829 2 1

Course: Teacher Education in Pakistan (829) Semester: Autumn, 2022
Assignment -02
Q. No. 1 Discuss the different B.Ed Programs currently being offered by AIOU
and how are they contributing towards the vision of quality teacher education
across the country.
Ans-
B.Ed (4 years) program focuses on education and training of prospective teachers
which grows out of a profound belief in the transformative power of education.
Our mission is to promote the development of highly qualified and efficient
teaching professionals who are prepared to creatively contribute to the social,
cultural, and educational development of a globally oriented, pluralistic, and
diverse society. The BEd (4 Years) is a composite program with a blend of core
courses, foundation courses, professional courses, and specialization courses. The
teacher trained through this program will be able to teach at secondary and higher
secondary levels. This degree will be an equivalent to 16 years of schooling/
master’s degree.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
FA/FSC/A Level with minimum 2nd division
Applicants with A Level will submit equivalence certificate
Candidates with ADE (2 Years) degree can join in the fifth semester of BEd (4 Years)
SELECTION PROCESS
Open Merit. All eligible candidates will be granted admission subject to fulfilling the
eligibility criteria.
DURATION
4 years
MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION
English/ Urdu
TEACHING METHODOLOGY
A student has to attempt two assignments, workshop and final examination for
each course per semester and has to secure 50% aggregate to successfully
complete the degree.
 Semester: 1
 Semester: 2
 Semester: 3
 Semester: 4
 Semester: 5
 Semester: 6
 Semester: 7
 Semester: 8
English I 5404
Islamic Studies /Ethics 5436/5437

Pakistan Studies 5438
General Methods of Teaching 6400
Urdu 6416
Basic Computer Literacy 5403
Q. No. 2 Elucidate the role of Information communication in Education. Is it

the way for modernization of education? Discuss.
Ans-
Scs use a diverse set of ICT tools to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and
manage information. In some contexts, ICT has also become integral to the
teaching-learning interaction, through such approaches as replacing chalkboards
with interactive digital whiteboards, using students’ own smartphones or other
devices for learning during class time, and the “flipped classroom” model where
students watch lectures at home on the computer and use classroom time for
more interactive exercises.
When teachers are digitally literate and trained to use ICT, these approaches can
lead to higher order thinking skills, provide creative and individualized options for
students to express their understandings, and leave students better prepared to
deal with ongoing technological change in society and the workplace.
ICT issues planners must consider include: considering the total cost-benefit
equation, supplying and maintaining the requisite infrastructure, and ensuring
investments are matched with teacher support and other policies aimed at
effective ICT use.
Issues and Discussion

Digital culture and digital literacy: Computer technologies and other aspects of
digital culture have changed the ways people live, work, play, and learn,
impacting the construction and distribution of knowledge and power around the
world. Graduates who are less familiar with digital culture are increasingly at a
disadvantage in the national and global economy. Digital literacy—the skills of
searching for, discerning, and producing information, as well as the critical use of
new media for full participation in society—has thus become an important
consideration for curriculum frameworks.
In many countries, digital literacy is being built through the incorporation of
information and communication technology (ICT) into schools. Some common
educational applications of ICT include:
 One laptop per child: Less expensive laptops have been designed for use in
school on a 1:1 basis with features like lower power consumption, a low
cost operating system, and special re-programming and mesh network
functions.(42) Despite efforts to reduce costs, however, providing one
laptop per child may be too costly for some developing countries.
 Tablets: Tablets are small personal computers with a touch screen, allowing
input without a keyboard or mouse. Inexpensive learning software (“apps”)
can be downloaded onto tablets, making them a versatile tool for
learning.The most effective apps develop higher order thinking skills and
provide creative and individualized options for students to express their
understandings.
 Interactive White Boards or Smart Boards: Interactive white boards allow
projected computer images to be displayed, manipulated, dragged, clicked,
or copied.) Simultaneously, handwritten notes can be taken on the board
and saved for later use. Interactive white boards are associated with whole-
class instruction rather than student-centred activities.(38) Student
engagement is generally higher when ICT is available for student use
throughout the classroom.
 E-readers: E-readers are electronic devices that can hold hundreds of books
in digital form, and they are increasingly utilized in the delivery of reading
material.Students—both skilled readers and reluctant readers—have had
positive responses to the use of e-readers for independent reading.
Features of e-readers that can contribute to positive use include their

