An Investigative Study Of Transformative & Transitional Impact Of Accreditation Of Teacher Education Programs In Pakistan

Abstract

It is attributed by prominent researchers as well as educational experts that educators are performing wide-ranging duties for the nation by sustaining through educational undertaking to the most important stakeholders, the learners. Teaching is a source, to accomplish the educational objectives and lead programmed development in the learners, without discrimination of their caste and age. Educators build and increase a relation with the learners by interrelate and sustaining them for their better prospect.

Pakistan is encouraged to enlarge the quantity of Higher Education Institutions. By commencement of 2017, there were 192 universities (114 public78 private) as contrast to existed institutions in 1947. In accumulation, the public sector was traditionally the biggest contributor of higher education of the 20th century, but this circumstance has been changed completely. By the start of 2018, private sector has share 41% of the overall Universities.

In Pakistan, an accreditation system has been introduced to accredit teacher education programs and initiatives are being taken to begin the registration, licensing, and certification process of teachers. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan has declared the accreditation of teacher education programs mandatory. All the institutions offering any graduate-level teacher education programs are required to get the accreditation of their programs. The National Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (NACTE) has accredited around 450 programs of more than 180 public and private sector teacher education institutions, which include colleges and universities, offering teacher education all over Pakistan. The current research is descriptive, which focused on providing an accurate description of the impact of teacher education programs, and the institutions equipped with the facility. This method was preferred as the study primarily sought to describe and understand the stakeholders’ response to the impact of accreditation on the institution and program improvement, rather than ascertaining any cause-and-effect relationship. The criterion for sample selection was based on the participation of the faculty concerned, the head of department (HOD), and the external evaluators in the accreditation process of the programs, offered by the institutions. A five-point Likert scale was developed to collect data from the stakeholders (HOD, teacher educators, and external evaluators). The use of mean, SD, provided the basis for calculation, application, and interpretation of t-test and ANOVA. The results show that majority of participants were of the view that the accreditation process has a high impact on the improvement of teacher education programs.