Abstract

In Pakistan, the teacher education program has undergone a number of changes in terms of a new curriculum, quality measures and certification policies. The present study has attempted to assess the effectiveness of the program from student-teachers’ perspectives. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 200 student-teachers from four public sector universities. An initial descriptive analysis showed that teaching quality has slightly improved. An institution with a better learning environment was better at meeting student-teachers expectation. Only 12% of the participants reported that 100% of their expectations were met, while 40% of the participants reported that 80% of their expectations were met by the program. There was no association between Strengths of the Program and Sex’ as, ?2 (2, n = 165) = .588, p >.05, phi = .06.  The association between Program Level (ADE, B. Ed) and Perceived Strengths of the Program was statistically significant as ?2 (3, n = 165) = 24.725, p >.0005, phi = .380. Institution Type and Perceived Strengths of the Program were also statistically significantly associated as ?2 (9, n= 165) = 80.060, p<.05.

Key Words

Teacher Education, Student- Teachers,Teacher motivation, Teaching Expectations

Introduction

The teacher education program has recently been through a number of reforms in structure, content and quality (Din et al., 2020). It was owing to the Pakistan National Education Policy that re-emphasized the quality of teacher education in the country (Government of Pakistan, 2009). Previously many researchers had been criticizing the role of policies and plans which were poorly implemented and thus could not yield the desired results (UNECO & USAID, 2006; ICG, 2014). A common reason reported for the failure of previous plans for reforms in teacher education is mostly associated with the lack of attention by the then governments and also owing to a number of issues within the education system that have perpetually impeded the implementation process (Ahmed et al., 2014). A new curriculum was designed in 2012 with the help of USAID, which supported the program with scholarships in order to attract talented youth to fulfil the lack of quality teacher in the country (Khan, 2017). For the first time, B. Ed (Hons.) was offered at universities and teacher education colleges. Since then,a number of new issues have been reported by teacher educators and student teachers. These problems ranged from the nature of the program themselves, in addition to various barriers in the implementation of the program. Those students who have recently completed the ADE program seem to have suffered from various administrative issues and also from complicated and unclear rules for the award of degrees and eligibility criteria for various jobs. Much institutional management even has failed to recognize ADE as equivalent to the B.A as promised at the beginning.  These problems seem to be still prevailing with those who have been enrolled. Various studies have been conducted highlighting those issues but, none of the studies has attempted a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of the program from student-teachers’ perspectives.  Therefore, a quantitative analysis of the programs from the perspectives of the student-teachers themselves is needed in order for revisiting the shortcomings of the program. The present study will thus help in realizing how various aspects of the program are working well and what the areas of weakness are and are in need of improvement.  

Literature Review

A program is called effective when it yields the desired results as a result of implementation (Mehmood, 2014). The effectiveness of any program depends on various factors (Ali, 2011). These factors include clear policy guidelines, workable plans, effective communication, and capacity to deal with various challenges (Ahmad, et al, 2014). 

The problems associated with teacher education are multifaceted and thus need not only a careful planning but also a rigorous and consistent vigilance to the challenges and difficulties that impede the implementation process (Hennessy & Lynch, 2017). The success of teacher education programs also seems to depend on the type of workforce this sector attracts from within the society (Din, 2015). Teaching is not, in general, regarded as a career as another type of careers is considered. In other countries teaching career is not a ‘last resort’ unlike Pakistan (Government of Pakistan, 2009) rather, they have other motivational factors, which include the aspirants of teaching job expect that they see teaching as an opportunity for lifelong learning, and socially a worthwhile job (Kyriacou, et al., 2003; Din, 2020). 

Hence the quality of teacher would depend on the type of motivation with which they enter into the workforce for the teaching profession (Akbar et al., 2013). For the programs to be effective, on the one hand, drastic measures are required in order to attract talented youth as a workforce for the teaching profession. On the other hand, those who somehow enter into the field also need due attention. They come with their own expectations, which are either fulfilled or ignored. The problem of meeting the expectations of pre-service, especially in-service teachers, has been a perpetual issue not only in Pakistan but also from a global perspective (Wilhelm, Dewhurst-Savellis, & Parker, 2000). Their expectations are also important to be fulfilled for it keeps their motivation high and ensures that their commitment and zest to their career remains to be high throughout (Din, 2015). What teachers expect from the teaching career is that they not only should provide opportunities to excel but also they expect that it should not put them under much stress (Wilhelm et al., 2002). Teacher satisfaction is such a construct that is also taken up by many researchers as a crucial factor in making teachers more productive (Torlak,& Kuzey, 2019). Bitner and Hubert (1994) consider quality, performance and satisfaction are interrelated factors.  