portability and long battery life, response to text, and the ability to define
unknown words. Additionally, many classic book titles are in e-book form.
 Flipped Classrooms: The flipped classroom model, involving lecture and
practice at home via computer-guided instruction and interactive learning
activities in class, can allow for an expanded curriculum. There is little
investigation on the student learning outcomes of flipped classrooms.(5)
Student perceptions about flipped classrooms are mixed, but generally
positive, as they prefer the cooperative learning activities in class over
lecture
ICT and Teacher Professional Development: Teachers need specific professional

development opportunities in order to increase their ability to use ICT for
formative learning assessments, individualized instruction, accessing online
resources, and for fostering student interaction and collaboration. Such training in
ICT should positively impact teachers’ general attitudes towards ICT in the
classroom, but it should also provide specific guidance on ICT teaching and
learning within each discipline. Without this support, teachers tend to use ICT for
skill-based applications, limiting student academic thinking. To support teachers
as they change their teaching, it is also essential for education managers,
supervisors, teacher educators, and decision makers to be trained in ICT use.
Ensuring benefits of ICT investments: To ensure the investments made in ICT
benefit students, additional conditions must be met. School policies need to
provide schools with the minimum acceptable infrastructure for ICT, including
stable and affordable internet connectivity and security measures such as filters
and site blockers. Teacher policies need to target basic ICT literacy skills, ICT use in
pedagogical settings, and discipline-specific uses.(21) Successful implementation
of ICT requires integration of ICT in the curriculum. Finally, digital content needs
to be developed in local languages and reflect local culture. Ongoing technical,
human, and organizational supports on all of these issues are needed to ensure
access and effective use of ICT.
Resource Constrained Contexts: The total cost of ICT ownership is considerable:
training of teachers and administrators, connectivity, technical support, and
software, amongst others.When bringing ICT into classrooms, policies should use
an incremental pathway, establishing infrastructure and bringing in sustainable
and easily upgradable ICT. Schools in some countries have begun allowing
students to bring their own mobile technology (such as laptop, tablet, or
smartphone) into class rather than providing such tools to all students—an
approach called Bring Your Own Device. However, not all families can afford
devices or service plans for their children.(30) Schools must ensure all students
have equitable access to ICT devices for learning.
Inclusiveness Considerations
Digital Divide: The digital divide refers to disparities of digital media and internet
access both within and across countries, as well as the gap between people with
and without the digital literacy and skills to utilize media and internet.The digital
divide both creates and reinforces socio-economic inequalities of the world’s
poorest people. Policies need to intentionally bridge this divide to bring media,
internet, and digital literacy to all students, not just those who are easiest to
reach.
Minority language groups: Students whose mother tongue is different from the
official language of instruction are less likely to have computers and internet
connections at home than students from the majority. There is also less material
available to them online in their own language, putting them at a disadvantage in
comparison to their majority peers who gather information, prepare talks and
papers, and communicate more using ICT. Yet ICT tools can also help improve the
skills of minority language students—especially in learning the official language of
instruction—through features such as automatic speech recognition, the
availability of authentic audio-visual materials, and chat functions.
Students with different styles of learning: ICT can provide diverse options for
taking in and processing information, making sense of ideas, and expressing
learning. Over 87% of students learn best through visual and tactile modalities,
and ICT can help these students ‘experience’ the information instead of just
reading and hearing Mobile devices can also offer programmes (“apps”) that
provide extra support to students with special needs, with features such as
simplified screens and instructions, consistent placement of menus and control
features, graphics combined with text, audio feedback, ability to set pace and
level of difficulty, appropriate and unambiguous feedback, and easy error
correction
Q. No. 3 Describe the process of Microteaching by focusing its reflective
nature in the role of supervisor in this process?
Ans-
Microteaching, a teacher training technique currently practiced worldwide,

