AIOU Assignment BEd 1.5 Year 8624 Secondary Education Assignment 2
Course: Secondary Education (8624)
Level: B.Ed (1.5 Years)
Semester: Spring, 2019
ASSIGNMENT No. 2
Q.1 Define evaluation. Differentiate between internal and external examination. Critically analyze the process of evaluation in Pakistan.
Answer:
Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, design, project or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim, realisable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of any such action that has been completed. The primary purpose of evaluation, in addition to gaining insight into prior or existing initiatives, is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change. Evaluation is often used to characterize and appraise subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprises, including the arts, criminal justice, foundations, non-profit organizations, government, health care, and other human services. It is long term and done at the end of a period of time.
Differentiate between internal and external examination:
It is possible to have an examination that is not external. The end-of-semester test or exam for Year 12s is not unusual in Queensland schools under a system of school-based assessment. It has all the properties of an external exam except that it is set and marked by teachers in the school. School assessment in the form of an end-of-semester test could actually be called an internal exam because they have so much in common. Both are designed to function according to the definition of an examination: to assess “the attainment and skill of students in a particular subject, whether by objective-type or conventional written, oral or practical questions” and “all of the papers refer to a syllabus”. Typically, an external exam has a “paper” (or two) for a particular subject and the questions on the paper are unknown to students in advance of the exam. All students do the exam on the same day at the same time, with the same restrictions on equipment (e.g. pencil or pen and paper, calculator or not), and are given the same time to complete the exam (3 hours is the norm). The exam is closely supervised. The end-of-semester test that is part of the assessment program for some subjects in Queensland, and which has been labelled an "internal exam" above, has similar features although the exam might be of two hours' duration rather than three. The key difference is the locus of control. The point being made here is that the exam experience is not foreign to Queensland students. Nor is it associated with the senior public exams of the period from about 1890 to 1972. The same is the case for Queensland teachers unless they are older than 60 or were educated outside Queensland. It is worth mentioning here that the QCS Test is not an external exam even though it does have an external locus of control (set by QSA) and is administered under standardised conditions. But it is not subject-specific and based on a subject syllabus; it assesses cross-curriculum skills. It belongs to a family of tests that are developed according to some technical specifications not elaborated on here. An aspect of QCS Test pertinent to this discussion is that it is of seven hours' duration (over two days) compared with the two hours proposed for the new external assessment. In Queensland's current system of school-based assessment, teachers devise and mark the assessments – projects, reports, investigations, orals, artefacts, practical work, performances, presentations, essays, rich tasks, constructed responses, mid-semester tests and so on. The locus of control is internal (moderation brings an external quality assurance element – not relevant in this discussion) and the variation in assessment modes is vast. We use the term school assessment rather than school-based assessment to describe teachers-devised assessments and reserve the term school-based assessment for describing the system. School assessments have the capacity to provide evidence of student achievement that is not possible to obtain from an external exam. The point being made here is that a combination of School Assessment and External Assessment is more valid than one of those assessments alone. What is the external assessment in the review's proposed model? Is it the same as an external exam? Table 3 compares and contrasts the proposed external assessment and an HSC-like exam.
Process of evaluation in Pakistan: Evaluation in education always varies in different context. What may seem suitable in one context may not be appropriate in other context. Event the purposes and procedures of educational evaluation will vary from instance to instance. What is quite appropriate for one school may be less appropriate for another. Looking at the current Educational Evaluation in Pakistani context, it is observed that educational evaluation was practised at institutional level only and even that was not structured and organized. The Deans or the Administrative Heads applied various tools for course and faculty evaluation, even that appraisal varied in approach in-quality of tools. Program Evaluation was a rare practice and that was done by very few prestigious private sector universities. With the emergence of Higher Education Commission Pakistan, it was realized that a separate Quality Assurance Agency needs to be established for a structured Academic Evaluation. The Agency established Quality Enhancement Cells in Public and Private sector universities in a phase wise manner for conducting program evaluation through self assessment. At the same time, course evaluation and faculty evaluation were also added to program assessment along with other feedback tools.
