutions Included for Sample Selection from the Three Regions of the
Province .................................................................................................................................... 70
Table 12: Overview of the Surveyed Research Participants ....................................................... 73
Table 13: Overview of the Interview Research Participants ....................................................... 74
Table 14: Overview of the Findings in Relation to the Research Questions and the Data Sources
................................................................................................................................................. 91
Table 15: Comparative Analysis of Goals in Public Teacher Education Programs for Preparing
Secondary Teachers ................................................................................................................ 110
Table 16: Comparative Analysis of Program Requirements in Conventional Public Teacher
Education Programs for Preparing Secondary Teachers ........................................................... 112
Table 17: Comparative Analysis of Participants' Background in Conventional Teacher Education
Programs ................................................................................................................................. 113
xi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Increase in Number of Private Schools in Pakistan by Years ........................................2
Figure 2: Comparison of Enrollment at Islamabad (AIOU Islamabad) with All Other Teacher
Education Institutions in Pakistan by Year ..................................................................................7
Figure 3: Growth Trend in Number of Public Teacher Education Institutions in Pakistan (for
preparing K-12 teachers) ........................................................................................................... 96
Figure 4: Comparison of Enrollment Trends between Islamabad-based Public Teacher Education
Institutions and Public Institutions in the Rest of Pakistan (for K-12 teachers) ........................... 97
Figure 5: Enrollment Growth Trends in Public Institutions of Teacher Education (for preparing
K-12 teachers) in Sindh ............................................................................................................. 98
Figure 6: Enrollment Trends in Six Participant Programs (for preparing secondary teachers)
Show Overwhelming Growth in Enrollment for Off-campus Programs ..................................... 99
Figure 7: Trends in Proportion (%) of Untrained K-12 Teachers in Pakistan............................ 101
Figure 8: Trends in Proportion (%) of Untrained Teachers in Sindh......................................... 102
Figure 9: Comparison between Per Year Enrollment in Public Teacher Education Programs and
Addition of New Teachers in the Public School System (K-12) in Pakistan ............................. 104
Figure 10: Comparison between Per Year Enrollment in Public Teacher Education Programs
(minus Islamabad-based institutions) and Addition of New Teachers in the Public School System
(K-12) in Pakistan ................................................................................................................... 106
Figure 11: Comparison of Pass Ratios between Off-campus and Regular Programs................. 107
Figure 12: Student Composite Average Scores on the Six Categories of Learning Opportunities
............................................................................................................................................... 116
Figure 13: Faculty Composite Average Scores on the Six Categories of Learning Opportunities
............................................................................................................................................... 117

xii

Figure 14: Comparison between Programs as well as between Student and Faculty Composite
Average Scores for Six Categories of Learning Opportunities in the Programs ........................ 118
Figure 15: Comparison of Students and Faculty Composite Average Scores for Categories of
Overall Program Implementation ............................................................................................ 120

xiii

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Pakistani education system in general reflects an ever-changing history, especially
since Pakistan is still very young as a nation state. Most of these changes can be tied to policy
changes by central government because they were mostly the result of changes of government in
Islamabad (Ali, 2012; Bengali, 1999). Although the field of teacher education, as inherited from
colonial India, remained static until 1990, it has gone through many changes in the last two
decades, as is the case with education in general. It is generally understood that the quality of
school education, for the most part, depends on the background of teachers and the school
environment. One important component of teachers’ learning to teach comes from their teacher
education experiences in teacher education institutions (Darling-Hammond & Bartaz, 2007).
Therefore, it is important to study how teacher education programs are being implemented, and
how, in particular, implementation has been affected by current teacher education policies.
Effective implementation of teacher education programs is an important issue in Pakistan in
conversations among teacher educators and policy makers, as well as among researchers of
teacher education (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010).
Continuing education reforms and different parallel systems of education in Pakistan
reflect the influences of foreign donors and reform organizations; these influences have increased
substantially over the last two decades because of globalization. The increased influence of
globalization has created a global policy and reform field (Rizvi and Lingard, 2010), in which
best education practices and policy reforms are identified in global space, mostly in developed
countries, and such practices are transmitted to developing countries through foreign and
international donor organizations (Altbach, 2008). In this respect, most of the education reforms
1

have been foreign funded and tied to the geo-strategic interests of donors in Pakistan (Ahsan,
2005). A significant effect of globalization is demonstrated in the rapid growth of the private
sector, which has resulted from privatization and decentralization policies. Figure 1 illustrates the
rapid growth of private schools in the last couple of decades in Pakistan. This rapid growth and
the strong establishment of the private sector have resulted in market model approaches to
education as private institutions function based on output-based paying of services and on the
number of students enrolled (Williams, 2007). The marketization of education services has
stimulated significant concern among education scholars and policy researchers about the
purposes, access, effectiveness, and quality of education.
Figure 1: Increase in Number of Private K-12 Schools in Pakistan by Years

70000
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
1995 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Created by Author; source: AEPAM Islamabad Reports 1995 to 2012

The policy changes influenced by globalization have also led to the development of
market-model programs of teacher education in the private and public sectors of Pakistan. In
order to decentralize, higher education policies in the early 2000s allowed public and private
universities to develop their own programs, in terms of curriculum and mode of offering, within
2

a loosely defined general outline of curriculum in the education policy of 1998-2010 (Ministry of
Education Pakistan, 1998). This change resulted in the rapid growth of market model off-campus
teacher education programs based on institution-defined curriculum. The scholarly community
(such as Farroq, Al Asmari, & Javid, 2012; Habib, 2010; Halai & Amirali, 2010) strongly
criticized the rapid growth of the market-model off-campus programs, particularly in terms of
how such a rapid change affected the quality and effectiveness of teacher education programs.
The purpose of this dissertation study was to contribute to these scholarly and policybased conversations in order to inform teacher education policy makers in reforming the policy
and programs. This study was framed by the following research questions.
Over-arching Research Question:
How has Pakistan’s market-model policy of offering off-campus secondary teacher education
programs in open and distance learning modes by public and private universities impacted the
implementation and effectiveness of the long-standing traditional teacher education programs in
public institutions of education?
Subsidiary research questions:
1. How is the policy described and rationalized?
2. How has the policy been understood and implemented by institutions of teacher
education?
3. What are the benefits and the challenges of allowing the market to operate in the
provision of teacher education?
4. What are the administrators’ and teacher educators’ views about the policy?

3

Significance of the Study
Recent education policy (National Education Policy, 2009) has recognized problematic
issues with the quality of teacher education, and it has proposed phasing out the traditional
teacher education programs (offered in two modes: both conventional on-campus and market
model off-campus), and replacing them with more a comprehensive four-year post-K12
program (Ministry of Education Government of Pakistan, 2009a). This reform program is largely
funded by USAID Mission Pakistan (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010). The new program has been
initiated in different institutions and is in the process of evolving in terms of course curriculum,
practicum/internship components, and certification requirements. This policy change, however,
has received mixed responses from different stakeholders. For example, many government
organizations, educators, education reform organizations, and international donors support these
changes, whereas some educators and education administrators oppose the new programs. The
present study is significant in this policy environment because it seeks to provide empirical
evidence about the effectiveness of the long-standing policy and the resulting traditional teacher
education programs, particularly the market-model off-campus programs. Hence, this study
could potentially suggest directions for policy revisions and/or additional policy reforms.
Moreover, this study adds to the current scholarly discourse on education reform in Pakistan,
and, more broadly, internationally in the context of education reforms in developing countries as
a whole, which are also affected by globalization-driven policies. Further, this study will suggest
more avenues of research to develop a strong pool of empirical evidence about teacher
education, in order to make well-informed policy decisions in future.

4

Timeline of Preliminary Evidence and Problem Statement
Conventional teacher education remained static as one to two year post-academic training
programs until the recent initiation of more comprehensive four-year bachelor programs in 2010.
The conventional programs include the Primary Certificate of Teaching (post-secondary/higher
secondary) for preparing primary teachers, the Certificate of Teaching (post-higher secondary)
for preparing middle school teachers, and the Bachelor of Education (post-baccalaureate) for
preparing secondary school teachers. Some institutions offer Master of Education programs as
post- Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programs to prepare educational administrators and teacher
educators. The curriculum outline and instructional approaches (mostly lecture-based) are similar
in most of the provinces, as all of the programs require the completion of ten courses of three
credit hours each (thirty credit hours in total) and, in addition, the practicum/practice-teaching
component, which equals six credit hours. However, the content of courses and the evaluation
requirements vary across institutions and provinces (UNESCO, 2008). The newly initiated fouryear programs are significantly different in terms of entry requirements, curriculum content, and
instructional and evaluation approaches.
Historically, all of the conventional teacher education programs were offered as oncampus programs in the face-to-face mode until the late 1970s, when Allama Iqbal Open
University Islamabad (a federal public university) began offering a variety of programs as offcampus programs in open and distance learning modes (USAID/UNESCO, 2008). However, the
curriculum outline for most of the programs remained the same. Two decades later, influenced
by globalization, the national education policy of 1998 to 2010 allowed all institutions to offer
programs in open and distance learning modes. Since the off-campus programs were low-cost,
many other public and private institutions of teacher education, following the market model

5

approach, began offering off-campus programs. In the early 2000s, Pakistan’s many public
sector and private sector universities offered market model off-campus teacher education
programs in open and distance learning modes in their respective regions of operation. The
universities generated more funds through the off-campus programs because these programs
were very low-cost. A typical off-campus program enrolls about 30 to 40 students per instructor,
who conducts weekly (on Sundays) short face-to-face sessions to provide instruction about
readings. Most of the instructors in the off-campus programs are in-service school teachers, or
intermediate college teachers, who have an M. A. or M. Ed. degree, and they are hired on a
yearly contract basis. Since instruction in these programs is their part-time job, these instructors
agree to work for low salaries. The curriculum is compressed and tailored to facilitate the success
of candidates in these programs.
The off-campus programs have been widely criticized by different stakeholders,
including teacher educators, administrators of schools, and policy analysts. Most of the criticisms
of these programs have pointed out the lack or disappearance of proper instruction, the nonrigorous curriculum, misappropriation of assessment/evaluation, and an absent or low-quality
practice teaching component (Faroof, Al Asmari, & Javid, 2012). Teacher educators and policy
analysts have criticized these programs on the grounds that there are only a few instructors
(senior high school teachers) at a typical off-campus center, and that therefore these centers lack
sufficient and competent human technical expertise to cater to the diverse needs of the
candidates. Further, face-to-face interaction is very limited; consequently, students lack the
experience and richness of discussions, debates, and other critically interactive activities. School
administrators have usually complained of the poor preparedness of the graduates from these
programs.
6

Yet despite all the criticism from relevant quarters, these programs have continued and
expanded. Even the universities in other specialized fields, such as agricultural universities and
business schools, began offering similar programs. Educationists mostly believe that there are
two major reasons for the expansion of the off-campus programs: first, these programs
effectively attract candidates because of low fees and the ease of completing the program; and,
second, universities and institutions, because of using the market model, are able to generate
additional funds through these programs (Chang, 2013). However, the expansion of programs to
non-teacher education institutions has challenged teacher education institutions, and their
struggle to end such programs in many non-teacher education institutions was successful within
a few years.
Figure 2: Comparison of Enrollment at Islamabad (AIOU Islamabad) with All Other
Teacher Education Institutions in Pakistan by Year
800000.0

600000.0

Enrollment in TE
Programs in
Pakistan

500000.0

Islamabad

700000.0

400000.0
300000.0

Rest of Pakistan

200000.0

100000.0
0.0
2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Created by Author, source of data AEPAM reports (2004 – 2011)

AIOU Islamabad immediately capitalized on this victory, claiming it was the most
appropriate institution to offer off-campus programs because it has expertise in open and
distance learning programs. This, coupled with a government policy of allowing unlimited
7

enrollment, resulted in disproportionate growth in the enrollment at the AIOU offered offcampus programs in 2007. Figure 2 shows the huge enrollment at AIOU Islamabad.
Many teacher educators believe that the vast expansion of these alternative teacher
education programs has highly impacted the functioning and effectiveness of the on-campus
teacher education programs offered by public sector teacher education institutions/colleges in
Pakistan (Chang, 2014). Since the off-campus programs attract most of the candidates, they have
created a challenge for public institutions/colleges of teacher education to obtain sufficient
enrollment in their long-standing regular on-campus programs. In response, public institutions of
teacher education have opened branches in remote areas of their respective regions, but they still
did not have much success in increasing their enrollment, because the off-campus programs
offered by other universities are an easier route to get a teaching certificate, by virtue of their
being less rigorous. Consequently, the institutions of teacher education began compromising on
the implementation of their regular programs (Chang, 2014). Although policy requirements
about curriculum, instruction, assessment, apprenticeship, and attendance have remained the
same, institutions of teacher education unofficially compromised on the implementation of their
programs and policies in order to attract more candidates. Unofficially, attendance requirements
were relaxed; instruction became less rigorous; assignments and exams became much easier; and
apprenticeships or practice teaching became almost non-existent. Those compromises by the
public institutions of teacher education in the implementation of their programs still continue as
the universities, particularly AIOU Islamabad, continue offering off-campus programs in the
regions covered in this research.
Many teacher educators believe that the situation described above has lowered the overall
quality of teacher education programs in Pakistan. The reports by USAID/UNESCO (2008) and
8

UNESCO (2008) present a thorough analysis of the steadily degrading quality of teacher
education in Pakistan. However, some concerned organizations have claimed that some recent
policy developments in teacher education and in the recruitment of teachers are targeted to revive
the quality of teacher education programs in Pakistan. A few significant policy developments set
forth in the National Education Policy 2009 (Ministry of Education Government of Pakistan,
2009a) include the development of national professional standards for teachers (Ministry of
Education Government of Pakistan, 2009b), four-year programs of teacher education, the
requirement of a bachelor’s degree with a B. Ed. for new elementary teachers, and the
requirement of a master’s degree with a B. Ed. for the appointment of new secondary teachers.
The four-year teacher education programs are only being introduced in selected universities and
colleges of education, however, and the policy still allows universities to offer off-campus
programs in open and distance learning modes. In light of all these reforms and consequent
changes, there is a need for empirical evidence about the effectiveness of current teacher
education offerings. This is an important time to study how the policy of offering off-campus
market model programs has affected the program implementation of the traditional teacher
education program.
Organization of the Dissertation
This dissertation consists of six chapters, organized as follows. Chapter 2 presents a
detailed review of literature, including an overview of globalization and marketization in
Pakistan, and the relevant literature on teacher education, including identification of issues in
teacher education, policy initiatives, and emphasis on in-service professional development,
quality issues, and distance learning (off-campus) teacher education. Chapter 3 presents an
overview of the context of this study – Pakistan. Beginning with an overview of demographics,

9

the government system, and the economy, this chapter highlights the education systems and
teacher education in Pakistan. Chapter 4 presents a detailed account of the methodology of
research. Chapter 5 presents the findings and analysis, which consist of three main categories:
policy implementation and historical trends in teacher education, implementation of conventional
(on-campus and off-campus) teacher education programs, and effects of the policy of allowing
the market to operate in the implementation of teacher education programs. Chapter 6 discusses
these findings and their implications for policy and further research.

10

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter primarily examines the research literature on teacher education in Pakistan.
However, in order to situate the analysis in the wider context of globalization, which has led to
many significant changes in Pakistan, including the marketization of education services, a brief
analysis is first presented on how market approaches in education, particularly in teacher
education, have taken root as a result of policy reforms that have been affected by globalization.
Following this brief analysis of the effects of globalization on Pakistan in leading to market
approaches in education, the second part of this chapter turns to an analysis of the research
literature published on issues regarding teacher education programs and institutions in Pakistan.
SECTION 1: GLOBALIZATION AND THE MARKETIZATION OF EDUCATION IN
PAKISTAN
As is the case in the rest of the world, policies and systems in Pakistan have been affected
by globalization in the last two decades. Martin (2000) described the effects of globalization in
this way: “…globalization remains an inexact term for the strong, and perhaps irreversible,
changes in the economy, labor force, technologies, communication, cultural patterns, and
political alliances that it is imposing on every nation” (p. 3). One of the major changes in the
economy has been the shift from public control and funding of social services to the growing
market approaches in both the public and the private sectors in developing countries. As noted
earlier, Pakistan has experienced rapid growth in market approaches in both private and public
sectors at all levels of education during the last two decades. This has been the result of
education reform policies which, as Carnoy (2002) and Pang (2006) put forth in their analyses,
have been increasingly affected by globalization, particularly by international funding agencies

11

and financial institutions such as the UN (IMF, UNESCO, UNICEF) and The World Bank.
Dale’s (1999) analysis shows that there has been a great push for free markets through the WTO
(World Trade Organization), and Carnoy’s (2000) work shows that the IMF and The World
Bank have conditioned their financial support on the decentralization and liberalization of public
institutions, which includes education services in developing countries. The major argument for
these changes has been that governments can lessen their burdens by shifting responsibilities to
private and non-governmental organizations (open market), so that they can focus more on
improving governance and the economy. Moreover, it is argued that the establishment of the
private sector and the liberalization of institutions for social services increase competition, which
leads to more innovation in education. However, as Carnoy (2000), Pang (2006), and many
others have shown, marketization has changed education from a public good to a market
commodity, effectively changing the goals of education from truth seeking to preparing
individuals for the market economy.
The literature suggests that there have been mixed effects of globalization on education in
the developing world. Some of the positive effects of globalization on education include
increased access to established knowledge around the world, interaction and exchange of
educators, access to and use of technology, and increased emphasis on education for human
development (such as Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals, UNESCO,
2010). In Asia, some of the successful examples of the development of human capital that draw
on educational ideas and strategies from the developed world while trying to maintain the local
value systems include China, South Korea, India, Japan, and Thailand (Cheng, 2004). However,
some other literature heavily criticizes the globalization movement in education for its many
negative effects on developing nations. The analysis by Abdi, Puplampu, and Dei (2006), in their
12

book titled African Education and Globalization: Critical Perspectives, points out that
globalization in education has not increased educational equity, has not reformed pedagogy for
students’ learning, and has not provided sufficient resources to widen and improve education
systems in Africa. The book suggests three major reasons for the negative effects of
globalization: poorly-planned and short-run improvement programs by international donor
organizations, neocolonial policies advanced through globalization, and decline in the generation
and importance of local knowledge. Similarly, Okoli (2012), while analyzing the effects of
globalization from 1983 to 2008 in Africa, argued that as a result of globalization, Africa has not
achieved universal primary education, has faced a “brain-drain” as thousands have immigrated to
the developed world, has seen increased segregation in access to educational opportunities, and
has seen the dominance of the developed world in creating research-based knowledge about
Africa.
In the last two decades, there has been a significantly increasing influence of donors and
international financial organizations on educational programs and policy making in Pakistan
(Ali, 2012; and Ahsan, 2005); as a result, market approaches and private schools have grown
rapidly (Andrabi, Das, & Khawaja, 2008). This trend of marketization has also pushed public
sector universities to use the market approach to compete in the market place, as well as to
generate needed funds for their institutions. Since market approaches follow market logic, there
has been growth in education services, including teacher education programs, on a low-cost and
an easy-to-complete basis, in order to attract more candidates, while also compromising the
requirements for maintaining educational quality (Chang, 2013). One of the easy ways of
offering low-cost programs is to offer them in the open and distance learning modes, which save
candidates’ time and expenses for accommodation and transportation, and require little effort to
13

complete the program. Following this logic, public and private institutions have significantly
increased their offerings of off-campus teacher education programs in the last two decades, and
these programs constitute more than two-thirds of Pakistan’s total enrollment, as reported in
national data-based reports (AEPAM Islamabad, 2012) and a few studies (Chang, 2013, and PreSTEP/USAID, 2010). However, as many critics argue in Pakistan (Ali, 2009, 2012), and as some
initial findings in my own practicum research (Chang, 2013) suggest, market approaches have
negatively impacted the effectiveness and implementation of conventional teacher education
programs. This warrants exploration of the extent of the impact of these changes in teacher
education, which is the main goal of my research.
SECTION 2: RESEARCH ON TEACHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN
Although the last two decades have shown a slight growth trend in research and scholarly
work on teacher education, historically this has not been the case because the lesser importance
given to research in general in Pakistan has resulted in only a limited body of rigorous and valid
research literature concerning teacher education in Pakistan. This section provides an analysis of
the scholarly work available on teacher education in Pakistan, particularly on the quality and
effectiveness of teacher education programs and the preparedness of the teachers. This section
also illustrates how this research is important in terms of addressing the very important growth of
off-campus market-model teacher education programs, which have been mostly overlooked by
researchers studying teacher education in Pakistan (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010). The analysis
addresses the following areas: the beginning of identifying issues in teacher education; policy
initiatives and in-service professional development; increase of locally published literature and
quality issues; and open and distance learning (off-campus) teacher education programs.

14

Identification of Issues in Teacher Education
Most of the research on teacher education in Pakistan, as well as on other areas of
education, has been done in the last two decades; however, there are many challenges with
regard to the quality of the studies, as many of them are neither rigorous nor scholarly. Two
rigorous studies on teacher education in Pakistan were reported by Warwick and Reimers (1995)
and Davies and Iqbal (1997). Warwick and Reimers (1995) drew on the findings of the
BRIDGES project, a significant research project in the early 1990s, conducted collaboratively by
the Harvard School for International Development and the Academy of Educational Planning
and Management Islamabad in four provinces and in the Islamabad federal area, on how formal
education and teacher training (certification) are related to the quality of teaching and student
achievement in the public primary schools of Pakistan. In-service teachers and principals were
surveyed, and achievement tests were conducted with 4th and 5th grade students on science and
math. In addition, the researchers interviewed faculty and conducted intensive observation of
classes at two teacher training colleges in Baluchistan, a remote south-western province of
Pakistan. The study found a significant relationship between higher levels of formal education
(academic) of teachers and student achievement on four test scores, whereas teacher certification
was found to be significantly related to student achievement test scores on only one out of four
tests. Moreover, neither higher level formal education nor higher level teacher education was
found to be significantly related to effective teaching. The study highlighted many issues with
teacher education programs as reasons for the ineffectiveness of teacher education, such as
“unmotivated faculty and students; inactive principals; a curriculum divorced from tough
realities of teaching; heavy reliance on lecturing, dictation, and rote memorization; and a lack of
supervision … (which) all undercut the ability of certification programs [teacher education
programs] to turn out well-prepared and dynamic teachers” (Warwick & Reimers, 1995; p. 32).
15

Although this study identified some significant issues with teacher education for primary
teachers, it did not examine how the policies were related to these issues, particularly with
program implementation. Moreover, the study of teacher training programs was confined to
regular programs at two colleges of elementary education in a remote province of Pakistan.
The research by Davies and Iqbal (1997) was a case study of one teacher education
college, in which the researchers surveyed the views of students and faculty in four areas: how
well participants in the teacher education program felt prepared for effective teaching; what was
needed in the program to prepare more effective teachers; what was appropriate curricular
material in courses; and what were the usual teaching and learning methods used in the program.
Overall, the study explored how well the teacher education program matched the areas
considered appropriate for school effectiveness. The researchers found that students, faculty, and
tutors varied in their views about what factors in teacher education were responsible for school
effectiveness, except that they did agree that the participant-teachers needed to develop practical
classroom teaching skills. However, the study reported that the teacher education program
heavily emphasized rote memorization among participants, through lecturing and dictating notes
methods, outdated and theoretical syllabi, and question-spotting assessment, which hardly
prepares teachers for how to teach and learn effectively. The findings reported in this study are
similar to those reported by Warwick and Reimers (1995), which identified important gaps in
teacher education programs around 1995, particularly their over-emphasis on theory and
memorization to reproduce the memorized material in exams; that is why most of the participants
in Davies and Iqbal’s (1997) study reported that graduates of the program lacked practical skills.
However, neither study investigated what led to the theoretical nature of these programs, their
emphasis on rote memorization, and the possible relationship between policies and levels of
16

program implementation. This limitation notwithstanding, these two studies were pioneering
work, in the decade of 1990 to 2000, in identifying issues with conventional teacher education in
Pakistan.
Building on the discussion of the issues reported in the above-mentioned two studies on
teacher education programs in Pakistan, and based on analysis of available reports on teacher
education institutions, Kizilbash (1998) reported several aspects which need to be addressed in
order to improve the performance of teacher education institutions. He listed many significant
issues which have caused the poor performance of public teacher education institutions in
Pakistan, including extensive use of the conventional lecture method, inadequate and outdated
preparation of teacher educators, the short period of preparation programs, the shortage of
schools for internship or practice teaching, traditional outdated curriculum for programs, lack of
commitment to quality and improvement at teacher education institutions, lack of research on
teacher education for the improvement of programs, lack of effective evaluation of teacher
education programs, and lack of coordination among teacher education institutions to improve
quality. Kizilbash, based on his analysis, criticized government education policies which lack
proper measures to improve the quality of teacher education programs and institutions. He
claimed that “the harsh fact is that the neglect of the education sector as a whole has been had
enough, but the need for quality teacher educators has gone completely unrecognized”
(Kizilbash, 1998, p. 115). These were the few rigorous and valid studies in the decade of 1990 to
2000 which effectively demonstrated scholarly and critical work on issues and gaps in teacher
education in Pakistan.

