ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

Level: B.Ed (1.5) Years)

Submitted By: Rimsha Mazhar

Student ID : 0000242325

ASSIGNMENT No 2
Q no 1: Discuss the importance of classroom environment and give suggestions for
improving the classroom environment of our schools.
Ans:
Importance of classroom environment

A few years ago, I conducted an audit of a school setting to provide recommendations about the layout of the
school and how it contributed to behavior of the students.

The teachers found that many of the playground issues between students occurred after the bell rang and
students moved from the playground to the classrooms.
Because the students were physically forced into closer proximity than was comfortable, they jostled each
other as they ran back to class and the inevitable outcome was greater misunderstandings between students
leading to relationship issues.
The classroom environment can contribute to problems between students as well as reduce student
engagement and learning.

1. Declutter
An organized, uncluttered space is free from distractions and keeps the focus on the learning. Students need to
be able to move around the space quickly and access resources easily.

Consider the most effective way to use shelving, tubs and storage in desks to maximise learning time. For
example, if your kindergarten students are constantly knocking over the book boxes because they walk too
close to them, then perhaps you need a different storage system.
Or if your Year 8 class wastes time when handing out materials, then you could consider having resource
stations around the room which students access when they are ready.

2. Consider Sensory Needs

All people have sensory needs and if you are too hot, too cold, hungry, tired or thirsty your performance will
be inhibited. For students to learn effectively, they need to be comfortable physically, emotionally and
psychologically.
And teachers need to begin with the physical comfort and safety. While visual aids are necessary to help
students organise their environment and how to use it, huge amounts of visual stimulation is distracting and
meaningless.

3. Use Space Flexibly

Traditional classrooms were set up with the students looking towards the teacher with very little interaction
with other students.
This physical layout mirrored the belief that the teacher is the font of all knowledge and that learning occurs

by listening to the teacher and passively taking in the information.

21st Century learning promotes a balance of learning together, taking space to self-regulate when necessary
and being an active learner.

4. Focus on Creativity Rather Than Productivity

Think about the variety of ways that students can access learning and provide a physical environment that
supports problem solving.
Prioritise collaborative learning so that students learn effectively from and with each other.
Rather than focusing on learning content, teachers need to provide students with tools to access information,
critically analyse the information and hypothesise about the implications of the information.

Suggestions for improving the classroom environment of our schools

1. Build positive relationships
Building positive relationships with your students helps them feel as though they can come to you with
questions on assignments or when they are facing a challenge. Many of them may appreciate knowing they
have someone they can trust and to whom they can confide.
2. Arrange the physical environment
The physical environment of a classroom provides structure for students, which can decrease stress levels and
help them feel more comfortable in class.

3. Set high academic expectations

It is important to set high academic expectations for your students early in the school year. Explain your
expectations by letting them know you are going to do your best to help them learn and are always available if
they need assistance, but in return, you expect them to do their best on their work.
Providing positive reinforcement helps to promote a strong classroom culture. One method of positive reinforcement is
through providing extrinsic motivators.
5. Be open to feedback

Throughout the school year, teachers usually provide a lot of feedback regarding students' work and behavior.
It can be beneficial to consider asking for feedback from your students as well. Receiving feedback from your
learners about how you manage your class, the content you're teaching and your general mannerisms can give
your insight into what you're doing well and how you can improve.

6. Encourage collaboration
Collaboration among students can lead to a more engaged class of students. In order to have collaboration that
is productive; consider clarifying the expectations and reasons for collaboration before you allow them to
work in groups or pairs.

7. Use current curriculum and teaching methods

Most students find learning more engaging and easier to comprehend when the curriculum and lessons are
relevant to them. They can become more emotionally invested in the content they're learning if they
understand how they're connected to it culturally, socially and personally.

8. Be there for them

A simple, yet effective component of creating a positive classroom environment is to provide support for your
students when they need it. Some students face academic challenges or need someone to talk to about a
personal situation they're handling at home.
Question no:2

Critically examine the examination system in Pakistan. Examination is an integral part of teaching learning
process. It contributes to the objectives of education. The educational system and its success directly depends upon
the efficiency and effectiveness of its examination systems. The examinations are to test/assess the
ability/performance of a student and to find out whether he has attained a certain standard of academic learning and
knowledge. It helps to scrutinize and measure the students’ achievement against a required academic standard and
identify his-skill in answering a question under the conditions imposed by an examiner. The functions of effective
examinations are as under:

