Investigación

Teacher education is believed to be one of the most powerful strategies for bringing about the magnitude of changes needed to address the most pressing challenges con- fronting public education (Baptiste, 1999; Edwards, 1997; Watson and Taylor, 1998). Teacher education is not a one-shot, one-size-fits-all event, but rather an evolving

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process of professional self-disclosure, reflection, growth that yields the best results when sustained over time in communities of practice and when focused on job- embedded responsibilities (Bredson 2002; Sandholtz et al., 1997). It is the process of developing staff skills and competencies needed to produce outstanding educational results for the students (Hassel, 1999; Nicholls, 2001). The teachers ultimately hold the key to implementing and sustaining change within the classroom and provide the bridge between the plans and the benefits learners gain from them (Hussain, 2009, p. 106). Ideally, teachers should have continuous access to opportunities to learn and be seriously engaged in the expanding intellectual world (Boyer, 1987, p.10).

According to Hussain (2009, p.110), there is no institutionalised arrangement for pro- viding regular training to teachers in Pakistan. Sporadic training opportunities, if any, lack in quality. All Pakistan education policies have given teacher education its due importance, but it has not been possible for the teacher education programmes to be adequately responsive to the demands of the fast paced requirements of the teachers. The report of the Commission on National Education (1959) concedes that ‘no system of education is better than the teachers who serve it’. At the same time, these state- ments are contradicted in the Education Policy of 1998-2010 that ‘to provide in- creased opportunity of in-service training to the working teachers preferably at least ‘once in five years’. Notably, article 7.1.6 of the National Education Policy 1998- 2010 (Government of Pakistan, 1998) identifies the required qualifications of teacher trainers:

‘The staff of the teacher training institutions belong to the education ser- vice. There is no special cadre of teacher educators. Any serving teacher or lecturer with a Master’s degree, with or without professional qualifica- tions, can be appointed as a teacher educator, although preference will be given to those who hold a Master’s degree in Education’.

As Mahboob and Talaat (2008) point out, this policy explicitly shows that teacher educators in Pakistan can be hired without having any academic or professional cre- dentials in education. This clearly has implications for their ability to train teachers. It can be asserted that this lack of training and understanding of educational theories and practices impacts their ability to train teachers. In the case of English, it is possible that an individual with a degree in English literature with little or without any school teaching experience can become a teacher trainer. In addition, there is no convincing

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evidence that individuals with higher language proficiency are effective teacher edu- cators (Mahboob and Talaat, 2008). The teacher educators in Pakistan are broadly categorised into seven groups (see Table 4.1).

Table 4.1 Categories of teacher educators based on three key factors, Mahboob and Talaat, 2008

Teaching experience Academic credentials in education

Academic credentials in subject matter

Group 1 _{Yes Yes Yes}

Group 2 _{Yes Yes No}

Group 3 _{Yes No No}

Group 4 _{Yes No Yes}

Group 5 _{No No Yes}

Group 6 _{No Yes Yes}

Group 7 No Yes No

The national education policy (1998-2010) reports that there are 123 teacher training institutions in Pakistan that provide six types of certification: primary teaching certifi- cation (PTC), certificate in teaching (CT), bachelor of science in education (BSEd), bachelor of education (BEd), master of education (MEd) and master of arts in educa- tion (MA Edu). Table 4.2 shows the qualifications required for enrolling in these pro- grammes, their duration, and the grades that can be taught after being certified.

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Table 4.2 Teacher Training Programmes in Pakistan, Mahboob and Talaat, 2008

Training Program Qualification for Admission

Duration of training

Grade Levels permitted to teach Primary Teaching Cer-

tification (PTC) Matriculation (Equivalent to American grade 9) 1 1-5 Certificate in Teaching (CT) Intermediate (Equivalent

to American high school) 1 1-7

Bachelor of Science in

Education (BSEd) Intermediate 3 6-10

Bachelor of Education (BEd) BA/BSc (A bachelor’s degree) 1 6-10 Master of Education (MEd) BEd 1 6-12 and student teachers of PTC, CT and BEd

Master of Arts in Edu- cation (M.A Edu)

BA/BSc 2

6-12 and student teachers of PTC, CT and BEd

One of the most striking items shown in Table 4.2 is that average age for a person to receive a matriculation certificate is 16, so after the completion of PTC, a person at age 17 can be hired as a teacher in a government school (Mahboob and Talaat, 2008).

It is important to mention that no research or scholarship is available on Pakistani ter- tiary teachers’ experiences and perceptions about their professional development, nor have any efforts been made in this regard (Chaudary, 2011, p.633). A tertiary educa- tor’s role is to ensure continuing professional development to keep faculty vital, pro- ductive and working together as a community of learners (Devlin, 2007). Professional development for tertiary teachers refers to the opportunities for teacher training which embodies workshops, meetings and mentoring (Nicholls, 2000). Professional devel- opment is characterised as ongoing and long-term, collaborative and context and prac- tice-related (King, 2004).

Referring to Chapter 2, it has been discussed that language policy stated EMI essential for university education but argument built up in this chapter explains that ELT meth- odology, curriculum, assessment and teacher education are underprovided to prepare

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the students for satisfactory postgraduate study. Therefore, as a consequence of such type of previous English language education, students at postgraduate level might ex- perience language problems which can hamper their achievements. Hence, it is impor- tant to include a brief discussion about language anxiety and motivation.