CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN PAKISTAN

Teacher Education Institutions in Pakistan

Keywords; Teaching Method, Provincial institute of
teacher education PITE, RITE (Regional Institutes of Teacher Education), I.E.R
Institute Of Education And Research, AIOU,

FUNCTIONS OF RITEs/IMPORTANCE, The role of IER of KPK

AIOU (Allama Iqbal Open University)

The Allama
Iqbal Open University was established in May, 1974 with the main objectives of
providing educational opportunities to masses and to those who cannot leave
their homes and jobs.

 Allam Iqbal Open University (popularize as AIOU), is a
public research university located in Islamabad, Pakistan. The university is
noted as being one of the world's largest institutions of higher learning. It
is also Asia's first Open University with a strong emphasis on providing
distance education

The idea of
Distance Education was first mooted in UK in late 60s by the British Prime
Minister, Mr. Harold Wilson. He was of the view that educational opportunities
must be provided to those who might have missed better education due to early
employment and wish to upgrade, their knowledge and skills, in their spare
times in the evenings at home. The UK Open University was, thus established in
1969.

The AIOU,
when established in 1974, was the second Open University in the world and first
in Asia

 The AIOU utilizes all possible media for
instruction including correspondence materials, radio and TV, satellite
transmission, online teaching, non-broadcast media, tutorial instruction and
group training workshops and more.

The AIOU
started with five courses and an enrolment of less than 1,000 in 1975-76, and
it has over the past years expanded in all directions. Presently four sets of
faculty in 40 academic departments and an Institute of Mass Education offer a
wide range of courses from functional non-credit to M.Phil./Ph.D. level.

AIOU has
established 42 regional offices in Pakistan to facilitate decentralized system
of education in Pakistan

Approximately
950 examination centres are established yearly at Tehsil and District level
with coordination of regional network to facilitate the students.

With its
system of reaching the students at their homes or workplaces and the concept of
openness, implying lifelong education, the Allama Iqbal Open University is
filling the gaps left by the conventional system and taking education to areas
and groups unable to benefit from the formal system of education. As an
institution of distance and open learning, AIOU makes a commitment to provide
high quality educational programmes to its students. In addition the AIOU endeavors
to create an environment suitable for learning.

 In
recent years, the university's programmes have expanded and still several
others are in the process of development to be launched in the forthcoming
semesters. The challenge at present for the future of the university is to
maintain excellent standard of education by providing high quality tutorial and
regional support to the students.

Teaching Method

For teaching
various methods are used by AIOU. They are through radio and TV channels,
correspondence, internet and study guides

There are 42
AIOU regional centers in Pakistan where students can attend classes. In
addition in almost every town of Pakistan, AIOU has appointed Tutors for the
students. These qualified tutors provide guidance, teaching and conduct
examinations.  For practical courses like information Technology area
study centers have been established throughout Pakistan to provide access to
computer labs or other labs where required.

Students
were provided study guided and reading material

·        
Assignments
in each subject

·        
TV
Programme related to the subject

·        
Programme
on radio

·        
At
the end of every semester there is a compulsory workshop for each course.
Students are asked to give presentation.

Evaluation:

Students are
evaluated through assignments and summative examination at the end of every semester
with the ratio of 30:70. 30% for assignments and 70% for the final examination.
To pass a semester the student need to get 40% marks in each subject

PhD
Degrees offered by AIOU

 Ph.D. Iqbal Studies

Ph.D. Urdu

Ph.D. Education in Distance and
Non-formal Education (DNFE)

Ph.D. Economics (M.Phil. Based)

Ph.D. Chemistry

Ph.D. Statistics

Ph.D. Physics

Ph.D. Food and Nutrition

Ph.D. in Agricultural Extension

Ph.D. Teacher Education

Ph.D. Educational Planning &
Management (EPM)

Ph.D. Special Education (M.Phil. based)

Ph.D. in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence

Ph.D. in Pakistani Languages and
Literature

MPhil and MS degrees offered by AIOU
are:-

M.Phil. Education in Distance and
Non-formal Education (DNFE)

MS (EPM)

M.S (Science Education)

M.Phil. Iqbal Studies

M.Phil. in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence

M.Phil. Urdu

M.Phil. Educational Planning &
Management (EPM)

M.Phil. Physics

M.Phil. Mass Communication

M.Phil. Statistics

M.Phil. Economics

M.Phil. Food and Nutrition

M.Phil. in Pakistani Languages and
Literature

M.S. Computer Science

M.Phil. Chemistry

M.Phil. Teacher Education

M.S. Community Health & Nutrition

M.Phil. Pakistani Languages and
Literature

Others (education)

Secondary Teacher education

M. Education

M.Ed.