1. It serves as basis for promotion from a lower class/grade to the next higher one.

2. It acts as an incentive, motivating the learners for better study and greater effort.

3. It provides basis for future prediction about students, their further education, jobs aptitudes etc.

4. It acts as an instrument for remedial treatment of different categories of students.

5. It appraises the student’s achievement.

6. It helps the teachers to assess the effectiveness of teaching and learning methods for future improvement.

7. It helps in the evaluation and improvement of curriculum.

8. It may help improve the daily instructional programmes of the school.

9. It provides basis for comparison and competition among the members of a particular group, class, school or level.
Following are the major characteristics of an effective examination system.

i. Validity

ii. Reliability

iii. Practicability. Validity refers to the attainment of the purpose for which the test is prepared. Reliability means the
extent to which the test measures consistently. A reliable test should give the same or nearly same score when given
at different times. For the reliability of the text/examinations, the following three factors are important.

i. The length of the test

ii. ii. Objectivity of scoring

iii. iii. Clarity of instructions. Practicability: The usefulness of a test depends upon how well the test lends itself to
case of administration, scoring, interpretation and applications. The examinations are of various types e.g.
objective-subjective, written-practical. Written oral power-speed, individual-group, internal-external. The last
two are commonly used in Pakistan: therefore it would be better to discuss them distinctively.

If we give a look over the educational and examination system of Pakistan then majority of them are found to
be in the poor condition just because of the lack of attention and shortage of funds. All the teachers are not
offered with the best and adequate salary.
All the private schools in Pakistan are found to be doing some better jobs as they are offered with the best
pays all along with the necessary training for teaching. But one of the biggest drawbacks of these private
schools is that as they are giving with the excellent services then at the same time their fee charges are not
affordable by each single person.
Some of the educational system that are presently working in the Pakistan they are actually producing no
synergy as they are creating conflicts and division among people. In Pakistan there are English medium
schools, Urdu medium schools and madaras.
All the students who are coming out from the English educational institutions they are not much aware of
Islamic teachings and a student who are coming out of Urdu medium school they don’t get excellent jobs. Its
better solution is that the hierarchy of schooling systems should be abolished soon.

There is one of the greatest needs to improve and update the curriculum and pedagogy.
Maximum attention should be given on the subjects of mathematics and Language so that the students would
be better able to enhance their skills in the creative writing. Some educational trips should be arranged for the
students that will go to help improving their knowledge about the history.

The examinations are of various types objective-subjective, writtenpractical. Written oral power-speed,
individual-group, and internalexternal. The last two are commonly used in Pakistan: therefore it would be
better to discuss them distinctively.

The Internal Examination

The internal examination indicates to the teacher as to how much has been retained by the student from what
has been taught to him in the period preceding the examination. In this type of examination the teacher and
the paper-setter is the one and same person.

The basic requirement for an internal, evaluation is. Proper teacher-student ratio, secretarial help, typing and
cyclostyling facilities, a separate office, at least a cubical room for each teacher etc. otherwise the quality of
teaching and evaluation would be very poor.

The External Examination

In this type of examination the teacher cannot be a paper-setter, of the subject which is taught by him. The
external examinations are not always the best form of incentive for studies. The success of a student in such
an examination may only be due to his general retentive ability and his good memory. It does not
give an overall picture of a student indicating his imitative, knowledge in dairy life to the best of his quick
thinking and ability to apply to his advantage. External examination also limits the scope of a good, teacher.
The teacher tend to teach only that part of the course which is considered to be useful from the examination
point of view. The students also do not want to study, which is not needed to pass the examinations. Both
these examinations can be conducted in the following ways/systems.

The annual system is a system in which examination is conducted after one year or two years etc. This system
is an external type of examination because it is not conducted by the class-teacher; secondly the teacher who
has taught them that very/particular subject/course does not prepare the paper given to the class. It is applied
almost up to MA, M.Sc level in Pakistan.
This system has failed to produce the required product. As the traditional system failed to deliver the goods
and to produce the required product. The semester system has been tested in Pakistan.
It is a purely internal type of examination. This system has may prerequisites to be effective e.g. adequate
library and laboratory facilities, an appropriate student-teacher ratio, sufficient secretariat help etc. In fact this
system motivates the teaching learning process.

The students are more regular; Give more time to their studies and assignments and more frequent use of
library than the student of traditional system/external examination.
Most of the teachers support the semester system; they say that the instruction arrangements and evaluation
mechanism in this system were closely associated with the education objectives. Our present system is
unreliable; outmoded; time consuming, cumbersome, highly susceptible to malpractices and not conducive to
regular work on the part of the students. The semester/system forces the students to work hard regularly.
Waste of time, energy and resources can be saved It provides valid and reliable measure of a student
academic achievement. The teacher knows their student better than anyone else, and therefore they are the
best judge of the learning needs and achievements of the latter.

