Understanding a novice teacher’s learning to teach in a private school for girls in Karachi, Pakistan

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative case study conducted in order to understand the learning experiences of a novice primary school teacher, Sajda (pseudonym), who was teaching in a private Community-Based English-Medium School in Karachi. During her appointment as a teacher she had an intermediate level academic qualification and had no exposure to any professional training course. The research question for the study was: How does a novice teacher experience her learning to teach in a private sector school in Karachi, Pakistan? Data for the study was collected through semi-structured interviews and field notes and was analyzed through NVivo, which is a systematic software to analyze qualitative data. Findings of the study show that when Sajda entered the teaching profession she faced different types of experiences in the process of learning to teach. She felt pride and happiness at the time of her appointment as a teacher. Prior to experiencing in the classroom she thought of teaching to be an easy job and that everyone could do that, but as soon as she entered her classroom, she came across a very different situation. She experienced both frustration and shocks. These experiences thus prove to be very different from what she was expecting initially. Data shows that preparations for her classroom teaching, collaborative school environment and professional development courses gave her confidence and encouraged her to overcome the challenges in the classroom. After taking all of this into account, the paper concludes with recommendations and implications for supporting novice teachers in the schools

Conducting Narrative Studies in Pakistan: Reflections from the Field

This reflective paper emerges from the reflections on my experience to carry out narrative studies in Pakistan —a country where narrative research in education is still very young. Field-notes, reflective journals and research memos were the key sources of triggering reflections on my learning to take the identity of a narrative researcher in a context where this approach is very young.  My reflections show the learning experience in conceptualising and practicing narrative studies in the country. The paper shows that I took the roles of an insider, co-constructor of stories, and trust-builder while taking up the identity of a narrative researcher in Pakistan. In addition, becoming a gender sensitive and knowing language and culture of the research participants enabled me to take up the role smoothly.  Findings have pertinent implications for life history research studies in Pakistan and elsewhere

SEHAT SAHULAT PROGRAM AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

Sehat Sahulat Program is health initiative initially launched by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Govt for the people of the province. This paper is aimed at looking at the program from the patients and doctors’ point of view. The study is qualitative in nature and is interview-based assessment of the program. For this purpose, five doctors from the top tiers and ten patients have been interviewed. The central point of these to see as to what extent the program is viewed by these two main stakeholders. The findings are expected to benefit both the research community as well as all the stakeholders. It will enable the policy makers to how to improve the program so that its set target can be achieved as postulated in the program. The authors believe that though this is simple approach to an issue that is related to almost all people, it is hoped that these findings would help the future researchers to look at the program from more complicated aspects

Examining the Interceding Role of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) in the Relationship between Trust and Employee Engagement

The quantity of research work on employee engagement and leader-member exchange signifies the importance of these organizational aspects from both the employee and employer point of view. The results of these researches vary from culture to culture and organization to organization. The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of leader member exchange between trust and employee engagement. For this purpose a sample of 133 respondents has been selected and their perceptions have been sought through a questionnaire. The results somewhat weekly supported the existing leader-member exchange theory in the relationship between trust and employee engagement. These results have practical as well as academic implications. Future research may look into the detailed causes of these results

Collaboration among teachers in inclusive special education program classrooms

Collaboration between teachers and special education teachers is a vital factor in ensuring the success of the implementation of the Inclusive Education Programs especially in the teaching and learning aspects. Until 2016, there is no detailed document or information regarding how the collaboration is conducted or implemented in the inclusive classrooms. Therefore, this study is aimed to explore how collaboration is conducted and implemented in the Inclusive Special Education Program classrooms, particularly identifying the stage of collaboration the school are at and approach used in the inclusive classrooms. To achieve this, a survey questionnaire was used as an instrument for this study and it is conducted on 53 schools and 441 participants including headmasters, senior assistant principals for special education teachers, subject teachers and special education teacher. Results showed that most of the participants are at the “Starting a partnership” stage (mean score = 4.165, SD = 0.797). The type of collaboration approach that are usually being used is the “collaboration-consultation” approach (mean score = 4.10, SD = 0.721). This suggests that more action is needed to ensure the successful implementation of an inclusive program. This is because without done the recommended steps of collaboration, the inclusive may not carried out effectively. A successful inclusive classroom also can be achieved through multiple approaches of collaboration are implemented. Therefore, knowledge about steps and approaches of collaboration should be knowledgeable to general, special education teacher and also school administrators