provides teachers an opportunity to perk up their teaching skills by improving the
various simple tasks called teaching skills. With the proven success among the
novice and seniors, microteaching helps to promote real-time teaching
experiences. The core skills of microteaching such as presentation and
reinforcement skills help the novice teachers to learn the art of teaching at ease
and to the maximum extent. The impact of this technique has been widely seen in
various forms of education such as health sciences, life sciences, and other areas.
The emerging changes in medical curricula by the Medical Council of India and the
role of medical teachers envisage the need of this special training of teachers and
monitoring of their skills for their continued efficient performance at any age. The
alleged limitations of microteaching can be minimized by implementing this at the
departmental level in several sequences. The author made literature search of
research and review articles in various educational databases, journals, and
books. From the reference list of published articles, books were also reviewed.
This paper presents an outline of the various phases of microteaching, core
teaching skills, implementation aspects, and the impact of microteaching on
medical education.
INTRODUCTION
The art of teaching does not merely involve a simple transfer of knowledge from
one to other. Instead, it is a complex process that facilitates and influences the
process of learning. Quality of a teacher is estimated on how much the students
understand from his/her teaching. The classrooms cannot be used as a learning
platform for acquiring primary teaching skills. Training of medical teachers in
specific teaching skills is a major challenge in medical education programs. The
pedagogic skill for teaching can be acquired only through more structured and
cheaper faculty training techniques. With the introduction of microteaching about
five decades ago, the lacunae of scientifically proven or effective methods to be
followed in teacher training programs has been overcome.
The aim of this article is to emphasize the need for using microteaching
techniques more frequently and efficiently with minimum available facilities. A
systematic literature search of research articles and reviews was undertaken from
various educational databases. From the reference lists of published articles,
books available were also reviewed.
MICROTEACHING
Definition and basic concepts
Microteaching is a teacher training technique for learning teaching skills. It

employs real teaching situation for developing skills and helps to get deeper
knowledge regarding the art of teaching. This Stanford technique involved the
steps of “plan, teach, observe, re-plan, re-teach and re-observe” and has evolved
as the core component in 91% of on-campus clinical teaching development
programs, with the significant reduction in the teaching complexities with respect
to number of students in a class, scope of content, and timeframe, etc. Most of
the pre-service teacher education programs widely use microteaching, and it is a
proven method to attain gross improvement in the instructional experiences.
Effective student teaching should be the prime quality of a teacher. As an
innovative method of equipping teachers to be effective, skills and practices of
microteaching have been implemented.
Efficient technique and effective teaching
Microteaching can be practiced with a very small lesson or a single concept and a
less number of students. It scales down the complexities of real teaching, as
immediate feedback can be sought after each practice session. The modern-day
multimedia equipment such as audio–video recording devices have a key role in
the learning process.
Observing a fellow teacher and using a trial-and-error in own teaching sessions

are very common way of self-training. But, both of them have their own demerits.
On the other hand, microteaching helps in eliminating errors and builds stronger
teaching skills for the beginners and senior teachers. Microteaching increases the
self-confidence, improves the in-class teaching performances, and develops the
classroom management skills.
THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Microteaching in medical education
The traditional medical teaching emphasizes on the transmission of factual

knowledge and hence, the teachers are the main source of information. But, the
conventional methods of medical teacher training are not adequate. So, the
teaching objectives have now shifted to the student centered, measurable,
achievable, relevant, and timely concept.] Microteaching allows learning each skill
to the maximum extent as there is a chance of listening, observing, and practicing.
Implementation of microteaching in medical education
There was an increase in interests toward introducing microteaching techniques

in the Indian medical schools. This training technique provides medical teachers
an excellent opportunity to improve their teaching skills and follows the Skinners’
theory of operant conditioning and also has a scientific basis. The Medical Council
of India has also recommended training for medical teachers for their continued,
efficient performance in that capacity at any age. It is widely accepted that the
quality and competency of medical teachers can be improved by effective medical
education training programs.
Steps and requirements of microteaching
Knowledge acquisition, skill acquisition, and transfer are the three different
phases of microteaching. describes the various phases of microteaching.
Knowledge acquisition phase is the preparatory, pre-active phase, in which the
teacher gets trained on the skills and components of teaching through lectures,
discussion, illustration, and demonstration of the skill by the experts. In the
interactive, skill acquisition phase, the teacher plans a micro-lesson for practicing
the demonstrated skills. The colleagues and peers can act as constructive
evaluators which also enable them to modify their own teaching-earning
practices. The teacher can reinforce behaviors and skills that are necessary and
extinguish that are not needed. Ultimately, they can integrate and transfer this
learned skills from simulated teaching situation to real class room teaching. lists
the 10 key steps of a microteaching activity.
Q. No. 4 Compare the teacher education reforms in developed and