According to O‘Neil and Palmer (2004), satisfaction is the construct that measures the distance between what is expected and what actually is delivered. A useful definition of ‘satisfaction’ is the pleasurable fulfilment of the needs of a customer (Matriosayan et al., 2014). The present study thus intends to examine the effectiveness of the teacher education program in terms of the four dimensions as clearly defined and conceptualized in the literature. These dimensions include teacher motivation, teacher expectations, challenges, and satisfaction (Kyriachou et al., 2003). These dimensions are further strengthened in various studies that indicate measuring effectiveness from teachers’ perspective (Din, 2015). Although this could be an unreliable source if one would believe that what teachers say is ultimate and can be valid 100 per cent, especially when they are student teachers as they are in the learning stage and they might not be able to foresee things as higher-level leaders can. However, many researchers have adopted this model of assessing effectiveness from student-teacher perspectives as well as from teacher educators’ perspectives (Akbar, 2013, Khan, 2017). Another reason to use student-teachers perception-based assessment of the effectiveness of teacher education programs is supported by various business organization models as they believe that students at higher education are a sort of ‘customers’ whose specification is met then we call universities education being effective (Gruber, 2010). However, ‘education’ is not wholly a business enterprise as it has its roots in history, politics, the country ideology, which may or may not be as such the ‘demand’ of the ‘customers’ to be met. 

A key question is raised by another researcher that how teachers actually learn from teacher education programs should explain the effectiveness of the program (Ell et al., 2017). Regarding such a role of teacher education programs are reportedly not so satisfactory in many countries (Borko, 2004, p. 3 cited by Opfer & Pedder, 2011). Opfer and Pedder (2011) propose a complexity theory model for explanation teacher effectiveness as it incorporates various system working together to reach some conclusions. In this way, teacher effectiveness from a student-teacher perspective could be highly valuable but not ultimate. Having this understanding, it is not futile to assess teacher effectiveness programs from time to time, especially when they are in the implementation phase. 

Methodology

The present study has attempted to assess the effectiveness of the program from student-teachers perspectives. A closed ended questionnaire was developed based on the literature on teacher education that highlighted issues in various aspects of the program. The questionnaire measured four constructs: (1) Students’ Perceived Strengths of the program, (2) Students’ Perceived Weakness of the program, (3) Their Expectation Fulfilled by the program and (4) Suggestions for Improvement in the program.  A sample of 200 student-teachers from four public sector universities (50 from each) was accessed for data collection. The data were analyzed using the Chi-square statistics after an initial descriptive analysis. 

Data Analysis and Findings

The close-ended questions yielded quantitative data in the form of frequencies. Each question contained some choices. Thus, the number of participants choosing each of the choices were counted in numbers. Since the choices were analyzed in terms of counts thus, the chi-square test was applied to check to whether the distribution of answers varied across gender, institution.

 

Question 1. Indicate the most considerable strength of the program.

Question one elicited information on the perceived strengths of the existing program in which the participants were enrolled. The choices contained: (1) Learning environment is excellent, (2) Curriculums is useful, (3) Teachers are well qualified (4) Teachers are co-operative. The pattern of our analysis is presenting the chi-square results after an overall view on the frequency counts under each category, as shown in Table 1.1.

 

Table 1. Association of the ‘Strength of the Program’ and Sex

Statement	Male	Female	?2	Sig.	Phi
Learning environment is Excellent Curriculum is useful Teachers are well qualified Teachers are cooperative	05 (12.8%) 18 (46% 14 (36% 02 (5%)	12 (9%) 68 (51%) 47 (36%) 05 (4%)	.588	.156	.06
Total	39	132	42	129

Table 1 shows a quick view of the frequency responses falling under each category. The null hypothesis ‘there is no association between Strengths of the Program and Sex’ was accepted as, ?² (2, n = 165) = .588, p >.05, phi = .06.

 

Statement	ADE	B. Ed	?2	Sig.	Phi
Learning Environment is Excellent Curriculum is Useful Teachers are well qualified Teachers are cooperative	04 (10%)   22 (52%) 09 (21 %) 07 (17 %)	13 (10%)   64 (50%) 52 (40%) 00 (0%)	24.725	.000	.380
Total	42	129

Table 2. Association of the ‘Strength of the Program’ and Program Level

We also examined the association between Program Level and Perceived Strengths of the Program separately, with 2 cells having counts less than 5. The results supported the conclusion that there was a significant association as ?² (3, n = 165) = 24.725, p <.05, phi = .380. Phi values suggest a medium level strength of association

 

Table 3. Comparison between Perceived Strength of the Program and Type of Institutions.