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Q.2 What is the need of comparative education. Compare secondary education system of UK, USA and Pakistan. Give suggestion to improve secondary education system in Pakistan in light of this comparison.
Answer:
Comparative education is a discipline in the social sciences which entails the scrutiny and evaluation of different educational systems, such as those in various countries. Professionals in this area of endeavor are absorbed in advancing evocative terminologies and guidelines for education worldwide, enhancing educational structures and producing a context to which the success and effectivity of education programs and initiatives can be assessed. Comparative education is the comparative study of educational theories and practices in various countries. Comparative education attempts to use cross-national data to test propositions about the relationship between education and society and between teaching practices and learning outcomes. Comparative education considers the implications of comparative studies for the formation and implementation of policies in education, social, national and international development. Comparative education invites contributions from associated disciplines in the fields of government, management, sociology, and technology and communications which affect educational research and policy decisions. Comparative education aims at:
(1)explaining educational systems, processes, or outcomes;
(2)helping the development of educational institutions and practices; (3)emphasizing the relationships between education and society;
(4)forming generalized statements about education relevant in more than one country.
Compare secondary education system of UK, USA and Pakistan Education in Pakistan is function under both the federal and provincial sectors. However, policies and other regulatory frameworks are developed by the Ministry of Education that is based at Islamabad. The Ministry of Education also develops the educational policies at a national level while involving all the stakeholders in implementation. Provincial level stakeholders are also involved in the formulation of these policies. Most at times, provinces have been involved in the formulation and implementation of their own polices according to various situations that they meet. For instance, the available resources can be used effectively to develop provincial plans that are in line with the federal or national plans and execute them. It is the role of the Executive District Officer to deal with the educational affairs at various schools since the adoption of the 2002 devolution plan (Kazmi, S. W., 2005). The Executive District Officers have had issues like supervision, policy implementation, recruitment, monitoring of schools and transfer of teachers. The EDO is based at the district government level is also supported by the District Education officers or just DEOs. There is also a deputy DEO who support the DEO at the district government level.
The provincial government is responsible for other roles in the educational sector like teacher training, formulation of policies and allocating a budget to a district government. secretary is usually the head of the Education Department at the provincial level. However, in other cases, there are two heads or secretaries, a special secretary for Higher Education and special secretary for Schools. There are other staff who help the secretaries at the provincial level including the deputy secretary. On the other hand, UK’s education system responsibilities are left for the individual countries rather than provinces and districts (Heyneman, S. P., 1995). In these individual countries, the education stakeholders have established institutions to handle various roles within the Education Department. Though there is a difference with Pakistan on the way the roles and responsibilities are split, the functionality of the basic units still remains the same. An example, there are some fundamental institutions established in UK that has similar roles as the provinces in the Pakistan. These institutions include;
• Department of education in North Ireland
• Department for Education and Skills or DfES in England,
• Welsh Office in Wales, and
• SEED or Scottish Executive Education Department in Scotland.
Each of the above institutions has its own subclass of institutions for specific roles like the development and training, administration and even policy management (Blanden, J., & Machin, S., 2004). An example of those subclasses include the General Teaching Council (GTC) in Scotland and England’s Training and Development Agency (TDA). These institutions help each country’s national sectors for education and are therefore responsible for development and implementation of policies and other educational plan. Structure of the education systems.