developing countries.
Ans-
The overall development status of every country depends upon the standard of
education prevalent across that country. It is an era of knowledge based
economies, and countries failing in education find it hard to catch up with the
developed world. In other words a country's economic and cultural future as well
as its scientific and technological growth owe to the academic standards being
maintained by the teachers in its educational institutions. Thus teachers'
contributions are well acknowledged as builders of the nation and molders of
personalities. In fact the key player of every educational system is the teacher,
who is considered the backbone of the entire system all over the world, and a
pivot around which the whole education system revolves. Teacher is the major
implementer of all educational reforms at the grass root level. Teaching without
doubt is considered one of the very noble professions. It offers constant
intellectual challenges, acknowledgement, respect in the society and above all the
opportunity to mould the personalities of a big majority of youth. This centrality
qualifies teachers to be the crucial position holders in creating impact on all
aspects of students' personalities. They are the teachers who bring about positive
behavioural changes in students by grooming and developing their personalities.
That is why it is necessary that they should be adequately equipped with skills and
abilities that would enable them to play an effective role in human development
both from national and global perspectives.
The Indian Education Commission 1964-66, as observed by Sheikh M.A (1998)[1]

had ranked the quality and competence of the teachers as the most important
factor determining the quality of education significantly contributing to the
national development. Nothing is more important than securing a sufficient
supply of high quality recruits to the teaching profession, providing them with the
best possible professional preparation and creating satisfactory conditions of
work in which they can be fully effective.” However, this central position,
demands great care and attention in the education and training of teachers, who
develop and enable students meet effectively the challenges of present and
future. Ascertaining the effectiveness of these trainings asks for the analysis of
teacher education programs in the social context of every country socio
economic, cultural and historic factors substantially influence its nature and value.
Concept of Teacher Education

Teacher education is a discipline and sub sector of education with its distinct pre
service and in service forms. It equips prospective and in service teachers with
information, knowledge and pedagogical skills to help reform their attitudes and
behaviour to the profession of education. The key objective is to facilitate the
transfer of knowledge (cognitive, affective and psychomotor) to students and to
build their character and personalities. In other words teacher education refers to
the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with the knowledge,
attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in
the school and classroom. (Wikipedia, 09) [2] According to Sheikh M.A (1998),
teacher education encompasses acquiring all that knowledge, skills and abilities
which are relevant to the life of a “teacher as a teacher” It reshapes the attitudes,
remodels the habits, and develops the personalities of teachers.
Need for Teacher Education

Teachers' general education and professional training both require utmost care
and attention, as whatever is acquired by them is transferred to their students
with high multiple effects. The present has witnessed and is still experiencing a
rapidly but positively changing scenario of processes and procedures of teacher
training. New innovative methods are continuously being added to the already
practiced traditional pedagogical techniques. Acquainting with these
developments to the point of mastery is needed for the promotion and
maintenance of good teaching learning standards. Good quality teacher
education about these key elements paves the way of the development of the
education system in the long run.
Teachers are the layers of the foundations of future citizens, hence need to be
educated with futuristic perspective, so that they can develop the personalities of
their students, not only as per present requirements but also for the years to
come, accommodating the new trends from the global outlook. This is very
important as teacher is one of the key agents of change in all communities and a
service provider as per needs of the future. Changes are taking place not only at
national but also at international level. With every passing day distances are
shrinking and communities are coming closer to each other affecting each other's
practices of life.
Purpose of Teacher Education