THE STRUCTURE OF EXAMINATION IN PAKISTAN Mainly there are two types of formal bodies,
which are responsible to conduct examination and award certificate/degrees at secondary and higher levels.

These are

(i) Boards

(ii) Universities Almost all the Divisions have a Board of Intermediate and Secondary education. Besides this
a Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary education has also been established in Islamabad. Similarly
all the provinces have adequate number of universities, in addition to this number of universities, which have
been established at federal level. All the universities are autonomous and conduct examinations in their own
way. The structure of boards and universities especially concerned with the examinations section will be
discussed briefly. The organizational structure of the boards is given on the next page. The Chairman of the
board holds office for a term of three years and may be eligible for reappointment for a second term. In the
absence of a chairman the Secretary performs duties in his place. It is the duty of the chairman that the
provisions, and regulations of the Act by which Board started functioning are faithfully observed. When the
number of the candidates appearing in a particular examination is known,

the controller of examination prepare a list of places/institutions along with the proposed names of center
superintendents, where the examinations are to be held. After the approval of the chairman, the controller of
the examination proceeds to issue appointment letters to center superintendent for the conduct of examination.
The controller of examination arranges one or more persons to assist the center superintendent for proper
conduct of examinations. Under the controller of examination, there is an Assistant Controller conduct.
Whose job is:

i. Identification of centers.
ii. ii. Appointment of supervisory staff.
iii. Dispatch of examination papers (Question paper + Answer sheets) iv. Payment of remuneration to
superintendent and paper setter etc. Parallel to the assistant controller (conduct), a deputy controller of exam
is also working with him. The job of this section is: i. Appointment of paper setters. ii. Printing of question
papers. iii. Evaluation of question papers

Question no:3
Differentiate the service register and stock register. Also highlight the importance of these
registers for schools. (20)

Service Register
A service register is a record of the official life of every officer, teacher, or inferior employee under any
public authority. A service register should be there for to be opened on behalf each employee in school
managed by government or a local authority. Every step in the official life of the person concerned
should, be recorded and each entry attested by the head master, which should keep the service register of
the staff of the school in his personal custody. Since! the service register is an important record of the
person's official life, determining questions of promotion, leave, superannuating, etc., the
correctness and completeness of the entries should be matter or primary concern. All the columns in a
service register should there for be filled.

All Registers, Account Books, School Log Book/Diary and the Stock Book remain the property of the school
and are not to be removed from the school. Student.files are to be kept at the school they are attending
and sent on to their new school . when they transfer. Admission Register: Each Head Teacher shall keep
an Admission book to record the names and ages of all students entering the school for the first time.
Student Files: There should be a file kept on each student, containing basic information such as family
details, birth certificate, copies of academic performance reports, health reports, and student transfer
card. Attendance Register: Each teacher shall keep a daily Register of attendance of all pupils in their
class. It shall be kept in the classroom and made available for the Head Teacher and authorised visitors
to check. Teachers' Files: These should contain personal details, reports, level of education etc, not
confidential information. Staff Register: The Head Teacher shall keep in hislher office a Register of
teachers' attendance. Each teacher is to sign the Register when they start and finish work each day.
School LoglDiary: The Head Teacher shall keep in hislher office a School Log I Diary book to record
important happenings every week. School Accounts Book: Refer to the section on monitoring school
accounts, in the procedure "Planning and Budgeting for Schools".

Importance:

The following points in regard to the maintenance of service register, based on the defects ordinary observed
during inspection of school regards should he borne in mind by those who have custody of service
register:

a) The entries in the service register should agree other records.

 b) In the case of a first appointment, the (late OD which the appointee took charges should be noted,
along with the number and date of the order of appointment: similarly in the case of transfers.
c) The date of birth first entered in the service register should not he changed expect with permission of
competent authority.
d) There should be no interruption of duty without such being explained: and all cases of fine,
suspension, degradation, or other punishment should be noted, with reasons there-fore and the
authority for the punishment.
e) In case of change of appointment, the' nature of the change such as transfer, promotion and
degradation, should be yearly stated.
f) Service, register should not be handed over to the person concerned then they are transferred from one
school to another but should always be sent to the officer responsible for the custody of the registers.
g) The headmaster who is charged with the custody of service registers is personally answerable for
their correctness and upto-date ness. It is therefore the concern of every headmaster to see that all
the service registers in his custody are free from faults of omission and-erroneous insertion. 'He should
make a certificate of verification every year; and this item of work should not be treated as a matter of
routine.

What is a Stock Register?