17

Policy Initiatives and Emphasis on In-service Professional Development
The criticism by researchers/scholars in the late 1990s, combined with pressure from
local stakeholders and international donors, has pushed the federal government to focus on
teacher education in order to improve the quality of teaching in Pakistan. Similar pressures
aroused efforts to improve the quality of teachers and teaching through effective teacher
education (in-service and pre-service), as Pakistan committed to “Education for All.” Thus the
National Education Policy 1998-2010 provided a section on improving teacher quality through
teacher education, which led to many in-service teacher training reforms, such as short refresher
courses, short in-service certificate programs, and continuing professional development
programs for teachers. The policy also recognized the importance of training all in-service
untrained teachers, which constituted about a quarter of all public school teachers in Pakistan
(AEPAM Islamabad, 1998), through allowing teacher education institutions to offer in-service
short courses and off-campus teacher education programs. Moreover, the National Education
Policy 1998-2010 heavily emphasized the expansion and growth of higher education for
economic development in Pakistan. Thus, the higher education commission reforms which began
in 2001 (HEC, 2002) allowed a market approach in higher education institutions, including
teacher education institutions, and they allowed them to offer market-model programs, mostly
off-campus programs in open and distance learning modes, under the policy initiative titled
“self-finance programs.” Thus the early 2000s were the years of initiating two major changes to
improve teacher quality and the provision of teacher education to all untrained teachers, which
included many reform projects for the in-service professional development of teachers and the
growth of off-campus market-model teacher education programs across Pakistan. However, most
of the literature on teacher education in this period focused on studying different aspects of inservice professional development programs for teachers, whereas off-campus programs as well
18

as conventional teacher education programs and their effects received minimal scholarly
attention. I analyze some significant literature on in-service professional development in the
following section.
Most of the studies on in-service teacher education programs and reforms have focused
on identifying effective practices, strategies, and mechanisms for improving in-service teachers’
competence. For example, several studies (Khan & Halai, 2009; Chang, 2006; and Hussain &
Ali, 1998) reported how a cluster-based mentoring program, which originated in the Aga Khan
University’s Institute for Educational Development, was an effective strategy for the professional
development of teachers. Hussain and Ali (1998) studied the impact of a cluster-based mentoring
program for in-service teachers in several districts of Baluchistan province, in which a mentor
teacher (or professional development teacher), stationed at a learning resource center (LRC),
worked with about 25 teachers in a cluster of schools in the radius of a few miles, and organized
different professional development activities such as day-long weekly workshops, development
of learning resources and instructional materials, observation of mentee-teachers’ classes, and
post-observation of one-to-one reflective sessions. Based on their evidence collected through
observations and interviews, they concluded that this strategy effectively changed in-service
teachers’ practices from traditional lecturing and rote-learning to a more progressive activitybased teaching.
Chang (2006) conducted a study about the impact of a similar cluster-based mentoring
program in a rural district of Sindh, finding that mentee-teachers had changed their teaching
practices to more student-centered teaching while engaging their students in different kinds of
activities, but that this change was sustainable only while the teachers were supported by the
mentor. Once the ongoing support by the mentor stopped, because of the end of the mentoring
19

program, most of the teachers went back to their traditional note-dictation, lecturing, and rotelearning based practices, which were the norm in most of the schools. A few other studies (such
as Khan & Halai 2009; Halai, 1998, 2006; and Ali, 2000) demonstrated a slightly varied
mentoring approach, under the broader umbrella of ongoing school-based support, where the
mentor worked with in-service mentee-teachers as co-planner, co-teacher, and subject expert.
However, most of the studies on mentoring strategies for teachers’ in-service professional
development only focused on changes which occurred during the program, whereas they
overlooked the critical question of change sustainability. A few studies in the literature on the
issue of sustainability (Chang, 2006; Ahsan 2005; and Memon & Wheeler 2000) suggest that
most of the changes in teachers’ practices were not sustainable, and teachers went back to
traditional teaching practices because of their long-standing traditional teaching school
environments and the continuous influx of traditionally-trained teachers from conventional
public teacher education institutions.
Another body of literature (Mehrun-Nisa, 2009; Rarieya, 2009; Ashraf, Khaki, Shamatov,
Tajik, & Vazir, 2005; and Rettalick & Mithani, 2003) reported studies which identified
successful practices and strategies used in in-service on-campus programs, which effectively
transformed in-service teachers’ understanding of teaching and learning: they changed their
practices into more progressive activity-based teaching while working at their schools and
participating in the in-service program. Most of these studies concluded that the successful inservice programs were comprised of a reasonable balance between on-campus sessions and a
field-based (classroom teaching and school-based work) component. These studies claimed that
the in-service programs engaged the participants in progressive learning environments to reconceptualize their notions of teaching and learning successfully, and to change teachers’
20

practices from traditional lecture-based teaching to progressive student-centered teaching, while
involving students in different activities. Many of these studies focused on reflection and critical
analysis to develop reflective practice in teachers, through reflective dialogue (Rarieya, 2009),
through effective questioning (Mehrun-Nisa, 2009), and through engaging in teacher action
research (Dean, 2009) leading to effective re-conceptualizations of teachers’ notions. Further,
use of hands-on (using physical movement such engaging hands) and “minds-on” (involving
different kinds of thinking) activities, engagement in the development of learning and
instructional materials, and collaborative project work/assignments in in-service courses led to
changes in teachers’ practices.
A significant limitation of these studies is that they all focused on studying the
participants while they were participating in their in-service professional development program,
where they were more likely to implement the practices which were supported through the
program. When the support from the reform programs ended, and teachers were left on their own
to deal with the issues of mainstream public school environments, which are filled with
traditionally trained teachers, they tended to go back to their traditional teaching practices. No
studies focused on how the teachers who changed their practices during the reform program
taught once the reform program support ended.
A significant amount of research literature on effective practices for in-service teachers’
professional development appeared over the decade of 2000 to 2010. Additionally, significant
growth took place in the offerings of off-campus teacher education programs, in order to address
the issues of untrained teachers. However, rarely did any study focus on the effectiveness and
effects of these programs. While dissatisfaction with the conventional teacher education
programs (both on-campus and off-campus) was evident in most of the literature mentioned
21

earlier, no rigorous and valid study was done to understand program implementation and the
effectiveness of the traditional teacher education programs. Nonetheless, the dissatisfaction in
scholarly circles and the poor quality indicators of school education, particularly about
enrollment, quality of teaching, and student achievement, which were reported in international
reports (by UNESCO and The World Bank), created pressure on the government to reform
teacher education in order to improve the quality of teachers and teaching in Pakistan. Thus
several government initiated studies, in collaboration with international donors (such as
UNESCO/USAID, 2006; Butt, 2008; Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010), led to teacher education reforms
in public teacher education institutions, particularly the initiation of the Pre-service Teacher
Education Project (funded by USAID) to build the capacity of teacher education institutions, and
to initiate a two-year diploma in education and a four-year honors teacher education program for
primary and secondary teachers. These studies reported several challenges faced by teacher
education institutions which led to poor functioning of the institutions and outdated program
practices at these institutions. An analysis of these studies is presented in the following section.
As discussed earlier, a few rigorous and scholarly authentic studies were conducted by
researchers from international development organizations in collaboration with government and
donor organizations. UNESCO (2006) reported an historical analysis of teacher education
policies and existing challenges in teacher education in the public sector teacher education
institutions. The report, based on historical analysis of policies and plans, claimed that there was
random and irrelevant emphasis on policies and plans, while no single authentic and
comprehensive policy was established for reforms to improve the quality of teacher education.
The report pointed out several issues with teacher education programs and institutions, such as
course work irrelevant to classroom teaching, lack of preparation of teachers for classroom
22

management and motivation for teaching, lack of preparation for the relationship between
teachers, the school, and the community, and no focus on quality improvement (UNESCO,
2006). This report, and the criticism in other studies (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010; But, 2008),
played a significant role in initiating teacher education reforms, such as the initiation of four-year
teacher education programs at colleges in the Punjab province, and initiation of the Pre-service
Teacher Education Project (Pre-STEP), a nation-wide teacher education reform program to
initiate four-year teacher education programs in public institutions, in collaboration with, and
with funding from, USAID Pakistan.
A comprehensive survey study was conducted by Pre-STEP/USAID (2010) to assess the
strengths and challenges in selected teacher education colleges and universities across Pakistan.
As the Pre-STEP/USAID (2010) study was a baseline assessment study, it was comprehensive in
terms of its focus on four important areas of teacher education institutions: teaching and learning,
physical infrastructure and resources, institutions and programs, and management capacities of
teacher educators and principals. This study also used both qualitative data (interviews and
observations) and survey data; however, it only focused on colleges for preparing primary
teachers, and on university departments for preparing secondary teachers, excluding the colleges
for preparing secondary teachers. The study reported “… that educators generally address
content knowledge of their subjects but do very little to prepare teacher trainees to teach those
subjects” (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010; p.V). The study highlighted many other important issues,
such as serious gaps in the capacity of faculty, over-emphasis on the lecture method, absence of
effective lesson planning, non-existent research capacity at colleges, and theoretical and hard to
complete syllabi in the traditional regular programs (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010). This study also
reported some interesting initial findings about an off-campus (AIUO Islamabad based) program
23

in comparison to regular programs, which included over-enrollment (two thirds of total
enrollment) in the AIOU Islamabad-based off-campus programs compared to lack of enrollment
in the regular programs at government colleges, where about 50% of slots open for enrollment
remained unfilled. They also reported that even though the regular programs cost less than the
AIOU Islamabad-based off-campus programs, most of the enrollment went to off-campus
programs. They claimed that the reason for the high enrollment in AIOU Islamabad programs,
“… as mentioned during focus group interviews – is that the loopholes in the AIOU Islamabad
assessment and examination system allow for serious manipulation in completion of assignments
and examinations, thereby attracting less motivated students to opt for AIOU Islamabad
program” (Pre-STEP/USAID, 2010; p. 6). Because this study did not systematically look into
why enrollment was so high in off-campus programs, and how that affected teacher education in
Pakistan, the researchers strongly recommended a comprehensive study to assess the efficacy of
AIUO Islamabad off-campus programs. Here, potentially, my study contributes in filling the gap
by providing empirical evidence on the effects of growth in off-campus market-model programs.
Local Faculty-published Literature and Quality Issues
Although the publication of papers by local faculty dramatically increased in the last five
years, correspondingly with the publication of many papers on teacher education in Pakistan, a
close analysis of the quality of these papers shows that many of them do not meet the criteria for
high-quality research and research reporting in education (AERA, 2006, 2009). Here I report
only the results from studies that meet these standards. Few studies published in the last five
years highlight issues similar to those reported in Pre-STEP/USAID (2010), chiefly expressing
the dissatisfaction of different stakeholders with the quality of teacher education programs and
the preparedness of teachers (graduates). Ali’s (2011) analysis focused broadly on understanding

24

how teacher education practices in Pakistan compare with popular narratives and theories in the
international context. This study found that teacher education in Pakistan is heavily focused on
technical aspects, providing a certain set of concepts and understandings about teaching and
learning, whereas teacher education in the international context focuses on social, ethical,
reflective, and analytical issues, and on the professional importance of teaching and learning.
Manzar-Abbas and Lu (2013) studied problems in collaboration with schools during the
practicum or internship of participants in teacher education programs at 14 public elementary
colleges of education. They found that the role descriptions for interns and the differentiation of
roles were not clear between faculty supervisors and school-based facilitators, which left
students confused about what they were required to do and from whom to seek particular
support. They also found that schools considered the practicum or the practice teaching exercise
of teacher education program participants (pre-service and in-service teachers) disruptive and
unimportant because they thought it did not result in learning important skills.
Overall, most of the studies in the last five years have focused on broader issues related
to different aspects of traditional teacher education programs in elementary colleges. However,
none of the studies focused on a comprehensive analysis of program implementation, particularly
in relation to the policy resulting in the growth of off-campus market-model programs.
Open and Distance Learning Teacher Education
The off-campus programs focused on in the present study offer a variety of versions of
open and distance learning modes in Pakistan, and the majority of these are offered by AIOU
Islamabad – the federal Open University. Before turning to an analysis of the literature on
distance learning with regard to its effectiveness, I first sketch a brief background of open and
distance education in the developing world to provide a context for the subsequent analysis.
25

The first evidence of distance learning for teacher education was found in 1963, when
teachers for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugee children were trained through distance
learning teacher education (Perraton, 2010). Since then, distance teacher education has grown
significantly in the last four decades, particularly in developing countries; however, the evidence
about its effectiveness is mixed, and it varies among countries. Perraton’s (2010) analysis shows
that several countries have used distance learning for initial teacher education and continuing
professional development, but there is no direct evidence of its effects on classroom teaching.
Although Perraton’s (2010) analysis of reports about different countries indicates that distance
learning teacher education programs have been helpful in training large numbers of teachers,
there is insufficient empirical evidence of the quality of these programs. Adding to this
conversation, Ogunleye (2013), analyzing quality and quality assurance issues in distance
education, claimed that wide expansion of open and distance learning in the developing world
has posed many challenges and serious concerns for its quality because the use of quality
assurance techniques, which are used for traditional teacher education programs, does not seem
appropriate for the quality assurance of distance and open learning programs.
The papers reporting studies of distance education (including teacher education) offered
by AIOU Islamabad, as well as by other institutions in Pakistan, have also been mostly published
by local faculty in the last five years. Many of these papers also have similar issues regarding the
quality of the study and its reporting, as discussed earlier. Nonetheless, some of these papers and
studies highlight some important facets of distance learning and off-campus programs, including
their strengths and challenges, as next discussed.
Jumani, Rahman, Chisti and Malik (2011) addressed the three instructional components
of AIOU Islamabad’s program, which include optional tutorials at study centers across the
26

country, self-instructional materials (such as course books, study guides, audio/video programs
on TV and radio), and one full-day compulsory workshop at the end of a semester. The authors’
description of the evaluation of AIOU Islamabad-offered courses noted that it consists of
formative assignments (30% of the total) and a final exam (70% of the total), and the minimum
requirement to get a passing grade in a course is 40%. It is noteworthy here that the minimum
requirement for passing a course in regular programs is 50% to 60% at various traditional
institutions. Jumani, Rahman, Chisti and Malik (2011), while describing the nature of teacher
education programs at AIOU Islamabad, the gigantic structure of which spreads across Pakistan,
and the huge enrollment in its programs, claim that AIOU Islamabad programs are successful
and effective. However, their paper does not provide any direct evidence of the effectiveness of
the AIOU Islamabad programs in terms of improving the quality of teachers and teaching, or in
terms of its effects on students’ learning achievement.
Studies of distance learning (off-campus programs) reported in other papers provide
evidence of satisfaction with some aspects of off-campus programs and dissatisfaction with
many other aspects of these programs. Buzdar and Ali (2013) surveyed 450 students at nine
centers of the AIOU Islamabad teacher education program for primary teachers, to ascertain
whether the courses develop reflective thinking among the participants. Their study’s finding
that the mean scores for categories about reflective thinking were higher than habitual actions,
and were statistically significant, strongly suggests that the courses helped the participants to
develop reflective thinking. However, the survey was not clear about how far the mean score of
students was from the maximum possible score.
Another two studies focused on two important aspects of distance teacher education
programs. Ali, Mahmood, and Mahmood (2011) investigated whether students in off-campus
27

programs were satisfied with their tutors’ performance in handling their assignment work, and
Akhter (2011) studied the effectiveness of using TV programs by AIOU Islamabad with teacher
program participants. Ali, Mahmood, and Mahmood (2011) found an overall dissatisfaction on
the part of students with the evaluation of their assignments by tutors. The most common types
of dissatisfaction reported by students in this study included below average input by tutors and
the university for writing assignments: 60% of students reported that tutors did not provide any
written feedback and just wrote a check mark on their assignments; roughly 70% of students
reported that tutors did not review their assignments thoroughly; about 77% of students reported
that they did not get any feedback on the strengths and weakness in their assignments; about 70%
of students were not satisfied with the evaluation grade of their assignments; and about 80% of
students did not get their first assignment back before writing their second assignment. Akhter’s
(2011) study highlights a common issue of access and the availability of television programs to
the program participants. This study found that while slightly more than 50% of the participants
surveyed considered the contents of the television programs useful, the participants reported that
they could not watch more than 60% of the programs because of odd television program
schedules, electricity failures, and the non-availability of television.
Although the literature analyzed above provides some insights about open and distance
learning in teacher education programs in Pakistan, it is too limited to provide an understanding
of the overall issues with the effectiveness of these programs, given the fact that off-campus
programs constitute an overwhelming proportion of enrollment in teacher education programs.
Further, the important work of policy and program reforms requires evidence on how the
overwhelming growth of these off-campus market-model programs has affected the quality and
effectiveness of teacher education program implementation in Pakistan. Since no study has
28

focused on this area to date, my research seeks not only to contribute to filling this gap but also
to provide a pioneering example for policy-oriented research on teacher education design and
program implementation in Pakistan.

29

CHAPTER III
CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
This study was conducted in a southern region of Pakistan. Because particular sociocultural and educational settings in Pakistan can lead to particular effects, it is important to
understand the context of the study. This chapter consists of four sections. The first section
presents an overview of the creation of Pakistan, its demographics, and its political and economic
systems. The second section presents a detailed description of the school education system of
Pakistan, including government schools, private schools, and Madaris. The third section presents
an overview of higher education in Pakistan, and the fourth section presents an historical
overview of the development of teacher education programs and policies as well as the current
landscape of teacher education programs in Pakistan.
SECTION 1: OVERVIEW OF THE CREATION OF PAKISTAN AND ITS SYSTEMS
A Brief Background of the Creation of Pakistan
The areas comprising present Pakistan were part of India (locally called Hindustan and
Raj in the British Colonial period), and they remained colonized by Britain for almost a century
before India was divided to establish Pakistan and present day India, in August 1947. Before the
British took full control of the Indian subcontinent in 1858, other European colonizers such as
the Portuguese, Dutch, and French, controlled some parts of it; however, the control of a
relatively larger area rested with Muslim rulers of the Mughal Empire. Muslims ruled India for
eight centuries before it completely fell to the British; however the empire was comprised of
many small states distributed in the ruling class of India (Jaffrelot & Beaumont, 2002). Many
local Hindu and Muslim leaders initiated civil rights movements for the rights of local people in
the Raj (British India) soon after British colonization. These movements later turned into non30

violent political movements to free India from British control. However, because the British
applied a “divide and rule” strategy, different ethnic and religious groups ran separate
movements and remained weak. In the early twentieth century, Gandhi’s influential leadership
successfully united many of the ethnic groups (mostly Hindus) under one political movement,
called the Indian National Congress. However, the Muslims of India established a separate
political movement, called the All India Muslim League, to protect the rights of the Muslims of
India. Jaffrelot and Beaumont’s (2002) analysis shows that the British fueled further separation
and differences among these two movements by using the religious differences between Hindus
and Muslims. These movements became stronger in the 1940s as more Indian people received
modern education and thus became active in the struggle for the independence of India.
However, the differences between the Hindus and Muslims of India could not be resolved, and
eventually India was divided into two independent countries, India and Pakistan (east and west
Pakistan were separated by about 2000 kilometers of India), as movements for independence
became stronger and the British became weaker after fighting World War II. Later on, in 1971,
West Pakistan became an independent nation, Bangladesh, after a bloody war between India and
Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan has been a federation of provinces and includes three federally
administered territories.
Demographics of Pakistan
A nation of an estimated population of 180 million, geographically Pakistan is in the
southern part of Asia and is surrounded by India on the east, China and Central Asia in the
North, Afghanistan and Iran on the west, and the Arabian Sea (Indian Ocean) in the south. The
country is demographically divided among many ethnic groups, which are populated in different
provinces/regions and in rural and urban areas. Pakistan consists of six significant ethnic groups

31

-- Pashtuns, Balochs, Sindhis, Siriakies, Punjabis, and Mohajirs (emigrants from India at the time
of the division) -- as well as many other smaller groups. All of the groups have different cultures
and separate languages, such as Sindhi in Sindh, Punjabi and Siriaki in Punjab, Balochi in
Baluchistan, and Pashto in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Urdu is Pakistan’s national language, and
English is its official language. These are the two common languages across the provinces and
regions. Despite different ethnic groups, there are many common cultural and social threads
across the country, such as joint-family living, marriage traditions, clothing, and socialization
patterns.
Furthermore, a significant difference is observed between urban and rural areas, which
consist of 35% and 65% of the total population, respectively. Urban areas are densely populated,
and most of the people run businesses, or work in industry or private organizations, whereas the
rural population is less dense because people live in scattered villages or rural towns, and mostly
do agriculture/dairy farming, run small agro-industry based businesses, work as daily-wage
laborers, or have jobs in the public sector. The physical infrastructures, and the facilities of living
and services, including health and education, are much better in urban areas compared to rural
areas. People in urban areas are generally more educated and follow more modern living styles,
whereas people in rural areas are culturally more traditional and less educated, particularly
women in remote rural areas. A significant proportion of the population follows tribal systems or
community-based systems and strongly conserves old cultural and social traditions. Another
small part of society follows Islamic conservative traditions.
The Government System of Pakistan
Pakistan, officially known as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a parliamentary
democracy; however, it has been under military dictatorships for almost half of its lifespan. The
32

general elections of 2013 led to the transfer of power from one elected government to another
elected government for the first time in the history of Pakistan. Parliament consists of the
National Assembly and Senate, whose members are elected for a term of five years. National
Assembly members are elected through direct vote in population-based constituencies, and they
elect the prime minster, as the head of the government of Pakistan, through a simple majority
vote. The president as the head of state is elected by parliament, four provincial assemblies, and
representatives of federally administered territories, for a term of five years. Each province has a
provincial assembly, which elects a chief minister of the province for five years. Recent policies
(Local Government Ordinance 2001) led to decentralization by creating district governments,
which are run by elected district councils headed by district Nazims (mayors).
Economic Overview of Pakistan
Pakistan was an overwhelmingly agricultural economy at the time of its creation in 1947.
However, the economy has moved from being agriculturally based to small-scale and large-scale
manufacturing industries and a service sector. According to The State Bank of Pakistan (2013),
the agriculture sector consists of 35.1% of the total gross domestic product (GDP), the industry
sector consists of 17.3%, and the service sector consists of 47.7% (fiscal year of 2011-2012). The
State Bank of Pakistan describes the economy sectors as comprising the following: the
agriculture sector generally consists of crops (wheat, rice, cotton, and sugarcane), livestock,
fisheries, and forests; the industry sector is based on small-scale and large-scale manufacturing,
mining, construction, electricity, and gas production; and the service sector consists of wholesale
and retail trade, transportation, finance, housing services, public administration and defense,
social services, and private services.

33

Pakistan has made progress in human development over time; however, present economic
indicators are significantly lower in comparison to the rest of the world, and they are slightly
lower in comparison to the region. According to UNDP (2013) reports, Pakistan ranks 146th on
the Human Development Index (HDI), with a value of 0.515 (out of 1), in comparison to 0.698
for the world, and 0.558 for the region (South Asia). Education stands lowest among the three
measures of HDI, as the education score is 0.397, compared to 0.721 for health and 0.479 for
income (UNDP, November 5, 2013). The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has
slowed down to 3.4% (in 2013), from around 4.5% in earlier years (according to the Asian
Development Bank, 2013). Other human development indicators are also quite low: life
expectancy is 65.7 years, mean years of schooling per adult is 4.9 years, and the gender
inequality value is 0.567 (out of 1), according to UNDP (2013). Pakistan clearly needs
considerable work on human development, particularly in the education of the masses.
SECTION 2: EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN
In order to understand the current education system of Pakistan, it is important to trace its
history back to the British colonization period of India. Here I present a brief overview of the
establishment of modern schooling in that time, before presenting the history and a current
overview of education in Pakistan.
Establishment of Modern Schooling in India
Before the British colonization of India, Muslim Empires ruled it for several centuries.
Education in the era of Muslims was mostly confined to the ruling class (children of Nawabs,
Rajas, and Mirs), the religious class, and wealthy people, and, consequently, most of the
population remained uneducated. When the British first colonized India, they focused attention
on control of the people who resisted colonization, in order to use their resources. The British
34

kept India divided into small states. In some cases the British divided India into further states and
reshuffled them to reward power or control to the people loyal to the British, most of whom
belonged to the ruling class established in the era before British colonization (Jaffrelot &
Beaumont, 2002). Hence, for a time the education system remained the same, and it was
accessed only by the ruling and religious elites of the society.
After sustaining their control, the British realized the need to educate the people, but their
purpose was to develop a class of people loyal to the British who could be used to communicate
with the masses and engage them in administrative or clerical jobs. Thomas Macaulay, in his
“minutes on Indian education,” defined it this way: “We must do our best to form a class who
may be interpreter between us and the millions who we govern, a class of persons Indian in
blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, words and intellect.” Gradually, most of the
indigenous education was replaced by a modern school system, but the focus on producing
people knowing English and having English values who could serve as interpreters and do the
clerical jobs remained (Jaffrelot and Beaumont, 2002).
The people of India, particularly Muslims, strongly resisted this modern education, just as
they resisted British colonization and rule. However, after defeat in the mutiny of 1857, some of
the Muslim thinkers, such as Syed Ahmed Khan, realized that resistance to the system deprived
Muslims of the facilities, benefits, and resources of the government and alienated them from the
mainstream activities in India. Hence, in the late nineteenth century, Khan initiated a movement
known as the “Aligarh Educational Movement,” to provide modern education to the Muslims of
India. In the meantime, the British gradually opened doors to the Indians to get higher education
in the United Kingdom (UK) in the modern sciences and technology. Most of the Muslim leaders
who struggled to establish Pakistan received modern education, including Mohammad Ali
35

Jinnah, considered the founder of Pakistan, who studied law in the UK (Jaffrelot and Beaumont,
2002). However, the education infrastructure was still under-developed in India when British
colonization ended in 1947. It was even worse in the areas which fell into Pakistan, since those
were Muslim majority areas that had resisted the British throughout their colonial rule in India.
According to Hoodbhoy (1998), Pakistan inherited about eight hundred schools and one
university for its population of about thirty million.
A Glimpse of the History of Education Changes
The sixty-seven years of the history of education after the establishment of Pakistan
present a complicated view of competing ideologies, philosophies, interests, and hegemonic
influences of different groups in the ruling class of the society. Throughout these decades,
Pakistani society went through an identity crisis, marked by a struggle for at least four different
identities. Modern conservative groups wanted to develop “Islamic nationalism,” radical Islamic
groups wanted to promote “Islamism” (government based on Islamic laws), traditional tribal and
feudal groups wanted to sustain the tribal or feudal infrastructure by limiting the access of the
masses to liberal knowledge, and liberal groups wanted to develop society on a liberal
democratic basis. Hence, whatever group came into power tried to modify the curriculum to
promote their ideology and to safeguard their interests (Hoodbhoy, 1998). However, for more
than half of Pakistan’s life, the military ruled and tried to promote “Islamic nationalism,”
whereas at least two periods showed the efforts of liberals to advance liberal democracy through
education, particularly under the Pakistan People’s Party government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
(1972-1977), and, two decades later, of his daughter Benazir Bhutto in the early nineties (Malik,
2008; Nayyar & Salim 2006; Hoodbhoy, 1998). The feudal and tribal chieftains groups (about
2% of the population) have also been in power one way or another way (in both military and

36

civilian governments), and they have been trying to keep the masses away from education,
particularly from liberal knowledge, in order to sustain their tribal hegemony.
Apart from the competing philosophies and ideologies of internal groups, education in
Pakistan has been heavily affected by foreign donors and international organizations. The
complicated alliances between the ruling class (feudal, capitalists, and tribal lords), the military,
and foreign donors in different times have resulted in different parallel school systems in
Pakistan. Ali’s (2009) analysis of policy making and implementation points out that education
policy making and implementation heavily depended on policy borrowing from the developed
world, under the influence of foreign donors and international organizations. Ali (2005) claimed
that foreign funding of educational policy reforms and improvement projects was tied to the
strategic interests of foreign donors; hence education has been heavily affected by the geostrategic conditions of the region as well as by the global political landscape. For example,
General Zia’s era of dictatorship (1977 to 1988) affected the education system in at least two
significant ways. First, this period brought Islamization into education (curriculum, structures,
and culture of schools), and thousands of mosque primary schools were opened, where
traditional clerics supervised the schools (Malik, 2008). Second, this period experienced a rapid
growth of Madaris (Islamic religious schools), which skyrocketed from 700 Madaris to about
9,000 Madaris in the thirteen years of the Zia era (Nayyar & Salim, 2006). Most of the funding
for these two big changes came from foreign donor organizations and foreign non-governmental
Islamic organizations. Most of the Madaris were created to recruit Mujahedeen (holy warriors) to
fight against the Soviet Union forces in neighboring Afghanistan. The democratic period after
Zia showed a rapid growth of the private sector, which was a result of policies influenced by
international organizations.
37

The low priority given to education by the governments of Pakistan created room for
foreign organizations to intervene. An overview of public expenditures on education shows low
spending on education, indicating education’s low priority for education in public policies, which
has resulted in low enrollment and adult literacy rates in Pakistan. UNDP (2013) indicators of
public spending on education show an average spending of 2.5% of GDP in the last decade,
which is much lower than the regional average of 3.8% of GDP in South Asia. Because of the
low priority on education and the resulting lower public spending on education, Pakistan’s
education achievement indicators are the lowest in the region. Table 1 provides a comparative
analysis of spending (in terms of percentage of GDP) in relation to enrollment ratios and literacy
rates among South Asian countries.
Table 1: Comparison of South Asian Countries on Percent GDP Public Expenditure of
Education by Key Education Output Indicators

Country
Maldives
Bhutan
Malaysia
Nepal
India
Indonesia
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka

% of GDP
Spent on
Education
(2000-2010)
6.32
5.28
5.02
4.40
3.50
3.22
2.50
2.42
2.10

HDI
Ranking
104.00
140.00
136.00
121.00
146.00
146.00
92.00

Net Enrollment
Primary
94.50
90.20
95.90
71.10
98.10
99.50
72.00
94.10

Literacy Rate of 1524 year olds
99.30
74.40
98.40
83.10
81.10
99.40
70.68
76.90
98.10

Girls to
Boys Ratio
Primary
0.98
1.01
1.00
0.86
1.00
1.02
0.82
1.00

Created by Author; Sources: Asian Development Bank (2013b), and The World Bank (2013).

