1. Introduction
Bloomfield Hall School is one of the well-known educational institutions in Pakistan. The
educationists from UK and Pakistan had played a significant role in its establishment. It was
founded in 1984. The project was intended to provide British style education to the students.
Bloomfield Hall has developed in two major directions. It has opened many branches in various
cities of Pakistan and has formed a sister institute, UCL - University College Lahore, to facilitate
the provision of higher education. It is a modern institute that provides unprejudiced and
progressive environment to inculcate an attitude of critical inquest amongst its pupils.
2. Mission Statement
“At Bloomfield Hall we aim to be an effective school, providing a quality environment for pupils
to develop and achieve a high standard of education. We want them to be happy, have a good
self-image, be good citizens and set the foundations needed for adult life.”
Bloomfield Hall intend to achieve the school’s mission by providing equal opportunities of
learning to all the children, developing a feeling of self-worth in them, educating them to respect
and be tolerant towards other religious and cultural groups, and teaching them their rights and
duties to be a good citizen of this country.
3. Governance and Management Structure
Most of the authority is in the hands of the top management. They are the ones who make all the
decisions deal with all the issues that affect the entire organization. Policies are decided by these
governing bodies of the school and later the administration and implementation of those policies
take place.
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A manager’s job is to pursue any course of action in order to meet the objectives of any
organization. Also, maintaining control over all the actions taken, inspiring, and directing people
under them are a part of important duties they are expected to perform. The hierarchy of the
management of Bloomfield Hall School is as follows:
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4. Family of Bloomfield Hall School
Bloomfield Hall School has three regional offices in Lahore, Multan and Islamabad. Its head
office is located in Lahore, which provides all the policy guidance to the regional offices. The
school has a centralized system in which most of the authority and decision making is done by
the Head office. Bloomfield Hall and its affiliated schools have almost seventy-five branches in
forty cities of Pakistan. The affiliated institutes of Bloomfield are as follows:

The Company Schools

BH Publishers

The Country School

University College Lahore

UCL Business School Multan

TILS (The Institute of Legal Studies)

City of London College (UK)

BH Management System

GEMS Metric Stream Schools

Lahore School of Fashion and Design (LSFD)
5. Campus Facilities
Bloomfield Hall recognizes the importance of educating and training pupils in purpose-built
campuses. The house system, originated in England, is followed by various Commonwealth
countries. According to this traditional feature of English-speaking schools, the school is divided
into certain number of houses and every student is allocated to one house. These houses may
compete with each other in various ways. The term ‘house’ refers to grouping of pupils in these
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schools. Bloomfield Hall also follows this system. It provides various co-curricular facilities as
part of the timetable; inter house quizzes and competitions, opportunity to experience Art and
Craft, Educational and Recreational trips, cultivating taste of Music through special Music
lessons, arranging club activities (including chess, karate, drama, kathak, ballet, cookery,
stitching, science clubs, etc.), physical fitness and games, sports and debates. The infrastructure
facilities include: Air-conditioning, swimming pools, science and computer labs, and various
audio/visual aids.
6. Social Responsibility
Bloomfield Hall believes that inculcating the desire in students, to be a responsible citizen of this
country is imperative from school level. Therefore, sharing whatever the children have with the
unprivileged segment of the society is essential. The branches of the school voluntarily take part
in various social activities for fulfilling this intention. They have also established association
with some NGOs for this purpose; for instance, Aabroo Schools, World Hope Organization, etc.
7. School Rules
The school’s rule book provides details of the following:
o Admission Procedure
o Attendance and Punctuality
o Academic Aspects
o Uniform, school bags, etc
o Conduct and Discipline
o Parent School Contact
o Miscellaneous
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8. A cross-cultural model for developing Comparative and International Educational
Leadership and Management
According to the article about cross-cultural comparison in the area of Educational Leadership
and Management by Dimmock and Walker, the educators and politicians in East Asian countries
set forth the necessity for schools in these countries to follow the West. They believe that unlike
the Eastern schools, the Western schools put more emphasis on creativity, critical thinking, and
diversity and problem-solving techniques. However, another emerging trend was observed in
1990s, when the developed countries also started taking interest in the educational institutes of
developing countries.
Internationalism and principle of cooperation among nations has become desirable in this
millennium of globalization. It is significant to consider cultural and contextual appropriateness
when the developing nations are trying to import policies and practices. This due consideration is
important for policy borrowing in the educational institutions as well, for a conceptual and
analytical approach to comparative and educational management. However, the dilemma is that
educational management has failed to develop in this direction.
Economic competitiveness is dependent on education systems in this age of globalization.
Nowadays, more people want to enter the competitive places in the world through education.
Hence, there is a need to develop contextually bounded school leadership and management
theories with more precise and discriminating use of language.
The focus of this article has been on cultural and cross-cultural analysis as the basis of
comparison. It has been recognized that organizational, regional, societal and national cultures
have their roles in understanding life in schools. Hence, culture is a base concept for comparative
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study. It exists at multiple levels, providing researchers with rich opportunities to explore
interrelationships between schools and their micro and macro environments.
The existing comparative approaches have limitations. They are over-generalized and ignore
local differences. Also, external school contexts are not taken into account when conducting
within-school studies. Policy-makers, who adopt policy blueprints or borrow foreign policies
without analyzing their cultural suitability, follow a very narrow approach that has little chances
of success. Therefore, in order to make leadership practices and policy implementation workable
in any school environment, it is necessary to take the multi-level cultural contexts into account.
9. Organizational Culture
9.1. A Model for Cross-cultural Comparison
In reference to Figure 1 (Page 148) in the article, school and school-based management can be
analyzed through four main elements. They are as follows:

Organizational Structures,

Leadership and Management,

Curriculum, and

Teaching and Learning.
A school’s management gets affected by each of the above stated elements. These dimensions
help in defining the organizational culture. Moreover; regional, societal and national cultures
also have an influence on the environment of the school. Regional Culture refers to the culture of
the area where the branch of a school is actually located. Societal Culture refers to the Culture of
a specific province of city. However, National Culture is the one which is followed by the state.
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Qualitative differences exist between the organizational and societal culture. National cultures
are more enduring and change gradually over a long period of time.
9.2. An analysis of Bloomfield Hall School for cross-cultural comparison
The report provides an analysis of Bloomfield Hall School – Township Branch. It also defines
the regional, societal and national cultures; and their influences on the environment of the
branch. Later, a policy from DFE – Department for Education (UK) has been taken in order to
see the possibilities of its implementation and limitations in this school under study. Considering
the four elements of the school-based management stated above, will provide the basis of
comparison for Bloomfield Hall School. These four elements will help in defining the culture of
the organization with precision.
Organizational Structure: Structures represent the framework of the organization and provide
policy contexts within which the schools have a certain degree of discretion. The Township
branch of Bloomfield Hall is not a purpose-built campus. The branch was initially a junior
campus till Grade Five. However, later the management decided to increase the number of
classes. It has achieved the status of a Middle School now, where they have classes from
Reception to Grade Seven.
For the better management of the school, the branch is segregated into three sections:
o The Elementary Section (Reception, Prep1 and Prep2),
o The Junior Section (Classes 1 to 3), and
o The Middle Section (Classes 4 to 7).
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Each section is managed by the coordinator, who oversees and monitors all the activities of that
specific section assigned to him/her. He/she is accountable for all the actions taken, in front of
the Branch Head. The branch head makes most of the decisions regarding the day to day
operations of the school. He / She would be accountable for the actions undertaken and decisions
made to the head office.
The budgetary planning is done by the branch itself. The main source of revenue generation is
the student fee. The students may get admissions on the basis of their parent’s wealth. The
students are then grouped into classes for learning. The system offers co-education. The more the
number of admissions, the more revenue would be generated. The curriculum is prescribed by
the Head Office which the branch is supposed to follow without making any changes.
Leadership and Management: Bloomfield Hall’s decision-making power lies at the central
points in the organization. The system is centralized and less authority is delegated to the head of
the branch. The development of the curriculum, allocation of budgets and other resources,
structuring and disposition of curriculum, etc. are scheduled and decided by the people at the top
managerial positions in the head office. For instance, time and schedule of exams, scheduling of
parents-teachers’ conferences, number of lessons per subject during a week with respect to the
importance given to that specific subject, inter-branch competitions, monitoring and evaluation
of teachers, TNAs (Training Needs Assessments) of teachers, etc. and all related tasks to be
accomplished by the branch head, are all programmed by the Head Office.
Once everything has been decided by the staff members in Head Office, the policies and rules
are stated in writing and given to the branch head. He/she then has the leeway to implement
those policies and meet the deadlines to the best of their management abilities.
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Within this branch of Bloomfield Hall School, as is also the case in other branches, the head is in
the leadership position; all-powerful, most of the time following the autocratic style of
leadership, giving a little degree of freedom of action or thought to his/her subordinates.
Instructions and guidelines are given to the teachers at various times, to reinforce the rules that
they are supposed to follow. For instance, copy checking is not allowed in the class; and teachers
should be vigilant both, within and outside the class. They should be keenly watchful to the
activities and behavior of the students in school. The Principal/Head takes two to three rounds of
all the three sections during the school time, in order to monitor and observe the behavior of the
students and teachers. It is his/her responsibility to oversee the cleanliness, maintenance, and
discipline of the school. Teachers within the classes are in authority and held responsible for all
the actions of the students. Similarly, teachers on Break, Morning, or After-school duty are
responsible for any mishap, dispute, or injury to the students outside. Teachers who gossip or sit
idle in their free lessons are not appreciated and considered indolent. They are thought of as
habitually doing nothing productive in their free time.
The processes concern the extent to which there is collaboration and participation of school
personnel in the management of the school and the operation of the curriculum. Very little
authority is delegated to teachers in school management. However they are expected to perform
non-academic/non-teaching duties that are not part of their job description. Teachers do