B.Ed.

CT

PTC

Diploma in TEFL

In-service training

PITE

Provincial institute of teacher
education

PITE was established
in 1996 with the help of ADB (Asian Development Bank)

VISION

The vision
of PITE is to bring about quantitative and qualitative improvement in education
in Pakistan in general and Khyber Pukhtunkhwa in particular through creation
and provision of continuous professional development opportunities and services
to teachers and education managers.

The mission
of PITE is to develop the educational institutes KPK to provide better training
to prospective teachers, so they have the skills to transfer the culture and
belief of the society into the students.

PITE’s
objectives are to;

·        
Train
teachers in effective and innovative instructional strategies

·        
Train
teachers / managers in educational planning and management

·        
Train
teachers / managers in instructional assessment and evaluation

·        
Develop
contextualized instructional material

·        
Train
Master Trainers

MANDATE:

·        
Conduct
and test innovative Pre-Service & In-Service teacher training programs.

·        
Training
of Master Trainers.

·        
Monitor
trainings

·        
Design
and conduct research in teacher education, evaluation and assessment.

·        
Develop
training materials, etc.:

·        
Serve
as a Provincial Resource Center in educational trainings.

·        
Coordinate
training programs in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa.

·        
Conduct/organize
workshops/seminars as and when required by the government.

·        
Supervise
& facilitate bridging Courses for teachers to equate Diploma in Education

·        
Design
& maintain Teacher Education Management Information System (TEMIS)

Functions
of PITE

One of the objectives
of the PITE was to develop teacher training material for the improvement of
educational institutions and teachers.

Manuals /
Modules Developed By PITE:

1     HRM Manual
for Principal / Headmaster of GHSS/GHS (M & F)

2     Financial
Management for Principal/Headmaster of GHSS / GHS (M & F)

3     Manual on
School Management for Middle School Head Teachers

4     Manual on
School Management for Primary School Head Teachers

5     Microsoft
Office User Specialist (MOUS)

6     Personnel
Management (HRD & HRM)

7     Financial
Management

8     Academic
Management

9     Research
Methods, Techniques & Study conduction

10   Civil Service
Acts 1973 & Rules made there under

11   Community
Participation & Parent Teacher Council (PTC)

12   Manual on
School Sanitation & Hygiene Education

13   Manual for
Teachers on Child Friendly Schools Concept

14   Manual for
Teachers of Rehabilitation Centers

15   Manual on
Disaster preparedness and Risk Management

16   Manual on
psycho social Training for Teachers

17   Manual on
Mine Risk Education for Teachers

18   Manual on
Peace Education for Teachers

19   Manual on
Multigrade teaching & DRM

20   Manual on
Educational Leadership & Management at School level

21   Manual on
Teaching in Early Grades

22   Manual on
Office Management

23   Manual on
Early Childhood Care and Education

24   Manual on
Planning Skills

25   Training
Manual on Math, Science, English and many more

RITE (Regional Institutes of Teacher
Education)

RITE is the
abbreviation of Regional Institute for

Teachers’
Education. It has been established in 2002 at different location throughout the
province. There are separate RITEs for male and female. In the beginning they
were considered only the In-service teachers’ training institutes but now days
they are also serving as the pre-service teachers’ training institutes for
female students only. There are 20 RITEs in the whole province while serving
their duties. The provincial cabinet on 21-08-2002 has approved that all the 10
GECTs (Government Elementary Colleges for Teachers) working for teachers’
trainings will be converted into “Regional Institutes for Teachers’ Education”.
The existing RITEs with their location at KPK include;

Details
of Regional Institutes of Teacher Education

FUNCTIONS OF RITEs/IMPORTANCE

Plan,
arrange, impart & assess pre-service teacher education programmes.

Act as center
for in-service teacher training. 

To assist DCTE
in:

Curriculum
Development & review

Development
of Training materials

Planning,
designing, conducting & monitoring in- service teacher training

Conduction
of Provincial Education Assessment Centre (PEACE) activities.

The teacher
education in KPK is in a state of flux. Half of the 20 Regional Institutes of
Teacher Education (RITES) providing PTC and CT courses were closed down few
years back while classes were suspended in the rest 10 institutes for a period
of 3 years beginning September 2002. The Bureau of Curriculum KPK, renamed in
2001 as the Directorate of Curriculum and Teacher Education (DCTE) exercises
administrative, financial and academic control over the 20 RITES, (10 closed
down), 1 Government College of Physical Education and a Government Agro
Technical Teachers Training Centre. Currently Regional Institutes of Teacher
Education RITEs have been assigned to conduct Diploma in Education as well as
PTC/CT classes.