The comparative analysis of South Asian countries clearly indicates that, overall, countries
which spend more on education have better output. As Pakistan spends a comparatively low
percent of its GDP on education, the output indicators such as net enrollment at the primary

38

level, the literacy rate of age group 15 to 24 years old, and the girls to boys ratio at the primary
level in Pakistan are the lowest in the region.
Low public spending on education, because of lack of interest by different ruling groups
in mass education, coupled with the global push for liberalization and decentralization of public
services, has allowed the rapid increase of the private (and non-governmental) sector in school
education in the last two decades. Table 2 provides a comparative overview of the key indicators
between the public and private sectors in the last two decades. The comparison shows a ten times
higher increase in the private sector compared to the public sector, in terms of the number of
schools, enrollment, and number of teachers. Since the private sector is less regulated and
functions on a market model basis, it has various different school systems which serve the
different socio-economic strata of the society.
Table 2: Comparison of Increase in Key Indicators of School Education between Public
and Private Sector in the Last Two Decades.

Key Indicators (K-12)
Number of Private Schools
Number of Public Schools
Enrollment in Private Schools
Enrollment in Public Schools
Number of Teacher in Private Schools
Number of Teachers in Public Schools

1995 (2001 for
number of
% Increase
teachers)
2012
since 1995
16,236
64,372
269.5
145,487
164,888
13.3
2,628,000
12,947,238
392.7
16,977,437
23,029,554
35.6
296,502
635,782
114.4
613,879
699,257
13.9

Created by Author; source AEPAM Islamabad reports 1995, 2001, & 2012. Note: teacher data is compared between
2001 and 2012 because data for teachers in private schools is only available from 2001.

Multiple parallel school systems have created a disparity in terms of access to educational
opportunities by the different socio-economic groups of the society. In the following sections, I
briefly describe differences among the multiple parallel school systems in Pakistan.

39

Existing View of School Education in Pakistan
The existing view of school education reflects at least four distinct systems which serve
the different strata of the society. The government school system, which reflects an authoritarian
administration and centralized curriculum, assessment, and management, functions under the
heavy influence of bureaucracy and politicians. The private school system, on the contrary, is
independent in selecting curriculum and examination systems, but it is divided into different
layers, mostly reflecting the socio-economic and cultural stratification of society. The military
schools, although considered public, function independent of government influences and follow
the military philosophy of modernization. These mostly serve the officer class in the military.
The Madaris system is also layered to reflect different religious sects, and it follows the
philosophy of the respective sects in its curriculum. Table 3 shows the numbers of schools in
each sector and their enrollment. I will next briefly describe three aspects of each of these
schools systems: ideology, structure, and quality of instruction.
Table 3: Comparison of Level-wise School Types and Enrollment in Pakistan (2011-2012)
School Type
Private Schools
Public Schools
Madaris
Total

Primary Middle
18,713
25,788
135,937
16,157
0
0
154,650
41,945

Higher
% in
% in
High
Secondary Total
total Enrollment Total
17,388
2,192
64,081
26.5 12,947,238
34.4
11,267
1,338 164,699
68.1 23,029,554
61.1
0
0
13,075
5.4
1,707,424
4.5
28,655
3,530 241,855
100 37,684,216
100

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad (2012).

Public School System
The public school system is divided into federal and provincial school systems, as well as
on the basis of gender, through boys’ schools, girls’ schools, and co-educational schools. Each of
the five provinces and the three federally administered territories is responsible for the education
of the people in the province territory. The federal government provides guidelines to the five
40

provinces through national education policies, and it monitors school services in the three
federally administered areas: Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Azad Kashmir (Pakistani
controlled part of Jammu and Kashmir), and Islamabad (Ministry of Education Government of
Pakistan, 2009a). In general, the federal government provides guidelines through education
policies, gives grants for education to the provinces, and provides curriculum guidelines,
whereas provincial governments make and implement their policies, directly run the education
department (provincial government schools and colleges), carry out development/improvement
projects or reforms, and monitor the examinations.
The dominant ideology to promote “Islamic nationalism” has been generally reflected in
the curriculum of the government schools, with the exception of a few periods, during which
liberal groups made some unsuccessful attempts to change the curriculum to base it on liberal
democratic ideology. However, the curriculum reforms in recent decades have reflected a slight
shift towards liberal democratic citizenship and more open-ended learning experiences for
students. Nonetheless, many analysts fear that books for language, social studies, and civics still
contain much of the content to promote Islamic nationalism infused by the Zia regime (Nayyar
and Salim, 2006). Since the guidelines for the school curriculum are provided by the federal
government, all provincial and federal government schools follow a similar curriculum.
Development and publishing of textbooks, however, as well as other learning materials, is done
in the provinces, and, consequently, unlike federal government schools, the provincial schools
receive materials that are defined in each province. The core subject areas include language
(English and Urdu or regional languages), General Science, Math, and Social Studies; Islamic
Studies and Pakistan Studies are compulsory subjects; the Arts, Agriculture, Arabic, and Homeeconomics are considered minor subjects. From grade nine onward, three pathways are offered
41

for continuing to three broader fields of work, which are the sciences, the arts or humanities, and
technical and vocational education. Traditionally, the sciences and math have been very corecontent oriented subjects, mainly focused on preparing students for further studies; however,
recent reforms have attempted to relate the subjects to students’ daily life experiences and to
develop students’ problem-solving, inquiry, and reasoning skills (Ministry of Education
Government of Pakistan, 2009a). Language and social studies mostly contain factual knowledge
about the world (history, geography, and civics), and the content promotes the dominant
ideology.
The infrastructure in the federal government schools usually meets the basic standards
defined by the government, but it is poor in provincial schools. Many provincial schools lack
classrooms, textbooks, drinking water facilities, toilets, electricity, gas, and playground facilities.
Table 4 illustrates this state of affairs in the government schools (K-12), most of which are
provincial government schools in Pakistan. Many provincial government primary schools,
mostly in rural areas, are one-room or two-room schools, whereas middle schools (grades VI to
VIII) and high schools (grades IX – X) mostly have enough classrooms to give single-class
instruction. In addition, many of these schools lack facilities for game and recreational events.
Table 4: Facilities in Public Schools of Pakistan.

Physical Resource
Building
Electricity
Drinking Water
Latrine
Boundary Wall
Building Dangerous or Needs Repair

No. of Schools
Missing the
Facilities
12,374
72,284
53,115
53,609
47,481
63,053

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad Report (2012).

42

% of Schools Missing
the Facilities
7.5
43.9
32.2
32.5
28.8
38.3

Although some of the provincial government schools are considered to provide
instruction that is equal to the federal government schools and the private schools, most of the
provincial government schools are critiqued for their low quality of instruction (Zia, 2010; Khan,
1997; Warwick & Reimers, 1995). Teaching as telling and learning as remembering is the
philosophy in most of these schools, which is reinforced through the traditional paper-pencil test
based examination by provincial examination boards (Zia, 2010; Warwick & Reimers, 1995).
The provincial education department recruits teachers who have K-12 education certificates for
primary schools and an undergraduate degree for middle and secondary schools, whereas federal
government schools recruit trained teachers who have an undergraduate degree for primary,
middle, and secondary schools, and a master’s degree for higher secondary schools. The federal
government schools are affiliated with the federal board of examination, which is considered to
conduct better and more rigorous exams than the provincial boards. Most of the federal
government schools have learning resource centers, laboratories, and libraries, whereas many
provincial schools lack such resources. Most of the provincial government schools enroll the
children of low socio-economic working classes families (Fair, 2008), whereas the federal
government schools mostly enroll children of the middle-class federal government employees.
Bureaucratic and politically-influenced administration in the provincial government
schools is a major challenge for the proper functioning and progress of these schools. For the
most part, the head teachers are appointed on the basis of a favor by the local politician, a
member of the provincial assembly, or Tehsil Nazim or District Nazim. As soon as the
government changes from one political party to another, or to the military, the head teachers of
the schools change (Shah, 2003). Hence, the requirement to become a head teacher is not
competence in planning, monitoring, facilitating teachers, work and leadership for school
43

improvement, but rather having the strong support of a local politician. In addition, the
monitoring staff at district offices is also appointed based on favors by politicians (Hoodbhoy,
1998). Consequently the management and monitoring practices are highly politicized.
Another challenge for these schools is their deep-rooted traditional way of teaching. The
teachers never use progressive student-centered ideas of teaching, because they believe such
teaching is impracticable. The nature of textbooks, learning materials, assessment, and other
resources also reinforce traditional approaches (Chang, 2006). Moreover, overcrowded classes,
tightly packed with students, pose a challenge for teachers to provide individual attention. Hence,
teaching is lecturing or note-dictating most of the time. According to the AEPAM Islamabad
(2012) yearly data report, the average number of students per teacher for different school levels
ranged from 25 to 37 students. This is a gross ratio; when accounting for the free periods of
teachers, teachers on leave, and classroom non-availability constraints, the ratio goes up
significantly. Hence, the actuality of provincial government school teaching means that a teacher
usually deals with more than 40 students, mostly in multi-grade teaching. In addition, the
shortage of textbooks, the late delivery of textbooks, and the late provision of salaries to teachers
are some of the issues most of the schools encounter.
Military Schools
The military schools are the military-funded schools located in Pakistan’s Army, Navy,
and Air Force garrison areas across the country. These schools are established through grants
from the federal government, as well as by welfare funds from the three branches of the military.
Because the Pakistan Army is the largest military branch, it has largest number of schools (see
Table 5). These schools emphasize the military ideology of “Moderate Islamic Nationalism” and
discipline, as well as covering advanced level content in the core subject areas, such as science,
44

math, social studies, and language (English). They follow a mix of national curriculum and
published international curricula (such as books/material published by Cambridge or Oxford
University Press), and the curricula published by private organizations. The medium of
instruction is English, and Urdu is taught as a second language in these schools (websites for
information on these schools include : Pakistan Army, http://www.apsacssectt.edu.pk/, Pakistan
Air Force, http://www.paf.gov.pk/school_colleges.html, and Pakistan Navy,
http://paknavyschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/pak-navy-school-hanif-sre-sre-ii.html#). These schools

usually have a high status because the graduates of these schools usually qualify in the entrance
exams for high-ranked public or private university programs in the country or abroad, and they
mostly qualify on the exams for officer-ranked military jobs.
Table 5: Military Schools in Pakistan
Military Schools
Army Public Schools
Bahria (Navy) Schools
Pakistan Air Force (PAF)
Schools
Cadet Colleges (grades 8-12)

No.
Schools

Student per
Enrollment
Teachers
Teacher
134
134,296
7,831
17.1
49
21,000
2,070
10.1
27
28

44,366
18,200

2,486
---

17.8
---

Created by Author; Sources: APSCS Secretariat (2013), PAF Schools/Colleges (2013), & Pakistan Defense Cadet
Colleges (2013).

These schools are quite rich in infrastructure. School buildings are well-constructed,
following a similar model for all schools, which includes spacious and well-furnished
classrooms, science laboratories, a computer laboratory, a library, teachers’ staff room,
conference rooms, playgrounds, learning resource rooms, toilets, a medical emergency room, a
cafeteria, and offices for different purposes. All of the schools have electricity, telephone, gas,
and drinking water facilities. These schools provide transport services to the students, teachers,
and staff.

45

With regard to quality, these schools are considered among the elite schools of the
country. The student per teacher ratio is half that of the national average, which indicates the
affordability of the system. These schools provide instruction in English, and cover rigorous
content in the core subject areas, so that their graduates are more likely to qualify in the entrance
tests to get into some of the high-ranked public or private institutions of higher education. The
teachers mostly have undergraduate or graduate degrees, and they come from commissioned
officers’ families, which are rich with dominant cultural capital. The teachers are also mostly
trained in elite in-service teacher training schools or organizations, so they use better
instructional strategies than teachers in government schools. These schools are generally
affiliated with the federal board of examination, but students are allowed to take the O level
(ordinary level) and A level (advanced level) UK-system based international exams, which many
of them do. The students mostly come from the affluent classes, and from officer-ranked military
personnel or high-salaried military personnel. Therefore, they can afford the advanced level
learning resources required for the effective learning of students.
Private Schools
The private school system is divided into three different tiers. The highest level schools,
mostly located in mega cities, serve the elite segment of the population, which is mostly
comprised of industrialists and the business community, politicians (mostly feudal lords, tribal
lords, religious leaders and capitalists), high-ranking bureaucrats in the public and private
sectors, and high-ranking military officers. Middle-class private schools are located in urban
areas or rural towns, and they are mostly populated by the children from middle class whitecollar working groups, the small-business community, and small landlords/self-owned land
farmers (Fair, 2008). The third level of private schools enrolls children of the low-income

46

working class, peasants, and daily-wage laborers (Andrabi & Das, 2008). Most of the private
schools are coeducational schools; however, a few of them have separate sections for girls and
boys. The teaching force is predominantly female, and the average number of students per
teacher is about 15 students. Table 6 illustrates the key indicators of the private schools.
Table 6: Key Indicators about All Types of K-12 Private Schools in Pakistan
All Type of K-12 Private Schools
Co-education Schools
Gender-based Schools
Schools in Rural Areas
Schools in Urban Areas
Male Teachers
Female Teachers
Girls' Enrollment
Boys' Enrollment
Students per Teacher

Number

% in Total
56,909
8,082
30,340
34,651
161,467
476,301
5,690,622
7,292,001
20.4

87.6
12.4
46.7
53.3
25.3
74.7
43.8
56.2
-----

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad (2012).

Elite private schools. The elite private schools are located in urban areas, and they
provide contemporary world-class education. Contrary to military schools, they do not follow the
military philosophy. Most of them follow a more liberal ideology-based curriculum, since most
of them are affiliated with international examination boards such as Cambridge University,
Oxford University, Beacon House, and so on. An example of elite schools is Lahore American
School, which charges $10,065 (approximately equal to 1,000,000 Pakistani rupees) per student
annually (Lahore American School, 2013). The medium of instruction at the elite schools is
English, and the syllabus is mostly foreign published by such institutions as Cambridge
University, Oxford University, Montessori School System, and Beacon House School System.
The instruction focuses on activity-based methods and projects, inquiry-based tasks, and
problem-solving tasks, because these are part of the international curriculum which these schools

47

follow. The instruction and content are much more rigorous than in the government schools. The
schools charge high fees in order to provide advanced learning materials and technologies to the
students. The infrastructure is world class, including many entertainment facilities, such as
playgrounds, indoor-game complexes, swimming pools, and theatres. These schools pay very
high salaries, so they can hire highly qualified teachers, including foreign graduates or graduates
from elite higher education institutions. The teachers are trained by well-reputed elite teacher
education schools, and the schools have ongoing mechanisms for the professional development
of teachers. The students can participate in federal examination board exams, in international
exam boards, or in private exam boards (such as The Aga Khan Education Board). The students
mostly come from the wealthiest 3% of the population, comprised of capitalists, feudal lords,
tribal lords, politicians, high-ranked bureaucrats or military officers, and the wealthier religious
leaders. The graduates of these schools mostly go abroad for university studies, or to the elite
universities in the public and private sector.
Middle-class English medium schools. These schools are populated with children from
middle class families, and they mostly follow a moderate democratic ideology. The curriculum is
mostly a mix of materials from local private publishers and foreign publishers, such as UK-based
Cambridge University or Oxford University. These schools are mostly located in urban areas, but
recently there has been growth of such schools in rural areas, particularly in rural towns. They
charge reasonable fees, and are therefore able to provide a good learning environment which is
quite rich with learning resources. The physical infrastructure in these schools meets all basic
requirements of a good school, including science laboratories, computer labs, library, electricity,
drinking water, gas, and playgrounds. However, these schools lack some of the additional
facilities that the elite or military schools have.
48

The quality of instruction at these schools is generally considered good, and sometimes it
is claimed to be equal to some of the elite schools. Most of these schools are either affiliated with
private examination boards, such as The Aga Kahn Education Board or the UK-based O level
and A level Exams, or with the federal examination board; therefore, they cover rigorous content
to prepare their students for those exams. Many of them, according to my observations, try to
provide student-centered instruction, and they focus on critical thinking, inquiry, and problem
solving skills. Most of them have school-based professional development mechanisms, as well as
regularly conducted summer-break training. The students mostly come from socio-economically
middle-class educated families, so they bring with them middle class cultural capital. Their
graduates mostly go to colleges and universities for higher studies.
Second-tier private or NGO-run schools. These schools either follow governmentpublished textbooks or a mix of some private-published textbooks and government-published
textbooks. Hence, the dominant pro “Islamic Nationalism” ideology is mostly reinforced. Most
of them give instruction in Urdu or in regional languages; however some of these schools try a
mix of English and Urdu instruction. The infrastructure is not very good at these schools, yet
they meet very basic requirements, such as classrooms (usually narrow and congested), drinking
water, and electricity. Many of these schools do not have libraries, laboratories, playgrounds, or
learning resource centers.
The quality of instruction at these schools is considered lower than at other private
schools, but better than the government schools. The children come from the lower-middle class
or low-income working class families. The teachers are not well-qualified, and most of them do
not possess any teaching certificate. These schools do include math and science as core subject
areas, but many of them lack qualified teachers to teach these subjects. Teaching is most of the
49

time telling. Learning means remembering and following what is required in provincial
examination boards. These schools mostly are affiliated with regional government examination
boards.
Many of the middle-class English medium schools function very well. However, some of
these schools pay low salaries to teachers. Consequently, the teacher turnover ratio remains high
in these schools. One of my students, who has worked as a private school teacher since 2006, has
left three schools in four years, mainly because he got a better salary in the next school. Some of
the middle-class English medium schools over-emphasize discipline and strictly limit students’
experiences to the mandated syllabus, or they prepare the students for exams (mostly tests).
Although these schools arrange different programs to engage students in creative activities, such
as drama, singing, dancing, and giving speeches, many of these schools do not offer regular
music or creative arts classes.
The small level private schools or NGO-run schools are struggling with many problems.
The quality of instruction is quite low because teachers are academically and professionally less
qualified, and these schools follow a traditional curriculum (Andrabi and Das, 2008). Teachers
are also low-paid, with monthly salaries that are sometimes so low that they are equivalent to the
one-day salary of an elite school teacher or government school teacher (government school
teachers usually have good salaries because of the general seniority-based salary structure of the
government). These schools struggle with low incomes of school stipends, and they cannot
provide facilities or better salaries. Student absenteeism is a common problem. School
administrators usually complain about parents not paying fees on time, or withdrawing their
students because of overdue fees. Some of the NGO-run schools create a relatively better
environment, but many of these schools also have shortages of resources. Their teachers are also
50

less qualified. Many of these schools are closed because donors have cut-off or reduced the
funding.
Madaris or Religious Seminaries
These schools follow the ideology of the particular Islamic sect they are affiliated with.
Many of these promote radical Islamic beliefs, as defined by their particular sect. They have their
own curriculum, defined along the lines of their particular sectarian philosophy. Many of them
do not include science, math, and social studies, considered to be liberal subjects. Some of these
schools promote extremist views against other sects and the moderate or liberal segments of
society.
The infrastructure in the Madaris varies from basic to very rich. Most of them get funding
from their particular organization or from foreign donors, such as groups from Middle Eastern
countries, or the people of their organization working in developed countries. They provide
boarding facilities, clothing, and stipends to the students; therefore many of the working class
low-income families send their children to such Madaris because they cannot afford the fees and
other expenses at the private schools or at government schools.
SECTION 3: OVERVIEW OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN
All the education after K-12 is considered higher education in Pakistan. The institutions
of higher education can be divided into three broader categories: General and Specialized
Universities and Institutions, Degree Colleges, and Vocational and Technical
Colleges/Institutions. Although higher education mostly consisted of public institutions until
1980, the last two decades have seen a significant growth in private institutions. Table 7
illustrates the key indicators of the institutions of higher education, in both the public and the

51

private sectors. As illustrated, public sector institutions still have significantly higher enrollments
than private institutions, except for the technical and vocational institutions. Public
universities/institutions generally charge fewer fees than private institutions, which appears to be
the major reason for the higher enrollment in public institutions. Another significantly
noteworthy indicator is enrollment in teacher training institutions, which consists of one-fourth
of all enrollments in the higher education institutions of Pakistan. This appears to be an
unusually high proportion. Teacher training will be analyzed and discussed thoroughly in the
findings and discussion chapters.
Table 7: Key Indicators about Institutions of Higher Education in Pakistan

Type of Institution
Public Universities
Private Universities
Public Degree Colleges
Private Degree Colleges
Public Technical & Vocational
Private Technical & Vocational
Public Teacher Training
Private Teacher Training

Number
79
60
1,270
114
977
2,280
155
34

% of
% of
Total in
Total in
% of Total
Category Enrollment Category Enrollment
56.8
1,130,143
85.6
40.4
43.2
189,656
14.4
6.8
91.8
461,767
92.9
16.5
8.2
35,385
7.1
1.3
30.0
126,458
43.6
4.5
70.0
163,322
56.4
5.8
82.0
687,792
99.3
24.6
18.0
4,900
0.7
0.2

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad (2012).

Generally, universities and their affiliated colleges are autonomous bodies; however the Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan, under the control of the federal government, plays a
somewhat regulatory and monitoring role. In the following sections, I present an overview of the
three categories of institutions of higher education and the role of the Higher Education
Commission of Pakistan.

52

Universities/Degree-awarding Institutions and Degree Colleges
Universities and degree-awarding institutions usually offer bachelor (undergraduate) to
Ph. D. and post-doctoral level programs in various fields of general academic and specialized
professional and technical areas/disciplines. K-12 school graduation is a requirement to be
accepted into a bachelor level program. Higher education is still at the initial stages of
development in Pakistan, so general universities cover many disciplines in the natural/physical
sciences, social sciences, and humanities, whereas specialized universities/institutions cover one
of the six major professional areas: medicine, law, business, agriculture, engineering, and
education. Higher education institutions for the military are totally separate from public
universities. As per the updates of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (2013), the
public sector and the private sector consist of 84 and 67 universities/institutions, respectively.
Unlike K-12 schools, most of the universities/institutions are coeducational institutions. Public
degree colleges are administered by the provincial or federal departments of education; however
they are affiliated with the general public university in the region, and they follow the curriculum
and evaluation practices of the university.
Universities/institutions which are registered and which function under provincial
governments are assigned to serve a population in a particular region of the province; private and
federal government universities are open to nationwide intake of students. The President of
Pakistan and governor of each province serve as heads of federal and provincial public
universities/institutions, respectively, which indicates the strong political involvement in public
institutions. Further, each university/institution is headed by a vice-chancellor (as chief
administrator), who is appointed by the chancellor on the recommendation of the board of
governors or the syndicate of a public university.

53

Generally, the rural areas are discriminated against in education, and higher education is
relatively more discriminatory to the rural population; as is obvious in Table 8, an overwhelming
number of degree colleges are located in urban areas. In terms of gender-equity, public
universities indicate a slightly higher enrollment of girls and a lower enrollment of girls in
degree colleges, whereas girls are advantaged in private degree colleges, and they are
significantly disadvantaged in private universities. Nonetheless, overall academic and
professional higher education is more gender-balanced (48% girls and 52% boys as per figures
by AEPAM Islamabad, 2012) than K-12 school education in Pakistan.
Table 8: Comparison of Institutions and Enrollments by Region, Gender, and Sector

Type of
Institutions
Public
Degree
Colleges
Private
Degree
Colleges
Public
Institutions
Private
Institutions

Number
in Rural

% of
Rural
in Total

Number
in
Urban

% of
Urban
in
Total

Number
of Boys

% of
Boys in
Total

68,237

15.4

375,872

84.6

247,961

55.8

196,055

44.2

3,920

11.1

31,465

88.9

12,822

36.2

22,563

63.8

Number
of Girls

% of
Girls
in
Total

---

---

---

---

554,762

49.1

575,381

50.9

---

---

---

---

122,839

64.8

66,817

35.2

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad (2012).

Teacher education is offered in both university departments and teacher training colleges.
Like the degree colleges, teacher training colleges are administered by provincial government
departments of education, but these are also affiliated with the university in the region of its
operation, and they follow the curriculum and evaluation practices determined by the university.
Moreover, many separate public and private institutions offer short in-service training and
professional development programs. An historical overview of the development of teacher
education and its current landscape is presented in a separate section.
54

Technical and Vocational Institutions
Technical and vocational institutions offer two to three-year diplomas to produce skilled
workers for industry and the related service sector. All diplomas are offered to K-12 graduates,
and they could lead to bachelor programs. The technical institutions are divided into two
categories: Monotechnics, which offer diplomas in one area, and Polytechnics, which offer
diplomas in several areas. The monotechnic and polytechnic institutions mostly offer mechanical
and electrical diplomas. Enrollment in these institutions is heavily skewed towards males, as
illustrated in Table 9, which reflects the traditional view that mechanical jobs are masculine in
Pakistani society. However, vocational institutions have gender-balanced enrollment because
these institutions offer diplomas in many handicraft areas, which are traditionally considered a
female domain of work.
Table 9: Enrollment in Technical and Vocational by Gender and Institution Type
Enrollment in Institutions
Monotechnic
Polytechnic
Vocational

Male

% in Total
Female
% in Total
64,254
95.1
3,296
4.9
6,301
87.8
877
12.2
109,926
51.1
105,126
48.9

Created by Author; Source: AEPAM Islamabad (2012).

SECTION 4: HISTORICAL AND CURRENT OVERVIEW OF TEACHER EDUCATION
IN PAKISTAN
The roots of teacher education in Pakistan can be traced back to the origins of modern
education, including teacher education, established in British India in the mid-nineteenth century.
This section provides a brief historical overview of the development of teacher education
programs and policies in Pakistan.