The purpose of teacher education primarily is to equip prospective teachers not
only with suitable aptitudes for teaching but also with appropriate skills and
abilities required to make them effective and efficient professionals. Through
different theoretical and practical activities, they are helped to understand not
only the philosophical, psychological, and sociological basis of teaching, but also
the relationship of education with the society and its values through teaching and
learning processes.
The process of formal teacher education can help the prospective teachers
minimize the troubles and save the students from the wastages of hit and trial.
Appropriately rendered teacher education, provides ample opportunities to
would be teachers to understand the nature of teaching; to envisage
responsibilities of a teacher; to discover that to be a teacher is much more than
learning by heart the philosophies and theories of learning; and to comprehend
the practical implications of the pedagogical strategies. It is learnt that the
profession of teaching is in fact facilitating the acquisition and retention of
knowledge, values, skills and right attitudes for successful life that can initiate and
promote positive changes in the society.
Keeping this in view teacher education, through teacher-preparatory years

focuses on the development of abilities and skills that would not only make them
capable teachers but will enable them to discharge duties effectively, take
initiatives, motivate students and facilitate learning. With the belief that practice
makes one perfect, students during teacher education phase are given the
opportunity to teach or instruct and receive constant guidance and
encouragement during practical delivery, in order to strengthen good habits and
to overcome the pedagogical weaknesses.
Phases of Teacher Education

Farrant, J. S. (1990)[3], observed that since the dawn of the twenty first century
teacher education in developed countries remained divided into three phases:
1. Initial Teacher Education

2. Induction
3. Continuing Teacher Education
Initial teacher training / education

This education pertains to the training that is undertaken before formally starting
the teaching profession. It is a pre-service course done before entering the
classroom as a fully responsible teacher. It is usually provided in education
colleges and education departments of universities where the student teachers
are introduced to the knowledge and skills needed to be professional teachers.
The students are formally taught the important components of this profession
including aims of education, history of education, perspectives of education,
modern approaches to learning, assessment and evaluation of learning and basics
of curriculum development, educational psychology, philosophy and pedagogy. It
also provides first hand experience of the practical aspects of the teaching
profession. It usually takes a year or so and culminates into a certificate or a
degree.
Induction
This informal phase begins when a student teacher changes from being a part
time, visiting student teacher to a full time adequately responsible professional.
Basically induction refers to the process of providing on the job guidance and
support to the teachers during the first few months of teaching or the first year of
the professional career. In countries like UK, during induction the teacher is on
probation, and receives guidance and supervision formally by the teacher-tutor,
and informally from all other colleagues & head teacher. The work load during
this phase of education is reduced in order to provide time and opportunity for
guidance, reflection and grooming. This is a transitional phase from being a
student to being a full time teacher.
Teachers' continuous professional development

It is an in-service process for professional refinement of practicing teachers. It is a
life long process in which efforts are made to improve and polish up the
potentials of the teachers. It includes professional trainings like workshops, short
courses and seminars. This is usually formally arranged by good schools or can be
self directed through reading of professional books, discussions with colleagues,
benefiting from on line courses, or attending training workshops, conferences,
and symposiums.
With the passage of time, all institutions have started to value in service training
of teachers more and more; and are regularly arranging training programs of
different durations for their teachers. These trainings are sometimes general in
nature for the improvement of the overall teaching methodologies, and
sometimes focused on improving specific subject-teaching skills, enabling
teachers master innovative concepts recently incorporated in the existing
curriculum. Such in service trainings are usually taken up in anticipation for the
expected promotions.
Usefulness of Comparing Teacher Education Systems

Sodhi (1993)[4] documented, “Comparative education is a popular educational
venture and is considered very useful in countries like USA, UK, Russia and even
India. It is considered so, as education has been recognized an investment for
development of human resources, which is in fact the development of human
capital formation. All people engaged in the field of education have much to learn
from the policies and educational practices of other lands. Apparently the
educational system of a country grows out of the historical background, economic
and social conditions, geographical features and political systems and no country
is in a position to totally adopt the educational patterns of another country as
such. But lessons can be learnt, and successful practices can be adopted to meet
the needs from the angle it looks upon them.”
With advancement in technology and with communication explosion, the

geographical distances are shrinking and people are coming closer to each other.
The similarities caused by science and technology are overpowering the
differences resulting from cultural diversities. The fact suggested by increasing
similarities is that different nations of the world--which looks like a global village
now, can learn a lot from each others' experiences and progress to save time,
energy and resources required for the ‘try and learn' activities. The knowledge
about the successes and failures of other systems can be very awakening and
beneficial in comprehending one's own educational problems. The backwardness
or advancement of one's own system can be ascertained only through analytical
comparison, particularly with those of the economically and educationally
advanced countries.
In spite of increased investment in education sector, Pakistan has not yet