Training
outposts

Training and
professional support for quality education is an ever-increasing demand to
prevent the increasing shift of students from free public schools to expensive
private institutions. The support is required to urgently address the
professional needs of head teachers, teachers, supervisors / learning
co-coordinators, and other district education managers.

Training
outposts were established in govt secondary schools under an ADB assisted
program. Many of the TOs have since been converted into Teachers/Tehsil
Resource Centers (TRCs) under the ESR Action Plan. There are 380 TRCs in
Pakistan. Those set up to date are not fully functional, not having adequate
staff or empowered to conduct teacher training. Their buildings are being used
by different provincial institutions and donors for their district based
cluster-training programs. TRCs are growing but are without standards or
quality assurance (AED 2004)

Goal

 To
extend decentralized capacity building facilities to teachers, head teachers,
parents and other education supervisors and managers for addressing quality
education.

Objectives

To develop
decentralized capacity building units for addressing professional and
information needs in areas of pedagogy and community participation

To serve a
variety of clients from public and private sector including local government
and NGO institutions.

To undertake
contracts with NGOs for training PTAs/SMCs

To be
managed as autonomous fee charging units for sustainability          

Governance
Structure

 The
TRC will be managed by a small board of professionals, ensuring a cross-section
of appropriate representatives from government, Local government, NGOs and
Private Sector.

Private
Teacher Training Institutions

Until the
end of the seventies teacher education and training was the sole realm of the
federal and provincial governments. In the 1980s private teacher training
institutions started to appear on the scene which has considerably deteriorated
the quality of teacher education. However, only few of them gained high repute
which included the IED, Aga Khan University, the Notre Dame Institute of
Education, and the Ali Institute of Education.

A majority
of private training institutions are however, commercial enterprises in reality,
producing low grade teachers

Factors
affecting private sector teacher education programme are;

• The teaching in the PTC, CT and
  B.Ed. classrooms is lecturing and dictation. Teaching techniques like
  group work, problem solving, and activity approach are lectured about, not
  practiced by the trainers. The trainees are not involved in any of the
  activities or practical  work
  suggested in the syllabus


• Teaching practice is a
  compulsory component of all teacher education courses  PTC, CT, B.Ed., BS.Ed. A majority of
  institutions have “attached practicing schools” which are often
  insufficient due to the large number of trainees particularly in the B.Ed
  or there are no practical time for the students of those colleges.

Absence of
Supervision, Monitoring and Performance Appraisal of Trainers

• Needs of Physical Facilities and
  Equipment


• Science labs need curriculum
  relevant equipment and workshop tools for devising low cost teaching
  materials


• Audio-Video and projection
  equipment is required


• Libraries needed recent
  publications in education, teaching ESL and teaching of Science and
  Mathematics. Educational magazines need to be made available.

Teaching
material of daily classroom use such as charts, maps, globes, models are in
short supply in most institutions.

I.E.R institute of education and
research

Institute of
educational research are the most important institutions in the educational
field of Pakistan. These institutions have a pivotal role in the development of
teacher’s education/training.

They play
very important role in the education system of Pakistan, because these are
research institutes, which develop research culture in Pakistan educational
intuitions. It helps the prospective and in-services teachers in finding new
ways of research and teaching methodologies

IER’s
provide experts i.e. educational planners, supervisors, administrators,
researchers,  Teachers

The role of IER of KPK:

The
department of education was established in 1950 in KPK in university of
Peshawar, Its status was then elevated in 1964 as College of Education. It was
in 1980 when the Institute was raised to the level of the Institute of
Education & Research (IER). Now it has been placed under the Faculty of
Social Sciences, after the restructuring of the Faculties of University of
Peshawar.

The
Institute of Education & Research enjoys a unique position in the KPK, that
it imparts training to the prospective and in - service teachers of secondary
and higher secondary schools. It offers the courses for the degrees of B.Ed
(Bachelors of Education), B.Ed honor and M.Ed. (Masters of Education). The IER
also offers M.Phil. and Ph.D. programmes in the discipline of Education.

 IER KPK

Vision

To upgrade
the standard of Education in Pakistan

Mission

Preparation
of Quality Teachers in the light of the demands of 21st century

• Objectives


• Advancing
  the cause of education, with main stress on teacher education.


• Development
  of modern teaching skills and techniques.


• Development
  of strategies to replace the conventional system of education based on
  rote learning and cramming with one that leads to creativity and
  originality of ideas and thoughts.


• Development
  of a culture of research and investigation in an educational setting.


• Producing
  skilled and well equipped teachers

Ø 
IER University of
Peshawar

Ø 
IER University of
Gomal

Ø 
IER AWKUM

Ø 
IER Malakand
University

Ø 
IER Swat
University