participate in the managerial tasks of the school by performing certain duties, e.g. designing the
layout of the school magazine, preparing computerized House Lists for the junior and middle
section; preparing all the back-drops and props during events like Annual Parents’ Day, etc.
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Certain managerial and academic duties of the staff members do overlap in this branch of the
school. The head of the school is also the coordinator of the middle school and even teaching
English to one class of the Middle Section. The coordinator of the junior section is also teaching
one subject to three classes. Similarly, the coordinator of the elementary section is also playing
her active role in academics of the school. These people, who are actually supposed to perform
managerial activities, are also teaching. In a way, this has a positive side too. There is a good
collaboration and participation of the staff members and good team spirit. It shows the
involvement of the management in the academic activities of the branch. Also, since it is a
smaller set-up, the monitoring is easy.
The management of the school has another important determinant; i.e. Motivation of the staff.
Motivation could be monetary and non-monetary, both. In this branch, there are certain activities
conducted, e.g. club activities; which provide monetary rewards to the teachers. Different
teachers supervise different clubs, according to their non-academic skills and activities. They get
paid for supervising these club activities on the basis of number of clubs conducted in that
specific quarter. For instance, if a teacher has conducted six cooking clubs and taught students
certain culinary skills in those sessions; she would get six thousand (Rs.1000/club) at the end of
the session.
As far as the non-monetary rewards are concerned, the system is rigid and reluctant to
experiment. Most of the time, certain responsibilities are given to the same teachers just because
they are already good in certain skills. This could restrict the professional growth of the other
teachers and de-motivate them.
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The branch is less structured and some informal ethos followed. For instance, a teacher may take
a leave by sending a text message to his/her coordinator; rather than giving a written application.
There is less use of technology when writing applications and managing the results of the
students. All the evaluation sheets, descending order sheets, grade registers, and students’ report
cards are manually filled. Once this is done, the final entry is made in the folder of results in the
school’s system.
Since it is a smaller set-up, job politics and certain issues don’t get diluted that easily and at
times there is a blame game going on which deteriorates the efficient functioning of the school.
Conflicts are resolved is people ignore these issues and learn to let go certain issues, rather than
raising voice. Power culture prevails in the branch as is prevalent in the country.
Evaluation, performance and appraisal are done by the Head. The behavior of the class while
teacher is delivering the lesson is observed. The involvement of the students in the lesson, the
teaching strategies used by the teachers, the overall results of the majority of students define the
good teacher. The more satisfied the parents are from the performance of their children and with
the teacher, the better evaluation the teacher gets from the management of the school.
For staff development, various workshops are conducted. TNA (Training Needs Assessment)
forms are filled by the teachers in every academic year and they are encouraged to attend certain
refreshing courses, related to their subject. This helps then move easily in the progressive
environment and provide better learning opportunities to the students.
Curriculum: It is also linked to the organizational structure of the school, already explained
above in the report. The designing of the curriculum should represent the way in which
knowledge, skills and attitudes are configured for delivery to the students. For this, the curricula
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of the schools should be considering these characteristics. Goals and purposes of the curricula,
curriculum breadth, curriculum depth, integration, differentiation, and relevance are significant
determinants of the curriculum.
According to a research conducted by Agha Khan’s Institute of Educational Development
(Nilofar Vazir, 2003); the official curriculum is made by the policy-makers with a top-down
approach for its adoption and implementation. Teachers are expected to follow that curriculum
rigidly without making any amendments. Although the purpose of this curriculum is to enhance
learning opportunities for the students, the objectives and goals are vaguely defined and limited
‘directed’ and ‘undirected’ opportunities are provided.
If the national scenario is related to Bloomfield’s policies of curriculum implementation;
‘specified fixed course of study’ is a part of the curriculum. Scheme of work for every subject is
defined by the head office and the subject teachers are supposed to follow that strictly. The
subject-specific objectives for every quarter of an academic year are included in the scheme of
work. Teachers follow a highly authoritative kind of leadership in schools and classrooms for the
successful completion of the course outline. There is an evident mismatch between curriculum
and curriculum implementers due to the lack of teacher ownership during the curriculum
planning stage. For instance, the average number of weeks in one quarter of an academic year is
equal to six to seven weeks. The teacher of any subject may think that the students of a particular
batch would be able to cover three chapters rather than four in that quarter. However, the scheme
