TEACHERS at the higher education level play a vital role in raising students’ knowledge, skills and aptitude. At the time of selection, they are selected based on relevant qualifications and experience. As soon as they are appointed, multiple subjects are assigned to them to teach at the undergraduate or graduate level. Although they are qualified in their subjects, they are not trained to teach in the desired manner. They start managing classes without proper lesson planning, the desired teaching method or a plan for assessing student learning. It is important to learn how to design and deliver the lectures and plan the appropriate assessment tools.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it seems easy to develop content through generative AI tools, but without knowing the audience, their learning style and their level of previous knowledge, it isn’t easy to deliver the content in the desired manner. This is the only reason why pre-service training is compulsory in developed countries. It helps newly inducted faculty members to learn the basics of lesson planning, effective teaching methods, effective learning strategies, pedagogical skills, assessment techniques and the use of ICT, including AI, for the teaching and learning process. In our country, it is not mandatory yet but some universities offer one or two weeks of orientation for new faculty members. Consequently, most faculty members began to manage their classes in a traditional manner or in the way they were taught.
Once they learn how to manage a class for an hour, they continue the practice for the rest of their career because there is no direct check and balance on how a faculty member is teaching in the class. This reminds me of a documentary of Dr. Tony Wagner, Harvard researcher on the school education system of Finland, with the title ‘Finland Phenomenon’. The documentary shows how the Finnish school education system works. The main point is about the teachers who are initially attached to the senior teachers for teaching and learning practice. They keep him under supervision till he accomplishes the required skills. The system is less documented and relies on trust in each other. There is a limited burden on students and teachers. The junior teachers are assisted by and supervised by the seniors for course design, delivery and assessment. No, similar practices exist on our side and resultantly, teachers start delivering in through conventional methods. Our checks and balances are limited to checking if the class started on time or not and there is no concern about how one is teaching in the class or whether expected outcomes are achieved or not.
In most of the Universities, course evaluation is carried out by asking selected students to fill out a satisfaction survey. Those course evaluation survey results are mostly positive, as students fear bad grades if any negative remarks are given. The main reason for this is that staff who keep that survey data mostly disclose the students who gave real feedback. As a result, no real purpose of improvement in the teaching and learning practices is made. It is important to note that the way Knowledge is being generated i.e., it is increasing not by days but by minutes and seconds. Consuming the relevant knowledge by the faculty member and then delivering it effectively requires proper and systematic training. In Pakistan, since the establishment of the Higher Education Commission, there have been multiple attempts to introduce pre-service training, but due to limited resources and other reasons, it has not been made mandatory yet. HEC introduced a faculty development program in 2004 and it continues to train faculty members through on-site and on-campus initiatives. The training modules are designed by the senior and eminent educationists who have considered international good practices in the domain and their experience.
One of the main modules is Teaching as a Profession in Higher Education. It highlights that teaching at the university level is not just delivering lectures; it is a professional commitment to develop minds, uphold academic integrity and serve society through knowledge. This also requires Academic Planning, which is nothing but setting learning outcomes, designing courses, teaching strategies and the right assessment approach for measuring the student learning outcomes. In our universities, where class sizes and student diversity are increasing, the training of structured planning helps teachers to manage time and maintain standards.
A training module on the psychological well-being of teachers and learners is also part of the training through which teachers are apprised of the need to take care of themselves and the students about workload issues, performance expectations and social challenges. There are modules on communication skills, integrating ICT in education, Research & Development, Assessment & Evaluation and Microteaching, which are the key themes covered in the training. The Universities in Pakistan can benefit from these modules and train their new and already serving faculty members. It will help produce quality graduates from the Universities.
— The writer is Director, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.
