Teaching and Teacher Education in Pakistan: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

This book explores teaching and teacher education along the continuum of teachers’ careers within the context of Pakistan. It makes a significant contribution by consolidating historical and contemporary perspectives on teaching and teacher education into one concise volume, grounded in the social, cultural, political, and fiscal landscape of Pakistan—a lower middle-income country. The aim is to provide actionable recommendations for addressing issues within this field in the contemporary, fast-changing world. It argues that to adequately prepare children and youth for a dynamic world, teaching and teacher education must undergo transformation. Teacher education provision needs to be nimble and responsive to new teaching methods and emerging needs for skills development. Teaching must also accommodate the diversity in classrooms resulting from significant demographic shifts, increasing socio-economic divides, persistent gender inequities, conflicts, and disruptive digital technologies, among other factors. Divided into two interconnected sections, the first situates the evolution of teacher education within the global context before shifting focus to Pakistan's historical post-colonial policy landscape as a lower-middle-income country. Finally, it addresses the current context amidst the digital revolution, neo-liberal policies, and privatization. The second section draws upon highly relevant classroom-based research from Pakistan to provide insights into key issues in teaching and their implications for teacher education. Overall, the book offers profound insights applicable to teaching and teacher education in other similar post-colonial lower-middle-income countries.