TEACHER QUALITY, MARGINALIZED STUDENTS AND POLICY RESPONSE IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The importance of teacher quality is well documented in the literature but there is no consensus on what constitutes teacher quality because of the complexity of the phenomenon. Further, teacher quality varies for different educational levels. It may also vary for students with diverse needs, especially for marginalized students as teacher quality gets affected by student-related factors such as socioeconomic status, language, location, and gender. There is ample evidence that students with disadvantaged backgrounds have less qualified teachers around the world. The literature on the nature of teacher quality required for marginalized students to meet their diverse needs in developing countries is lacking. How teacher quality is defined will have implications for related teacher policies and the analysis of these policies also indicates how an education system approach teacher quality. The policy response may be different for marginalized students’ setting. Teachers are central to the discussion of teacher quality, yet our understanding of their perspectives on the topic—especially in the context of developing countries—remains very limited. The study aims to analyze the issue of teacher quality in the perspective of teachers in primary and secondary public schools in the particular context of Punjab, Pakistan. What is teacher quality in teachers view and how teacher quality may be different for students from poverty, minority language, disadvantaged locations, and gender to meet the diverse needs of these students and bring them at par with other students in the classroom. The policy response to improve teacher quality will also be explored in the study.