Advancing Public Education in Pakistan Through a Teacher Exchange Program in the United States

This study examined a multi-year teacher exchange program to understand its possible impact on advancing Pakistan’s public education.  A major goal of the study was to analyze how educators in the program viewed, interpreted, and could transform the new knowledge and strategies learned in the program into effective practices in their Pakistani educational settings. Data were gathered from open-ended questionnaires and focus groups discussions with 37 in-service secondary teachers who attended a 6-week professional development program in the United States. Participants indicated that low-class size, technological tools, diversity, teacher-student interactions, social and cultural practices, and classroom structures were some of the major differences between the US and Pakistan’s classrooms. Information on differences, similarities, and culturally acceptable adaptations are shared.

Investigating the Factor Structure of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale with Pakistani In-service and Pre-service Teachers

Teachers with a high sense of efficacy are motivated to achieve and are generally optimistic about future learning. There is an extensive body of research that indicates a teacher’s self-efficacy beliefs can be a performance indicator for school outcomes. Research on characteristics related to teachers in Pakistan has been increasing over the last decade, however there are a number of instruments being used with this population without any documented validation studies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) to determine the latent structure of the TSES in the context of Pakistan in-service and pre-service teachers. Participants included 549 in-service (31% male and 69% female) and 423 pre-service (27% male and 73% female) teachers from four provinces of Pakistan. Content validity was investigated using experts’ judgement ratings. All items were rated as culturally appropriate for a Pakistani population. This study evaluated the construct validity of the TSES using structure equation modeling. Three-factor models were hypothesized for in-service teachers and one-factor models for pre-service teachers, as had been consistent with factor structure of the TSES for in-service and pre-service teachers from other cultures. Confirmatory factor analysis validated the three-factor model for in-service teachers, as had been observed with other cultures. However, it did not support the one-factor model for pre-service teachers. As a follow-up, exploratory factor analysis produced three-factors for pre-service teacher, concluding that a three-factor model is more appropriate for both pre-service and in-service teachers in Pakistan. A multitrait-multimethod procedure provided partial evidence of convergent validity, however the scales within the TSES appear more correlated with each other than corresponding measures of the scale. Teacher subgroup comparisons revealed that female teachers tend to have a higher sense of efficacy in student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management than male teachers. Moreover, Pakistani teachers teaching at primary level grades report a higher sense of efficacy than teachers teaching at higher grade levels. The findings of this study provide significant benefits for Pakistani researchers who want to use a teacher efficacy instrument as a tool for their studies

English Background as the Predictors for Students’ Speaking Skills in Pakistan

This paper is based on the English background of the students as the predictors for students English speaking skills at the secondary level at province of Sindh, Pakistan. A questionnaire was designed for students of grade-11, which was used to collect data from 60 male students of the public institutes in district Hyderabad, Pakistan. There were three independent variables used in this study: (X1) either students attended English language institute, (X2) number of years students were educated in English medium schools, and (X3) last class’s English score. The dependent variable was English speaking score (Y). Students’ speaking skills were assessed by a standardized rubric designed by language experts. There were four research questions formulated. Data was analyzed using linear and multiple regression, and t-test in SAS 9.2 (Statistical Analysis System). With ?=0.05, the result indicates that there is a significant relationship between student last class’s English score (N=60, M=50.45, SD=9.00) and their speaking scores (N=60, M=11.77, SD=3.21), r = 0.73, p<0.001. The number of years educated in English medium school (b = 0.22, t =2.05) and last class’s English score (b = 0.26, t = 8.26, p <.0001) were found significant predictors at R2 =0.57, F(2,57) =37.20, p<0.001. No statistical significance was indicated in students speaking score between those who attended English language institute (N=48, M= 12.04, SD= 3.43) and those who did not attend an English language institute (N=12, M= 10.67, SD= 1.83), t(58)= –1.34, p = 0.19. Interaction with students showed that most of the students do not speak English with fellow students because of shyness and lack of confidence. Keywords: English speaking, language, speaking skills, secondary schoo