Intuition Type	Environment Excellent	Curriculum is Useful	Teachers are well Qualified	Teachers are Cooperative
University-1 (n = 44) University-2 (n = 44) University-3 (n =38 College (n = 46)	04 (9.1%) 03 (6.8%) 05 (13.2%) 06 (13%)	22 (50 %) 27 (61.4%) 14 (36.8%) 23 (50%)	18 (40.9%) 14 (31.8%) 19 (50%) 10 (21.7%)	0 0 0 07 (4.1%
Grand Total =172	18 (10%)	86 (50%)	61 (35%)	07 (5%)

Table 3 shows an overall scenario in each institution. From college, more respondents chose the option ‘learning environment was excellent. From university 2, which was from KP, seemed to be less happy with the environment through the participants found curriculum more useful. The teacher cooperation dimension received lesser responses, which contributed to the increase in percentage counts below 5. Thus, we removed the aspect four, Teachers are cooperative from our analysis to avoid the Type-I error, however it is reported in Table 3.  It was hypothesized that there is no association between Institution Type and Perceived Strengths of the Program. Result of the supported the decision to reject the null hypothesis, as ?² (9, n= 165) = 80.060, p<.05. The environment of the institution thus seems to be having an impact on the effectiveness of the teacher education program.

 

Question 2. To what extent this program is meeting your expectation?

A second question in the questionnaire was directed to elicit information on student-teachers’ perceived expectations met at various degrees. These were given options to respond to the question: (1) 100 per cent met, (2) 80 % met, (3) 50 % met, (4) below 50% met

 

Table 4. Association of ‘Student-Teachers’ Level of Expectations Fulfilled’ and Sex

Statement Choice	Male	Female	?2	P	Phi
100% Met 80% Met 50% Met Below 50% Met	6 (15%) 17 (41%) 15 (37%) 04 (10%)	15 (11%) 54 (39%) 44 (32%) 24 (18%)	1.645	p > .05	.096
Total	41	137	40	138

We hypothesized that there is no association between Gender and Expectations. The results supported the null hypothesis as ?² (3, n = 138) = 1.645, p > .05, phi = .096.

 

Table 5. Association of ‘Student-Teachers’ Level of Expectations Fulfilled’ and Program level

Statement Choice	ADE	B. Ed Hons.	?2	p	Phi
100% Met 80% Met 50% Met Below 50% Met	10 (25%) 19 (48%) 07 (18 %) 04 (10%)	11 (08%) 52 (38%) 51 (37%) 24 (17)	13.052	<.05	.271.
Total	40	138

Table 5 shows the association between Program Type and Expectation Met was statistically significant, ?² (3, n = 138) = 13.052, p < .05, phi = .271.

 

Table 6. Association between Expectations Fulfilled’ and Institution Type

Institution	100%	80%	50%	Below 50%
University-1 (n = 48) University-2 (n = 44) University-3 (n =44) College (n = 43)	03 (14%) 02 (10%) 04 (19%) 12 (57%)	28 (39 %) 11 (16%) 12 (17%) 20 (29%)	03 (06%) 22 (47%) 15 (32%) 07 (15%)	03 (10%) 09 (31%) 12 (42%) 05 (17%)
Grand Total =179	21	71	47	29

Table 6 shows the association between Intuition Type and Expectation Met was significant as ?²

(9, n = 179) = 36. 741, p < .0005, phi = .453. Phi value indicates a medium association. By a quick look at table 4 we can see that university- which was from Punjab shows highest number of respondents indicating 80 % of their expectation were being met by the institution.

Kyricaou et al. (2003) reported that within period of five years, soon after induction into actual teaching career, a significant number of teachers left the job. We added a question in the questionnaire to know what future intentions the student-teachers show.

 

Research Question 3. Would you like to do after this program?

Table 7. Association of Future Intentions with the Sex

Statement	Male	Female	?2	P	phi
Teaching Job Nothing Higher Studies Change Discipline	18 (39%) 02 (04%) 22 (48%) 04 (09%)	41 (53%) 06 (07%) 22 (28%) 09 (12%)	2.646	<.05	.118
Total	46	78	46	144

A quick look at Table 7 shows that most of the females (53%) wanted to stay in teaching job, while 39% of males reported to do teaching after the program. Males (48%) were more aspiring for higher studies as compared to females (22%). The association between Future intentions and sex was examined through using Chis-square statistics. There was a no significant association between Sex and Future Intentions: ?² (3, n = 190) = 2.646, p > .05, phi = .118.