A stock register is a detailed record kept of the shares issued by a corporation, as well as any repurchases and
transfers between shareholders. A register is most commonly maintained by a publiclyheld company, but can
be kept by any corporation, especially when there are many shareholders.

Importance:

There is one more record of major importance of which mention should be made here. It is the register of all
moveable property, in the school. The headmaster, as mentioned earlier, is the custodian of all school
equipment. It is his duty to maintain a general stock register, in which articles of furniture,
teaching appliances and other articles of a permanent (none-perishable) nature purchase from time to
time should be noted, together with particulars as to the date of purchase or supply, number, value and
date of payment. The headmaster should check the stock of equipment at least once a year, preferably at
the end of school year and verification should be recorded in the stock register, with explanation for
difference in stock, if any, and action taken thereon. Checking of furniture is simplified if separate
inventories of articles of each room are prepared and put in the respective rooms and kept up-to-date.
The teachers in charge of the rooms would be enabled thereby to keep a check on the property there.

Nothing should be struck off the register without the permission of the officer competent to grant it. If any
articles are damaged and can be repaired and used, they should be repaired without delay with
 the sanction of the competent authority; and if damaged articles are irreparable and unserviceable,
steps should be taken to dispose them of and to credit the sale proceeds to government or school funds,
as the case may be.

Question no:4
Explain the responsibilities of NBC and text book. Also give suggestions for improving the quality of textbook.
(20)

National Bureau of Curriculum and Text Book

The first formal exercise in curriculum development was undertaken as a result of the Report of the
Commission on National Education 1959. The Commission analyzed the situation pertaining to curriculum
development and reforms and made useful commendations. Pursuant to the recommendations of the
Commission the Ministry appointed two Curriculum Committees for Primary and Secondary Education in
1960.

In the mid sixties the new concept of integrated and modernized science courses was introduced. This effort
was initially confined to science education but was later carried on into other subject areas also. It was a
significant contribution made by a group scientists and curriculum specialists that they had succeeded in
preparing the people mentally for change.
Curriculum development was never visualized as a distinct and specialized function. The entire
curriculum activity was done through committees which were created for a specific purpose at a specific
time and were dissolved as soon as the task was over. No permanent committee network was set up to
advise and evaluate the curriculum development and implementation. It is in this context, that need to
create the National Bureau of Curriculum and Textbooks (NBCT) at Federal level was felt for coordinating
the activities of various committees and centre. Similar organizations at provincial level were also
established. The existing Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education is, in fact, a developed form of the
National Bureau of Curriculum and Textbooks.

After the promulgation of 1973 Constitution the Curriculum, Syllabi,

Planning Policy, Centres, of Excellence, Standards of Education and
Islamic Education were placed on the Concurrent Legislative List of the Federal Government. This was a
significant departure from the previous position when the education was an entirely provincial subject.
Whenever it is intended to frame or revise a curriculum, the Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education
sends the proposals to the provincial curriculum bureau/centres.

These bureau/centres develop or revise the curriculum in the light of frame-work provided by the
Curriculum Wing of the Ministry of Education. In the provincial centres, the revision or framing of
curriculum is done by the committees. These committees comprise subject specialists and persons
equipped with pedagogical skills. The draft curriculum is sent to the Curriculum Wing for their
consideration and approval. In the Curriculum Wing the draft curriculum on each subject received from
provincial bureau/centres is put up to the concerned National Review Committee. This committee is
usually constituted for each subject and comprises the nominees of the provincial governments and subject
specialists considered suitable for the purpose. The curriculum finalized by the National Review Committee
is then put up to the Federal Education Secretary for approval. The approved curriculum is sent to the
Provincial Textbook Boards for production of textbooks.

The Curriculum Wing works in close collaboration with the provincial curriculum bureau/centres, the
education departments, the Textbook Boards, the Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education and other
research organizations such as Institutes of Education and Research in the provinces. In fact the Curriculum
Centres in the provinces are associated centres of the Curriculum Wing of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Curriculum Wing also works in close collaboration with other international agencies. This wing is also an
associated centre of the UNESCO’s Asian Programme of Educational Innovation for Development
(APEID), Bangkok. This facilitates the flow of information not only between these two agencies but also
with other
foreign agencies through UNESCO. This wing participates in curriculum development activities of other
countries tinder various bilateral educational and cultural agreements.

Suggestions for improving the quality of textbook

1. Introduce new topics by referencing to what the learner already knows

Many textbooks introduce new topics by making reference to learning objectives and then dive in to whatever
new topic the chapter introduces. Since research shows that better learning occurs when students build on
prior knowledge, my first suggestions would be to start chapters with activities that require students to recall
and, in a sense, to activate prior knowledge, thus strengthening the connections between existing knowledge
and the new concepts about to be learnt.