55

Teacher Education in British India
Teacher education was introduced in British India, including the parts that became
Pakistan, in 1947, in the mid nineteenth century, and it was based on the British model of postacademic training courses/programs. According to Siddiqui (1991), two institutions of teacher
education were established in Karachi and Lahore, which became normal schools in 1854. These
institutions began offering Junior Vernacular (JV) programs. Since most of the education
institutions were basic education institutions by that time, all the teachers were provided the
same kind of general training. However, as education developed into levels of schooling, more
institutions and programs were added to teacher education. According to Siddiqui (1991), “In
1947 when Pakistan came into being, Junior Vernacular (JV), Senior Vernacular (SV),
Certification in Teaching (CT), Oriental Teacher (OT), and Bachelor in Teaching (BT) were the
programs for training of the teachers for different stages” (p. 21). All of these programs were
post-academic, somewhat similar to what Schwille, Ingvarson, and Holdgreve-Resendez (2013)
described as consecutive programs – programs based on two phases of postsecondary education,
in which specialized subject-matter credentials and pedagogy and practicum credentials are
acquired separately. Among the five programs, OT and BT required more specialized subjectmatter education, whereas other programs were general in nature.
Overview of Teacher Education after the Establishment of Pakistan
Although most teacher education was initially based on the British model of postacademic degree training, teacher education developed in a variety of ways, including a recent
rapid growth of market-model programs and private sector in-service programs. Three different
periods depict three distinct developments and changes in the teacher education landscape of
Pakistan. The first period was mostly a continuation of the British model and its further growth

56

and expansion. The second period began after the partition of East Pakistan (present-day
Bangladesh), which showed changes in programs and the establishment of an open and distance
learning university which offered teacher education programs. The third period began in the
1990s, with the rapid growth of market-model programs, the establishment of many in-service
professional development courses and programs, and the initiation of new reforms such as fouryear honors programs.
Period I: 1947 to 1973. In 1947, Pakistan inherited the British model of teacher
education from British India, which consisted of twenty-seven institutions for preparing primary
and middle school teachers, and six institutions for preparing secondary school teachers
(Hoodbhoy, 1998). Pakistan went through a constitutional crisis in the first two and a half
decades of its establishment, which included two military dictatorships and a few short-term
civilian governments (Hoodbhoy, 1998). However, as Pakistan was politically aligned with the
American-block during the cold-war period, the education system, including teacher education,
was influenced by the education system of the United States. Hence, normal schools were
changed into two different types of institutions: Government Elementary Colleges of Education
(GECE), for preparing elementary and middle school teachers, and Government Colleges of
Education (GCE), for preparing secondary school teachers. In addition, several universities
established departments of education, which offered bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level
programs. While in the beginning the universities mostly offered academic type programs,
whereas the government colleges of education (GCEs) provided specifically post-academic
teacher training programs, gradually some universities also began offering teacher training
programs. The GECEs offered two types of post-academic teacher training (preparation)
programs: the Primary Teaching Certificate (PTC), for primary teachers, and the Certificate in
57

Teaching (CT), for middle school teachers. The GCEs offered Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.)
and Master of Education (M. Ed.) programs. Because of the limited number of these institutions,
most of the enrollment in these programs consisted of in-service teachers, who were offered
enrollment on a seniority basis, and they usually worked several years as untrained teachers
before enrolling in one of these programs.
The curriculum and structure of these programs (except the M. Ed. program, which is
focused on advanced studies) were somewhat similar: all of these programs consisted of
educational foundations, education psychology, measurement and evaluation, subject-specific
pedagogy/methods courses, and two months of practice teaching (practicum) equal to two
courses. However, the level of study varied in each program, in order to cater to the specific
needs of teaching at specific age-levels, the nature of subject material at certain levels, and
school structures. Moreover, PTC and CT were generalist programs, whereas the B. Ed. program
required specializing in at least two subject areas: one in the languages or social sciences or arts,
and the other in the natural sciences or mathematics. Since Pakistan followed a unitary
government system, for the most part these programs were mostly the same across the different
regions of Pakistan, including East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), until 1971, with the
separation of East Pakistan.
Period II: 1973 to 1990. The analysis of this period shows many variations in teacher
education programs, including slightly different structures of programs, different curricula,
different organization of teacher education institutions in different provinces of Pakistan, and the
establishment of a federal open and distance learning university. Moreover, many in-service
teacher training institutions which offered refresher courses for in-service trained teachers were
established.
58

Political and constitutional changes after the separation of Bangladesh (previously East
Pakistan) in 1971 changed the governance of education from a strongly centralized subject to a
provincial subject, including teacher education. The new constitution of Pakistan, approved in
1973, changed Pakistan into a federation of four somewhat independent provinces (Sindh,
Punjab, NWFP – presently KP, and Baluchistan) and four federally administered areas/territories
(FATA, FANA – presently Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir, and Islamabad). Many of the areas
of governance were made provincial subjects, including education; however, the federal
government kept the role of providing policy-level guidance and overseeing the education
systems to ensure that education in all the provinces and federal territories were aligned with
national goals. Hence the provincial education systems, including teacher education, developed
somewhat varyingly in different provinces; however, the overall program structure and curricular
goals remained similar across provinces. This period also included the initial establishment of the
private sector and in-service training (professional development) programs for teachers.
Although teacher education, under the umbrella of the federal policy guidelines and the
federal overseeing body of higher education, remained similar across the provinces, this period
showed some variations, especially in terms of the provincial organizational structures of
governing bodies, and the accreditation of degrees. Each province had a slightly different
organizational set-up to manage and monitor teacher education institutions; however, the
administration remained provincially centralized and politically-influenced in each province
(Hoodbhoy, 1998). While the management and governance of public teacher education
institutions remained under provincial governments in all provinces, the monitoring of the
academic and evaluation aspects of GCEs were assigned to the regional public universities in at
least two provinces. Similarly, the GECEs (or corresponding colleges/institutes) were
59

administered under the education department of each provincial government, but their academic
and evaluation bodies were region-based in two provinces. Teacher education in the territories
under federal government remained the same across different territories.
Two other major developments in this period included the establishment of a federal
university in an open and distance learning mode, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU)
Islamabad (established in 1974, as per AIUO Islamabad, 2014), and provincial institutes for inservice trainings, called a Provincial Institute of Teacher Education (PITE), in each province.
This was the beginning of in-service teacher training in Pakistan; however, the nature and period
of training for teachers varied across provinces. AIOU Islamabad also opened regional centers in
each province and in the federal territories, and it began offering teacher education programs for
all levels of teachers in an open and distance learning mode. AIOU Islamabad’s teacher
education programs began growing in the early 1980s. Enrollment, however,
remained limited because the fees were minimal and the institution depended on funding from
the federal government.
The curriculum and structure (courses and practicum component) for almost all levels of
the teacher education programs remained the same across the provinces because the curriculum
guidelines were set forth in federal policies and were overseen by the federal institution – the
University Grants Commission of Pakistan (which later became the Higher Education
Commission of Pakistan). However, following the overall wave of Islamization of education in
General Zia’s thirteen year dictatorship, many Islamic subjects were introduced in teacher
education as well. Moreover, programs by provinces and federal government institutions,
particularly by AIOU Islamabad, varied in mode of instruction and curricular materials. AIOU
Islamabad offered all levels of teacher education programs in open and distance learning modes,
60

and it provided a set of books and other materials to the enrollees, whereas the syllabi and course
materials in programs offered by some provincial institutions were designed by the faculty, to
some extent, under the overall curriculum guidelines of the university they were affiliated with.
Hence, the selection of books and other course materials varied across institutions as well as
across provinces. Moreover, some provinces offered semester-based programs, whereas others
offered annual programs (year-long courses). Overall, this period was the beginning of variations
in teacher education in Pakistan.
Period III: 1990 to the present. Many significant changes occurred in this period, and
continue to occur, including the growth of the private sector and market-model programs, the
growth and variation in in-service training programs, further variations across provinces, and
several reform programs initiated by government and international organizations. In this period,
distinctly teacher education policies were issued by the federal government, and the national
accreditation council and national professional standards were developed for teacher educators
and teachers. These changes are analyzed briefly in the following section.
As described in the earlier parts of this chapter, the last two decades have seen the rapid
growth of the private sector and the marketization of education in Pakistan, resulting in a huge
number of entrepreneurial-based schools, colleges, and universities, as well as the growth of
market-model in-service and pre-service programs. After Zia’s military dictatorship ended in
1988, newly elected governments, under pressure from global/international organizations (such
as the IMF, The World Bank, and other donor agencies), initiated privatization and
decentralization policies (Ali, 2009; Ahsan, 2005), which resulted in the growth of the private
sector in all sectors, including social services such as health and education. Because the private
sector institutions used market-based approaches, this competition-based environment spurred
61

public institutions to adapt market-based approaches as well, and they began offering marketmodel programs, including teacher education institutions. Another global push (by many
international organizations, since the early 2000s) for institutional independence and selfreliance, especially financially, led to policy changes for higher education in Pakistan, resulting
in the establishment of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (in place of the University
Grants Commission) and in policies allowing public institutions to operate somewhat
independently (as per NEP, 1998-2010), competing in the market to generate their own funds.
Hence, the higher education institutions began offering many programs on a self-finance basis
without any public funding. This led to the adaptation and creation of many market-model
programs, including off-campus teacher education programs, by regular public teacher education
institutions. Ironically, these programs performed well in the market; therefore, many nonteacher education institutions (such as agriculture universities, business schools) began offering
these programs to generate funds for their institutions. Because many in-service teachers were
untrained -- an analysis of data published by AEPAM Islamabad (1995) showed that 18%
teachers were untrained in Pakistan in 1995 -- the programs offered by non-teacher education
institutions were justified as needs-based to cope with the prevalence of a huge number of
untrained teachers. However, these changes had many significant effects on the quality and
effectiveness of teacher education programs.
The growth of market-model off-campus programs affected the quality of teacher
education and resulted in concerns raised by many teacher educators in regular teacher education
institutions, as well as by AIOU Islamabad, which offered off-campus programs in open and
distance learning modes. The outcry by regular teacher education institutions against the poor
quality of off-campus programs offered by non-teacher education institutions resulted in HEC
62

intervention, which terminated the programs in most of the non-teacher education institutions;
however, the per year enrollment was restricted for GCEs and GECEs. This situation benefited
AIOU Islamabad, and its market-model off-campus programs have experienced disproportionate
growth. Because the first census of education was done in 2006, the proper data about enrollment
in off-campus programs offered by AIOU Islamabad and other institutions is not available before
the census. However, as estimated by some reports, about two-thirds of the teacher education
programs were offered as off-campus market-model programs since the late 1990s.
This out-of-proportion growth of market-model off-campus programs resulted in strong
criticism from scholarly circles as well as from schools, which led to significant teacher
education policy and program reforms. The National Education Policies (NEP) of 1998-2010 and
2009 contained a specific chapter on teacher education and teaching quality. A major reform
initiative was taken by the government of Punjab in 2002, by establishing the “University of
Education Lahore,” and then affiliating all GCEs and GECEs with this university within a few
years. This university began offering four-year teacher education programs (B. Ed.) for K-12
graduates, and other long-term programs. Following the reform policy, the government of
Pakistan launched the Pre-Service Teacher Education Project (Pre-STEP) in 2006, with funding
support from USIAD; this reform program, which is still in progress, is a large-scale program to
develop the capacity of the fifteen public sector universities to enable them to offer four-year
post K-12 teacher education programs for elementary teachers. The federal government has
made a commitment to the new education policy (National Education Policy 2009) that all other
kinds of programs shall be replaced by four-year honors programs by 2018. Nonetheless, many
teacher education institutions, particularly AIOU Islamabad, continue to offer regular and offcampus (market-model) traditional programs.
63

In addition, many short-term and long-term teacher education programs were developed
by private institutions, ranging from three-month programs to four-year programs, mostly for inservice teachers from the private sector. Some of the big school organizations (such as Aga Khan
Education Service Pakistan, The City Schools, and Grammar Schools) established their own
teacher education institutions (or professional development centers), which offer a variety of inservice programs for teachers working in the schools of the respective organizations. Recently,
some of these institutions have opened admissions to out-of-system candidates. As these
institutes charge significantly higher fees, mostly teachers from elite and affluent-class schools
enroll in these programs. These institutions also have been collaborating with the government in
reform programs for the professional development of in-service public school teachers, largely
funded by foreign donors.
Current Landscape of Teacher Education in Pakistan
The current landscape of teacher education in Pakistan can be divided in three broader
categories of program offerings: traditional programs offered for both in-service and pre-service
teachers, pre-service teacher preparation programs, and in-service professional development
programs. Table 10 provides an overview of all kinds of teacher education programs in each
category. Traditional programs are the post-academic long-standing programs which are offered
by public and private institutions to prepare teachers at three levels of schools – primary, middle,
and secondary schools. Most of the teacher education institutions offer these programs except a
few private institutions, which offer alternative in-service certificate and diploma programs.
Initiated in the mid 2000s, pre-service teacher education programs are offered by selected
institutions of education; however, these programs are continuously growing. These programs
require a K-12 certificate and entry exams, and they are offered only in the on-campus mode.

64

Table 10: All Kinds of Teacher Education Programs in Pakistan
Combined Post-academic Programs (for In-service and Pre-service Teachers)
Program
Pre-requisite,
Salient Features
Offered by
Mode of Offering
Institutions
K-12 Certificate
10 courses (30 credits)
Government and
Primary Teaching
Certificate (PTC) for On-campus
4 weeks of practice
Private
primary teachers
Off-campus
teaching (only in onElementary
Colleges:1 year
campus programs)
Colleges of
University: 1 ½
Mid-term exams
Education and
Certificate in
Teaching (CT) for
years
Final qualification exams
Institutions
middle school teachers
Bachelor Degree
10 courses (30 credits)
Government and
On-campus
4 weeks of practice
Private Colleges
Off-campus
teaching (only in onof Education and
To prepare secondary
Colleges:1 year
campus programs)
Universities
school teachers
University: 1 ½ - 2
Mid-term exams
years
Final qualification exams
Pre-service Programs (New reforms based, mostly funded by USAID)
K-12 certificate
67 to 80 credits: liberal
Government and
Associate Degree in
On-campus
arts, professional, content, Private
Education (ADE)
Colleges/University: and foundational courses
Elementary
To prepare elementary 2 years (3 years in
6 credits of practice
Colleges of
teachers
Punjab)
teaching
Education and
Mid-term exams
Universities
Final qualification exams
Bachelor of
Education (B. Ed.)

Bachelor of
Education (Honors)
B. Ed.
To prepare elementary
and secondary school
teachers
Certificate Courses
To prepare teachers,
trainers, and managers
Diplomas
To prepare teachers,
trainers, and managers

K-12 certificate
On-campus
Colleges/University:
4 years (5 years in
Punjab)

135 to 155 credits: liberal
arts, professional, content,
and foundational courses
15 credits of practice
teaching
Mid-term exams
Final qualification exams
In-service Programs
In-service teachers
Focus on updating
On-campus and
concepts and teaching
school-based
skills
3 to 6 months long

Government and
Private Colleges
of Education and
Universities

In-service teachers
Combined: oncampus and schoolbased
1 to 2 years

Mostly in private
school systems

Specialization in teaching a
subject area or teacher
training in a subject area

65

Mostly in private
school systems

The in-service programs are mostly offered by private institutions and were established to cater
to the needs of private school systems. These programs mostly focus on one specific area of
teaching or teacher training or administration. Recent reforms in government sector, mostly
funded by foreign donors, also have focused on professional development of government
teachers through these programs, in public-private collaboration.
Hence, the current landscape of teacher education in Pakistan presents a mixture of
various kinds of teacher education programs being offered, parallel to the market-model offcampus and traditional post-academic regular programs in public institutions, for both in-service
and pre-service teachers. The program durations range from three-months to five years in both
the public and the private sector; the market-model programs are offered in both off-campus and
regular modes for both in-service and pre-service teachers; the curriculum varies across
programs in terms of concentrations and specializations; and the structure of the programs also
varies in terms of various requirements for face-to-face sessions and practicum requirements. On
top of this, current education policy (NEP 2009) suggests the replacement of all kinds of
programs with the newly initiated four-year honors post K-12 programs for pre-service and
untrained in-service teachers. This policy also suggests that all already trained teachers should
take professional courses to meet the national standards for teachers. Obviously, there is need for
legislation to enact the policy provisions, which seems slower than what is needed by the
political governments. Further, there is a need for research in different areas to inform current
and future policy and program reforms.
SUMMING UP
Overall, the educational context of Pakistan shows some progress over time; however, it
depicts a relatively low achievement in the region, and it heavily advantages male, urban, and
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socio-economically affluent segments of society. Different parallel school systems for different
ideological segments of the society make education a source for the reinforcement of
fragmentation of the society based on ideology (mainly religious and political), socio-economic
class, and cultural divisions between urban and tribal-influenced rural areas. These situations call
for significant policy and structural changes, in order to make education equally accessible to all
and a medium for the progressive development of society.

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CHAPTER IV
METHODS
This study is an extensive exploration of market-model teacher education policies and
programs in a southern province of Pakistan. The methods used for this exploration were both
qualitative and quantitative approaches. This chapter includes a description of the research
approaches used, including the sample design, the selection of research participants, the
procedures for data collection and data analysis, a description of ethical considerations, and the
limitations of the study.
SECTION 1: MIXED-METHODS APPROACH
Qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to carry out this research in eight
public institutions of teacher education in a southern province of Pakistan. Although all the
research questions could be answered by either qualitative or quantitative data, some of the
questions could be better answered by qualitative data, whereas others could be better answered
by quantitative data. That is why Majchrzak (1984) claimed that “… an ideal combination is to
use both qualitative and quantitative” (p.66) approaches, in order to answer research questions
comprehensively. For example, questions to explore the understanding of participants about the
higher education policy (based on National Education Policy 1998-2010 and Education Sector
Reforms 2001) which allowed market-model teacher education programs and its impact seemed
more appropriate for somewhat open interactions with the participants. Consequently,
participants’ views and perspectives were explored through interviewing in a focused-group
setting and in an individual setting. These interviews provided most of the qualitative data. In
addition to interviewing, document analysis was carried out to understand the higher education
policy which allowed market approaches and its implementation. The document analysis
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provided descriptive qualitative data, particularly about specific aspects of the policy and the
resulting market-model programs. In addition, because answering the research questions
pertaining to the implementation of different aspects of the teacher education programs required
systematic and comprehensive measures of different categories of the programs, “surveying” was
an appropriate strategy to collect the required data. The surveys and national data-base reports
provided the quantitative data.
Sample Selection
A representative survey sample was drawn by using a stratified random sampling
strategy; however, a purposive interview sample was drawn by using a purposive sampling
strategy. Four important factors were taken into account to sample institutions and participants,
which included different regions, urban and rural population groups, the gender of participants,
and program type (regular and off-campus). A stratified random sampling strategy is considered
better in such cases because drawing a random sample from each strata of the population
increases the accuracy of estimates (Ott & Longnecker, 2010). Demographically, the province of
the study is divided into three different regions, called Lower, Middle, and Upper, which
represent somewhat different population groups in terms of culture and ethnicity. All three
regions have urban and rural population groups. Public institutions of secondary teacher
education among the three regions, which serve both urban and rural population groups, were
included in the sample. Moreover, since this study focused on market-model off-campus
programs offerings and their effects on the implementation of the regular programs, as well as on
the overall effectiveness of teacher education in the region, the sample also included participants
from regular and off-campus programs in each of three regions. To insure gender balance, a
balance of coeducational and gender-based institutions for males and females was selected from

69

each region; the institutions varied in terms of the gender of participants and their program
offerings. Table 11 below provides a detailed view of the categorization of the institutions which
were included in this study.
Table 11: Overview of Institutions Included for Sample Selection from the Three Regions
of the Province
Region

Institution Type

Gender (for)

Programs Offered

Upper

Government College of Education
Public University (PU)
Federal Open University Center
Public University (PU)
Federal Open University Center
Provincial Institute of Education
Government College of Education
Government College of Education
Government Elementary College of
Education

Coeducation
Coeducation
Coeducation
Coeducation
Coeducation
Coeducation
Coeducation
Female
Female

Regular
Regular
Off-campus
Regular/Off-campus
Off-campus
Regular
Regular
Regular
Regular

Middle

Lower

Description of the Programs
The two types of programs included in this study were different in many significant
ways. The following descriptions should help in understanding these differences between the
programs.
Regular programs. The programs referred to as “regular” teacher education programs in
this study are the post-baccalaureate Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programs for preparing
secondary school teachers, which are offered in an on-campus mode and require students to
attend a number of hours (credit hours) of face-to-face classes and field experiences. Students are
taught by permanent faculty at each institution, including lecturers, assistant professors, and
professors. These programs follow the national curriculum guidelines set by the Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan; however, the syllabus is designed by each
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university/institution, and it is flexible in order to absorb some course material variations by the
faculty. The university-offered programs are three semesters long, whereas the college-offered
programs are usually one year long. Examinations usually have two main components -completion of assignments during the semester and an end-of-semester exam, which is mostly a
three-hour sit-down exam for each course.
Off-campus programs. The programs referred to as “off-campus” (market-model)
teacher education programs in this study are the post-undergraduate Bachelor of Education (B.
Ed.) programs for preparing secondary school teachers which are offered in an off-campus mode
and do not require attending face-to-face classes or field experience. There is no permanent
faculty; however, in-service high school or middle school teachers are hired part-time to conduct
weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly instructional/guidance sessions. In the case of the Federal Open
University, there are no sessions except an end-of-term three-hour workshop. These programs
also follow national curriculum guidelines set by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan;
however, the syllabus is designed by each university/institution, which allows these institutions
to set activities and requirements according to their convenience or market interests. Students are
usually provided institution-published short text books as reading material. In the case of the
Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Islamabad, course text books are relatively more
comprehensive; however, examination requirements are similar to other off-campus programs,
which include assignments during the semester and an end-of-term exam. Universities, including
the Federal Open University, break the program into three semesters, whereas colleges offer a
one-year annual program.

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Research Participants
Following the sampling criteria and the strategy described earlier, three types of
participants were selected as research participants: one coordinator of the teacher education
program or chair of the department at each institution; five senior faculty members at each
institution; and forty to forty-five graduating students from each of the two types of B. Ed.
programs (regular and off-campus), at eight public institutions of teacher education. Because of
funding and time constraints, the participants were selected from only the secondary teacher
education/preparation programs. All three regions have two types of public teacher education
institutions: Government Colleges of Education (GCEs), and departments/faculties at Public
Universities, both of which offer secondary teacher education programs. In addition, there is a
provincial institute of education which offers in-service professional development courses as
well as B. Ed. programs. Two public universities, four government colleges, and the provincial
institute were included in the study to represent all the demographics of the province. The public
universities in the lower region did not participate in the study; however, the sample in this
region met the criteria described earlier.
In each institution, approximately forty-five final-semester or graduating students were
randomly selected as survey participants from their secondary teacher education programs.
Although the number of total students at each institution varies, randomly selecting forty-five
students from each institution provided a statistically significant number required to calculate
robust estimates/indicators (Ott & Longnecker, 2010). All the faculty members at each institution
participated as survey participants. Because the number of faculty members usually was below
thirty (a number required for making robust estimates) at the teacher education institutions in
Pakistan, including all faculty members for the survey maximized the number of participants,

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which increased the credibility of estimates and analysis. The survey completion rate by students
and faculty varied slightly among the institutions, but more than thirty students returned
completed surveys from each institution. Overall, 80% of the sample (both students and faculty)
returned acceptable completed surveys. Table 12 provides a detailed overview of the number of
participants who returned acceptable completed surveys.
Table 12: Overview of the Surveyed Research Participants
Region

Institution (Program)

Upper

GCE
Public University
FOU Center
Public University
FOU Center
Provincial Institute
GCE 1
GCE 2
GCE 3

Middle

Lower

Total

Regular Program
Chair
01
01
00
01
00
01
01
01
01
07

Faculty
17
13
00
19
00
09
18
07
11
94

Off-campus Program
Sts
36
37
00
42
00
29
42
38
32

Chair
00
00
01
01
01
00
00
00
00

Faculty
00
00
11
16
13
00
00
00
00

Sts
00
00
32
39
34
00
00
00
00

256

03

40

140

Note: GCE = Government College of Education, FOU = Federal Open University, Sts = Students

Moreover, for the interview data, a purposive sampling strategy was used to identify the
participants of the study. Remler and Van Ryzin (2011) described purposive sampling as
“…choosing people who have a unique perspective or occupy important roles or selecting
individuals or artifacts to represent theoretical categories or considerations” (p. 156). Since this
study focused on exploring the perspectives of the participants about the impact of policy on the
implementation of the teacher education programs, it was reasonable to use a purposive sampling
strategy to identify the participants with relevant backgrounds. Thus the interview participants
for this study, which included a chair/coordinator and senior faculty, were purposefully selected
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from the ten teacher education programs (seven regular and three off-campus programs) offered
by the eight public institutions of teacher education. See Table 13 for an overview of the
interview participants.
Table 13: Overview of the Interview Research Participants
Region

Institution (Program)

Upper

GCE
Public University
FOU Center
Public University
FOU Center
Provincial Institute
GCE1
GCE2
GECE

Middle

Lower

Total

Regular Program
Chair
Faculty
01
05
01
05
00
00
01
05
00
00
01
04
01
05
01
04
01
04
07

Off-campus Program
Chair
Faculty
00
00
00
00
01
04
01
05
01
04
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00

32

03

13

Note: GCE = Government College of Education, FOU = Federal Open University,

Surveys were conducted with each participant; however, individual interviews were
conducted with the program coordinator/chair of the department, and focus-group interviews
were conducted with five senior faculty members (four subject coordinators in four core subject
areas and one with a policy background) from each program at each institution. Because these
participants were considered to be directly involved with the implementation of the program,
they needed to be interviewed about their understanding of the policy and its impact on program
implementation.
SECTION 2: DATA COLLECTION
As discussed earlier, a mixed-methods approach was used in this study, and, accordingly,
different data collection tools were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. Three
strategies were applied: “document analysis,” “surveying,” and “interviewing.” While most of
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the quantitative data were collected through surveys, a significant amount of quantitative data
was also obtained from national data-based reports published by the federal government. In
addition to the individual and focused group interviews, document analysis also provided
qualitative data.
Document Analysis
As is well-established, some research questions can be answered well through analysis of
authentic contemporary and historical documents (Remler & Van Ryzin, 2011). The question
regarding how the policy is described and rationalized by policy makers (governments in this
case) can be answered by analysis of the relevant government and institutional documents. Here,
the documents related to the previous as well as current teacher education policies, mostly
established by the federal government as national policy/program guidelines, were analyzed to
understand and describe the rationalization of the policies and programs. More specifically, the
document analysis included national education policies since 1992, institutional teacher
education program descriptions (prospects), and national educational reform plans/programs
since 1992. Three national education policies (NEPs) have been in effect since 1992: NEP 1992,
NEP 1998-2010, and NEP 2009. All of these policies contained a specific chapter or part on
teacher education or teacher quality. In addition, since the higher education reforms under NEP
1998-2010 brought significant changes in higher education in Pakistan, documents describing the
Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan were analyzed. The market-model off-campus
teacher education programs/policies were a result of Pakistan’s HEC policy of allowing
universities to offer self-financed programs, including off-campus programs, to generate
institutional funds. Moreover, institutional documents which describe curriculum and other

