Exploring perceptions of teachers' readiness to implement national ECE curriculum in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, through the stakeholders' perspectives
Date of Award
11-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Philosophy in Education
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
Quality early childhood education contributes to a strong foundation for future learning. Recognizing this, world leaders, scholars and practitioners have committed to support the sustainable development goal (SDG, 4.2) that states that by 2030 every child should have access to quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) services. Pakistan is signatory to the World Declaration on Education for All (EFA) and SDGs (2030 agenda), and has been involved in reform efforts to provide access to and improve the quality of national ECCE services through the development of a national curriculum, provision of materials, and enhancing teachers’ capacity to teach 3-5 years old children in public schools. Following the 18th amendment in Pakistan’s constitution in 2010, development of education sector plans was relegated to provinces. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government produced its first provincial education sector plan in 2012 in which ECCE was an objective. The KP government designed and implemented an early childhood care and education teachers’ professional development training (ECCE-TPDT) for its existing in-service public primary school teachers. The purpose of the training was to enhance teachers’ knowledge and skills to implement the National ECE Curriculum (2007) in their classrooms. This qualitative case study was undertaken to explore stakeholders’ (ECCE teachers, their headteachers and teacher educators from PITE) perspectives on how the ECCE-TPDT helped in-service public primary school teachers to implement the National ECE Curriculum in the context of KP. The study findings suggest that the training helped up to some extent in developing teachers’ knowledge about child-centered pedagogical skills and basic knowledge about children development. However, the teachers’ practice post the professional development seem traditional, teacher-centered and didactic in nature. It also appears that the teachers do not practice the pedagogies which they mentioned having learnt in the training. The study also found that there are several influential factors which support or hinder the successful implementation of the National ECE Curriculum (2007) in KP. The supporting factors are physical and social environment of schools, while the hindering factors are lack of resources, insufficient number of teachers and teachers’ retention, overcrowded classrooms, lack of acceptance and motivation. This study raises important implications for a reform in ECCE teacher trainings to introduce field-based with on-site mentoring and on-going professional development for teachers.
Recommended Citation
Hisham, A. (2020). Exploring perceptions of teachers' readiness to implement national ECE curriculum in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, through the stakeholders' perspectives (Unpublished master's dissertation). Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.