Licensure could help to improve teacher quality, researchers say
The idea of requiring teachers in Pakistan to obtain a license before they can enter the profession has gained traction as a result of research and outreach conducted by the Institute for Educational Development (IED). Many countries require teachers to be licensed or certified, along with other professionals such as doctors, lawyers and engineers. Obtaining a teaching license typically involves passing either a written examination or a performance-based assessment in which teachers demonstrate their skills in a classroom
Pakistan has implemented various strategies to enhance the quality of teaching, yet many students continue to learn little. One-quarter of eighth graders cannot fluently read a simple story in Urdu, Sindhi or Pashto, and one-third cannot perform division, according to the Annual Status of Education Report. More than 90 percent of primary and lower-secondary students in Pakistan have only a weak or basic understanding of the mathematics and science they are required to learn, according to a nationwide IED study. IED Associate Professor Sajid Ali and Research Associate Afaq Ahmed note that teacher quality has a huge impact on student learning. They point, for example, to research from the U.S. by Stanford University Professor Eric Hanushek that found that students in an excellent teacher’s class can learn 1.5 years of material, compared to only half a year’s material in a weak teacher’s class. Citing research by Stanford Professor Linda Darling- Hammond and others, they argue that licensing would increase teacher quality by setting minimum standards for entry into the profession.
In addition, licensing could enhance the public’s confidence in teachers, bolstering the prestige of teaching and helping to attract more qualified candidates to the profession. Not content simply to present the case for teaching licensure in Pakistan, Ali and Ahmed set out to encourage educators and policymakers to consider its potential benefits. They drafted a dozen short papers on various aspects of licensure and organized policy dialogues that included presentations by experts from Pakistan, Singapore and the United States. They also conducted an online survey of almost 1,000 stakeholders in Pakistan to gather perspectives on teaching quality and licensure.
Ali and Ahmed then published a white paper on teaching licensure in Pakistan that incorporated findings from the dialogues and the survey. While the paper found support for licensure among stakeholders, it notes that teacher opposition could doom the idea politically. It therefore recommends proceeding gradually; taking care to consult teachers and address their concerns; and ensuring that licensing remains focused on improving teacher quality, student learning and public confidence in the teaching profession.
Following the publication of the white paper, IED collaborated with the Sindh Teacher Education Development Authority and Durbeen, an NGO, to develop a teacher licensing policy for Sindh. Committee members met regularly with the Education Minister and Education Secretary during the development of the policy.
As this edition of the AKU research magazine was going to press, the Sindh Cabinet approved a new teacher licensing policy. One of the first steps taken under the policy was to require that new elementary school teachers have a Bachelor of Education and pass a licensing exam. Teachers who do so will be hired at the government’s Basic Pay Scale 16, rather than at Basic Pay Scale 14, as was the case previously. “With the policy in place, the Sindh Government has laid the foundation for a more robust and professional teaching workforce,” Sindh Minister of Education Syed Sardar Ali Shah said.