English Background as the Predictors for Students’ Speaking Skills in Pakistan

This paper is based on the English background of the students as the predictors for students English speaking skills at the secondary level at province of Sindh, Pakistan. A questionnaire was designed for students of grade-11, which was used to collect data from 60 male students of the public institutes in district Hyderabad, Pakistan. There were three independent variables used in this study: (X1) either students attended English language institute, (X2) number of years students were educated in English medium schools, and (X3) last class’s English score. The dependent variable was English speaking score (Y). Students’ speaking skills were assessed by a standardized rubric designed by language experts. There were four research questions formulated. Data was analyzed using linear and multiple regression, and t-test in SAS 9.2 (Statistical Analysis System). With ?=0.05, the result indicates that there is a significant relationship between student last class’s English score (N=60, M=50.45, SD=9.00) and their speaking scores (N=60, M=11.77, SD=3.21), r = 0.73, p<0.001. The number of years educated in English medium school (b = 0.22, t =2.05) and last class’s English score (b = 0.26, t = 8.26, p <.0001) were found significant predictors at R2 =0.57, F(2,57) =37.20, p<0.001. No statistical significance was indicated in students speaking score between those who attended English language institute (N=48, M= 12.04, SD= 3.43) and those who did not attend an English language institute (N=12, M= 10.67, SD= 1.83), t(58)= –1.34, p = 0.19. Interaction with students showed that most of the students do not speak English with fellow students because of shyness and lack of confidence. Keywords: English speaking, language, speaking skills, secondary school

Education as gender equalizer: overcoming youth unemployment in Pakistan

Resistance to a positive change brings no change in a society unless its members do not work for it. In many parts of Pakistan female employment is a sensitive cultural issue. In this country the female population is more than 90 million, and quarter of it is youth, but majority of female youth are not master of their own soul because of the low female literacy rate in the country.  This study presents an in-depth outlook of female education, unemployment and its consequences for female gender. A detailed description of the factors and forces which are resisting a positive change in the society has also been presented. This paper presents practicable solutions to make female youth economically active, productive and more independent in male dominant society. Keywords: Education, Female youth, unemploymen

A Study to Evaluate the Attitude of Faculty Members of Public Universities of Pakistan towards Shared Governance

This paper is based on the evaluation of the attitude of faculty members toward shared governance. Four indicators were used for share governance: role of dean, role of faculty, role of board, and role of joint decision making. Five points liker scale questionnaire of Baker-Brown was used in this study. There were 90 samples for this study from all public universities of Pakistan. Two research questions were formulated for this study.  A multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) approach was used to answer research questions. SAS 9.3 software used to analyze the data.  A one-way MANOVA result indicates that there is a significant difference in the perception of shared governance in all four indicators by the faculty rank group at a=0.05 since F (12, 219.89) = 4.68, p <. 001 correspondence to Wilks’ ? = .548, partial eta squared = .182. Power to detect the effect was .99. There is 55% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by faculty position. The gender group one-way MANOVA result also indicates that there is a significant difference in the perception of shared governance in all four indicators by gender group at a=0.05 since F (4, 85) = 5.97, p <. 001, correspondence to Wilks’ ? = .781, partial eta squared = .182. Power to detect the effect was .99. There is 55% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by faculty position. Follow-up tests indicates that there was a significance difference in the dean role and join decision making role indicators of shared governance according to the faculty position. There was also significance difference found in the overall MANOVA when analyzed by gender group since Wilks’ ? = .781, F (4, 85) = 5.97, p <. 001, partial eta squared = .219. Power to detect the effect was .98. The result shows that there was 22% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by male and female group. Keywords: shared governance, faculty role, university, decision making.

A Study to Evaluate the Attitude of Faculty Members of Public Universities of Pakistan towards Shared Governance

This paper is based on the evaluation of the attitude of faculty members toward shared governance. Four indicators were used for share governance: role of dean, role of faculty, role of board, and role of joint decision making. Five points liker scale questionnaire of Baker-Brown was used in this study. There were 90 samples for this study from all public universities of Pakistan. Two research questions were formulated for this study.  A multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) approach was used to answer research questions. SAS 9.3 software used to analyze the data.  A one-way MANOVA result indicates that there is a significant difference in the perception of shared governance in all four indicators by the faculty rank group at a=0.05 since F (12, 219.89) = 4.68, p <. 001 correspondence to Wilks’ ? = .548, partial eta squared = .182. Power to detect the effect was .99. There is 55% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by faculty position. The gender group one-way MANOVA result also indicates that there is a significant difference in the perception of shared governance in all four indicators by gender group at a=0.05 since F (4, 85) = 5.97, p <. 001, correspondence to Wilks’ ? = .781, partial eta squared = .182. Power to detect the effect was .99. There is 55% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by faculty position. Follow-up tests indicates that there was a significance difference in the dean role and join decision making role indicators of shared governance according to the faculty position. There was also significance difference found in the overall MANOVA when analyzed by gender group since Wilks’ ? = .781, F (4, 85) = 5.97, p <. 001, partial eta squared = .219. Power to detect the effect was .98. The result shows that there was 22% of variance for shared governance perception is accounted by male and female group. Keywords: shared governance, faculty role, university, decision making.