Education system in Pakistan is a three tier meaning that they have an elementary level (for grades 1-8), secondary level (for grades 9-12) and a higher education level (after grade 12). The elementary level education is further divided into two sublevels; grades 1-5 which is called primary and grades 6-8 which are called middle elementary. Education in Pakistan is not made compulsory for the children even at the primary elementary level and this has contributed to low literacy within the country. This is evident through the statistics and research that have been conducted for the education level in Pakistan. For instance, 5.5 million children between the age of 5 and 9 can be seen out of school (Memon, G. R., 2007). Primary and/or Elementary education A major difference in the structure of education between Pakistan and U.K is that the children in Pakistan are enrolled in elementary schools or even primary at the age of 5 while this is not the case in U.K. In particular, England enrollment of 5 year old children in elementary schools is not statutory as well as in Scotland. Matheson (2000) states that unlike in England, Scotland rarely has a fast and hard cut-off dates for those children at the age of five or the “rising-five” as they are often called. Pakistan on the other hand has rural schools having children joining elementary schools at six years old or more. Primary education in some parts of UK is split into Key Stage 1 which is for the children between 5 to 6 years and key stage 2 which is for the children between the ages of 7 and 11. Wales and England in particular have split the elementary education in two key stages. Primary education in Scotland takes seven years and Matheson (2007) even supports that there is no middle schools for Scots and the primary takes seven years. In comparison to Scotland, England has six years of primary with an additional middle school in the educational structure. Secondary education In Pakistan, secondary education spans from grade 9 to grade 11 and therefore takes four years of the education period (Khalid, S. M., & Khan, M. F., 2006). Mostly, these system is catered for in higher secondary education centers and government secondary schools. Most of these higher secondary and government secondary have middle classes. Secondary schools in the United Kingdom cater for children’s education who are between the age of 12-17 or at times others with the age of 18 and they are allowed to proceed to A-Levels. In Ireland, various religious sects or communities bring about the educational differences. Basically, education or schools are managed by three major groups (Lindley, J., 2009);
1. Catholic
2. Protestants The Smart Education
3. Community supported schools or parent-community integrated schools
This is clear that the only distinguishing characteristic of the North Ireland schools is the ‘segregation’ which is brought about the school managers under religion basis. Other countries in the UK do not have such a situation and their schools can be managed by any individual. Parents have developed certain attitudes when sending their children in other ‘religions’ and therefore most parents educate their children in schools that has their religion standards. However, those schools in North Ireland that have adopted the English education system have children who are Muslims, Jewish, Anglican and Roman Catholics. Schools in Pakistan and the Wales have less diversity and can be uniformly grouped together in terms of the public sector. Generally, all the state schools in Pakistan are either, elementary, primary, secondary or higher secondary schools. However, there are some few comprehensive technical and pilot secondary schools in Pakistan but they all add up to a very little portion as compared to other state schools just like in Wales. In fact, these schools comprise of approximately 1% in Pakistan and Wales while in England they comprise of 4% (Halpin et al, 1997). Secondary education is selectively organized in North Ireland while comprehensively organized in England, Wales and Scotland. This can be attributed to the religious sects and communities that manage schools in Ireland. UK has a compulsory 14-16 years of education while Pakistan does not have any compulsory years for any level of education. Another striking difference in the structure of education system between the UK and Pakistan is evident in the state schools resources. Pakistan has relatively low teaching resources in the state schools (Malik, S., & Courtney, K., 2011). There is also inadequate numbers of trained teachers and other physical resources in Pakistan as compared to UK. In fact, some of the good infrastructure and educational resources that are associated with private schools in Pakistan can be considered to be at par with those at schools in UK.
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Q.3 Compare Sixth, Seventh and eight five years plans regarding targets and achievements in secondary education?
Answer:
SIXTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1983-88) Sixth five year plan was launched on 1st July, 1983. The draft of this plan was prepared and implemented by newly created Ministry of Planning. SIZE OF PLAN: The total size of the plan was Rs.495 Billion. This amount was allocated between public and private sector in respective amounts of Rs.295billion and Rs.200 Billion. TARGETS:
• To increase GNP by 6.5% per annum
• To increase family income by Rs.900 per annum
• To increase industrial production by 9% per annum
• To increase agriculture production by 5% per annum
• To provide jobs to 4 Million people during the plan period
• To provide electricity facility to 88% of village population
• To increase exports from $2.43 billion to $4.91 Billion
• Rehabilitation of 30 lac acres of land destroyed by water logging
STRATEGY:
• Increased opportunities for small farmers and provision of infrastructure
• Creation of 4 billion new jobs by emphasizing on small scale production in agriculture and industry
• To encourage provincial govt. and local bodies to participate in investment plans and policy making
• Provision of funds to backward areas especially to Balochistan and tribal areas
• Encouraging exports, discouraging imports and reducing dependence on foreign assistance
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• GNP rate grown to 6.6% as compared to the target of 6.5%
• Per capita income increased from Rs.820 to Rs.935
• Growth of industrial sector was 7.7%. The target was 9%
• Growth in agriculture sector was 3.9%
• Exports increased to 11% per annum
• Inflation rate reduced from 8.8% to 6%
CRITICAL OVERVIEW:
• In this plan the main weakness was its excessive reliance on
• domestic borrowings to balance budget
• Allocations to the sectors were not fair, 80% was allocated to
• energy sector and remaining to others.