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program activities were analyzed with regard to curriculum concentration and focus in the
programs. Analysis of all of these documents provided qualitative data.
In addition to descriptive documents of different policies and programs, governmentpublished national data reports (administrative data) were analyzed to establish patterns of
growth and enrollment in different program offerings in the last two decades. The Academy of
Educational Development and Planning (AEPAM) Islamabad, under the federal government’s
ministry of education and training, has been publishing annual reports of national data on
education since 1995, which provide significant data on teacher education program offerings and
patterns of growth, as well as contrasting the consumption of graduates in the system. These
reports provide mostly compiled quantitative data, which was further analyzed to develop
descriptive indicators. Document analysis provided both qualitative and quantitative data to
answer different research questions in this study.
Surveys
Surveys are an important and efficient tool to collect a wide range of measures from a
reasonably larger number of participants, which increases reliability and the prospects for
generalizing the results (Ott & Longnecker, 2010; Agresti & Finaly, 1999). Benefiting from
these strengths of surveys, this strategy was used to collect data from a reasonably significant
number of participants, as illustrated in the tables given earlier. Each type of participant was
given a separate survey: an “institutional survey” for chair/coordinators, “faculty survey” for the
faculty members, and “student survey” for graduating students at each institution. The surveys
were adapted from the TEDS-M Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics
(Tatto et al, 2012), which focused on measuring different aspects of teacher education programs
for pre-service mathematics teachers in seventeen countries. However, the surveys published by
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the TEDS-M were modified to focus on the collection of general data about the implementation
of different aspects of the teacher education programs and context-relevant information. The
modified surveys asked questions on the implementation of the teacher education programs,
including institutional capacity, components of the programs, participants’ backgrounds, teacher
educators’ practices, learning opportunities for program participants, beliefs of graduates,
preparedness of graduates, and overall effectiveness of the programs.
Institutional surveys. In order to understand institutional descriptions and different
program-related policies, it is important to gather information systematically; therefore, an
institutional survey was conducted for each selected program at each institution. The institutional
survey was conducted with each chair of the department, in order to collect quantitative
measures as well as descriptions of different aspects of the teacher education programs. The
main sections of this survey consisted of program description, students’ backgrounds, selection
policies, program content, field experiences, program accountability and standards, staffing, and
program resources. Each of these sections is explained briefly here. (Please contact the Author
via fidahussain77@hotmail.com, if you need the instrument.)
The program description section asked several questions about the general nature of the
program and the mode of offering (regular or off-campus). The section on students’ background
asked several questions about students’ academic background, areas of specialization, and pass
ratios. The section on selection policies focused on collecting information on who sets the
policies, and on the selection criteria, particularly the role of students’ academic achievements,
their gender, socio-economic background, and incentives, if any. The section on program content
included many questions about the categories of the courses offered, particularly the weight
given to the six broader categories of courses: liberal arts, curriculum, subject matter, subject
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pedagogy, general pedagogy, and education theory or foundations. Moreover, this section
included many questions on the weight given to different program goals and to completion and
certification requirements. The section on field experiences asked many questions on the nature
of the field experience, the requirements of activities from students, faculties’ role and
responsibilities as supervisors, field-based support (such as mentoring), and the setting of the
experiences. The section on program accountability and evaluation consisted of many questions
on who makes decisions about different aspects of the program, and how the program is
evaluated. The last two sections were comprised of several questions on the requirements of
faculty and the program budget. In sum, the institutional surveys provided both quantitative and
qualitative data about different aspects of each of the eleven programs included in this study at
eight institutions.
Faculty surveys. The faculty surveys were conducted with faculty members who had
taught teacher education courses in the programs which were included for this study at any time
in the previous five years. The surveys consisted of the background of the faculty, the faculties’
program implementation practices, the faculties’ beliefs about pre-service teachers’ learning, and
the faculties’ beliefs about the overall effectiveness of the program. The parts which focused on
the faculties’ background included several questions on their academic, professional, research,
and teaching backgrounds. Moreover, the section on faculties’ practices consisted of several
questions about the faculties’ specific role in the program in terms of teaching courses, fieldbased responsibilities, supervision of research projects, and participation in other activities at
their institution. The section on beliefs about students’ learning consisted of several sets of
questions regarding opportunities provided to students to learn in the program and the nature of
the activities that students participate in. For most of the questions in this section, a scale of 1 to
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4 (1 = disagree, 2 = slightly disagree, 3 = slightly agree, and 4 = agree, or 1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3
= occasionally, and 4 = often) was used to obtain participants’ ratings of the different
opportunities provided to students in a program. The section on the preparedness of the
participants included a set of questions on how the graduating students of the teacher education
program were prepared for different aspects of their role as a future teacher. A scale of 1 to 4 (1
= not at all, 2 = to a minor extent, 3 = to a moderate extent, and 4 = to a major extent) was used
to obtain the scores of the participants.
The final section of the faculty survey consisted of a question on the overall effectiveness
of the program, on a scale of 1 to 6 (1= very ineffective, 2 = ineffective, 3 = slightly ineffective,
4 = slightly effective, 5 = effective, 6 = very effective). This section also provided a set of
questions comparing the current program’s implementation with earlier versions of the program,
in terms of how different policy changes, growth of market-model programs, and organizational
changes affected program implementation. (Please contact the Author via
fidahussain77@hotmail.com, if you need the instrument.) Overall, the faculty survey
comprehensively provided measures of the effectiveness of the implementation of all aspects of
the program.
Student surveys. The student surveys were conducted with graduating students or finalsemester students to collect data about the students’ background, beliefs about teaching,
opportunities to learn in their program, their readiness to teach, and their beliefs about the overall
effectiveness of their program. Since students actively experienced all these aspects of the
program, their ratings provided particularly important indicators of the overall level of the
effectiveness of the program. The survey consisted of a set of several questions on each of these
categories. (Please contact the Author via fidahussain77@hotmail.com, if you need the
79

instrument.) The section on background included many binary (yes/no) questions on students’
socio-economic, academic, and professional background before admission into their current
program. The main section of the student survey consisted of questions on learning opportunities
that were provided through different components of the program. This section was divided into
three sub-sections, which included opportunities to participate in progressive learning activities,
opportunities to learn about children’s growth and learning, and opportunities to learn about
different aspects of teaching. The participants rated a set of pre-defined items/questions under
each question, regarding opportunities provided by the program, on a scale of 1 to 4, in which 1
means never, 2 means rarely, 3 means occasionally, and 4 means often.
The section on field experience consisted of several pre-defined items on two aspects of
the field experience, i.e., activities done in the field work or practicum, and support provided by
the faculty (institution and schools). The participants rated pre-defined items/questions on a scale
of 1 to 4, in which 1 means disagree, 2 means slightly disagree, 3 means slightly agree, and 4
means agree. The final section consisted of items on the coherence of the program and its overall
effectiveness. The participants rated pre-defined items/questions on a scale of 1 to 6, in which 1
means strongly disagree, 2 means disagree, 3 means slightly disagree, 4 means slightly agree, 5
means agree, and 6 means strongly agree. The student survey comprehensively provided ratings
of the students on all aspects of their program.
Altogether, the surveys were used as the main data collection strategy to collect data
about the institutions’ background, different aspects of program implementation, and the overall
effectiveness of the programs. Most of the survey questions provided quantitative measures, but
a few extracted short descriptions. The faculty and students were given similar items about the
implementation of different components of the program and its overall effectiveness.
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Interviews
The survey data was collected to estimate the implementation and effectiveness of each
type of program. Participants’ views were collected through interviews to explore their
perspectives on the effects of the teacher education policies (particularly the policy which
allowed the market-model off-campus programs), and on the effectiveness of the program’s
implementation. The interviewing strategy helped to engage participants in exploring their
perspectives, as well as enabling the researcher to ask further questions when more elaboration,
explanation, and further building on the responses by the participants was needed (Seidman,
2006). The interviewing, particularly in the focus group setting, also provided room for reflection
by the participants, while interacting with the researcher and their colleagues, to reconstruct and
make their meanings explicit. Further, because the study focused on understanding particular
aspects of the impact of the policy, interviewing provided a means to keep the participants
focused in this particular area, while connecting it with other aspects of the policy (Seidman,
2006). The interviewing technique was a reasonably strong way to explore the perceptions of the
participants.
Specifically, one semi-structured individual interview was conducted (and audiorecorded) with each chair or coordinator of the program in the department of teacher education at
each institution. In addition, focus-group interviews were conducted with a group of five senior
faculty members at each institution. Most of the interviews lasted about an hour. The interviews
focused on how teacher education policy, particularly the policy which allowed market-model
off-campus programs, was viewed by the institution, and how it had affected implementation of
different aspects of the program at their institution. Further, the effects of the market-model
programs and the policy on the overall quality and effectiveness of teacher education in the

81

region were explored with the interview participants. For the most part, the interview provided
qualitative data; however, the chairs/coordinators provided a few documents containing
quantitative data, such as enrollment and pass ratios, to back their claims.
SECTION 3: DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis was done at two levels. At the first level, the quantitative and qualitative
data were analyzed separately. At the second level, analysis was done to establish crossintegration between the quantitative indicators and the qualitative themes. Accordingly, I will
first describe the separate analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data, followed by
description of the cross-integration of both kinds of data.
Quantitative Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics techniques and descriptive presentation strategies were applied to
analyze the quantitative data. Mostly, percentages/ratios and averages were developed from the
survey data. Specifically, percentages were derived for several of the participant background
variables (such as age group, gender, academic background, and socio-economic status), student
pass rates, and program content/goal variables. Composite average scores were developed for
participants’ ratings of the categories of program implementation. As described in the data
collection section, the main parts of the faculty and student surveys contained several categories
of program implementation (on-campus and field-experience). Each category consisted of
several items, and each item was rated on a scale of either 1 to 4 or 1 to 6.
Separately for each program, the composite average scores for each category were
established through the following method: 1) individual scores across items, under a category,
were added to develop an individual’s total score; 2) individual total scores were added to

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develop the composite total scores of a category; and 3) since the composite total score of a
category consisted of weights for the number of items and the number of participants
(individuals), composite total scores were divided by the total number of items, and then by the
total number of individuals (participants), to establish composite average scores. This method
can be written precisely in this way: Composite Average Score = {Total of Individual Scores ÷
Number of Items} ÷ Number of Participants. The Composite Average Score of a category is the
average score of a participant (student or faculty) for a category of program implementation. For
example, a category (comprised of many items) asked the participants how often they
participated in different progressive learning activities, and the scale ranged from 1 to 4, where 1
means never, 2 means rarely, 3 means occasionally, and 4 means often. A composite average
score of 2.95 on this category indicates that the participants, on average, occasionally had
opportunities to participate in progressive learning activities.
In addition, analysis was done to compare the composite average scores (and other
indicators) between the regular and the off-campus programs. Mostly, a series of graphs or
pictorial graphs and tabular presentations were used to show such comparisons. These
comparisons provided important indicators about the outcomes and effects of the policies and of
the market-model programs. Moreover, percentages, averages, and grand totals (published in
AEPAM Islamabad national reports) were used to understand patterns of growth or decline over
time. For example, published annual national reports include data about the number of
participants enrolled in teacher education programs, nationally and provincially. This number
(the grand total), published in a series of previous annual reports, was analyzed to show patterns
of growth in enrollment over time. Graphic and tabular presentations were predominantly used to
show such patterns.
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An important aspect of quantitative analysis. Since the surveys were adapted from the
TEDS-M international study (Tatto et al, 2012; and Tatto et al, 2013) and were modified for the
Pakistani context, it is important to understand how analysis of quantitative indicators in this
study are different from the analysis done in the TEDS-M study. TEDS-M studies used several
advance techniques such as Factor Analysis and Rasch Scaling (Tatto et al, 2013) to develop
scales (measures) of opportunities for learning, precisely mentioned as opportunities to learn
OTL (Tatto et al, 2013). However, for the analysis of learning opportunities and other areas of
program implementation in this study, the broader categories of learning mentioned above were
used by combining the items, as formulated conceptually in the development of the surveys,
which were considered related to a broader area of learning opportunities in the teacher
education programs. For example category one consisted of questions about different progressive
and inquiry-based learning activities, in which program participants possibly are engaged in a
teacher education program. The assumption here was that if programs engage in more inquirybased activities, the participants learn better. Therefore, the higher composite average scores on
this category, and similarly in other five categories, mean higher learning of students.

Because the purpose of the analysis in this study was to develop indicators of the overall
implementation level of programs, the analysis described above served the purpose. However,
the more sophisticated ways of analysis, such as Factor Analysis and Rasch Scaling used in
TEDS-M international study, could be used in future studies (or future analysis of the data
collected in this study), in order to develop specific indicators for several subcategories of
learning opportunities. Also, an item-based instead of category-based analysis could be done to
see measures of learning opportunities for very specific areas, to assess which particular areas
are more or less focused in a program. However, this study emphasized overall indicators of
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program implementation; therefore, composite averages were developed for each category.
Analysis similar to what was done in TEDS-M study, and other possible ways of analysis, are
recommended for future studies. For the reasons described above, it is important to understand
that the indicator or scale of 1 to 4, where 4 is the optimum score, and the indicator of 1 to 6,
where 6 is considered the optimum score, are limited to the analysis used in this study. Results
should be looked at from the criteria used herein.

Qualitative Data Analysis
All interviews were transcribed and coded separately, and data from documents were
coded, following codes for the pre-defined categories. The main pre-defined categories included
program descriptions, views on the market approach policy, effects of the policy on the program
implementation, and effects of the market approach policy on the quality of teacher education in
the region. A further analysis of data resulted in many subcategories, including enrollment
issues, effects on course work and grades, compromises on program requirements, teaching
viewed as business, and credibility of teacher education certification. Further, a comparison and
contrast analysis was done between the views of the participants from the two types of programs.
Since the background of the faculty, the syllabus, program requirements, and the mode of
offering the two types of programs (regular and off-campus) were significantly different, it was
expected that the participants from different program types would vary in their perceptions of the
policy and its effects. Comparison of views between the participants from two different types of
programs provided insights about the implementation of these programs. This analysis also
provided insights into the effects of the growth in off-campus programs on the overall quality of
teacher education.

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At the second level of data analysis, quantitative and qualitative data (indicators and
themes) were analyzed to explore connections. Each category of indicators/estimates established
in the quantitative analysis was examined separately for possible connections with the qualitative
themes. Further, qualitative categories and themes were analyzed to see how quantitative
estimates and indicators could be explained by these categories. For example, one theme of the
qualitative data about the effects of the growth in off-campus programs on pass ratios was very
strongly connected with the indicators of enrollment and pass ratios compiled in the quantitative
data analysis. Hence, the second level of the data analysis led to integration and interweaving of
both kinds of data, to answer the research questions at length and in depth.
Ethical Considerations
Several ethical considerations are relevant in light of established protocols for research in
the humanities and social sciences. Before the inception of the research project, approval from
the Michigan State University Institutional Review Board (MSU-IRB) was sought, and exempt
status was achieved. The significant considerations which were made before the launch and
during the project activities were the following. All participants in this study were clearly briefed
about the focus and nature of the study, and they were requested to participate voluntarily. All
the participants were also informed about the research; they were assured that their names would
be kept confidential, and that the information they provided would only be used for research
purposes. Written consent was acquired from all the participants about their understanding of the
research, as well as their voluntary participation in the study. Hence, two common requirements
for informed consent, i.e., “knowledgeable and voluntary” (Thorne, 2004), were ensured.
Further, all names used in the research report are pseudonyms, to ensure the privacy of the
participants. At many places, the indication of names is not required because the information is

86

presented in combined forms/indicators. Moreover, to make it secure, all the data were saved on
my personal computer and on a personal portable hard drive. My laptop is not accessible to
anyone except myself, because it is password locked and can only be physically accessed by me.
I have even used pseudonyms or generic titles in the saved data on my personal computer and
data storages to ensure the privacy of the participants, in case of accidental access of someone to
my storage drive or personal computer. The protocols were rigorously followed to acquire the
informed consent of the participants and to protect their confidentiality.
Limitations of the Study
There are some limitations of the study methodology which need to be laid out clearly for
readers. Although efforts were made to include a high number of research participants -- almost
all public institutions of teacher education for secondary teachers in the province were included,
and national data to the extent that was possible was used -- the study is confined to the teacher
education institutions in only one province of Pakistan. While the teacher education landscape is
not much different in other provinces, data was not collected directly from institutions and
participants in other provinces; therefore, the results should be used with caution in the context
of other parts of Pakistan. Another limitation is the relatively small number of survey
participants (students and faculty) from the off-campus market-model programs. The number of
participants in the off-campus programs is substantially higher than the regular programs;
however, because of funding and time limitations, a proportionally smaller number of the offcampus participants were surveyed. Although the number of participants from the off-campus
programs is large enough to make a claim, ideally a larger number of participants would have
created more robust indicators. Furthermore, most of the analysis of the quantitative data was

87

descriptive, and should, therefore, be taken as indicators rather than direct evidence of program
implementation.

88

CHAPTER V
FINDINGS
The findings of this study are presented in three broad categories. The first category
presents the implementation of the policy which allowed off-campus programs and related trends
in teacher education over time in Pakistan. Overall, this category shows that the policy of
allowing teacher education institutions to offer programs based on self-finance (without any
public funding) resulted in out-of-proportion growth of off-campus market-model teacher
education programs, which now constitute about ninety percent of all enrollment in teacher
education institutions. This overwhelming growth of enrollment in off-campus market-model
programs, which mostly is in the Federal Open University, initially helped in reducing the
number of untrained in-service teachers; however, analyses in recent years show a pronounced
imbalance between enrollment and the addition of new teachers into the system. These patterns
strongly warrant further research on different aspects of off-campus programs.
The second category presents the implementation of different components of the
programs, both regular and off-campus, as well as the overall effectiveness of these programs. In
general, my analysis shows that indicators of program implementation for both types of
programs are much lower than the optimum level; however, comparison of the indicators shows
that the implementation of the regular programs has been relatively more effective than that of
the off-campus market-model programs. Lower indicators for both types of programs indicate a
significant dissatisfaction of participants with the effectiveness of these programs.
The third category presents the impact of the growth of off-campus market-model teacher
education programs on the quality of teacher education. Participants in the study considered that
the growth of off-campus market-model programs had a negative impact on program
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implementation and on the overall quality of teacher education in their region. The issues
reported include teacher education viewed as a business, teacher education degrees acquired as
spare degrees, missing institutional innovation and reforms, and the decreased credibility of
teacher education degrees/certificates.
Although, taken together, these categories of findings address all the research questions,
each category is more concentrated on answering one or two specific research questions. The
first category mainly answers how policy has been understood and implemented over time (the
first two research questions, set forth above, along with the other research questions in the
introduction and reiterated below in Table 14). Most of the data used for this category was
collected through document analysis (government administrative data reports and institutional
documents). The second category primarily focuses on program implementation and the
challenges posed by the overwhelming growth in the market-model off-campus teacher
education programs; this category concentrates mostly on questions two and three. Most of the
data used for this category was collected through surveying graduating students, faculty, and
institutional heads (as described in the chapter on methods), and from academic institutional
reports. The main focus of category three is research question four; most of the data for this
category was collected through focus group interviews (with five senior faculty members in each
program), and through the researcher’s informal conversations with the participants.
The following table provides a concise overview of the findings in relation to the research
questions and the data sources.

90

Table 14: Overview of the Findings in Relation to the Research Questions and the Data
Sources
#

Main Category of
Findings

Concentrated Research
Questions

1

Market approach
teacher education
policy
implementation and
growth trends over
time

1-How is the policy described and
rationalized?




2-How has the policy been
understood and implemented by
institutions of teacher education?



Implementation of
different
components of the
programs and the
overall effectiveness
of the programs

2-How has the policy been
understood and implemented by
institutions of teacher education?



3-What are the benefits and the
challenges of allowing the market
operate in the provision of teacher
education?




Effects on program
implementation and
the overall quality of
teacher education

4-What are the administrators’ and
teacher educators’ views about the
effects of the policy?




2

3

Main Data Sources



Policy documents
Government data
reports
Program
descriptions
Program
documents
Institutional
surveys
Student surveys
Faculty surveys

Faculty interviews
Interviews with
heads of the
departments

SECTION 1: POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND GROWTH TRENDS
This section presents description of the policies which encouraged the off-campus
programs and an analysis of the growth trends in the market-model off-campus programs in
relation to regular programs. Since it was a national policy which allowed institutions to offer
market-model (self-financed) programs, it is important to examine the overall picture of its
implementation over time and across Pakistan. The analysis of the growth trends of teacher
preparation programs is presented for Pakistan, followed by a similar analysis for the province
focused on in this study. The analysis is presented in six sub-categories: 1) description of the
policy and its unintended consequences; 2) growth in teacher education programs; 3) relationship
91

between ratios of untrained teachers and enrollment in the off-campus programs; 4) enrollment
in teacher education and addition of new teachers in the system; 5) comparison of increases in
the number of teachers with enrollment trends over time; and 6) emphasis on the quantity of
graduates in traditional teacher education programs.
The data for the analysis of growth trends was obtained from the national data reports
from 1995 to 2012 that were published by the Academy of Educational Planning and
Management (AEPAM) Islamabad, a government organization which works under the Ministry
of Education and Training Pakistan. AEPAM Islamabad collects administrative data from all the
provinces and federally administered territories, and it publishes the data in a compiled form
(totals and grand totals). Although the data helps in understanding overall trends, there are
several limitations to this data, because analyses could not be developed for some specific areas.
These limitations are explained here. Complete data about enrollments in teacher education
programs are not available before 2006 because the first education census was conducted in the
year of 2005-06. The data about enrollment in off-campus programs are not available before the
year of the national census. Moreover, specific data about enrollment in off-campus programs by
Federal Open University were not available because this university does not publish data reports.
However, AEPAM Islamabad reports present data separately for Islamabad (federal capital area);
therefore, enrollments in Islamabad-based institutions indicate the approximate level of
enrollment in the off-campus teacher education programs offered by the Federal Open
University.
Policy Description and Its Unintended Consequences
Although there was no specific education policy, many policy reforms by the government
of Pakistan which began in the late 1990s resulted in the rapid growth of offerings of off-campus
92

teacher education programs. In 2000, Pakistan committed to the Dakar Framework for Action to
achieve “Education for All” (EFA) goals (UNESCO, 2000); however, in an international
education reforms environment, Pakistan already had began planning and implementing
education reforms through its National Education Policy (NEP) 1998-2010. Because Pakistan’s
net enrollment rate at the primary level was one of the lowest in the world, policy makers
identified the lack of qualified (trained) teachers as one of the significant reasons for low
enrollment. About one fifth of in-service teachers in public school systems were untrained in
Pakistan by this time (AEPAM Islamabad, 1998). This is why the NEP 1998-2010 (Ministry of
Education Government of Pakistan, 1998) contained a chapter on reforms to improve teacher
quality through providing teacher training which included in-service refresher training and
teacher education certification of untrained in-service teachers. The NEP 1998-2010 encouraged
provincial governments to take measures to train untrained teachers, and it allowed unlimited
enrollments in teacher education institutions as well as encouraged higher education institutions
in public and private sector to offer teacher education programs.
While government policy reforms targeted training all untrained in-service teachers,
teacher education institutions severely lacked in capacity in terms of physical as well as human
resources, particularly qualified teacher educators, to achieve the targets. To fill this gap, many
higher education institutions, with few variations, offered off-campus teacher education
programs, based on the already existing materials developed to prepare teachers via open and
distance learning models (off-campus) similar to those developed by the Federal Open
University. Most of these programs, including the programs offered by the Federal Open
University, began to be marketed by being offered at a low-cost. These developments were seen
as the result of the policy initiative taken in NEP 1992 (Ministry of Education Pakistan, 1992),
93

which allowed public institutions to offer programs on a self-finance basis. Public institutions
which in the past had offered traditional teacher education programs began managing low-cost
alternative programs as well, employing senior school teachers who had a Master level
qualification instead of regular teacher educators. Most of the institutions developed a tailored
syllabus and published their own textbooks for each course. Unlike the program by the Federal
Open University, these programs offered weekly or bi-monthly classes and required practice
teaching; however, the number of required courses and practice teaching sessions were
significantly lower than in the regular traditional programs. Moreover, the Government of Sindh,
through its department of education and literacy, implemented a “crash training program” in the
late 1990s to train all teachers within a period of three years. Similar to the off-campus programs,
these crash programs employed senior school teachers; however, unlike other off-campus
programs, the participants in these programs were engaged in regular classes in different schoolbased training centers and completed the program in four months. These reforms led to a
reduction in the number of untrained teachers, as per the AEPAM Islamabad (2003) report, to
about 2% of all teachers at national level, and 4% of all teachers in the province of Sindh.
While the above-stated reforms significantly reduced the proportion of untrained inservice teachers, they resulted in disproportionate growth of off-campus programs. In addition,
the higher education reforms in 2001 (HEC, 2002) encouraged institutions to offer self-financed
programs to reduce public institutions’ reliance on public funding. Because off-campus teacher
education program models were well-known and produced new sources of revenue, many higher
education institutions, including non-teacher education institutions such as agriculture
universities and business schools, adapted and offered off-campus programs. As is illustrated in
the following sections, because these programs were expected to help provide the support
94

previously obtained from public funding, the requirements to enter and complete these programs
were watered down in an effort to attract more candidates; since then, enrollment has been
growing significantly in these programs, particularly in the programs offered by the Federal
Open University. In addition, provincial governments’ different policy initiatives (in accordance
with NEP 1992 and NEP 1998-2010) to give a pay raise on an additional qualification combined
with the fact that off-campus teacher education programs were easy to complete has led to the
overwhelming growth of an unregulated market for teacher education in Pakistan. Here, it seems
that the growth of an unregulated teacher education market in Pakistan is an unintended
consequence of an otherwise well-intended policy that focused on providing trained teachers in
all schools. Moreover, evidence in the following sections suggests that lack of regulation has
made things quite unmanageable, and has worsened rather than improving the quality of teachers
and teacher education in Pakistan.
Growth in Teacher Education
The analysis of the growth in public teacher education institutions and the enrollment in
teacher education programs shows steady growth in the number of institutions compared to the
overwhelming growth in enrollment in the off-campus teacher education programs. The findings
in Figure 3 show that thirty new institutions were added in the year 2006, a relatively significant
increase in the number of institutions, whereas growth in the number of institutions has been
quite steady, at around one institution per year, for all other years during this period.

95

Figure 3: Growth Trend in Number of Public Teacher Education Institutions in Pakistan
(for preparing K-12 teachers)
180.0
160.0

146.0

147.0

147.0

148.0

150.0

151.0

155.0

140.0
120.0

114.0

114.0
Institutions of
Teacher
Education in
Pakistan

100.0
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Created by Author; data source: AEPAM Islamabad reports 2004 to 2012.

While the findings of the AEPAM Islamabad published data on enrollment trends show
this substantial increase in 2006, this finding should not be confused with an increase in the
number of teacher education institutions in this year. Because 2006 was the first year for an
education census conducted in Pakistan, the jump in the number of enrollments reflects the
number of enrollees in the off-campus programs who were not reported in prior AEPAM
Islamabad reports. As Figure 4 shows, most of the enrollment by 2006, and in the following
years, was in Islamabad-based institutions, where the biggest open and distance learning
institution, the Federal Open University, is located; the large increase in the year of 2006 was
because of the first-time addition of data about off-campus programs offered by the Federal
Open University. Nonetheless, the analysis does show an out-of-proportion enrollment in
Islamabad-based institutions, which is mostly in the off-campus programs offered by the Federal
96

Open University. Proportionally, for each student enrolled in the institutions in the rest of
Pakistan, twelve students are enrolled in Islamabad-based institutions, mostly in the Federal
Open University offered off-campus programs. Here it is important to understand that the
Federal Open University has centers all across Pakistan, and accordingly their enrollments
contain students from all around Pakistan, enrolled at different regional centers. In addition,
some institutions in the rest of Pakistan also offer off-campus programs; therefore, the
enrollments at the institutions in the rest of Pakistan are for both kinds of program. Since
AEPAM Islamabad reports do not contain program-based data, it was not possible to develop a
comparison between off-campus and regular programs in the rest of Pakistan. Overall, the
analysis indicates disproportionate enrollment numbers in off-campus programs, which seem to
be a result of the policy which allowed institutions to offer self-financed programs using market
approaches.
Figure 4: Comparison of Enrollment Trends between Islamabad-based Public Teacher
Education Institutions and Public Institutions in the Rest of Pakistan (for K-12 teachers)
800000.0
Total Enrollment in
TE Programs in
Pakistan

700000.0
600000.0
500000.0

Enrollment in T E
Programs in
Islamabad-based
Institutions

400000.0
300000.0
200000.0

Enrollment in Rest
of Pakistan

100000.0
0.0
2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Created by Author; data source: AEPAM Islamabad reports 2004 to 2012.

97

2012

The findings of the enrollment trends for the province and the participant institutions also
show a trend similar to the national trend: an overwhelming proportion of students are enrolled
in the off-campus programs. The findings of the overall enrollment trends in teacher education
programs in Sindh showed a slight growth in enrollment in the last five years (see Figure 5). The
number of seats in regular programs has been fixed over the last several years; therefore, this
growth could be because of a significant growth in off-campus programs which are offered by a
few provincial institutions. However, an important fact to notice here is that the enrollment in
Sindh is even lower than 1% of the total enrollment in Pakistan, which reinforces the indicators
in the earlier analysis of national trends that the out-of-proportion enrollments are mainly in the
Federal Open University offered off-campus programs.
Figure 5: Enrollment Growth Trends in Public Institutions of Teacher Education (for
preparing K-12 teachers) in Sindh
6000
5410
5000
4334

4602

4377

4697

4794

4000
Enrollment in
Teacher
Education
Institutions of
Sindh

3000

2000

1000

0
2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Created by Author; data source: AEPAM Islamabad reports 2007 to 2012.