2. Pairing graphics with text

Clearly textbooks should be aesthetically appealing. We would be wise not to ignore affective factors that
could influence negatively a learner’s disposition to learning before it has a chance to occur. Although
stereotypically we tend to determine academic rigour to be in a negative correlation with the number of
illustrations, it is possible to produce textbooks that are both appealing and supportive of effective instruction.

. Interleaving different but related topics and skills

Interleaving is the practice of alternating different topics and types of content. Although intuitively we feel
that we learn better by focusing on one topic or skill at a time, research shows that better learning is achieved
when students interleave different but related topics or skills, rather than focusing on one topic or skill , then
another topic or skill, and so on.
4. Encourage distributed practice
Closely related to the principle of interleaving of topics and skills, distributed or spaced practice is based on
the fact that learners remember information better when they are exposed to it multiple times throughout a
course. Textbooks generally adopt a modular structure: study one topic, assess it, move on. Job done. Good
luck for the exam.

5. Modelling solved problems

Modelling is a very effective classroom strategy. Textbooks too can make the most of the powerful effect of
modelling by alternating problems with written-out solutions, worked examples (i.e. where the steps to
achieve the correct solution are laid out) and problems that the student needs to solve independently. This is
also a kind of interleaving.
6. Teach independent study skills to boost metacognition

Although many textbooks promote independent learning by, for example, pointing students to additional
sources of reading, relevant websites, video clips, films or TV programmes, few actively seek to teach
specific metacognitive strategies to help students become better learners in a particular subject.

7. Frequent assessments for better retention

My final suggestion deals with assessment and how it is generally used to determine the extent to which a
student has learnt the required material. In another counterintuitive turn, it turns out that frequent assessment
is more helpful to the learning than it is to the assessing, that is to say, determining the extent of learning.

Question no:5
Explain the system of evaluation. Also critically examine the CIPP Model of evaluation.

System of evaluation
In this process whatever activities are performed, are put to test in order to find out the extent by which they
provided success in the accomplishment of set goals. It is done to find out the weak spots and to make
improvement in future by overcoming the deficiencies. Evaluation is done through cooperative studies,
surveys, testing programmes, opinion polls, etc.

The administrative set-up should also see that elasticity and dynamism are introduced in the working of
the system. Education administration cannot be rigid and static. Experimentation, trial and errors have to
be allowed freely in the administration of education. Freedom is the very soul of education. Educational
administration should enjoy the freedom to frame aims and ideals and put them into practice.

There should be a change in the attitude of administrators who should cultivate openness of mind and a spirit
of enquiry rather than a rule of the thumb approach, which tried to stick to, established practices even
though they are meaningless. The practice of holding periodic reviews at least every three to five years is
an important administrative practice to discard the old and introduce new practices, Inter-state contact
should be built up and comparative analysis of different state practices should be encouraged.

The evolution of the techniques of the detailed programming of the planned projects and by giving training in
them should be the responsibility of the national Institute of Educational Planners and Administrators.
 The officer-oriented system where most of the work will be done by the officers at their own level
should be practiced.

CIPP Model of evaluation

The CIPP model was created in the 1960s by Daniel Stufflebeam and is considered a decision-oriented model
that systematically collects information about a program to identify strengths and limitations in content or
delivery, to improve program effectiveness or plan for the future of a program.

Users of this model are often focused on management-oriented evaluation, as this framework combines four
stages of evaluation. The focus is on continuous improvement by concentrating on four areas of a program:
the overall goals or mission Context Evaluation); the plans and resources (Input Evaluation); the activities or
components (Process Evaluation); and the outcomes or objectives (Product Evaluation).

Process for CIPP

By moving through each of the four areas, programs can identify important components to assess where
touchpoints for revision are located. Starting with context evaluation, evaluators examine the resources and
background within the program, such as the scope of the evaluation and supports the program has in place.
Looking at overarching goals, exploring background information and cultural context are all components
included during this stage. Once the goals are assessed, evaluators can move into the input evaluation stage of
the model. During the input evaluation stage, review focuses on identifying the key stakeholders and
examining the program budget.

This stage also collects information about planning and strategies for implementation including human
resources and timeline. During the third stage of process evaluation, the activities of the program are assessed
with the focus on continuous improvement-what is being done, is it being done well and what needs to be
addressed for change? Finally, evaluators using CIPP measure the outcomes of the program and how
effectively those outcomes are being addressed.

They can ask: what is the impact and how sustainable is the program? As depicted in the figure above,
governing all of the stages is the mission or core values of the program to continually refer to during each
stage of evaluation, see reference for example.