achieved its target of UPE (Universal Primary Education) set in 1960 that was to
be achieved by 1980. Analysis of the educational status of Pakistan reveals that a
reasonable progress has been made by it since independence. At that time not
even a million students were studying in schools, whereas now more than twelve
million children are in schools. But at the same time due to a very high population
growth rate, more than twelve million school age children are out of school, doing
jobs or just doing nothing. The recent comparisons with the educational situation
in China and India show that Pakistan is still far behind than the more thickly
populated neighbouring countries, where China with literacy rate of 90% and
India with 65% are substantially ahead of Pakistan. The situation of full
enrollment which is a far cry is further aggravated by an alarmingly high rate of
dropouts. Female literacy rate is abysmally low, and education of females and
rural population at all levels is much underrepresented.
Q. No. 5 a) Discuss the need of new professional profile of teaching staff

in order to survive in this competitive era.
Ans-
A teacher profile is a concise paragraph or bulleted list at the beginning of your

teaching resume that summarizes your top qualities. You can use it as an
introduction to the employer, allowing you to highlight some of your best
attributes before the employer explores the rest of your resume. Teacher profiles
are typically short, consisting of only five or six lines.
How to write a teacher profile
Below are eight steps you can use to help you craft a teacher profile for your
resume:
1.Research the district
Administrators at the district level are typically the ones who hire teachers, rather
than the schools themselves. Before you start writing your teacher profile,
conduct some research about the district. Read their website or talk to teachers
who either currently work there or have worked there in the past. Find out what
kind of attributes or skills this district is looking for in its teachers. Then, write
these attributes down and to review as you are working on your profile so that
you can include the same words.
2. State who you are
Start off your teacher profile by stating who you are. This should be no more than
one sentence that summarizes your teaching experience. For example, you could
write "Elementary school teacher with over five years of experience." This allows
the person reading the resume to immediately know who you are and a little bit
about you.
3. Add your objective
The objective of your resume is to help you state your goal of receiving a certain
teaching position. State this objective within your teacher profile so that the
employer can see which job you are applying for. You can either add your
objective as a new sentence after your opening statement or you can combine
them into one. For example, you could write "Elementary school teacher with
over five years of experience seeking a full-time math and sciences teaching
position." As you apply for different jobs, you will want to adjust the objective
based on the job you are applying for.
4. Describe your personality
The teacher profile section of your resume is a good place to describe your
personality. During this section, mention what it is about you that makes you the
right candidate. When doing this, list each trait along with why that trait is
beneficial.
For example, you could write "I am an engaging teacher that has a history of
increasing classroom participation" rather than just including "engaging" among a
list of personality attributes. List your best traits, especially if they align with the
ones you found the district is looking for during your research.
Since your teacher profile should only be a few sentences in total, keep the
number of personality attributes you highlight to just a few.
5. Highlight your skills
Along with your personality traits, discuss your specific skills and how they relate
to teaching. Some skills you may be able to mention during your teacher profile
include:
 Multilingual ability
 Proficiency in specific teaching methods
 Experience with educational tools and technology
 Ability to work with special needs students
To keep your teacher profile short, consider combining your personality traits and
skills into single sentences. For example, you could write "An enthusiastic and
compassionate teacher with seven years of experience working with special
needs children."
6. Make it unique
When writing your teacher profile, keep it unique from the rest of your resume.
Use this section as an opportunity to talk about things that might get left out of
your work experience or skills section. Also, try to make it unique from the other
candidates for the job by using more specific words to describe yourself.
7. Format your profile
After writing your profile, format it to appear pleasing on the page. This typically
includes centering it on the page, using a legible font, bolding keywords and
finding a space for it near the top of the resume.
Decide if you want it to appear as a paragraph or bulleted list. Both options are
acceptable and it will mostly depend on personal preference and the amount of
space you have available. Try out both options and see which one looks better on
your resume.
8. Review and edit
Before sending out your resume, take the time to review and edit it. Read your
teacher profile again, looking for typing, spelling and grammatical errors. It's also
a good idea to have a peer read over your resume and look for mistakes you
might have missed.
b) Explain how action research by the teachers in class helps in effective