98

2012

The findings of enrollment growth trends in the six programs at the four institutions
which participated in this study show even more clearly that off-campus programs contained
disproportionate enrollment, and the enrollment in these programs has grown rapidly. The
findings are limited to six programs because long term enrollment data was only available for
three regular and three off-campus programs. Figure 6 shows an analysis of the enrollment
trends, demonstrating that enrollment at three off-campus programs, one offered by a local
university and two offered by the Federal Open University, have grown rapidly. Moreover,
consistent with national trends, the Federal Open University centers contain out-of-proportion
enrollment, which is much greater in comparison to PU middle, the off-campus programs offered
by local universities.
Figure 6: Enrollment Trends in Six Participant Programs (for preparing secondary
teachers) Show Overwhelming Growth in Enrollment for Off-campus Programs
10000
GCE1 Lower
(Regular)

9000
8000

GCE Upper
(Regular)

7000
6000

PU Middle
Regular

5000

PU Middle Offcampus

4000
3000

FOU Center 1
(Off-campus)

2000
1000
0
1996

FOU Center 2
(Off-campus)
1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

Created by Author; data source institutional surveys conducted in 2013. Note: GCE = Government College of
Education, PU = Public University, FOU = Federal Open University.

99

The enrollment trends in three regular programs show a decline from 2000 to 2007, but
enrollment levels have increased and are constant after 2008 in the two colleges (GCE1 and
GCE2). It seems that the initial decrease of enrollment in regular programs occurred due to the
boom in enrollment in the off-campus programs, as many interview participants reported;
however, regular programs regained their enrollment in 2008 by relaxing requirements,
comparable to the off-campus programs. The enrollments at the two colleges (GCE1 Lower and
GCE Upper) were constant after 2008 because, per year, the number of enrollment vacancies was
fixed for the colleges in that year. Many interview participants claimed that limiting the number
of enrollment vacancies was a policy tactic to advantage the institutions which offer off-campus
market-model programs because these institutions have an influence on policy making.
Overall, the analysis of enrollment trends shows that off-campus programs, mostly
offered by Federal Open University, are characterized by highly out-of-proportion enrollment.
This trend is consistent at the national level as well as in the province focused on in this study.
Moreover, the enrollment trends in the six programs which were included in this study also
reinforce the effects of the policy, resulting in disproportionately high enrollment in off-campus
market-model programs. More effects of this policy will be analyzed in subsequent sections.
Ratios of Untrained Teachers and Enrollment in the Programs
Because the policies which allowed teacher education institutions to offer off-campus
market-model programs, on a self-finance basis, was justified in order to train a significant
number of previously untrained in-service teachers, it is important to look at how the growth in
off-campus teacher education programs is related to the ratio of untrained teachers. As explained
earlier, because it is national policy, I analyzed national trends to present an overview about

100

Pakistan, followed by analysis of the trends in Sindh, the province focused on in this study. The
data used were obtained from AEPAM Islamabad national data reports.
The analysis shows a significant reduction in the proportion of untrained teachers across
Pakistan from 1998 to 2000 (see Figure 7), which was the period of initial growth in off-campus
teacher education programs. Arguably, the reduction in the number of untrained teachers is
related to the expansion and growth of off-campus programs. However, in spite of the significant
growth trend in enrollment in off-campus programs, the proportion of untrained teachers is
consistent at around 2% of all teachers since 2000 (see Figure 7). While it could be argued that
the high volume of enrollment in the off-campus programs has helped in maintaining
Figure 7: Trends in Proportion (%) of Untrained K-12 Teachers in Pakistan
25.0
% of Untrained
Primary School
Teachers in
Pakistan

20.0

15.0

% of Untrained
Middle School
Teachers in
Pakistan

10.0

% of Untrained
High School
Teachers in
Pakistan

5.0

0.0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014

Created by Author; data source: AEPAM Islamabad reports 1996 to 2012.

the low ratio of untrained teachers, the analysis of the enrollment data about regular programs
shows that the number enrolled in regular programs might even be more than enough to maintain
such a low ratio of untrained teachers (more detailed analysis on this is presented in the next
section).
101

The findings about the percentage of untrained teachers in Sindh also show a significant
reduction in the proportion of untrained teachers in the years 1998 to 2002, similar to the
national trend; however, a relatively higher proportion of teachers, about 5%, has remained
untrained since 2002 (see Figure 8). As presented earlier in the analysis of enrollment in offcampus programs in Sindh (in Figure 6), a significantly high number of students enroll in offcampus programs, yet the proportion of untrained teachers remains high in Sindh. This analysis
warrants more in-depth understanding of the reasons for it, which were explored in the
interviews with faculty participants, and are presented here as findings in the third category. One
explanation which seems is plausible is that the significant reduction during the years 1998 to
2002, particularly the number of untrained primary and middle school teachers, was mainly the
result of large-scale offerings of short intensive certificate programs across the province, under a
reform project called “crash training program” for in-service teachers.
Figure 8: Trends in Proportion (%) of Untrained Teachers in Sindh
30.0
25.0

% of Untrained
Primary School
Teachers in Sindh

20.0
% of Untrained
Middle School
Teachers in Sindh

15.0
10.0

% of Untrained High
School Teachers in
Sindh

5.0
0.0
1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Created by Author; data source: AEPAM Islamabad reports 1996 to 2012.

102

2012

2014

The teachers who successfully completed this program were awarded a teacher education
certificate, thus resulting in their becoming trained teachers. Moreover, interview participants
viewed the reduction in the number of untrained secondary teachers as the result of extensive
offerings of off-campus market-model programs by non-teacher education institutions, such as
agriculture universities and business schools. These non-teacher education institutions were
stopped after strong opposition by teacher education institutions, particularly by the Federal
Open University, which considered off-campus programs solely their domain. The interview
participants also pointed out that those institutions battled to control the market, which is a quite
common business/market approach.
To sum up, although the growth of off-campus market model programs appears to be
related to the initial significant reduction of untrained teachers in Pakistan, as well as in Sindh,
the analysis of the interview participants’ views points out a more complicated picture of how
institutions struggled as market forces to control the teacher education market. The struggle over
the market place, it seems, led institutions to focus on using effective market approaches and
strategies in place of the original intent of the policy, which was to provide better professionally
qualified teachers in all schools through professional certification of all teachers.
Enrollment in Teacher Education and Addition of New Teachers
The whole idea of policy initiatives to allow market approaches in teacher education was
to provide a sufficient number of trained (professionally qualified) teachers to meet the needs of
schools for qualified teachers. Hence it seems reasonable to look at the enrollment in teacher
education programs in relation to the addition of new teachers in school systems. Comparative
analysis of data on the number of teachers, year by year, over time shows an increase or decrease
in the number of teachers each year. Averaging the increases and decreases for the last seven
103

consecutive years gives an average per year increase of teachers in the system. For the period of
2006 to 2012, and for all three levels of schooling, comparative analysis was conducted and then
the average was calculated to find out the per year increase of teachers in the system. Moreover,
the total enrollment in teacher education programs was averaged, which was mostly in offcampus programs, for the same period, to determine the average per year enrollment. Then all
four averages were put together to create a donut graph, which presents an approximate view of
enrollment in teacher education compared to the addition of teachers in the system for the last
seven years (see Figure 9).
Figure 9: Comparison between Per Year Enrollment in Public Teacher Education
Programs and Addition of New Teachers in the Public School System (K-12) in Pakistan
1%
Per year average increase in
number of primary school teachers
(2006 - 2012; N=990)
Per year average increase in
number of middle school teachers
(2006 - 2012; N=1152)
Per year average increase in
number of high school teachers
(2006 - 2012; N=3481)
Per year average enrrollment in
teacher education programs (2006 2012; N=637,334)

99%

Created by Author; source of data: AEPAM report 2006 to 2012.

Comparison between the increase in the number of teachers (K-12) in the Pakistani
public school systems and the enrollment in public teacher education programs for the last seven
years (Figure 9) shows an extreme imbalance. The 1% in Figure 7 indicates that, on average,
approximately 4,000 new teachers were added per year from 2006 to 2012. However, a huge
104

annual average enrollment of more than 600,000 in teacher education programs shows a total
mismatch with the trend of the addition of new teachers. This mismatch indicates that enrollment
greatly exceeds the approximate need for new teachers. If the passing rate in teacher education
programs is taken to be 80%, which is very common in off-campus programs, and accounting for
the number of retiring teachers per year, which is assumed to be approximately equal to the
number of new teachers, on average approximately only three out of eighty graduates are hired
by the schools. Thus, it appears that enrollment in teacher education programs is extremely
higher than the employment of new teachers in the school systems.
Similarly, further comparative analysis between average per year enrollments in teacher
education programs in the rest of Pakistan, excluding enrollment in Islamabad based institutions,
and the per year increase in the number of teachers reveals that, proportionally, the enrollment
covers a higher space in the donut graph (see Figure 10). Because Islamabad-based enrollment
mostly shows the enrollment in AIOU Islamabad, which constitutes most of the enrollment in the
off-campus programs, it is important to see how enrollment, excluding enrollment in Federal
Open University, compares with the approximate need for new teachers in Pakistan. This
analysis indicates that even the enrollment in the institutions in the rest of Pakistan seems more
than enough to meet the needs of the systems, based on the average rate for the addition of new
teachers in the system.

105

Figure 10: Comparison between Per Year Enrollment in Public Teacher Education
Programs (minus Islamabad-based institutions) and Addition of New Teachers in the
Public School System (K-12) in Pakistan

2% 2%

Per year average increase in
number of primary school
teachers (2006 - 2012; N=990)
in Pakistan

7%

Per year average increase in
number of middle school
teachers (2006 - 2012; N=1152)
in Pakistan
Per year average increase in
number of high school teachers
(2006 - 2012; N=3481) in
Pakistan
Per year average enrollment in
teacher education programs
(2006 - 2012; N=42975) minus
Islamabad institutions

89%

Created by Author; source AEPAM Islamabad reports 2006 to 2012.

In looking at the low but consistent percentage of untrained teachers and the extremely
unusual mismatch between enrollment in teacher education programs and increase in the number
of new teachers, a major concern arises about where the participants in teacher education
programs come from and what the rest of the graduates do. Another significant concern is what
this extremely disproportionate growth of enrollment in teacher education programs means for
the quality and effectiveness of teacher education. A more significant concern is whether
Pakistan, as a developing nation with limited resources, can afford to spend resources and time
on producing a huge number of teacher education graduates, an overwhelming majority of whom
are unlikely to work as teachers. These are serious concerns based on the above-presented
analysis, and they warrant further research in these areas and informed policy decisions.

106

Emphasis on the Quantity of Graduates in Traditional Teacher Education Programs
The unusually high enrollment in off-campus programs, and the higher pass ratio in these
programs, indicates that the overall focus of teacher education in Pakistan has shifted from the
quality of preparedness to producing a high number of graduates. In addition to the unusually
high enrollment in off-campus programs, the passing (graduation) ratios in these programs are
also quite high, compared to the regular teacher education programs. Figure 11 shows that the
average pass percentage in the market-model off-campus programs (Federal Open University
centers and PU middle off-campus) is around 90%, compared to the average pass percentage of
around 60% in the regular programs.
Figure 11: Comparison of Pass Ratios between Off-campus and Regular Programs

89.3

FOU Center 2 (off-campus)

92.5

FOU Center 1 (off-campus)

87.6

PU Middle Off-campus
61.4

GCE 2 Lower
GCE1 Lower

58.1

PU Middle Regular

57.8
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Created by Author; source of data: institutional surveys, Note: GCE = Government College of Education, PU =
Public University, FOU = Federal Open University.

The interview participants in the regular programs argued that the institutions
purposefully maintain high passing ratios in the off-campus programs as a marketing strategy to
attract more students to these programs (focus group interviews with faculty), whereas focus on
enrollment and producing a high number of graduates has resulted in compromises on the quality
107

of program implementation. Hence, the market approach has apparently driven institutions to
emphasize the production of a high number of graduates, at the expense of the quality of the
preparedness of the graduates.
SECTION 2: EFFECTIVENESS OF PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
This section analyzes the effectiveness of program implementation for different
components of both programs, regular and off-campus, and the overall effectiveness of both
kinds of programs. The analysis focuses on goals of traditional programs, requirements in
traditional teacher education programs, background of program participants, indicators for
learning opportunities in the programs, and the overall effectiveness of the programs. The
evidence for this section was created by the analysis of survey data, and it is mostly percentages
and composite averages of student and faculty scores. The findings show that both kinds of
programs emphasize traditional unchanged program goals; however, the program requirements
are relatively rigorous for regular teacher education programs. The off-campus program
participants’ average age is markedly higher, and the majority of them are in different careers.
Although the indicators of program implementation for both types of program are much lower
than the optimum level marked for this study, the comparison of the indicators shows that
implementation of regular programs is better than that of off-campus market-model programs.
Lower indicators for both types of programs show a significant dissatisfaction of the participants
with the effectiveness of these programs.
Goals of Traditional Programs
The program heads and department chairs were asked to score seven different general
categories of goals related to teaching, and two categories of goals related to non-teaching areas,
in terms of how much weight was given to each category in their programs. The seven teaching
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related categories of program goals focused on different broader areas of the curriculum of the
programs designed to prepare participants for classroom teaching and their general role as
teachers. The two non-teaching related categories of goals focused on different broader areas that
prepared participants for school administration and for a general understanding of formal
education. Each category consisted of several items, which were rated on a scale of 1 to 4, where
1 means no weight, 2 means some weight, 3 means moderate weight, and 4 means major weight.
Composite average scores were developed for each category for both regular and off-campus
programs, which provided averages scores on a category equivalent to the scale on the survey (1
to 4). Thus a higher score on a category means, on average, a higher weight to a particular
category of program goals.
The analysis of goals across the programs indicates that, in general, the theories of
education, pedagogical content knowledge, and general pedagogy received relatively more
emphasis, and assessment of learning and school environment less emphasis, whereas curriculum
content knowledge, knowledge about pupils and diversity, and preparation for future
development as teacher are only minimally emphasized (see Table 15). None of the emphasized
categories of program goals received major weight; however, the relatively more emphasized
categories received moderate weight, and the less emphasized categories received some weight.
This comparative analysis indicates that even within the emphasized categories of goals, some
areas are not emphasized enough. Moreover, three other important areas for teacher education -the study of school curriculum, the diversity of students, and the preparation for continuing
professional development -- are given negligible weight, as their scores are close to 1, which
means no weight.

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Table 15: Comparative Analysis of Goals in Public Teacher Education Programs for
Preparing Secondary Teachers
Category of Goals (Classroom
Teaching)

Pedagogical Content Knowledge
General Pedagogy
Assessment of Learning
Understanding of School Environment
Curriculum Content Knowledge
Knowledge about Pupils and Diversity
Preparation for Continuing Professional
Development
Category of Goals (Non-classroom
Teaching)
Perspectives/Theories of Education
School Management and Administration

Regular
Programs
(GCE
&PU)
3.3
3.0
2.2
2.1
1.8
1.7
1.4

3.0
3.0

Public
University
(PU) Offcampus
2.8
2.9
2.2
1.9
1.6
1.4
1.4

3.0
2.6

FOU
Centers

Optimum
(major
weight)

3.0
2.7
2.6
2.0
1.5
1.6
1.5

4
4
4
4
4
4
4

3.0
2.6

4
4

Created by Author; data source: institutional surveys (n=7 regular programs, n=1 public university off-campus, n=2
FOU center off-campus). GCE = Government College of Education, FOU = Federal Open University.

A close look at the emphasized and less emphasized areas of goals indicates that
conventional teacher education programs for secondary teachers follow the traditional
curriculum developed decades back, which focused on theory and a specific set of concepts for
teaching particular subjects and developing understanding of conventional administrative and
supervisory strategies. Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) programs in Pakistan have traditionally
been focused on developing subject area teachers for public secondary schools, some of whom
would be promoted for administrative positions such as assistant head teacher or head teacher
later in their careers. Analysis also indicates that the programs have not been informed by
contemporary research, and they have not been updated to focus on areas such as the categories
mentioned earlier that received minimal emphasis, yet are targeted by contemporary research as
important for developing effective teachers.

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In terms of a comparison between the two programs (regular and off-campus), weights on
most of the categories are similar in certain ways. Central curriculum guidelines are similar for
the teacher education programs in all public institutions, which have been given by the Higher
Education Commission of Pakistan. Since all public teacher education institutions are required to
follow central curriculum guidelines, written curriculum and program goals in all conventional
programs are closely based on these central guidelines. However, the implemented curriculum
could vary, apparently because of the effects of market approaches. The results of the analysis on
the implemented curriculum are presented later in this chapter in the section on indicators of
program implementation.
Requirements in Traditional Teacher Education Programs
A comparative analysis of the five major categories of program requirements shows that
regular programs are fairly rigorous in terms of face-to-face course work, practicum or practice
teaching, and the attendance requirement, whereas admission and graduation requirements are
similar (see Table 16 for details). Conventional teacher education programs, both regular and
off-campus are post-baccalaureate; therefore, entry requirements are a bachelor degree, with an
overall average of 45% of total grades. However, no entry test is required for these programs,
which indicates a long-standing traditional belief that anyone can become a teacher, and that,
therefore, there is no need to assess dispositions and prerequisite skills. Passing the programs’
requirements is in accordance with a general policy for higher education, which is the same
across the country for public higher education institutions.
The differences between regular programs and off-campus programs in the requirements
of course work, practicum/practice teaching, and class session attendance indicate a focus on a
market approach to off-campus programs. Apparently it seems that regular programs are offered
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in an on-campus mode; therefore, they require a sufficient number of hours for face-to-face
participation in course work, and relatively more hours for practice teaching (practicum).
However, it also reflects that face-to-face interaction between students and a professional faculty
is considered important for the learning of students in the regular programs. Off-campus
programs not only lessen the amount of face-to-face interaction, but also make the practicum
and attendance requirements moderate in order to make their programs relatively easier or less
rigorous. This is because the market approaches value selling the product while accounting for
market conditions; therefore, less rigorous requirements give off-campus programs an advantage,
in comparison to regular programs, to enroll a higher number of students, which apparently
seems to be the case, as shown in the enrollment trends earlier.
Table 16: Comparative Analysis of Program Requirements in Conventional Public Teacher
Education Programs for Preparing Secondary Teachers
Category

Admission
(Entry)

Bachelor degree
50% or 45% grades

Requirements
University Offcampus
Bachelor degree
45% grades

Courses

10 courses
510 hours face-to-face

10 courses
80 hours face-to-face

10 courses
10 hours face-to-face

Practicum

40 lessons
4 weeks

10 lessons
2 weeks

2 full-day workshops
2 days

Attendance

85% of classes

60% of weekly session

60% of workshop
sessions

Passing
Program

Course assignments
30% of grade
Final exam 70% of
grade
Passing grade: 50% of
grade

Course assignments
30% of grade
Final exam 70% of
grade
Passing grade: 40% of
grade

Course assignments
30% of grade
Final exam 70% of
grade
Passing grade: 40% of
grade

Regular Programs

FOU Centers
Bachelor degree
45% grades

Created by Author; data source: program documents (n=7 regular programs, n=1 public university off-campus, n=2
FOU Center off-campus), FOU = Federal Open University.

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Background of Program Participants
The analysis of participants’ backgrounds reveals that participants in the off-campus
programs are relatively older, on average, and a relatively higher percentage of them are already
in a different career. By contrast, a relatively higher percentage of participants in the regular
programs seek teaching as their life-time career (see Table 17 for details). In both the off-campus
programs (PU off-campus and FOU Centers), the participants were about 9 years older, on
average, than the participants in the regular programs. This correlates with the fact that a higher
percentage of participants in the off-campus programs already had careers different from
teaching. This correlation is predictable, rather than unusual, because people who are already
pursuing a career have presumably spent some time in their jobs, and therefore are relatively
older.
Table 17: Comparative Analysis of Participants' Background in Conventional Teacher
Education Programs
Background Characteristics
Regular
Programs
28.3
38.4%
64.5%
09.6%
74.3%
21.4%

Average age of participants
Participants with prior career
See teaching as life time career
High SES items at home
Mother’s education primary level or below
Father’s education primary level or below

Average of
Participants
University
Off-campus
36.4
63.8%
43.2%
22.4%
77.1%
19.6%

FOU
Centers
35.2
65.4%
42.4%
16.5%
65.2%
17.5%

Created by Author, data source: student surveys (n=7 regular programs, n=3 off-campus programs), FOU = Federal
Open University.

Predictably, these indicators also correlate with the fact that a relatively smaller
percentage of participants in off-campus programs see teaching as their career. Putting together
these three correlations, the question arises as to why these participants enroll in the teacher
education programs. The straight answer by the interview participants was that either the high
number of enrollees in the off-campus programs are in-service candidates who would get a pay
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raise for additional qualification, or they get a teacher education degree to use in case they lose
their current job. Since getting a teacher education certificate/degree through off-campus
programs is quite easy, most of the candidates enroll in off-campus programs.
The findings of the participants’ socio-economic status (SES) and their parents’
education show that parents’ education level is roughly equivalent across the programs, whereas
the percentage of participants with high SES is slightly higher in the off-campus programs. The
higher number of participants with high SES in the off-campus programs could be because of the
fact that the majority of them already have jobs, and therefore have enough income to buy the
items which indicate high SES background. Furthermore, the average age for participants in the
off-campus programs is higher, which, in correlation with the high percentage of prior job
holders, means that several of them may have had a stable income for a longer time, which
resulted in their SES. Overall, the analysis of participants’ backgrounds reveals some important
insights about the selection of programs by the participants, as well as raises some important
questions for future policy making/reforms and research. This point will be further discussed in
the section on implications.
Indicators for Learning Opportunities in the Programs
The graduating students, or final semester/year students, and the faculty in the teacher
education departments were surveyed on learning opportunities and tasks which enhance
program participants’ learning. These categories included the following: (1) opportunities to
participate in progressive learning activities, (2) opportunities to develop understanding of
teaching and learning, (3) opportunities to learn teaching for diversity and reflection on practice,
(4) opportunities to learn about child development and social environment, (5) tasks to enhance
learning in the field experience (practicum or practice teaching), and (6) the overall quality of
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field experience (practicum or practice teaching). The rating scale ranged from 1 to 4, where for
the first five categories, 1 means never, 2 means rarely, 3 means occasionally, and 4 means often,
and, for the last category, 1 means disagree, 2 means slightly agree, 3 means slightly agree, 4
means agree. The composite average scores for each category were developed, as explained in
the methods section. For a comparative analysis between programs and between students’ and
faculty’s composite scores, line graphs (figures) were developed.
The analysis of the learning opportunities provided in different components of the two
kinds of programs shows overall low indicators for the six categories of learning opportunities in
these programs, and relatively lower indicators for these categories in the off-campus programs
(see Figure 12 and Figure 13). An overall analysis shows that students’ composite average scores
(see Figure 12) for all ten programs are below 3, which means that students on average were not
given learning opportunities, even at the frequency “occasionally.” The composite scores by
faculty for all the programs (see Figure 13) are also below 3 and are similar to the student scores,
which reinforces the validity of the scores. Further, the scores by both students and faculty for
almost all the categories of learning in the three off-campus programs range between 2 and 2.5,
and are lower than the regular programs on almost all categories. Since the scores for categories
of learning opportunities in the off-campus programs are closer to “rarely,” this means that
students in the off-campus programs were approximately rarely given opportunities for learning
in the different components of the off-campus programs.

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Figure 12: Student Composite Average Scores on the Six Categories of Learning
Opportunities
4

GCE Upper
PU Upper

3.5

GCE 1 Lower

3

GCE 2 Lower
GCE Lower

2.5

PU Middle

2

Provincial Institute
FOU Center Middle

1.5

PU Middle Offcampus
FOU Center Upper

1

1

2

3

4

5

6

Note:- number horizontal axis mean as follows: 1 = Opportunities to participate in progressive learning activities, 2
= Opportunities to develop understanding of teaching and learning, 3 = Opportunities to learn teaching for diversity
and reflection on practice, 4 = Opportunities to learn about child development and social environment, 5 = Tasks to
enhance learning in the field experience (practicum or practice teaching), 6 = Overall quality of field experience
(practicum or practice teaching). GCE = Government College of Education, PU = Public University, FOU = Federal
Open University. (n=256 regular programs, n=140 off-campus programs)

Another significantly visible indicator in the student and faculty composite average
scores is the lower scores for categories 3 and 4 of learning opportunities, compared to the other
four categories in the programs (see Figure 8 and 9). The categories 3 and 4 focused on the
opportunities to learn teaching for diversity and reflection on practice, and opportunities to learn
about child development and social environment, respectively. These two areas were scored
lower across the programs, as well as by almost all the participants, which strengthens the
indicators. This finding resembles the findings discussed in the program goals section.

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Figure 13: Faculty Composite Average Scores on the Six Categories of Learning
Opportunities
4

GCE Upper
PU Upper

3.5

GCE 1 Lower

3

GCE 2 Lower
GCE 3 Lower

2.5

PU Middle

2

Provincial Institute
FOU Center Upper

1.5

FOU Center Lower

1
1

2

3

4

5

6

PU Middle Offcampus

Note:- number horizontal axis mean as follows: 1 = Opportunities to participate in progressive learning activities, 2
= Opportunities to develop understanding of teaching and learning, 3 = Opportunities to learn teaching for diversity
and reflection on practice, 4 = Opportunities to learn about child development and social environment, 5 = Tasks to
enhance learning in the field experience (practicum or practice teaching), 6 = Overall quality of field experience
(practicum or practice teaching), GCE = Government College of Education, PU = Public University, FOU = Federal
Open University. (n=94 regular programs, n=40 off-campus programs)

The two areas which scored lower are not focused on in the program goals because the program
curriculum is based on national policy guidelines, and historically these curriculum guidelines
have not been refined or updated, except for the recent policy initiative of launching a four-year
honors program in which the curriculum is supposedly based on contemporary knowledge and
practices. Moreover, because of the increase in market approaches, which in the Pakistani
context mostly focus on making programs easy-to-complete, it appears that policy makers and
institutions might not have pursued initiatives to upgrade the curriculum.
Comparative analysis between regular and off-campus programs shows that, although
indicators for both types of programs are significantly lower than the optimum scores (4), overall

117

scores for the regular programs are slightly better than the scores of off-campus programs for all
the categories, and by both students and faculty (see Figure 14). The overall scores by students
and faculty for regular programs show quite similar trends, as the composite average score for
the first two and last two categories falls to around 2.75, and the scores for categories 3 and 4
drop to a little below 2.5. The scores by faculty and students for off-campus programs, both FOU
centers and PU off-campus, slightly vary in different categories, but they appear to be clustered
together, which indicates similarities within the program types (regular and off-campus).
Although it appears that the category about practicum/practice teaching (5 and 6) in off-campus
programs is overall scored low, the scores given by FOU center students are significantly lower
than those given by other participants.
Figure 14: Comparison between Programs as well as between Student and Faculty
Composite Average Scores for Six Categories of Learning Opportunities in the Programs
4.00
FOU program
(faculty score)

3.50
FOU Program
(Student Scores)

3.00
PU Off-campus
(Faculty Scores)

2.50

PU Off-campus
(student scores)

2.00

Regular Program
(Student Scores)

1.50

Regular Program
(Faculty Scores)

1.00
1

2

3

4

5

6

Note:- number horizontal axis mean as follows: 1 = Opportunities to participate in progressive learning activities, 2
= Opportunities to develop understanding of teaching and learning, 3 = Opportunities to learn teaching for diversity
and reflection on practice, 4 = Opportunities to learn about child development and social environment, 5 = Tasks to
enhance learning in the field experience (practicum or practice teaching), 6 = Overall quality of field experience
(practicum or practice teaching), GCE = Government College of Education, PU = Public University, FOU = Federal
Open University. (n=256 regular programs, n=140 off-campus programs; Faculty n=94 regular program, n=40 offcampus program)

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The low scores on practice teaching/internship are due to the fact that Federal Open University
(FOU) programs do not require a practicum; therefore, the low scores by their students seem
reasonable. Overall, it appears that regular programs are relatively better implemented in terms
of providing learning opportunities in all categories; however, the overall indicators for both
kinds of programs are much lower than the optimum level needed to prepare participants
effectively.
The analysis of indicators for overall program effectiveness show significantly low
implementation of both types of programs; however, indicators for the regular programs appear
slightly better than off-campus programs (see Figure 15). The survey participants (students and
faculty) were asked to rate two categories of overall program effectiveness, and to answer one
direct question about the overall effectiveness of their program, on a scale of 1 to 6, where 1
means strongly disagree and 6 means strongly agree. Comparative analysis between scores by
faculty and students shows that participants in the regular programs scored their programs
slightly higher than other participants. However, scores by students and faculty in both types of
programs for all categories were scored around 4, which indicate that, on average, participants
slightly agreed with statements indicating the overall effectiveness of the two program types.
This analysis also indicates a significantly lower level of satisfaction of the participants with
program implementation and with the effectiveness of both types of programs.
Comparative analysis between the two types of programs shows that approval for regular
programs by their faculty and students was slightly better than the approval for the off-campus
programs by their faculty and students. Student and faculty overall scores in the regular
programs were a little above 4 (slightly agree), whereas student scores were a little below 4,
compared to faculty scores around 4, for off-campus programs. This means that students in the
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off-campus programs were significantly dissatisfied with the implementation and the
effectiveness of their programs, whereas faculty in the off-campus programs seemed slightly
satisfied with the overall implementation of their programs. For regular programs, both students
and faculty seemed satisfied with the effectiveness of their programs only to some extent, which
indicates that there were many gaps and areas in the implementation of regular programs which
need improvement.
Figure 15: Comparison of Students and Faculty Composite Average Scores for Categories
of Overall Program Implementation
6
Student (Regular)

5.5
5

Student (PU Offcampus)

4.5
4

Student (FOU
Centers)

3.5
3

Faculty (Regular)

2.5
Faculty (PU Offcampus)

2

1.5
1
Coherence of Teacher
Education Program

Beliefs about Program
Effectiveness

Overall Effectiveness of
the Program

Faculty (FOU
Centers)

Created by Author, data source student and faculty surveys (Students, n=256 regular programs, n=140 off-campus
programs; Faculty n=94 regular program, n=40 off-campus program). PU = Public University, FOU = Federal Open
University.