of work clearly states that the number of chapters to be covered in that quarter should be four.
The teacher is bound to follow the outline designed by the top management. The curriculum is
not changed every year considering the learning capabilities of the students of each batch. Hence,
the goals and purposes of curricula in Bloomfield Hall are stated according to the conception of
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curriculum developers. The mode of communication is supposed to be English. The curriculum
developers’ perception of the balance between academic and pastoral development would be the
basis of designing the schedule of various activities.
In the Township Branch, curriculum breadth would be narrow because the students are expected
to study less number of subjects. In all the three sections of the branch, English, Urdu, Math,
Science, Social Studies, Science, Islamiat, Sports and Art lessons are part of the timetable.
However, till grade six, only English, Urdu, Math and Science are the exam subjects. The exams
of the remaining subjects start from grade seven. Teaching diversity of subjects at school level,
however, increases the general knowledge and helps in developing problem solving and critical
thinking skills.
Curriculum depth incorporates the intensiveness of the courses/subjects. In Bloomfield Hall,
other than the course outline defined by the Head Office, it depends on the commitment of
teachers, how widely they want to deliver the knowledge to the students. Integration between
various subjects taught at the same grade level depends on the coordination by the branch
management. Curriculum differentiation is not observed, and all the students with different
learning abilities are expected to follow the same curriculum. The relevance of the curriculum to
present and future education, employment, adult citizenship, social stability and change in the
society is questionable. Would such a rigid curriculum, which incorporates lesser diversity, no
teacher ownership, little efforts to develop critical thinking in the students, etc., be able to
develop personalities of the pupils in an appropriate way so that they may act as responsible
citizens of this society?
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Teaching and Learning: In Asian countries, the teacher student relationship is completely
different. The knowledge of the teacher is seldom questioned in such societies. The Township
branch is also not different in this regard. The teacher in class is considered authority and the
students are bound to abide by his/her rules and follow his/her directions. The parents’
involvement in the schooling of the pupils is considered important. For building a cordial
teacher-parent relationship, regular PTCs (Parents Teacher Conferences) are organized. The
parents and teachers discuss the progress of the children and any concerned problems related to
the academics and personality development of the pupils. However, the parents’ expectations of
the teachers are generally too high. They want the teachers to provide special attention to their
child at school.
Teaching methodologies adopted vary from teacher of one subject to the other. However,
predominantly, teacher centered approaches are followed at this level. Also, teachers are
expected to use appropriate classroom management strategies. In this branch of Bloomfield Hall,
teachers are more of generalist, i.e. they are expected to teach a broader range of subjects. They
may not be a subject specialist. Normally, good grades in various subjects define the success of
students. This may be a superficial way of student assessment. A student with average grades
may have a wider knowledge of subjects and possess critical thinking.
In essence, the organizational culture of Bloomfield Hall, Township Branch; considering the
above stated four elements, can be described around Hofstede’s six dimensions of Organizational
Culture. According to Fullan (2007), school culture can be defined as “the guiding beliefs and
values evident in the way school operates”.
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In Bloomfield Hall, outcome-oriented culture is observed. Pupils are primarily out to achieve
specific internal goals or results, even if these involve considerable risks; people identify with
the “what”, as opposed to the “how” in means-oriented culture. In this results-oriented
environment, stress is laid upon learning achievements; e.g. results of the exams, winning
various quizzes and competitions, etc. throughout the academic year. Hence, there is great
homogeneity in practices.
The school has a task orientation, in which the emphasis is placed on performance of the
employees and increasing the productivity. The welfare of the staff is given little importance and
sometimes ignored.
A sample of fifteen teachers was selected and they were requested to take an online leadership
test by Kurt Lewin. This psychological test was based on an eighteen question quiz. It was later
analyzed and interpreted in relation to Blake and Mouton’s Managerial grid (1960s). The grid
depicts two dimensions to identify the leadership style, concern for people on the y-axis and
concern for production on the x-axis, thus creating eighty-one different positions in which the
leader’s style could fall. The style adopted in Bloomfield is highlighted in the grid below.
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Bloomfield has a parochial culture and most of the staff members identify with the organization,
rather than with their profession and content of the job. Majority of teachers are short-term
directed, internally-focused and trying to comply with the rules and regulations of the
organization. A very few teachers actually behave in a professional manner and work for the