 

Table 8. Association of Future Intention with Program Level

Statement	ADE	B. Ed Hons.	?2	P	Phi
Teaching Job Nothing Higher Studies Change Discipline	21 (45%) 01 (02%) 15 (33 %) 09 (20%)	38 (26%) 07 (05%) 95 (66%) 04 (03%)	25.827	< .05	.369
Total	46	144

Table 8 shows the distribution of respondents in terms of their future goals. From ADE group (45%) wanted to do a teaching job; while a good number (66%) of participants from B. Ed also indicated they would go for higher studies. The association between Future Intention and Program Type, was significant as ?² (3, n = 190) = 25.827, p < .05, phi = .369.

 

Question 4. What would you like to do after this program?

Table 9. Association between Institutions and Future Intentions

Institution Type	Teaching Job	Nothing	Higher Studies	Change Discipline
University-1 (n = 48) University-2 (n = 49) University-3 (n =44) College (n = 50)	17 (28%) 10 (17%) 11 (18%) 22 (37%)	00 (0%) 03 (38%) 04 (50%) 01 (12%)	30 (27%) 34 (31%) 28 (26%) 18 (16%)	01 (08%) 02 (15%) 01 (08%) 09 (69%)
Grand Total =191	60	08	110	13

Comparison was also made between the four institutions on ‘future intention’ of the participants. A quick view of Table 9 shows most of the participants (110 out of 191) wanted to continue higher studies. It was also worth noting that from the ADE group (College), most participants intend to change their field of study. The results of the chi-square test showed a statistically sig association: ?² (9, n = 191) = 29.128, p < .05, phi = .391. Phi value also indicates a considerable strength of the association.

Question 5. What areas of improvement you would like to suggest that you’re the manager of your institutional should give attention on?

 

Table 10. Association between Suggested Areas of Improvement and Sex

Statement Choice	Male	Female	?2	P	Phi
Content Course Teaching Quality Clarity in rules Learning facilities	9 (20%) 18 (41%) 12 (28%) 05 (11%)	34 (25%) 51 (37%) 40 (29%) 13 (9%)	.546	>.05	.055
Total	44	138	46	182

A quick look at Table 10 shows that most of the females (51%) wanted teaching quality to be improved. Likewise majority of males (41%) also suggested the same. There was a no significant association between sex and suggestions on ‘areas of improvement’ as ?² (3, n = 182) = .546, p > .05, phi = .055.

 

Table 11. Association between Suggested areas of Improvement and Program Level

Statement Choice	ADE	B. Ed Hons.	?2	P	Phi
Content Course Teaching Quality The clarity in rules Learning facilities	09 (20%) 10 (22%) 15 (33 %) 12 (26%)	34 (19%) 59 (32%) 37 (20%) 6 (3%)	21.357	<.05	.343
Total	46	182

Table 11 shows the results from the Crosstab analysis that there was no statistically significant association between Suggested Areas of Improvement and Program Types: ?² (3, n = 182) = 21.357, p <.05, phi = .343.

 

Table 12. Association of Program Strengths with Institution Type.

	Content Course	Teaching Quality	Clarity in rules	Learning facilities
University-1 (n = 40) University-2 (n = 49) University-3 (n =50) College (n = 35)	09 (23%) 13 (27%) 04 (8%) 10 (29%)	26 (65 %) 20 (41%) 27 (54%) 22 (63%)	5 (13%) 5 (10%) 3 (6%) 3 (9%)	0 11(22%) 16 (32%) 0
Grand Total =174	36 (21%)	95 (55%)	16 (9%)	27 (16%)

The association between Suggested Areas of Improvement and Institution Types was examined on Chis-square statistics. It was significant as ?² (9, n = 190) = 54.471, p < .05, phi = .546. Phi value indicates a medium association which means teachers perceive differently about the teacher education program across institutions. As we can see almost on all five questions the difference between institution is statistically significant indicating institutional influence on student-teachers’ views on the effectiveness of the teacher education program.

