Promoting and investigating students’ uptake of reflective practice: A Pakistan case

Today reflection is considered one of the essential principles underlying good teaching practice and teacher education. However, this tacit acknowledgement that teachers need to be reflective practitioners and the development of reflective practice has largely been in the West. Teachers in Pakistan and most of the developing world are generally unaware of what the term ‘reflective practice’ means. This article presents findings of a study that was undertaken to observe course participants\u27 uptake of an alternate approach to engaging students in reflective practice during a module offered to students in the Masters programme at the Aga Khan University–Institute for Educational Development, Karachi. It describes the practical ways in which students\u27 reflections were generated during the module. It also presents various findings that emerged from these reflective activities, highlighting the successes and challenges of promoting reflection in the said manner. The article further identifies issues that need to be considered if reflective practice is to be nurtured in teacher education institutes in Pakistan and elsewhere in the developing world to ensure the development of reflective teachers

Women in educational leadership: A comparison of Kenyan and Pakistani women educational leaders

Though literature on educational leadership is expansive, most of it is related to the social and organisational structure of educational systems in the western world, thereby giving an impression that western models of leadership are universal. Hence, there is need to study school leadership in non-western countries because perspectives of educational leadership have been taken almost exclusively from western literature and practice. Women in educational leadership are in a minority in Pakistan and Kenya, as is the case in many parts of the world. Whilst a number of writers have attempted to identify and categorise some of the internal and external barriers to the progress of women’s careers in educational leadership, little discourse has occurred in both Pakistan and Kenya concerning how women experience leadership and even less about the role of gender in educational leadership. This paper, therefore, sets out to share findings of two studies on Pakistani and Kenyan women in educational leadership. It presents the similarities and differences between the women educational leaders’ experiences from a gender perspective, in the two countries and discusses the implication of the findings in the provision of education, especially in light of the Education for All (EFA) targets of both Kenya and Pakistan. The Pakistan study was a narrative inquiry based on several individual interviews with 4 the research participants and sought. A narrative approach was felt best suited to find out how the women have experienced and continue to experience gender in their positions of leadership. The Kenyan study, which is still currently going on, has employed the use of a life history approach as well as some ethnographic methods such as observations and document analysis. It has engaged 12 participants, though this paper presents findings from the first phase of the study which looked at how the personal and professional experiences of 6 women leaders have impacted on their leadership practices. For purposes of this paper, gender has been used as the dominating factor of analysis to frame the women’s stories

Transforming teaching & learning in higher education: Stories of impact from the Aga Khan University

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Introduction to the special issue of SOTL in the South: advancing student engagement in learning – experiences from Pakistan

Tashmin Khamis, Geraldine van Gyn and Jane Rarieya edited this special issue of SOTL in the South. This publication is one of the noteworthy outcomes of the September 2017 SoTL Conference on Active Learning Pedagogies in Higher Education, hosted by the Network of Teaching and Learning at the Aga Khan University (AKU), that was held in Karachi, Pakistan. The theme which unites all the articles in this special issue is Advancing Student Engagement in Learning

Impact : Making a difference

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The realities of tutor pedagogical practices and adaptation of gender pedagogy: A comparison of implementation in selected teacher colleges in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda

The study examined the strategies used by teacher educators in their teaching practices and gender integration in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The nature of the engagement of educational leaders and administrators in supporting teaching, learning and mainstreaming gender issues in teaching was also examined. A total of 165 sampled respondents were reached. This included 81 government officials and educational leaders (18 government officials and 63 educational leaders) and 84 tutors. The study used a concurrent mixed-method approach where the combined qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies were applied to answer the study questions. The study data were collected directly from the project participants through semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires. 60% of pre-primary and primary tutors from Kenya demonstrated knowledge and skills in pedagogical practices compared to 13% from Tanzania and 20% from Uganda. The findings also revealed that most tutors do not think training and application of lifelong professional development strategies on key pedagogical aspects and content are essential for achieving a gender-responsive and inclusive training and support program. These key areas include support for gender-based violence victims, support for pregnant girls and mothers to continue education; gender-sensitive expectations towards girls’ and boys’ achievements; gender-sensitive expectations around girls’ and boys’ behavior, lesson demonstration, and lesson observation. The study recommends that there should be integration of gender issues in delivering training for the tutors of the colleges in East Africa. The training should focus on enhancing pedagogical practices and related educational leadership and management

Investigating the Management of COVID-19 Pandemic Risks in Primary Schools: A Case of Public Primary Schools in Lindi Region, Southern Tanzania

The spread of COVID-19 in the year 2020 put various nations at risk, especially in social, economic, and educational aspects. School closure was employed as one of the response measures against the spread of this virus. However, the measure imposed high social and educational risks with consequences of a massive drop academically. This study investigated the management of the COVID-19 pandemic risks in primary schools in the Lindi region in Tanzania intending to suggest the essence of having a risk management plan for indeterminate outbreaks and other uncertainties to avoid the recurrence of the risks. The study adopted a qualitative case study design which allowed an in-depth data collection through one-on-one interviews and observation methods. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyze the data for this inquiry. Findings revealed that the targeted schools were able to manage the COVID-19 pandemic risks even though the management was done locally due to the lack of risk management plans in the schools. Furthermore, it was discovered that there was no budget set to deal with the emerging risks. Headteachers from the investigated schools went as far as using part of their salaries to tackle the emerging risks as a result of school closure. Additionally, findings also revealed that during school closure teachers were unprepared on how to conduct the teaching and learning processes amongst the pupils through distance mode. Despite several endeavors to try to ensure pupils continue to learn in their homes, the strategies were not successful due to inadequate Information and Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge and skills among the teachers, parents, and pupils as well as insufficient supportive distance learning infrastructures such as ICT equipment and the internet. Consequently, proper implementation of distance teaching and learning during school closure was impaired due to the lack of risk management plans in schools. It is recommended that the risk management plan be developed to ensure that teaching and learning processes are never hampered by emergencies

Achieving Gender Equality in Education: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

This issue on Gender and Education is timely. The 2015 deadline for meeting the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is fast approaching. The authors in this issue raise several issues that should form the basis of consideration post-2015 MDG targets. Since the 2000 Dakar Declaration, there has been a frantic attempt by several governments to ensure that MDGs 2 and 3 are met. MDG 2 which has as its goal that of achieving universal primary education by 2015 is principally concerned with parity. This has been interpreted to mean that the same proportion of girls and boys access and successfully complete basic schooling

Becoming women school leaders in Kenya: challenges and possibilities

Although gender equality in education is an important policy issue in Kenya today, educational leadership remains a male preserve. Women headteachers have received minimal attention and very little is known about their experiences. The article presents findings of a study that examines the lives of women heads of schools in Kenya as well as their experiences of becoming and being school leaders. Using life history interviews, observations, focus group interviews and document analysis, it determines the implications of these experiences for fostering gender equality in schools. The article ends by centering issues of access, quality and equality in education, and how these can be addressed, with regard to school leadership