• The language of sixth plan was not realistic.
• The major weakness of 6th plan was absence of any concrete
• plan for expenditure control
• The Burdon of subsidies and non development expenditures was
• very high.
SEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1988-1993) SIZE OF PLAN: An amount of Rs.660.2 billion had been allocated to 7th plan to meet the financial needs and expenditures. Rs.322.95 Billion was allocated to public sector and Rs.292.4 Billion was allocated to private sector.
TARGETS:
• To attain annual growth rate of 6.5% of GNP
• Increase in per capita income to Rs.3,562 at the end of plan’s period
• 4.7% growth rate in agriculture sector
• 8.1% growth rate per annum in industrial sector
• Oil extraction target was 76,000 barrels per day
• Road constructions up to 8500 KM
• 6.1 Million new job opportunities
• The plan target of monetary assets was 12.5%
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• GDP rate increased to 5%
• Increase in per capita income to Rs.3,562 at the end of plan’s
• period
• 3.8% growth rate in agriculture sector
• 5.9% growth rate per annum in industrial sector
• Oil extraction target was 76,000 barrels per day
• Road constructions up to 8500 KM
• 6.1 Million new job opportunities
• The plan target of monetary assets was 12.5%
• The expenditure on public sector development was Rs.511 Million
CRITICISM:
• There was not fair allocation of resources among different sectors
• There was undue delay in preparation of policies and projects
• Employment situation became worse; no consideration was given to this issue
• Projects of previous government were disclosed by new government
• There was no proper implementation of this plan
EIGHTH FIVE YEAR PLAN (1988-1993) SIZE OF PLAN: Size of the plan was Rs.1, 701 Billion. An amount of Rs.752 Billion was to be spent on public sector and Rs.949 Billion on private sector. TARGETS:
• GDP growth rate of 7%
• 4.9% growth rate in agriculture sector
• 9.9% growth rate per annum in industrial sector
• Growth rate of services 6.7%
• Reduce Fiscal deficit to 4% of GDP
• Reduce inflation rate to 6%
• Generate 6.2 Million new job opportunities
• Ensure minimum investment of Rs.949 Billion
• Increase literacy rate from 35% to48%
• Population growth rate 2.7%
• Coverage of rural water supply to 71% of population.
• Construction of Ghazi Bhrotha Hydel project and completion of
• Hub Power Project in private sector
• Power generation capacity to 16,422 MW
STRATEGY:
• Encouraging participation of private enterprises
• Industrial and commercial policies to attract private and foreign investment
• Expansion of infrastructural facilities
• Ensuring micro-economic stability
• Developing human resource
• Poverty elevation by equitable distribution of national income
• Expanding production avenues to create employment opportunities
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Growth rate in GDP was 4.08% as compared to the target of 7% per annum
• Growth rate of manufacturing sector was just 2.68% which was very low as compared to the target of 9.9%
• 11.4% growth rate in mining sector
• The target of 2.7% in growth rate of population was achieved
CRITICISM:
• Due to absence of accurate data of population there was no proper allocation of resources.
• The performance of agriculture and industrial sector remains questionable
• Due to heavy dependence upon imports there was deficit balance of payment
• There was no proper implementation of policies due to lack of expenditure controls
• There was excessive dependence upon foreign sources
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Q.4 What is the status of teacher education in Pakistan? What do yo understand by BS Education Model, B.Ed 14+1 Model and B.Ed12=3 Model?.