Discussion

The study was based on the assumption that teacher education program being a part of higher education can be assessed well for their effectiveness from student-teachers’ perspectives. There are many research studies that determine various programs of university education from students’ satisfaction (Ghazal, Gul, Hanzala, Jessop, Tharani, 2014; Elliot, 2002; Gruber, 2010).  Thus, the present study was an attempt to assess the teacher education programs from student-teachers’ perceptions, which have recently gone through reforms on a large scale from. From the analysis, a number of significant findings came to the surface.  The first research question that measured the strength of the program indicated that students who were appreciating learning environment in their institutions under the teacher education program were greater than their male counterparts. In other dimensions, again more females were happy. The implication of this findings is that the apparent cause of such a difference may mean that females were more motivated towards teaching as compared to male and view teaching more favorably. Many previous studies working on teacher motivation also indicated a greater level of female teachers’ motivation level in teaching (Akayol, 2016; Din, 2015; Mehmood, 2011). 

The strength of the teacher education program as perceived by student teachers was statistically significantly different between institutions. This findings has also implications, indicative of the impact of the program effectiveness with individual institutional setting. It basically reflects the difference in the learning environment in each institution. Learning environment is already reported to be a significant contributory factor to students’ satisfaction and their academic performance in many studies (Ali, 2011; Akar, 2012; Gruber, 2010; Hussain, et al., 2017; Martirosayan, Saxaon, & Wanjohi, 2014).

Regarding how much their expectations were being met, again, females reported that their expectation is met more than their male counterparts. However less satisfaction was shown by the students of B. Ed hons as compared to ADE graduates. The student of B. Ed seemed to be more aware of what was going on and also had a higher level of expectations as compared to the students of ADE. Females were in greater number than indicated their future career as a teaching and were aspiring for a teaching job while males were more interested in seeking higher studies. This finding may also have implications for policymakers and teacher educators to plan for the new trend in teacher education that more females are joining teacher education than males, and in Pakistani society, females have more unique and specific needs also. There are also reports on low level of teacher commitment of those whose expectations were not met (Mehmood, 2011). Previous studies further reflect that any teacher education program is more expected to enable the trainees to be able to actually do something in life, rather than merely being degree-awarding agencies (Akar, 2012: Din, 2015). Many other factors are also rooted or linked with the factor of employment one way or the other (Din, 2020). 

Some of the limitations of the present study are: (1) any teacher effectiveness may not be acceptable for all if assessed and judged only on the basis of what student-teachers have to say. There are clearer studies that can fully be justified to be carried out from students’ perspective for instance, the study of Martirosayan, Saxaon, Wanjohi (2014) who studies the relationship between university students’ satisfaction on their academic performance in the American context. (2) Another limitation of the study is the use of certain questions on which we applied the chi-square test; for example, we gave the option to choose. It does not mean it was the only aspect, and the participants were not aware of any other aspect they could show even more or less satisfaction in. Gender wise comparison in the study should also be viewed carefully as, in Pakistan, teacher education is becoming more feminized year by year. Rehman and Dawood (2016) have well described this phenomenon, saying: “teacher education is a most favorite choice of Pakistani females” (p. 60).  

Conclusion

Teacher education has recently met many changes injected into the system, which necessitates that research studies on the program be conducted more frequently in order to explore its effectiveness implementation. This will yield in as a source of continuous and useful feedback on problems and areas of improvement in the teacher education program. With this aim, the present study structured questionnaire collect data from student-teachers who were the direct beneficiary of the programs so as to assess the program effectiveness of the key dimensions. From the analysis, a number of significant findings came to the surface, which has to lead the research to reach certain conclusions.  Students who rate learning environment favorably in their institutions under the teacher education program also show greater motivations towards a teaching career. Female’s disproportionality in the program needs a special focus of the policy makers and teacher educators, as in Pakistani society, previously teacher education program had no such trends and people are now accepting females role in educational sector more than in any other sector. In future teacher education program may also see huge trend in the feminization of teacher education program in Pakistan as indicated by many other researchers from Pakistan (Rehman, & Dawood, 2016). It was noticed that teaching quality however was showing an upward slope, which means showing a noticeable improvement which is good news for teacher education in Pakistan. Other studies have also indicated about the improvement of teaching quality (e.g., Khan, 2017).  Lastly, the findings that almost all the dimension tested showed that significant association with Institution Type, which implies institutional environment is a highly significant factor contributing to how student teachers might see the effectiveness of teacher education program. For example, institution from Punjab were showing a greater number of satisfactions, more expectations were met and more students were aspiring for higher studies. Institutions thus may need to focus on their internal structures, environment, and teaching quality in order to ensure teacher education program meets it aims, goal and objectives.  

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