Collaborating across National Boundaries for Narrative Teaching and Learning

University faculty members always learn through their collaborative engagement in teaching and research. This article reports on collaborative efforts between a Pakistani and US university professor to develop and teach a graduate seminar on narrative inquiry. We used a self-study approach to record, analyze, and report on our experience of teaching narrative inquiry in a graduate research course. We used our reflective journals, course outline, course description, session plans, class-notes, and students’ reflections as data for analysis. As a result, we developed our analytical stories of experiences under several themes. Findings showcase insights arising from philosophical (ontological and epistemological) underpinnings, moral and ethical boundaries, and instruction-relate challenges. These are interconnected and interdependent issues that can inform narrative educators. Our collaborative and collegial approach was instrumental to facilitate learning in the classroom. The article also highlights certain pertinent implications related to teaching and learning of narrative inquiry

Fabrication, physicochemical characterization and preliminary efficacy evaluation of a W/O/W multiple emulsion loaded with 5% green tea extract

Emulsões múltiplas complexas possuem excelente habilidade de agregar grandes quantidades de agentes cosméticos funcionais. Este estudo teve por objetivo encapsular grandes volumes de chá verde em uma emulsão múltipla clássica e comparar sua estabilidade com a emulsão múltipla sem o extrato do chá verde. Emulsões múltiplas são desenvolvidas usando cetil dimeticona copoliol como emulsificante lipofílico e o clássico polissorbato-80 como emulsificante hidrofílico. As emulsões múltiplas foram avaliadas por meio de vários aspectos fisico-químicos como condutividade, pH, análise microscópica e reologia. Estas características foram observadas por um período de 30 dias sob diferentes condições de armazenamento. Testes de proteção da pele in vivo e in vitro foram realizados para ambos os tipos de emulsões testadas, i.e. com o ativo em estudo (MeA) e sem ativo (MeB). Ambas as formulações apresentaram características comparáveis no que diz respeito aos diferentes fatores físico-químicos avaliados sob diferentes condições de armazenamento. A análise reológica mostrou que as formulações apresentaram comportamento pseudo-plástico sob contínuo estresse de cisalhamento. Os resultados dos testes in vivo e in vitro sobre a proteção da pele revelaram que a formulação ativa promoveu efeitos comparáveis à formulação controle. Nossos dados mostraram que emulsões múltiplas estáveis poderiam ser escolhas promissoras para a aplicação tópica do chá verde. Entretanto, a fórmula das emulsões múltiplas apresentadas neste estudo precisam ser melhoradas no que diz respeito ao pH, condutividade e viscosidade aparente.Complex multiple emulsions have an excellent ability to fill large volumes of functional cosmetic agents. This study was aimed to encapsulate large volume of green tea in classical multiple emulsion and to compare its stability with a multiple emulsion without green tea extract. Multiple emulsions were developed using Cetyl dimethicone copolyol as lipophilic emulsifier and classic polysorbate-80 as hydrophilic emulsifier. Multiple emulsions were evaluated for various physicochemical aspects like conductivity, pH, microscopic analysis, rheology and these characteristics were followed for a period of 30 days in different storage conditions. In vitro and in vivo skin protection tests were also performed for both kinds of multiple emulsions i.e. with active (MeA) and without active (MeB). Both formulations showed comparable characteristics regarding various physicochemical characteristics in different storage conditions. Rheological analysis showed that formulations showed pseudo plastic behavior upon continuous shear stress. Results of in vitro and in vivo skin protection data have revealed that the active formulation has comparable skin protection effects to that of control formulation. It was presumed that stable multiple emulsions could be a promising choice for topical application of green tea but multiple emulsions presented in this study need improvement in the formula, concluded on the basis of pH, conductivity and apparent viscosity data