Answer:
Teachers’ professional education is viewed as one of the most important factors in improving students’ learning. Keeping this in view many developed and less developed countries pay significant attention to improve the practices of teacher education. In order to develop capable teachers they make conscious efforts to establish and maintain quality teacher education institutions. The history of teacher education in Pakistan starts with the establishment of the country. However, this area has been facing various challenges such as lack of consistent policy, inconsistency in curriculum, low resources, lack of quality teachers, low quality of teaching process, lack of standard, etc. Today, a range of public and private institutions are engaged in preparing school teachers. In Pakistan, like many other countries, public institutions are the main source for developing teachers through pre-service and in-service programmes. However, many studies have raised the question on the quality of delivery mechanism of the institutions while forwarding recommendations for improvement. Historically, different reforms have been brought to improve the condition of teacher education in the country. Currently, teacher education in Pakistan is passing through a transition as an innovation has been initiated by the Government of Pakistan with the support of USAID through their Pre-Service Teachers Education Programme (STEP) project. This reform is attempted in order to improve the quality of teacher education by including different innovations. In this regard, a new curriculum has been developed for pre-service programmes such as a two-year Associate Degree in Education (ADE) and a four-year BEd (Hons). Effort has been made to design the curriculum keeping in view the modern educational principle along with the contextual relevancy. These programmes are gradually replacing the previous pre-service and in-service programmes such as Primary Teacher Certificate (PTC), Certificate in Teaching (CT) and the one-year Ed programme. In addition, an effort is being made for the accreditation and standardisation of teacher training institutions through this initiative. The ADE and BEd programme has been initiated in some colleges and will be gradually implemented in remaining colleges throughout the country in the coming years. In addition, to attract the best mind towards the teaching profession a stipend is also offered to student-teachers for providing them financial support.
The significance of such educational innovation cannot be overlooked for improvement of teacher education in the country. However, there are areas that need serious considerations for the effectiveness and sustainability of the new reform initiatives. Firstly, the new developed curriculum is based on the modern educational principles. Teachers are provided a course outline with the expectation that they will explore the teaching learning material for classroom instructions. However, it was observed that some of the teachers are struggling with identifying teaching resources due to the unavailability of the reference books and lack of Internet facility in their colleges/institutions. This situation may affect the teaching-learning process of the ADE courses. Hence there is a need to provide the reference books and Internet facility to the faculty members in order to make the teaching-learning process smooth. Second, Internet is considered as one of the important sources for identifying teaching-learning material. However, it was observed that some of the faculty members are not literate in computers and Internet. So they are facing challenges in accessing the teaching-learning resources that are available on the Internet or in soft version. Therefore, the faculty members of colleges need to be helped in acquiring workable computer and Internet skills. Third, the new curriculum demands new teaching strategies such as collaborative, inquiry and activity-based teaching approach. However, a majority of the faculty in the teacher institutions are not oriented with the teaching strategies demanded by the ADE and BEd programme. Therefore, the professional development of the faculty at teacher training institutions should be given priority along with the curriculum development. Furthermore, there is a sense of uncertainty about the sustainability of the new initiatives after completion of the Pre-STEP project. Many educational initiatives in the past died away with closure of the projects. Therefore there is a dire need to develop a clear road map for the continuity and sustainability of reforms.
It was also observed that some school teachers are being deputed in teacher education colleges due to lack of adequate number of teachers in there. Due to the different approach of pedagogy and andragogy, these teachers treat the prospective teacher like children, which demotivates them. Thus when the school teachers are deputed in colleges they should be oriented with the andragogy of teaching an adult. Finally, a sense of insecurity can be observed among the student-teachers about their job prospects after the completion of their ADE or BEd honours. How will they stand apart from the teacher who has done one year BEd and other courses, is a question to ponder upon. A clear policy is required about job opportunities for the prospective teachers so that they can focus their studies. These issues need to be addressed in order to sustain and maintain the quality of the new reforms. A vigilant plan and sincere implementation will, of course, be helpful in transforming the teacher education practices in the country. In short, the importance of quality teacher education cannot be overlooked for improving the quality of teaching-learning in the school. The new educational innovation will, definitely, lead to improve teacher education practices in Pakistan. However, there is a dire need to look reflectively at how to sustain the initiatives and make it productive. BEd (4 years) program's focus on education and training of prospective teachers 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. BEd (4 years) program will be a composite program blending Core Courses, Foundation Courses, Professional Courses, and Specialization Courses. The teacher trained through new program will be able to teach at Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels and will be an equivalent of the existing master's degree. ***********************************************************************************
Q.5 Discuss the need and scope of in-service teacher education. Is there need to give in-service training of computer education to teachers to improve their methods of teaching?