Here it is also important to understand that low indicators for the learning opportunities,
particularly the categories on diversity of learners and students’ social environment, in both types
of the programs are not very unusual in relation to indicators for program implementation found
in some international studies such as TEDS-M (Tatto et al, 2012). In the TEDS-M international
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study of mathematics teacher education programs in seventeen countries, scores for some
advanced countries, such as Germany, Chinese Taipei, and Norway, were found lower than the
average (defined in their study), on the two categories that were found scored lower in this study.
Hence, although the overall indicators for learning opportunities in the programs focused on in
this research are low, these programs may have some areas which are better implemented than
others, which can be identified in the specific subcategory-based or item-based analysis, as
suggested in the analysis section earlier.
SECTION 3: IMPACT ON PROGRAM EFFECTIVENESS AND THE OVERALL
QUALITY OF TEACHER EDUCATION
This section presents perspectives of faculty and program heads regarding the impact of
the out-of-proportion growth in the off-campus market-model programs on the overall
effectiveness of program implementation and on the overall quality of teacher education in the
region. Most of the evidence for this section is based on analysis of the data from interviews
which were conducted with groups of senior faculty and department chairs, and analysis of the
data from informal conversations with faculty and heads of institutions/departments.
The findings on the participants’ views show that the growth of the market-model offcampus programs has significantly impacted the implementation of the teacher education
programs and the overall quality of teacher education in the region. While most of the interview
participants in the regular as well as off-campus programs agreed that program implementation
has been compromised, the two groups held slightly contrasting views on the effects of outgrowth in off-campus programs. The participants in regular programs tended to point out
overwhelming growth of off-campus programs as a significant reason for compromises in
program implementation. While the participants in the off-campus programs argued that
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competition to enroll high number of enrollment in both types of programs have affected
program implementation, they also pointed out that the overall low quality of the public
education system in the province contributed in these effects. Most of the participants reported
many significant effects which have undermined the implementation of the programs, such as
students’ expectation of less rigorous work but high grades, struggles by regular programs to
maintain enough enrollments, in contrast to overwhelmingly high enrollment in the off-campus
programs, and in-practice compromise on many program requirements by institutions. The
participants also believed that the overall quality of teacher education in the region has been
degraded. They believed that teacher education is viewed as a business; the qualifications of
teacher education degrees/certificates serve the function of “spares,” like a spare wheel needed
only as a backup; institutional innovations and reforms are missing; and the credibility of teacher
education degrees/certificates has decreased.
Impact on the Effectiveness of Teacher Education Programs
The interview participants (senior faculty and program heads) were asked to provide their
perspective on how the out-of-proportion growth in the off-campus market-model programs had
impacted the implementation of the teacher education program at their institution. In general, the
analysis reveals that the participants agreed that the overwhelming growth in the offering of offcampus market-model programs has had a significant impact on the implementation of all kinds
of conventional teacher education programs. The analysis reveals three main categories of
impact: students’ expectations of less work but higher grades in regular programs; struggles in
regular programs for enough enrollment that sharply contrasted with the overcrowded offcampus programs; and compromises on the implementation of many requirements by teacher
education institutions.

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Less rigorous work for high grades. The faculty in the regular programs reported that
generally students were reluctant to accept rigorous work, but, on the other hand, expected high
grades, and the faculty claimed that this was an effect of the lenient work requirements in the offcampus programs. The faculty in the off-campus programs also reported the same issue;
however, they reasoned that it was an effect of the overall relaxed environment in the public
teacher education institutions which caused students’ expectations that they could get high
grades and pass the program without working hard. The chair of a regular program described a
decline in completing required work by students in this way:
We were not able to ask students to work as much as we asked them to do before these programs (offcampus programs). It has definitely had a negative effect. It affected class attendance, the teaching skills of
students, completion of assignments, even internships. Our students do not work well at their internship
placements. They try to escape from there. So it definitely had a negative effect. (PU Upper Department
Chair Interview, May, 2013)

A senior faculty member pointed out that the relaxation in work requirements for students was
similar in both off-campus programs and regular programs, after several years of rapid growth of
the off-campus market model programs. He claimed that students do not complete assignments
and internships in their regular program because they know that these requirements are exempted
in off-campus programs. He described the situation as follows:
…distance learning mode based on Sunday classes (weekly classes) is so easy that one can easily complete
a certificate (complete an off-campus program) by sitting at home without doing anything. Then why
would students need to come to an institution (institution which offers regular programs) and attend classes
regularly and complete assignments, complete practice teaching, complete annual teaching when, in those
institutions, (institutions which offer off-campus programs such as FOU) and in off-campus programs you

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just need to register and then get the degree? People even got a degree without appearing in exams (in offcampus programs). (GCE Upper Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview, March 26, 2013)

Most of the interview participants, faculty as well as department chairs, in the regular
programs pointed out similar issues with regard to the relaxation of work requirements for
students because the students who enrolled in their programs expected less work. The reason
appeared to be the competitive market environment, in which off-campus market modelprograms enrolled most of the students, using relaxation in their work requirements as an
incentive. Here the institutions which were limited to offering only regular programs felt that
they had no other choice but to similarly relax requirements of their students in order to get and
maintain enough enrollments, and to compete in the market place.
Struggle over enrollments. The regular programs struggled to maintain sufficient
enrollment, whereas the off-campus programs were overcrowded. As discussed in the earlier
section on trends in enrollment, institutions which offered off-campus programs (such as the
Federal Open University and some other universities) contained most of the enrollment in the
conventional teacher education programs, roughly 90% of the total enrollment in Pakistan. Many
institutions which offered regular programs struggled to obtain and maintain enough enrollment
to fill the allocated seats (vacancies), because the overall requirements in the regular programs
were rigorous, particularly attendance of classes and practice teaching. Most of the interview
participants from colleges of education agreed that this was a big problem for their institutions,
and a significant reason for compromising on the implementation of requirements. A senior
faculty member in a focus group interview pointed out the problem for their institutions, and
most of the other participants in this interview agreed with him, in this way:

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They (students) don’t attend here and don’t go there (to off-campus programs) either. Now there is a little
difference between here (at his institution which offered regular program) and there (FOU center for offcampus programs). Here at least some students come for classes and for practice teaching but their students
only appear in exams and some of them even don’t appear in exams (formal end of term paper-pencil tests).
Now because of the cheapness of the degree (in the off-campus program), people tell me that professors (in
regular programs) went door to door (used personal contacts and asked for favor) seeking potential students
for admission in their college because new students were not seeking admission here since they were
getting degrees freely (without doing any hard work) from those off-campus institutions. (GCE upper focus
group interview March 26, 2013)

This issue was repeatedly emphasized by all the interviewees in the regular programs at colleges
of education, and the claim was quite obviously supported by analysis of the enrollment data at
six institutions, as given earlier in the section on enrollment trends.
The interview participants, including faculty in off-campus programs, agreed that the
growth of off-campus programs, which have compromised program requirements, created
significant problems for public institutions which offer regular programs to secure enough
enrollment in their programs. On the other hand, institutions which offer off-campus programs
were overcrowded with students. The faculty in the regular programs reported that enrollment
in the regular programs decreased as the number of off-campus programs increased, which
pushed their institutions to compromise on requirements. Overall, this indicates the dominance of
institutions which offer off-campus market-model teacher education programs, while institutions
which offer regular programs struggle to compete with them in order to maintain enough
enrollment in their programs.
Compromise on program requirements. Analysis of the interview data reveals that, in
practice, public institutions of teacher education significantly compromised on their requirements
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listed in their program descriptions, and that the institutions did so because of the market
approaches used by the off-campus programs. The significant areas in which programs
compromised include flexibility in attendance requirements, tailored course requirements to
make course work easy-to-complete, fewer and less rigorous assignments, and absence or
inefficacy of practice teaching (internship).
Attendance of classes relaxed. The most commonly reported issue was the significant
reduction in attendance of classes by students, because the institutions accepted less than the
required percent of attendance, and still allowed students to appear in the final exams. Many
faculty members in regular programs during their informal conversations with the researcher
mentioned that students were given tacit approval at the time of admission that although required
attendance was 85% of all classes, about 50% would be accepted. They said that even then many
students did not show up for most of the classes, but were still allowed to appear in the final
exam. The faculty in regular programs agreed that the compromise on class attendance
requirements was done because of competition with off-campus programs, most of which did not
offer classes (such as FOU centers) and accepted extremely low attendance rates for weekly or
end of term sessions. One faculty member in a focus group interview stated that “We heard that
they (faculty in off-campus programs) conducted some classes in the beginning (the beginning of
growth in off-campus programs) but now it is zero attendance.” A chair of the department
recounted a similar observation, stating that
So on the remote center (for off-campus programs) students don’t go to attend classes whereas the center
supervisor gives them a signature (confirms) for attending all classes. Classes are not conducted and
instruction is not given, and students do not show up at all, but they pass the exams. (PU Upper Department
Chair Interview, March, 2013)

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Another department chair said that his program compromised on attendance and other
requirements because the requirements were relaxed in the off-campus programs, and the
competition with them pushed his institutions to compromise on requirements. He described the
effects in these ways:
The first effect (of off-campus programs) was that our students raised this question: “We are attending the
whole week, whereas students in those programs only attend classes on Sunday. But they also get the same
degree as we do.” Those students do not submit assignments. They even do not attend Sunday classes. We
(his institution) were in a competitive market; we also needed students (enrollment). We faced the problem
of our survival. Hence, it had an effect on our quality (of implementation); it decreased (was
compromised). (PU Middle Department Chair Interview, May, 2012)

A faculty member in a focus group interview pointed out that it was because no classes were
required at the FOU center that her institution, in order to compete, also tacitly agreed on
compromising their attendance requirement. She said, “How would we ask them (students in her
program) to attend classes, whereas the FOU center allows everyone to appear in exams even
without attending a single class” (PU Upper Faculty Focus Group Interview, April, 2013). The
participants in the off-campus programs agreed that student attendance was a challenge in the
regular programs. A Center coordinator for Federal Open University claimed, “The difference
between distance learning and formal system (regular programs) is negligible. Neither teachers
are regular nor are students regular in the formal system (regular programs).” (Coordinator
Interview, March, 2012). In contrast to the views by the participants in the regular programs, the
participants in the off-campus programs argued that it was not an effect of the growth in offcampus programs; rather it was the general bad conditions of teacher education and competition
by the regular programs. A faculty in the FOU center off-campus program argued this way:

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But teacher education is in very bad condition generally in the country and particularly in this province. It
(lack of attendance in the regular programs) refers to the general deterioration of standards in the province,
and the regular system is also in competition with us.” (Focus Group Interview Off-campus faculty, March,
2012).

Overall, an emphatically reiterated point was that, in practice, the class attendance
requirements were compromised in regular programs, in order to compete with off-campus
programs. Moreover, the compromise on class attendance requirements was accompanied with
compromises in many other areas of program implementation.
Courses made easy-to-complete. Although the described course requirements were based
on national curriculum guidelines, in practice many course requirements were relaxed to make
the courses easy to complete for students. The course assignments were fewer, and were made
less rigorous, so that the students could complete the courses easily. Moreover, in practice many
faculty members in the off-campus as well as in the regular programs waived completion of their
course requirements for many students. The following comments by the chair of the department
of teacher education in a local university, which offered regular programs, illustrate the situation:
We were not able to ask students to work as much as we asked them to do before growth of these offcampus programs. It (growth of off-campus programs) has definitely negatively influenced our program. It
influenced the class attendance, learning of teaching skills by students, completion of assignments, even
their internships. Many of our students do not work well at their internship placements. They try to escape
from there. So it has definitely had a negative impact. (PU Middle Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview,
June 28, 2012)

Many faculty members in informal conversations shared similar views, and they agreed that
course requirements were significantly reduced in practice to ease students’ completion of
courses.
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While faculty and coordinators in off-campus programs also agreed that course
requirements were compromised, they claimed that off-campus programs were comparatively
trying to do better. A coordinator at the Federal Open University center claimed,
Look at the government institutions in different parts. Teacher education was best and exemplary in this
region; however, now see the outlook of the buildings. It will suggest what is going on in those buildings.
Comparatively we (in off-campus programs) are trying to make it better. For example go to those
institutions (which offer regular programs) they do not make it necessary for students to prepare their
assignments. They do not push for training and conducting regular lessons. They do not ask their students
to prepare models (teaching resource materials) during their workshops. (Interview with center coordinator,
March, 2012)

The above comments by the coordinator encompass what appeared to be a general view of the
faculty in the off-campus programs, which clearly suggests that requirements were compromised
in both the program types.
This finding also has a connection with the overwhelming proportion of students in offcampus programs that already had a different career and a full-time job. Because it is hard to do
a full-time job and complete the requirements outlined for full-time students, it appeared that the
institutions, particularly the FOU centers and other universities which offered off-campus
programs, compromised on requirements and continued it as a marketing approach.
Practice teaching/internships compromised. In program descriptions, the practice
teaching or internship was totally missing in the FOU Centers’ off-campus programs. Other offcampus programs varied in their internship requirements, but they required significantly less
time and number of lessons than required in the regular programs. However, many interview
participants pointed out that in practice the program requirements for practice teaching were

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compromised by both off-campus and regular programs, as an incentive and competition strategy
to enroll a high number of students in their programs. Some interview participants said that a
common practice in these programs was having students submit written lesson plans without
actually practice teaching a lesson, whereas a few participants also said that many students
would hire someone to write the lesson plans for them.
Overall, most of the participants agreed that many practice teaching (internship)
requirements were compromised in both types of the programs; it was totally missing in many
off-campus programs, and these compromises impacted the regular programs, which also, in
turn, compromised on conducting lessons in their programs. The chair of the department for a
regular program mentioned that exemption of the practice teaching requirement in off-campus
programs had pushed them to relax this requirement for their students. He claimed, as mentioned
earlier, that because of the influence of the off-campus programs in his region, “our students do
not work well at their internship placements. They try to escape from their placements. So the
off-campus programs have definitely affected us (his program) negatively.” The chair said that
competition with off-campus programs pushed them to compromise; otherwise they would lose
enrollment. A group of faculty in a regular program agreed in their focus group interview that
both the programs practically exempted these requirements, including other exam requirements.
A faculty member in this group illustrated exemption of practice teaching as follows:
They (students) do not conduct lessons here and do not go there either (in off-campus programs to conduct
lessons). Now there is a little difference between here and there. Here some students come for classes and
practice teaching but their students just go for final exams (without completing practice teaching
requirement), and some of them even do not go for final exams because in some cases, they (off-campus
programs) even do not get the original/real person but another person appears in the exam in place of them.
(GCE Upper Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview, March, 2013)

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In another example of a regular program, the faculty group mentioned that they only supervised
and supported the students who wanted to conduct their practice lessons. If some students were
not willing to conduct lessons, the faculty did not push for completion of the requirements.
Similarly, an off-campus faculty group at a local university also stated that whoever came to
conduct lessons was asked to conduct lessons at the center, at what they called micro-teaching, in
which students simulated lessons in front of their classmates. They also admitted, though, that
very few students conducted such micro-teaching lessons. Overall, it appears that the
requirement for practice teaching, which was already very shallow in the descriptions of some
off-campus programs, was significantly compromised in practice because of the market strategy
to raise enrollments as high as possible.
Effects on the Overall Quality of Teacher Education in the Region
The analysis of interview participants’ views about the impact of the growth in marketmodel off-campus teacher education on the overall quality of teacher education revealed some
significant issues. Generally, many participants pointed out that growth in off-campus marketmodel programs has resulted in the degradation of the overall quality of teacher education, and it
has undermined the importance of teacher education degrees/certificates in the region. The most
commonly reported issues included teacher education viewed as a business, teacher education
degrees acquired as spare degrees, absence of institutional innovation and reforms, and the
decreased credibility of teacher education degrees/certificates. This section further analyzes each
of these issues in turn.
Teacher education viewed as a business. Faculty in both kinds of programs pointed out
a general perception, both in the public and in the institutions of education, that teacher
education is viewed as a profitable business. Some interview participants pointed out that many
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stakeholders in education increasingly specify teacher education, particularly through off-campus
market-model programs, as a big enterprise of selling degrees. Faculty in regular programs
strongly claim that the rapid growth of market-model off-campus teacher education programs
was the reason that their institutions were pushed to adapt market approaches, in order to
compete in the market place. A senior faculty member in a regular program sketched the process
as follows:
I think the distance education also exists in other parts of the world. But in other parts of the world it is
under rules and regulations. However, here, FOU centers messed up everything. These centers sell degrees
but these degrees are not fake; these are registered and on the record. (GCE Upper Senior Faculty Focus
Group Interview, March, 2013)

Another focus group faculty interviewee added,
It (FOU center) has opened shops even in small towns. Now even other universities have begun selling
certificates. I myself was coordinator for a year for them, and there was no training (no sessions or classes).
It was like a small get together over a cup of tea at the end of semester and supervisors signed documents
for students (that they had completed the requirements). Even an agricultural university opened shops, even
though they do not have department of education. (GCE1 Lower Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview,
March, 2013)

The perception that teacher education has turned into a business enterprise was very
common among the faculty as well as among chairs of departments. Similar to the above quoted
views, a chair at a department of education which offered both regular and off-campus programs
argued that his department began adapting market approaches because even non-teacher
education institutions offered off-campus market-model programs and enrolled thousands of
students. He reported that “We were really alarmed by the fact that the agricultural university
alone awarded teacher education degrees (certificates) to more than twenty-five thousand
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candidates in three years. Would you believe that? We had no choice. It was question of
survival.” Similar to this argument a coordinator at Federal Open University (FOU) center
pointed out that “Agriculture University tried to fill their budget losses, and they introduced
teacher education programs which were not their expertise. Regulatory bodies are ineffective so
institutions do not abide by the regulations. Everyone is trying to mint money” (Interview with
center coordinator, March, 2012).
The estimate of graduates from the agriculture university varied from ten thousand to
twenty five thousand; most of the interviewees endorsed this range. However, the data about the
programs offered by non-teacher education institutions was not published in national reports
because these programs were terminated one year before the year of the education census (2006)
in Pakistan, which was the first year of data gathering about off-campus programs. Overall, all of
the interview participants noted that teacher education was viewed as a profitable business, and it
was a common perception that institutions which offered off-campus market-model teacher
education programs were reasons for the growth of market approaches.
Teacher education degrees as additional qualifications. The interview participants
repeatedly brought up the point that many participants in the off-campus programs enrolled
because they wanted to keep the teacher education certificate either as a spare degree or as an
additional qualification, which resulted in a pay raise to the graduates who already had a career.
They argued that many students who had a different career enrolled in the off-campus programs
because it was easy to get a teacher education degree in these programs. A senior faculty
member, in the focus group interview, argued that enrollment in the off-campus teacher
education programs increased rapidly, particularly of students with prior careers in other fields,

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because it was made very easy to complete. Another senior faculty member and coordinator of
the science program expressed it this way:
As I told you that it (teacher education programs) became just a formality. The students began looking
around, and went to those programs (off-campus programs) where they could complete the program easily.
They just look at easiness of the program. No preaching about quality affects their decisions. (PU Senior
Faculty Focus Group Interview: June 28, 2012)

Another senior faculty member added how the off-campus programs were made easy-tocomplete to attract more students, and that pushed regular programs to use market approaches as
well. She said,
Yes, they (students) choose the program where it was very easy to complete it. The guides (hired tutors)
would write exams for them. They (students) do not attend any classes. Here (in the regular program) they
are asked to attend the classes. So students are becoming more opportunists. They look at institutions in
terms of how they help them to finish the program easily. So we also shifted to market strategy. (PU Senior
Faculty Focus Group Interview, June 28, 2012)

Adding to this conversation, another senior faculty member further elaborated on the use
of the market strategy:
The off-campus teacher education programs have ruined the teacher education. They (institutions) are
selling the degrees. And many people get and keep the teacher education degree as a “spare wheel”; to use
it in case they lose their current job. (Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview, June 28, 2012)

Many of the other faculty members at other institutions, in informal and formal
conversations, also used the phrase “spare wheel” to refer to a teacher education degree acquired
by people already working in other fields. Survey data about students presented in an earlier
section also showed that about 60% of students in the off-campus programs had a different

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career, which strengthens this finding that professionals from other careers acquire a teacher
education degree to use it as a “spare” degree.
The faculty and coordinators in the off-campus programs also agreed that participants in
their programs obtained teacher education degrees as additional qualifications to get pay raises
and promotions. However they defied that it was because of out-growth in off-campus programs
and the strategies they followed; rather, it was because of the non-serious student population. A
coordinator of Federal Open University center argued:
Most of the students unfortunately are not interested in developing their learning. They come (enroll) just to
obtain degrees to use them in their professional life and to get pay raise and promotions. But it is not fault
with us or our methodology (model). When we have serious students they perform well. Particularly female
students are comparatively more serious and they develop good materials and assignments. (Interview with
center coordinator, April, 2013)

Most of the faculty in the off-campus programs, particularly in the Federal Open University
programs, also argued along similar lines and claimed that although most of the students in their
teacher education programs enrolled to acquire additional qualification, it was not the fault of the
model of off-campus programs. An off-campus faculty in focus group interview argued that,
“Compare to other institutions which offer distance programs (off-campus programs), our
syllabus is higher standards. It is referred by other universities and we have an independent
department which publishes high quality textbooks.” (Off-campus Faculty Focus Group Interview, June,
2012) Although participants in the regular programs reasoned that program implementation was

poor in the off-campus programs, they agreed that the quality of their textbooks published by the
Federal Open University was substantial. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that most of the
participants enroll in the off-campus programs to obtain an additional qualification.

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Lack of institution-based innovations and reforms. Analysis of the interview data as
well as institutional surveys revealed that most of the institutions lacked institutional motivation
for innovation and reforms. It is obvious from the analysis presented so far that teacher education
institutions, as well as (for a period) non-teacher education institutions, strongly competed
through using market approaches to get as much enrollment as possible. This competition
resulted in compromises on many requirements, making it easy for participants to complete the
programs. Thus, most of the institutions mainly focused on how they could make their programs
easy-to-complete, so that they could compete in the environment. Many participants mentioned
that their curriculum and materials were three decades old, and nothing new was introduced,
except the new four-year honors program through a national policy reform. A faculty member at
a public university described the teacher education program as remaining traditionally the same
for decades, and that only a few changes came through national policy reforms or mandates,
which implies that the institutions themselves neither initiated any reforms nor brought
innovations to the programs. In her words:
When we look at the teacher education policies in last two decades, we do not see any difference in policies
except that we have seen a rapid growth in the off-campus programs in teacher education. But overall, if we
look at aims and objectives of teacher education, its syllabus, its modules, we do not see a difference. There
has been no change in curriculum. Whatever it was thirty years ago, it is the same now. The only few
changes I have seen are change in duration of program (four-year program), and inclusion of some
advanced terminology. However, fundamental or basic courses in traditional programs are the same and its
spirit is the same. (PU Senior Faculty Focus Group Interview, May, 2012)

This comment highlights that written curricula and syllabi have been the same for decades, and
there have been no policy initiatives except the recent initiation of four-year honors programs
through a federal government policy mandate. This fact also supports the view that there have
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been no efforts at the institutional level to innovate or reform the curriculum or syllabus.
Moreover, as the overall analysis shows, the market approaches have not only negatively
impacted innovations and reforms at the institutional level, but have also negatively impacted
implementation of the existing traditional curriculum and syllabus.
Decreasing credibility of teacher education certification. The interview participants
and other faculty in their informal conversations with the researcher said that the public
perception and credibility of traditional teacher education degrees/certificates in school systems
has significantly decreased. Many interviewees believe that most of the participants in the
teacher education programs are interested in merely getting a degree rather than learning, and
institutions are interested in selling degrees, which has a negative impact on the quality of
programs and the preparedness of their graduates. A senior faculty member in a group interview
said, “I think there is a rule that if you have additional education (qualification) you get
additional increments (pay raise). That is why lots of in-service people began coming to get
teacher education certificates/degrees.” This finding resembles earlier analysis that many inservice professionals in different careers have enrolled in teacher education programs. Hence,
because it is easy to acquire a teacher education degree, its quality is generally perceived as low
in scholarly circles, among school stakeholders, and within teacher education institutions
themselves. A coordinator of the off-campus programs sketched the overall worsened
functioning of teacher education systems this way:
Whole teacher education system is suffering from moral crisis. From top to bottom, many morally corrupt
elements are very much active. Teaching is not mere a job, it is a profession which requires honesty and
dedication. We need to raise spirits. Corruption is the number one problem which has hampered the
functioning of teacher education, particularly in this province. There are huge funds, huge buildings,

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unnecessary staff, but this is not problem of quantity; this is a problem of qualitative development.
(Interview with center coordinator, April, 2013).