teaching and improved learning outcomes?
Educational research provides a vast landscape of knowledge on topics related to

teaching and learning, curriculum and assessment, students’ cognitive and
affective needs, cultural and socio-economic factors of schools, and many other
factors considered viable to improving schools. Educational stakeholders rely on
research to make informed decisions that ultimately affect the quality of
schooling for their students. Accordingly, the purpose of educational research is
to engage in disciplined inquiry to generate knowledge on topics significant to the
students, teachers, administrators, schools, and other educational stakeholders.
Just as the topics of educational research vary, so do the approaches to
conducting educational research in the classroom. Your approach to research will
be shaped by your context, your professional identity, and paradigm (set of
beliefs and assumptions that guide your inquiry). These will all be key factors in
how you generate knowledge related to your work as an educator.
Action research is an approach to educational research that is commonly used by

educational practitioners and professionals to examine, and ultimately improve,
their pedagogy and practice. In this way, action research represents an extension
of the reflection and critical self-reflection that an educator employs on a daily
basis in their classroom. When students are actively engaged in learning, the
classroom can be dynamic and uncertain, demanding the constant attention of
the educator. Considering these demands, educators are often only able to
engage in reflection that is fleeting, and for the purpose of accommodation,
modification, or formative assessment. Action research offers one path to more
deliberate, substantial, and critical reflection that can be documented and
analyzed to improve an educator’s practice.
Purpose of Action Research
As one of many approaches to educational research, it is important to distinguish

the potential purposes of action research in the classroom. This book focuses on
action research as a method to enable and support educators in pursuing
effective pedagogical practices by transforming the quality of teaching decisions
and actions, to subsequently enhance student engagement and learning. Being
mindful of this purpose, the following aspects of action research are important to
consider as you contemplate and engage with action research methodology in
your classroom:
 Action research is a process for improving educational practice. Its methods

involve action, evaluation, and reflection. It is a process to gather
evidence to implement change in practices.
 Action research is participative and collaborative. It is undertaken by
individuals with a common purpose.
 Action research is situation and context-based.
 Action research develops reflection practices based on the interpretations
made by participants.
 Knowledge is created through action and application.
 Action research can be based in problem-solving, if the solution to the
problem results in the improvement of practice.
 Action research is iterative; plans are created, implemented, revised, then
implemented, lending itself to an ongoing process of reflection and
revision.
 In action research, findings emerge as action develops and takes place;
however, they are not conclusive or absolute, but ongoing (Koshy, 2010,
pgs. 1-2).
In thinking about the purpose of action research, it is helpful to situate action

research as a distinct paradigm of educational research. I like to think about
action research as part of the larger concept of living knowledge. Living
knowledge has been characterized as “a quest for life, to understand life and to
create… knowledge which is valid for the people with whom I work and for
myself” (Swantz, in Reason & Bradbury, 2001, pg. 1). Why should educators care
about living knowledge as part of educational research? As mentioned above,
action research is meant “to produce practical knowledge that is useful to people
in the everyday conduct of their lives and to see that action research is about
working towards practical outcomes” (Koshy, 2010, pg. 2). However, it is also
about:
creating new forms of understanding, since action without reflection and

understanding is blind, just as theory without action is meaningless. The
participatory nature of action research makes it only possible with, for and by
persons and communities, ideally involving all stakeholders both in the
questioning and sense making that informs the research, and in the action, which
is its focus. (Reason & Bradbury, 2001, pg. 2)
In an effort to further situate action research as living knowledge, Jean McNiff

reminds us that “there is no such ‘thing’ as ‘action research’” (2013, pg. 24). In
other words, action research is not static or finished, it defines itself as it
proceeds. McNiff’s reminder characterizes action research as action-oriented, and
a process that individuals go through to make their learning public to explain how
it informs their practice. Action research does not derive its meaning from an
abstract idea, or a self-contained discovery – action research’s meaning stems
from the way educators negotiate the problems and successes of living and
working in the classroom, school, and community.
While we can debate the idea of action research, there are people who are action
researchers, and they use the idea of action research to develop principles and
theories to guide their practice. Action research, then, refers to an organization of
principles that guide action researchers as they act on shared beliefs,
commitments, and expectations in their inquiry.
Reflection and the Process of Action Research
When an individual engages in reflection on their actions or experiences, it is

