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Issues in Educational Research, 2020, Vol 30(3), 1084-1104.
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Teacher educators' perceptions of professional standards: Implementation challenges in Pakistan

Sadia Shaukat
University of Education, Pakistan

Raqib Chowdhury
Monash University, Australia

The aim of this research was to assess teacher educators' knowledge, perceptions and understanding of the Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan (STEP) project which was designed to develop professional standards for teachers in Pakistan. Using a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews, data were collected from teacher educators (N=12) across various elementary and secondary teacher education programs. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified - teachers' firm belief in the need for change and reform, the relevance of teaching standards to current day Pakistan, support for implementation, and confidence in implementing teaching standards. Overall, participant responses indicated that all teacher educators believed that professional standards were appropriate as a set of guided principles encapsulating a professional body of knowledge, which ideally provided the benchmark and framework to assist pre-service teachers in implementing effective teaching practices in their classrooms. However, the same educators revealed that the integration of such Standards in teacher education programs was yet to be achieved, due to various execution challenges. The article discusses the need to integrate the Professional Standards into current pre-service teacher training programs while being sensitive to contextual givens.
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Authors: Dr Sadia Shaukat (corresponding author) teaches educational psychology, learning theories and psychological testing in the Faculty of Education, University of Education, Pakistan. She has a Masters degree in Education and a PhD in Teacher Education, and has published widely in areas of teacher efficacy, higher education, teacher education and gender discrimination.
Email: sadia.shaukat@ue.edu.pk

Dr Raqib Chowdhury teaches TESOL, bilingualism and sociolinguistics in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. He has Masters degrees in English Literature and in TESOL, and a PhD in Education, and has published extensively in areas of English for academic purposes, culture and pedagogy, teacher education, TESOL, English as an international language, international education and identity.
Email: raqib.chowdhury@monash.edu

Please cite as: Shaukat, S. & Chowdhury, R. (2020). Teacher educators' perceptions of professional standards: Implementation challenges in Pakistan. Issues in Educational Research, 30(3), 1084-1104. http://www.iier.org.au/iier30/shaukat.pdf


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