Answer:
Inservice teacher education is broadly defined as any learning opportunity for practicing teachers. The term inservice teacher designates a teacher that has certification or is already teaching in a classroom, in contrast to a preservice teacher, who is in the process of preparing to become a teacher. Preservice and inservice teacher learning have changed over time. This is due to the evolution of how the field has moved. In particular, there has been a shift from many educators aligning with behavioral theories of teaching and learning to more constructivist, sociocultural, and situated theories of teaching and learning. Inservice teacher education has gone from one-shot workshops where an expert imparts knowledge to teachers in a traditional lecture-style workshop to more professional learning opportunities where teachers engage in communities of learning: unpacking content, examining teachers’ instruction, and analyzing student thinking. Through this evolution, inservice teacher education has become synonymous with professional development or professional learning. These trends and the different ways that the field of education conceptualizes teaching and learning have broad yet important implications for inservice teacher education and professional development. In particular, the language and jargon associated with the field has changed to reflect the transformed theories or stances. For instance, the terms inservice teacher education and staff development are now more commonly referred to as teacher professional development and professional learning respectively. Due to this evolution of the field and the aligned adjustments in terminology in this article, we purposefully use the vocabulary that is consonant with the article under review in this volume.
Additionally, this annotated bibliography builds on the Oxford Bibliographies in Education article by Stephanie Hirsch, Joellen Killion, and Joyce Pollard titled “Professional Development,” but provides a distinct framework and selection of annotations. We have selected articles that focus on the impact of professional development on one or more of the following: teachers’ knowledge, teachers’ instructional practices, and student learning. We also put forth a new theoretical construct to analyze research on inservice teacher education and professional development. Synthesizing and detailing the best current knowledge on teacher professional development (PD), this annotated bibliography highlights (1) research on the impact of different models of inservice teacher education on teacher learning and instruction and/or student learning, (2) handbooks and handbook chapters related to inservice learning and professional development, and (3) salient reports, theoretical articles, and meta-analyses that have been written on professional development and inservice teacher education. In-service training of computer education to teachers: In Greece, the teaching of Computing and ICT in secondary education is conducted by teachers holding an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or Applied Informatics. Secondary Education in Greece is divided into two cycles: compulsory lower secondary and non-compulsory Upper Secondary Education. Compulsory lower secondary education is provided in Gymnasium, while non-compulsory upper secondary education is provided in one of two types of schools: the General Lyceum (GL) and Vocational Lyceum (EPAL). In General Lyceum, both day and evening, ICT has been taught as an elective or direction course since 1999. In the last two classes of General Lyceum, students select one of three directions, (technological, scientific or theoretical). If students in the last grade select the technological direction, they attend a course in algorithms and programming, entitled “Application Development in a Programming Environment”, for which they are assessed through national exams. The grade acquired in this examination is part of the consideration used in selecting students for admission in higher education programmes. The overall aim of the course is to develop analytical and synthetic thinking, acquire methodological skills and be able to solve simple problems within a programming environment. Many basic algorithmic and programming concepts, such as conditions, expressions and logical reasoning, are fundamentals of general knowledge and skills to be acquired in general education; most of these concepts are not presented in other disciplines [6]. The curriculum states that this subject must be taught (at least partially) in a computer lab. The Greek Pedagogical Institute (Ministry of Education) has certified specific Educational Software to support the lab work. During the lab hour, teachers can use the technological tools to facilitate the learning process.
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