Moreover, since many graduates of traditional teacher education programs were not
prepared well, school systems, particularly private schools, did not value traditional teacher
education degrees and certification. It came out in informal conversations that most of the private
schools hire only academically better qualified candidates and they use their own in-service
professional development mechanisms to train their teachers. Government system schools were
also not satisfied with the quality of preparation; therefore, there have been whole-system inservice professional development reform programs, and teachers are trained through partnership
with private teacher education institutions. Overall, it strongly appears that traditional teacher
education degrees in both kind of programs, regular and off-campus, are given low credibility by
the general public, by the institutions themselves, and by school systems.
SUMMARY
The findings were presented in three main sections, and they were compiled in three main
categories. The first category of findings presented an analysis of the implementation of the offcampus teacher education policy related trends of growth over the past many years in Pakistan.
The second category analyzed the implementation of different components of the programs, both
regular and off-campus, as well as the overall level of effectiveness for these programs. The third
category analyzed the impact of the growth in the off-campus market-model teacher education
programs on the overall quality of teacher education in the region.
The findings in the first category consisted of four significant findings: out-of-proportion
growth in enrollment in the off-campus teacher education programs; marked imbalance between
the ratio of untrained teachers and the enrollment in teacher education programs; mismatch
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between the increase in the number of teachers in the system and enrollment trends in teacher
education; and emphasis on the quantity of graduates in place of the quality of their
preparedness.
The findings in the second category focused on programs goals, program requirements,
program participants’ backgrounds, learning opportunities for students, and the overall
effectiveness of the programs. The findings show that both kinds of programs emphasize
traditional goals. Although the indicators of program implementation for both the programs are
much lower than the optimum level, the comparison of the indicators shows that regular
programs are implemented relatively better than the off-campus market-model programs. Lower
indicators for both the programs show a significant dissatisfaction of the participants with the
overall effectiveness of traditional teacher education program implementation.
In the third category, the findings of the participants’ views show that the growth of the
market-model off-campus programs has significantly impacted the implementation of the teacher
education programs and the overall quality of teacher education in the region. Most of the
participants reported many significant effects which have undermined the implementation of the
programs, such as struggles by regular programs to maintain enough enrollment, versus
overwhelmingly high enrollment in the off-campus programs, students’ expectations of less
rigorous work but higher grades, and, in practice, compromises on many program requirements
in both kinds of programs. The participants also believe that the overall quality of teacher
education in the region has been degraded. They believe that teacher education is viewed as a
business, teacher education degrees/certificates are kept as spare qualifications or additional
qualifications, institutional innovations and reforms are missing, and the credibility of teacher
education degrees/certificates has decreased.
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Overall, the findings reflect that the policies which have allowed off-campus teacher
education programs have created a competitive but unregulated marketplace of teacher education
in Pakistan. Conventional teacher education has suffered under the strong impact of market
approaches, and quality as well as the effectiveness of program implementation has been
significantly compromised.

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CHAPTER VI
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
The basic question this thesis endeavored to answer was how traditional teacher
education program implementation is affected by the market approach policy in Pakistan. The
first section of this chapter discusses the findings regarding different aspects of teacher education
program implementation, and how these aspects are related to centralized education policies and
to the introduction of market approaches in teacher education. The second section provides
specific implications for the policy and program reforms, and for future research. Implications
for policy and program reforms focus on policy making, policy and program evaluation, and
further policy and program reforms. Implications for future research focus on research on the
effects of polices and on evaluating the successes and challenges for new policy and program
initiatives.
SECTION 1: DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS
Unchanged Program Goals and Lack of Institution-based Reforms
The relevant findings are first briefly recapitulated here before turning to a discussion of
them, in order to situate the discussion in the context of the findings. The findings show that the
goals of traditional teacher education programs, both regular and off-campus, have been
unchanged for several decades, and they mainly focus on theories of education and pedagogical
content knowledge. The goals do not focus significantly on several important areas, such as
understanding learners and their diversity, curriculum content knowledge, preparation for
teachers continued learning, and understanding of school environment.
One important finding noted above is that the stated goals of teacher education programs
examined for this study have remained unchanged for decades. The two areas where there is the
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least emphasis include understanding the diversity of learners and their family background, and
learning for continuing professional development. These relatively new areas in the field of
teacher education, if included in programs’ goals, would indicate the intent to introduce
continuing improvement reforms in the programs. One reason seems to be that because policies
are centralized in Pakistan, mostly made by federal or provincial government ministries and
departments (Ali, 2009; Ahsan, 2003), teacher educators and teacher education institutions lack
sufficient independence to initiate and continue reforms on their own. In Pakistan, teacher
education institutions are strictly required to follow central policies; therefore, they do not focus
on reforming programs or initiating innovations on their own. Moreover, because there is no
focus on program improvement or evidence to demonstrate program success, the programs have
become vulnerable to market approaches, introduced by the government using reform arguments.
The findings indicate that the ways market approaches are being used in Pakistan have degraded
program implementation even more, and they have replaced reforms that could have improved
traditional programs.
Compromise on Program Implementation and Unchecked Market Approaches
The findings on program implementation demonstrate that the traditional teacher
education programs, both regular and off-campus, have several gaps, and many components of
the programs are being implemented at only negligible levels. Moreover, as most of the faculty
participants noted that what is focused on in program goals and what is described in program
requirements are implemented very poorly. Traditional programs emphasize mainly theoretical
aspects, but even theoretical understandings are not developed sufficiently. While in program
descriptions, course work requirements, assignment requirements, and final exam requirements
appear easy to complete, implementation of these components is compromised significantly.

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Overall, implementation indicators for both the program types are very low. On the categories
about learning opportunities for students, participants’ scores indicate that, on average, students
get such opportunities at somewhere between rarely and occasionally, and off-campus programs
are scored closer to rarely whereas regular programs are scored closer to occasionally. Moreover,
scores of the indicators of the categories on the overall effectiveness of the programs are
significantly low, mostly around “slightly agree,” which shows a significant dissatisfaction of the
participants with overall program implementation and effectiveness.
The significant compromise on implementation of different aspects of programs, as
illustrated above, seems strongly related to market approaches, because institutions compromise
on program elements as an incentive to attract more enrollments. While the general logic is that
market approaches may lead to more competition, and thus result in a better product, the results
in the case of Pakistan indicate backward effects, as data and indicators show that program
implementation and the overall effectiveness of teacher education programs have decreased.
Market approaches may work better under a strong check and balance system, but such a system
is significantly lacking in the case of Pakistan. Market approaches have mostly gone unchecked
by different stakeholders. Even detailed data about enrollment in market-model off-campus
programs is still not available, and the overall data was not published until 2006, the year of the
education census in Pakistan.
Market Approaches and the Deterioration of Internships
A significant effect of the takeover by market forces is serious deterioration in the
implementation of an important component of teacher education programs: internship or practice
teaching. The logic behind inclusion of this component in teacher education programs, which
seems universal, as has been found in several international studies (such as TEDS-M reported by
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Tatto et al, 2012; TIMSS 2008 reported by Mullis, Martin, Robittaile, & Foy, 2008), suggests
that internship experiences significantly shape the way teachers teach in real classroom settings,
and they help participants develop practical teaching skills (Darling-Hammond & Snowden,
2007). However, traditional teacher education programs historically have been less focused on
this area, and some earlier studies showed that teacher education graduates in Pakistan
significantly lacked practical teaching skills (Kizilbash, 1998; Davies & Iqbal, 1997). Further,
market approaches in teacher education have undermined the value of the internship or practice
teaching because they are totally missing in off-campus market-model programs, whereas regular
programs, in an effort to compete with the off-campus programs, have significantly reduced
efforts to engage participants in teaching in the real classroom setting. While the practicum
component is aimed at developing participants’ practical classroom teaching skills, and is
considered a significant feature of successful programs (Darling-Hammond & Snowden, 2007),
most of the programs in this study have made even this component a theoretical/conceptual
formality, by only requiring submission of traditional written lesson plans. This is a significant
effect of market approaches, which, in an effort to make programs less challenging, focus on
attracting higher enrollment by reducing the requirements still upheld by regular programs,
particularly the internship requirement.
Disconnected Centralized Policies and Lack of Checks and Balances
Two relevant significant areas which could effectively provide checks and balances have
also been affected by centralized and ineffective policies. First, there is a lack of an effective
professional monitoring system and accreditation for teacher education, which could work as a
check for better implementation of programs. Although a government body under the federal
government was established recently in Pakistan, called the National Accreditation Council for

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Teacher Education (NACTE), it lacks teacher education representation, with an overrepresentation of bureaucrats, and it functions strictly under federal government policies. The
information about the council members on their website shows that half of the 20 members are
government bureaucrats, and that most of the professional member slots are vacant (NACTE,
April 10, 2014). However, it would be premature to say much about the effectiveness of this
newly established body because it still seems in the process of being established, and it might
eventually bring positive effects, rather than turning into another addition to the historical
precedent of highly bureaucratic structures in Pakistan.
While government policies and bodies are centralized and somewhat bureaucratic,
resulting in the lack of an effective monitoring system, a few effective professional accreditation
organizations could work as an appropriate monitoring mechanism. However, the culture of
professional interaction for improvements and innovations has not developed within institutions
and among institutions, and teacher educators have not been able to develop their own
professional accreditation bodies to oversee and support the effectiveness of teacher education
programs because of centralized bureaucratic and politicized policies (Ali, 2012; Nayyar &
Salim, 2006), which are not flexible enough to allow and encourage professionalism in public
teacher education institutions. The centralized process of policy making hardly values input from
teacher educators and teachers, and mostly does not engage them in professional and scholarly
dialogue, conversations, and debates. Since teacher education institutions are heavily dependent
on guidance provided by central government policies, and they wait for instructions from the
central government on any initiative, they lack the required professional independence.
The second area which could work as an effective check and balance is the competence
and merit based hiring of graduates in the market, such as school systems, for the teacher
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education graduates from public institutions. For example, competence-based appointments of
new teachers may filter out less prepared graduates, which could push teacher education
institutions to raise and maintain the quality of their programs. However, in addition to teacher
education policies, teacher recruitment policies are also highly centralized and politicized
(Malik, 2007), and, as a result, appointments are mostly made under the political and
bureaucratic influence of central government officials. Hence, politically favored candidates are
appointed as teachers, whereas many more competent candidates and competent graduates are
not appointed because they lack political support/favor from the politicians in the government.
Since the appointments of new teachers are not merit-based and competence-based, the checks
and balances on teacher education have not been established through valuing the wellpreparedness of graduates in the appointment of new teachers. If school communities are allowed
to appoint their own teachers, it seems there is more probability of recruiting competent teachers,
because school communities would recommend more competent teachers, as they presumably
care about the education of their children. In the existing structure, communities are involved at a
minimal level in parent and teacher organizations.
In addition to compromising the value of teacher competence, central recruitment policies
allow for appointments of non-qualified individuals as long as they are qualified in their subject
or have any other academic qualification. One can argue that because traditional teacher
education programs’ quality has been seriously compromised, it seems reasonable to recruit
academically better qualified candidates, and to train them on-the-job, a common practice in the
private school system sector in Pakistan (Ali & Farah, 2007). This situation represents serious
challenges to traditional teacher education programs.

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Interconnection between Policies, Market Approaches, and Program Implementation
The discussion so far shows interconnections between stagnant and highly centralized
policies, traditional teacher education program goals and poor program implementation, and the
use of market approaches, all of which have resulted in the degradation of the quality of teacher
education, and in the takeover of teacher education by market forces. To illustrate further, since
policies are highly centralized and the policy making process is politicized and bureaucratic,
there is little room for the development of professionalism and professional interaction in the
public teacher education institutions. Historically, lack of professionalism and professional
bodies, lack of proper monitoring mechanisms, and lack of checks and balances have allowed
market forces to grow and influence institutions and programs, and thus the quality of program
implementation has been seriously compromised. Disproportionate expansion of market-model
off-campus programs is a significant outcome of this, as the findings show that teacher education
has become a business of earning money for institutions, whereas the quality of program
implementation and teaching has been degraded. Obviously, institutions involved in program
implementation lack professionalism, and they reap financial benefits because of market
approaches that work as an incentive for them to further decrease program requirements. Teacher
educators are the ones who should primarily implement programs and strive through professional
and scholarly efforts to make them effective by bringing about reforms and innovations in their
programs.
Centralized Policies and Challenges for New Reforms
Although policy making in teacher education is highly centralized, there have been some
significant positive developments recently. By recent constitutional amendments, higher
education policy making has been decentralized to the provincial level, although policies still

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seem to remain centralized by the provincial governments. Moreover, in 2009, initiation of fouryear honors teacher education programs and two-year advance diploma programs for preparing
elementary teachers, with the funding support of USAID Pakistan, is a significant development.
These programs are still in the initiation phase, and have been implemented in selected
institutions. Moreover, these programs are post-K-12 education, and they are comprehensive in
their goals, while they encompass many contemporary areas of development in teacher education
which have not been included in traditional programs. The reports (Education Development
Center, 2013) on these programs also show that teacher educators have been engaged actively in
the process; hence these programs are more likely to promote professionalism among teacher
educators.
Another important aspect of these programs is that they value professionalism for school
teachers based on the assumption that post-K-12 four year programs, similar to the programs for
many other professions, enroll and prepare candidates who are genuinely interested in the
teaching profession. Here the assumption is that candidates who invest four years in a specialized
program for teaching are highly likely to continue teaching as their career and to work as
professionals. The graduates of these programs are also more likely to be interested in teaching
as a career compared to graduates of traditional teacher education programs, because graduates
of these newer programs only specialize in teaching specific subject areas, compared to the
traditional teacher education programs, in which graduates already hold an academic bachelor
degree in a subject area. Having an academic degree in a subject area allows the graduates of
traditional teacher education programs to acquire jobs different than teaching, and use the teacher
education qualification not to get into teaching but to get a pay raise in a different profession or

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occupation. Indeed the findings of my study show that a high proportion of program participants’
in off-campus programs have a career different from teaching.
While the policy initiative for four-year teacher education programs is a significant
positive development also emerging from the central government, policies still allow offerings of
traditional teacher education programs, and off-campus market-model programs still constitute
the overwhelming proportion of enrollment. Thus the traditional off-campus and regular teacher
education programs still continue to exert significant influence on the quality and effectiveness
of teacher education programs. Here a basic question is why the effects of market-model offcampus programs have gone unchecked, and continue to be unchecked, in view of the new
policies. Lack of accountability over these market approaches is common, and even the data
about enrollment in these programs was not published until the year of the education census in
2006 (AEPAM Islamabad, 2007). The Federal Open University still does not publically publish
specific data on the enrollment and graduation rates for their programs, while it hosts most of the
off-campus program business in Pakistan.
It seems that market-model programs dominate the teacher education market, and many
teacher education institutions financially benefit from offering these programs, yet public school
systems are the most directly impacted by these programs because they receive poorly prepared
teachers. However, public school systems do not respond effectively because they themselves
suffer from centralized policies and bureaucratic and political influences. Teacher education
institutions, including their faculty, generate funds by offering the off-campus market-model
programs, and, consequently, they continue offering these programs. The education policy of
2009 stated that all programs would be replaced by four-year honors programs by 2018;
however, the process seems much slower, and most of the institutions still offer only traditional
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programs. For the most part, the selected institutions that have been funded in the reform
project, Pre-service Teacher Education Project Pakistan, funded by USAID, offer four-year
teacher education programs (USAID, 2010), and they are only for the preparation of elementary
teachers. These policy initiatives and the initiation of four-year programs seems a significant step
in the direction to improve the quality of teacher education in Pakistan. However, the
continuation, improvement and growth, and sustainability of these programs can be challenging
in a teacher education environment in which traditional off-campus market-model programs
continue creating and dominating the teacher education markets in Pakistan.
SECTION 2: IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND RESEARCH
Specific implications for policy making, policy reforms, and policy evaluation, as well as
for future research, are discussed here. The specific implications for policies focus on regulating
teacher education markets, the sustainability of reforms, developing professionalism in teacher
education institutions, continuous monitoring and improvement of teacher education programs,
publishing detailed data about teacher education programs, and integration of policy making and
policy evaluation. Specific implications for future research focus on researching the effects of
policies, further national studies on the effects of growth in market approaches in teacher
education, and researching the effects of the newly initiated four-year teacher education
programs.
Implications for Policy Making, Policy Reforms, and Policy Evaluation
Regulating teacher education markets. The findings of this research show a significant
impact of the incentive policies to increase the quality and quantity of teachers in Pakistan via
the use of market-model off-campus programs. The policy; however, seems to have unintended
consequences primarily manifest in the disproportionate and unregulated growth of off campus
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programs, paradoxically resulting in a decrease in the quality of teacher education programs. A
small proportion of teachers remain untrained, compared to the huge enrollment in the offcampus programs, which mostly consists of participants who have already had careers in
different fields and who enroll in these programs to obtain a credential which they use for
promotion and raises unrelated to teaching. Why, then, is there continuation of huge enrollments
in the off-campus programs if these programs do not seem to be addressing the issue of untrained
teachers? The results of this study suggest the need to re-evaluate the policies which have
allowed the institutions to offer the off-campus programs with no limit of enrollment, and the
current teacher education offerings (all of them) in an effort to improve their quality. Education
Policy 2009 (Ministry of Education Government of Pakistan, 2009a) already recommends
phasing out the traditional teacher education programs; however, allowing new four-year honors
programs within an unregulated market of off-campus programs needs serious consideration in
light of the possible negative effects on the quality, sustainability, and growth of these new
programs.
While regulation of teacher education markets is important to improve the quality of
program implementation, it is important to understand that this study does not show that the
distance learning model itself is a problematic approach; rather, it shows that the unregulated
market dominated by off-campus programs is problematic because it results in many
compromises in program implementation. The unregulated market has served to give teaching
credentials to those who do not intend to teach, and it has further undermined the traditional
teacher education programs. Further, according to UNESCO (2014) reports on education for all,
Pakistan has severe shortage of teachers needed to achieve education for all goals. If all school
age children in Pakistan enroll, there will be a need for many more teachers to maintain a healthy
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student-teacher ratio. That is why teacher education programs are important to provide qualified
teachers; however, a regulated market under strong checks and balances, which is continuously
informed by research evidence, will ensure the quality of program implementation and the
provision of well-qualified teachers.
Sustainability of reforms and development of professionalism. The sustainability of
teacher education reforms has been a serious challenge in Pakistan; hence the newly initiated
teacher education reforms such as four-year teacher education programs, and similar other
reform programs, are highly likely to encounter challenges for their sustainability, once the
project support from USAID ends. Some policy initiatives can help to sustain these programs
and can help in the further development of these programs. Putting a limitation on enrollment in
the off-campus programs may help institutions which offer regular teacher education programs to
worry less about losing enrollment to the institutions which offer off-campus programs. Such
competition and fear lead to compromises on program implementation in the regular programs;
once they are removed, the institutions can focus on improving and sustaining the quality of their
regular program offerings, including the new four-year honors program.
Further, sustaining the teacher education reforms and improvements requires that
institutions pursue their own initiatives for developing evidence-based innovations, which can be
achieved through instilling professionalism and scholarly discourse in teacher education
institutions. Continuous professional and scholarly interaction among teacher educators within
institutions and among institutions is important for the development of professionalism. Policies
should allow institutions to initiate their own variations under a wider framework for teacher
education programs; this could provide required independence to the teacher educators to engage
in professional and scholarly interaction, rather than always waiting for the center to guide them
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for any reforms. Leaving this without checks and balances may have a negative impact;
therefore, policies must be reformed to create checks and balances between teacher education
institutions and school systems. Giving school communities independence to appoint their own
teachers will allow them to appoint more competent teachers suitable to the needs of the schools,
and this may work as a strong check and balance on teacher education institutions, pushing them
to raise and maintain the preparedness of their graduates.
Continuous monitoring and development of policy research institute. Further, there is
a need for developing a continuous mechanism for monitoring and evaluating the effects of new
policies and programs and their contribution to educational institutions and achievements at
regional and national levels. One effective way of doing this is through ongoing rigorous
research on the effects of policies and reform programs, and through informing further policy
and program reforms by valid research-based evidence. Currently Pakistan does not have a
structure to provide continuous research-based evidence to policy makers and policy reformers.
The Academy for Educational Planning and Management (AEPAM) Islamabad is the only
institution which provides compiled data, which in many ways is not detailed enough to carry out
the needed analysis to answer many research questions. Creating a specialized research institute
for research on education policies at the national level will provide ongoing research-based
evidence, as is the case in many other countries (such as in Sri Lanka with the NIE, Singapore,
and Finland) . The research-based evidence provided by this proposed institute would also help
in effective monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher education programs,
through triangulation with professional accreditation bodies and the checks and balances of
school systems.

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Publishing detailed data about teacher education programs. There is a need for
effective policy to ensure the publication of valid and detailed data by the teacher education
institutions about all aspects of their programs. Currently, AEPAM Islamabad publishes annual
data on education; however, it is not detailed enough and does not provide data on many
variables and indicators about teacher education. For example, AEPAM Islamabad reports do not
provide detailed institution-based and program-based data. Lack of published data creates
challenges for informed policy making and analysis, because evidence which could come
through analysis of the data cannot be established to inform the policy. For example, enrollment
in off-campus programs grew out-of-proportion, but no evaluation was done, and even data on
off-campus programs was not included until 2006. This policy should bind all institutions to
publish their data in a publically accessible forum, such as their website, because it helps in
carrying out research by scholars which could effectively inform new policy reforms.
Integration of policy making and policy evaluation. Another strong policy suggestion
based on the findings of this study is integration in policy making and policy reform, as well as
integration in assessing and evaluating policy effects. Disconnection between policies allows
market forces to take advantage in different education markets. One example is the policy which
allows pay raises for any additional qualification. This policy could have a positive effect if the
pay raise was only given for an additional qualification in the specialized work area of an
employee. The findings in this study indicate that the policy for pay raises for any additional
qualification might have substantially contributed to the out-of-proportion enrollment in offcampus teacher education programs because it is relatively much easier to complete these
programs. However, the out-of-proportion enrollment had negative effects on the quality and
effectiveness of traditional teacher education programs. Similarly, the policy of central
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appointments of new teachers is not well integrated with the policy on teacher education reforms
because central appointments suffer from political and bureaucratic influences, thus resulting in
appointments of less competent teachers. Allowing schools to appoint their own teachers seems
more integrated with policies to improve teacher education, and to develop checks and balances
for improving the quality of teacher education programs. Hence, integrated policies should be
developed so that one policy will not have negative effects on the results of another policy or
other policies. The evaluation of the effects of policies also should be done through integrated
evaluation of related policies or related aspects of policies.
Implications for Future Research
It seems that there is a severe lack of research on the effects of education policies in
general, and on teacher education policies, in particular, in Pakistan. Policies are created, but no
effective follow up is undertaken on the success or challenges resulting from them. Research on
the effects of policies could help in doing effective follow up and, ultimately, making necessary
policy reforms or changes. Hence, overall, there is an utmost need for research on the effects of
different policies on particular aspects of education, including teacher education in public and
private institutions.
Further, there is a need for a national study, based on the findings of this research, to
understand the effects of off-campus market-model programs on teacher education at the national
level. Off-campus programs are offered across the country in the public as well as the private
teacher education institutions of Pakistan, and they are offered for preparing teachers for all
school levels. This study only focused on traditional teacher education programs for preparing
secondary teachers in a southern province of Pakistan. Therefore, research should be done at the
regional and national level in order to assess how the out-of-proportion growth in off-campus
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programs has affected the quality and effectiveness of teacher education programs in different
parts of Pakistan.
In addition, another significant area which we need to understand is what causes the
overwhelming enrollment in the off-campus programs. This study indicates that pay raises in
combination with easiness of completion of programs may work as a significant incentive for
enrollment. However, a study with a specific focus on this issue needs to be done to determine
why and what kind of students enroll in different teacher education programs, particularly in offcampus programs. Further, it is important to know what motivates them to enroll in the offcampus programs and where they work after completion of their program, or how they utilize
their teacher education credentials.
Moreover, there is need for a comprehensive study on the effectiveness of the recently
initiated four-year teacher education programs, particularly on what could inform sustaining and
improving these programs. There are several challenges in terms of institutional capacity, as well
as in terms of teacher education significantly dominated by market-model off-campus programs.
It is also important to assess systematically the effectiveness of the new program in terms of its
efficacy in preparing participants for their role as teachers in the markedly diverse contexts of
Pakistan, which include distinctions between rural and urban settings, more educated and less
educated groups, conservative and liberal ideologies, and many more. Assessing and evaluating
how the new four-year program is being implemented in different regions and in different
institutions, its strengths and challenges, and how regional issues could be addressed in terms of
physical as well as human resources to implement these programs sustainably – these are all
crucial research issues.

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This study shows that the incentive policies by the government to increase the offerings
of teacher education through unregulated markets have significantly affected the implementation
of the programs in both regular and off-campus programs. However, it should be made clear here
that there could be possible additional factors or challenges for teacher education program
implementation, even when markets are regulated. The capacity of institutions in terms of
physical, technological, and human resources is a significant area of concern. Therefore, research
should be done to understand possible additional factors which may affect the effectiveness of
teacher education programs.
SUMMING UP

The incentive policies to encourage market-based teacher education programs,
particularly off-campus programs, have led to the overwhelming expansion of an unregulated
market for off-campus teacher education programs – an unintended result of otherwise well
intended policies. In summing up, the discussion here highlights how centralized and stagnant
teacher education policies, lack of professionalism in teacher education institutions, dominance
of market approaches, and lack of checks and balances by school systems have allowed serious
compromises on program implementation and the quality of traditional teacher education
programs. These issues warrant addressing policy challenges, regulating teacher education
markets, and creating effective checks and balances which will lead to effective reformation of
teacher education. Initiation of four-year honors programs is an appropriate development;
however, policy issues and the unregulated teacher education market pose a serious challenge for
development and sustainability of these programs. The market takeover of teacher education in
Pakistan is a serious challenge, and it results in many complications, including compromise on
program implementation. Therefore, markets need to be regulated, and professionalism in
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teacher education needs to be developed and strengthened for sustainable teacher education
reform. There is need for more policy reforms and continuous rigorous research on the
effectiveness of policies and the continuing development of teacher education programs.

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APPENDIX

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Focus Group Interview Questioning Guidelines
Deans/Chair and Faculty Members of Teacher Education Institutions/Colleges
Background to be shared with each participant
The national education policies since 1998 have allowed the private sector to offer teacher
preparation programs. The policies have also allowed public or private institutions (regardless of
their basic areas of specialization) to offer open and distance learning programs. Therefore, we
see a variety of teacher preparation programs in Pakistan which range from 2 months to five
years in length and significantly vary in curriculum. One of the significant policy features was
allowing teacher education institutions to offer off-campus programs. We also see a diverse
picture of school education as a result of the rapid growth of the private sector in education.
Different school systems may vary in their requirement for teacher preparation. This interview
will focus on your views of this policy and how it has affected generally the teacher preparation
program, specifically the implementation of the program/s in your college/institution.
Questioning Guidelines:
How is the teacher education policy in general seen by your institution?
How do you view the policy of allowing off-campus teacher education programs?
Why is policy viewed in the way your institution views it?
What are the advantages for your institution which you could link to this policy? Please think in
terms of resources, capacity of the people, implementation of the program, and preparedness of
future teachers.
What are the challenges for your institution which you could link to this policy? Please think in
terms of resources, capacity of the people, implementation of the program, and preparedness of
future teachers.
How has policy affected the effectiveness of the courses and the program as a whole?
How has the policy affected the practical experiences of future teachers?
How has the policy affected instructional strategies in the regular program?
How has the policy affected assessment and evaluation practices in the regular program?
If the policy has changed the language of instruction and language of assessment in the program,
how it has affected activities and progress of the future teachers?
How do you think it has affected the overall implementation of the program?

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How do you think this policy has affected the teacher education programs in your region and
province as well as nationally?
Are there other views you would like to share in relation to effects of this policy?

161

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