typically for the purpose of better understanding those experiences, or the
consequences of those actions to improve related action and experiences in the
future. Reflection in this way develops knowledge around these actions and
experiences to help us better regulate those actions in the future. The reflective
process generates new knowledge regularly for classroom teachers and informs
their classroom actions.
Unfortunately, the knowledge generated by educators through the reflective

process is not always prioritized among the other sources of knowledge educators
are expected to utilize in the classroom. Educators are expected to draw upon
formal types of knowledge, such as textbooks, content standards, teaching
standards, district curriculum and behavioral programs, etc., to gain new
knowledge and make decisions in the classroom. While these forms of knowledge
are important, the reflective knowledge that educators generate through their
pedagogy is the amalgamation of these types of knowledge enacted in the
classroom. Therefore, reflective knowledge is uniquely developed based on the
action and implementation of an educator’s pedagogy in the classroom. Action
research offers a way to formalize the knowledge generated by educators so that
it can be utilized and disseminated throughout the teaching profession.
Research is concerned with the generation of knowledge, and typically creating

knowledge related to a concept, idea, phenomenon, or topic. Action research
generates knowledge around inquiry in practical educational contexts. Action
research allows educators to learn through their actions with the purpose of
developing personally or professionally. Due to its participatory nature, the
process of action research is also distinct in educational research. There are many
models for how the action research process takes shape. I will share a few of
those here. Each model utilizes the following processes to some extent:
 Plan a change;
 Take action to enact the change;
 Observe the process and consequences of the change;
 Reflect on the process and consequences;
 Act, observe, & reflect again and so on.

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Course: Teacher Education in Pakistan (829) Semester: Autumn, 2022

which grows out of a profound belief in the transformative power of education.

Our mission is to promote the development of highly qualified and efficient

teaching professionals who are prepared to creatively contribute to the social,

cultural, and educational development of a globally oriented, pluralistic, and

courses, foundation courses, professional courses, and specialization courses. The

secondary levels. This degree will be an equivalent to 16 years of schooling/

FA/FSC/A Level with minimum 2nd division

Applicants with A Level will submit equivalence certificate

complete the degree.

Islamic Studies /Ethics 5436/5437

Pakistan Studies 5438

General Methods of Teaching 6400

Basic Computer Literacy 5403

Q. No. 2 Elucidate the role of Information communication in Education. Is it

Issues and Discussion

Features of e-readers that can contribute to positive use include their

ICT and Teacher Professional Development: Teachers need specific professional

Microteaching, a teacher training technique currently practiced worldwide,

Definition and basic concepts

Microteaching is a teacher training technique for learning teaching skills. It

Efficient technique and effective teaching

Observing a fellow teacher and using a trial-and-error in own teaching sessions

THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Microteaching in medical education

The traditional medical teaching emphasizes on the transmission of factual

Implementation of microteaching in medical education

There was an increase in interests toward introducing microteaching techniques

Steps and requirements of microteaching

Q. No. 4 Compare the teacher education reforms in developed and

The Indian Education Commission 1964-66, as observed by Sheikh M.A (1998)[1]

Concept of Teacher Education

Need for Teacher Education

Purpose of Teacher Education

Keeping this in view teacher education, through teacher-preparatory years

Phases of Teacher Education

1. Initial Teacher Education

3. Continuing Teacher Education

Initial teacher training / education

Teachers' continuous professional development

Usefulness of Comparing Teacher Education Systems

With advancement in technology and with communication explosion, the

In spite of increased investment in education sector, Pakistan has not yet

Q. No. 5 a) Discuss the need of new professional profile of teaching staff

A teacher profile is a concise paragraph or bulleted list at the beginning of your

How to write a teacher profile

1.Research the district

2. State who you are

3. Add your objective

4. Describe your personality

5. Highlight your skills

7. Format your profile

8. Review and edit

b) Explain how action research by the teachers in class helps in effective

Educational research provides a vast landscape of knowledge on topics related to

Action research is an approach to educational research that is commonly used by

Purpose of Action Research