The Mediating Role of Career Development in its Antecedents and Outcomes: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

The impression of strengthening human capital to promote innovation and creation by planning the careers of organizational members in light of HRM practices and policies and to develop distinct mentalities, competencies and skills with the sole objective of providing a series of novel services and products has been getting importance. The current paper dig into the importance of career planning along with the career management as input for the career development and career commitment, and career satisfaction as the output of this relationship. A sample of 395 teaching staff of the colleges of Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan was randomly selected for the current research. To test the hypotheses of the study, structural equation modeling as a statistical technique for analysis of the empirical data was employed. Empirical results supported all the hypotheses of the study. These results illustrated that career planning along with the career management are very important roots of the career development which further engenders career commitment and career satisfaction. These results also validated the mediating role of career development in the relationship of career management and career planning on the one hand as antecedents and career commitment and career satisfaction as outcomes on the other hand. The study has uniqueness in the sense that the study is the first one that tests these hypotheses in colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. And that is why the study has both academic and practical implications. At the end a few recommendations has been put forwarded for future research

Ziziphus mauritiana leaf extract emulsion for skin rejuvenation

Purpose: To formulate stable water in oil (W/O) emulsion containing hydroalcoholic crude extract of Ziziphus mauritiana leaves for skin rejuvenation.Methods: Placebo (base) without any plant extract and formulation with 4 % Ziziphus mauritiana extract were prepared by mixing. Samples of the emulsions were subjected to varying storage conditions, i.e., 8, 25, 40 oC and 40 oC + 75 % relative humidity for a period of 4 weeks to predict their stability. During this period, stability parameters, including liquefaction, phase separation, color, electrical conductivity, centrifugation and pH were monitored at specified time intervals. Skin rejuvenation was evaluated using 13 healthy human volunteers over a period of 8 weeks. During this period, various skin parameters such as erythema, melanin level, moisture content, elasticity and sebum content of the skin were evaluated at specified intervals.Results: Both the active formulation and placebo were stable in terms of liquifaction, phase separation and color at all the storage conditions of temperature and humidity. Active formulation showed statistically significant (p < 0.05) improvement in skin melanin as well as in skin moisture and sebum levels, whereas these properties were reduced or even absent in the placebo formulation (p > 0.05). Both active and placebo formulations changed skin elasticity and erythema significantly (p < 0.05).Conclusion: İt is evident from the findings that the leaf extract of Ziziphus mauritiana possesses antiaging properties as well as exert skin lightening, moisturizing and viscoelastic effects on human skin.Keywords: Ziziphus mauritiana, Melanin, Erythema, Sebum, Skin-tlightening, Moistirizing, Anti-agin

Schooling and Students’ Linguistic and Cultural Identity in Baltistan: Silencing the Local Music

This paper investigates the role of the schooling process in shaping the linguistic and cultural identity of secondary school students in Baltistan, a region in Northern Pakistan known for its unique culture and the Sino-Tibetan language \u27Balti\u27. Specifically, the study examines the impact of excluding local music from school activities on students\u27 linguistic and cultural identity. Previous literature highlights the significant value of local music in Baltistan, which serves as an integral part of cultural life, rituals, and ceremonies, contributing to a strong sense of identity among students. However, over time, music has been discouraged for various reasons. Surprisingly, the data reveals that neither private nor public schools offer music lessons, reflecting a growing conservative attitude towards music and its negative implications for students\u27 linguistic and cultural affiliation. Consequently, students are alienated and distanced from their local musical traditions, which poses policy challenges in fostering an inclusive learning environment that supports the positive development of linguistic and cultural identity. &nbsp