Educators have stressed the necessitation of teaching licenses to confirm that a teacher has the required skills and knowledge for impactful classroom practice.
A policy dialogue was organized by the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development to raise awareness, collect evidence for, and make technical recommendations for the likelihood of introducing a teaching license in Pakistan, as per a statement issued on Wednesday.
A teaching license can refine teaching quality and enhance students’ learning, besides boosting the professional status of the holders and opening new opportunities for them in Pakistan and abroad.
Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University and one of the keynote speakers, highlighted the long endeavors underpinning the medical profession that allowed it to achieve its current status and added that teacher education would have to undergo the same struggle.
“Licensure will benefit teachers as well as teacher education institutions to improve quality,” she added.
Dr. Irfan Muzaffar, the Technical Director at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Education Support Programme who was the other keynote speaker at the dialogue, said, “Teacher licensing is desirable in Pakistan to improve teaching standards. However, we need to be mindful of the political economy of teaching licenses. The schools of education at universities need to make a concerted effort in this regard”.
The poor learning outcomes of Pakistani students are evident in the assessments by a number of local and global agencies. The government’s National Education Assessment System (NEAS), the citizen-led Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), and the international Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have illustrated how underperforming students’ learning outcomes really are in Pakistan.
Experts opine that Pakistani students can improve under the tutelage of teachers with relevant and credible professional development qualifications.
It was noted in the dialogue that a teaching license can be introduced to improve the teaching system and standards in the country.