welfare of the students, delivering maximum knowledge in diverse ways. They do not want to be
like everyone else in the organization in order to be in the good books of their heads.
This branch of Bloomfield Hall has a relatively closed culture with less flexibility in making
resources available to everyone in the organization. The resources may include; people, money,
and ideas. Teachers are supposed to provide a written requisition for the stationery they require.
When they have used their Board Markers, UHU sticks, etc.; they have to return the empty ones
before they get the requisition of the new ones approved. The newcomers in the institute are
welcomed gradually. However, parental involvement in the school activities is highly
encouraged.
Bloomfield is a formalized organization which makes an effort to comply with the rules and
roles stated by the classic bureaucracies. Since the organization is homogeneous in terms of its
values and practices, it is tightly controlled. This control includes both types; external control by
the super ordinates in the Head Office, and internal control by the Head of the branch. Almost all
the communication is made following the top-down approach. The Head assigns the tasks to the
Coordinators of each of the three sections. The coordinators then divide the responsibilities
amongst the teachers and provide a deadline for the completion of those tasks in an efficient
manner.
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The school places great emphasis on the satisfaction of the customers (parents). Although they
don’t accommodate parents with flexible time tables or provide a diverse curriculum to meet the
individual student needs; however, they do make an effort to convince the parents that the
approaches they follow would be in the best interests of the students. Parents are customers of
the school and like every private organization; customer satisfaction is the key to the success.
10. Regional Culture
The school under study is in the Township vicinity of Lahore. It is one of the largest residential
districts, developed by Lahore Developmental Authority, and located towards the south of
Lahore. Township is growing in terms of population and economy. It is also facing a large
movement of inward commercial activity, sharing common boundaries with Model Town, Link
Road. The school building is located near the same area, Township A1.
Township has four sectors, namely: Sector A (A1 and A2), Sector B (B1 and B2), Sector C (C1
and C2), and Sector D (D1 and D2). The area A1, where the school is situated, is managed by
Government Employees Cooperative Housing Society, and fully maintained. This area is only
accessible through gates which are closed most of the time for security reasons.
Culture is a complicated phenomenon to measure. However, defining the regional culture is
essential for the analysis of policy implementation in this school. Regional culture has a strong
influence in the functioning of the school because most of the students enrolled in the school
come from the same area. Hofstede’s six-dimensional model has been considered to form the
basis for analysis of the regional culture.
Township is segregated into four sectors and each sector has a mix of upper and middle classes.
However, majority of people in this area have a strong financial background. The society has a
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power-concentrated culture where most of the authority resides in the hands of more powerful
and wealthy people. The society has a group-oriented culture, where individuals are ranked
higher or lower on the basis of their family status, age, sex, educational standing and power and
designation that they possess.
This region has an aggressive culture. The students who are high achievers set the criteria for
success in any specific class of the school. Also, parents of those kids are given more
importance. The parents who are rich and have contacts are also given importance as their word
of mouth would be a good source of advertisement for the school. People normally try to resolve
conflicts in this area by exercising power and aggression. The same attitude of these parents is
then inculcated in their children who affect the overall environment and discipline of the school.
Most of the people in this region have a fatalistic perspective, which makes them comfortable to
move the flow and become resistant to change. People are less tolerant and believe “what is
meant to be will be”. Replicative environment is prevalent in this area of Lahore. In the holistic
culture of Township, nepotism and personal considerations rather than abiding by formal rules
and regulations is observed. Long-term commitments do not become hurdles to change and
forward-thinking values are not really encouraged. A similar sort of environment is present in
this branch of the school. Teachers, who are close to the Head of the branch and those who get a
positive evaluation and feedback by the parents, automatically get certain favors in the school.
11. Societal Culture
Pakistan came into existence of August 14, 1947; from the British Rule. The religion that
majority of people follow is Islam. Almost 95% of the population consists of Muslims. However,
due to many military conquests in the country, several ethnic groups have emerged. These ethnic
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groups follow different cultural dimensions. The provinces of the country also have differences
in their cultural values. Despite the fact that Urdu is the national language of the country, still a
single language is not spoken in the country. Languages have a regional focus is Pakistan. Also,
each province is named after its main dominating sub-culture. The table below shows the ethnic
group composition in Pakistan:
Ethnic Group
Percentage of the total Population
Punjabis
44.15%
Pushtoons
15.42%
Sindhis
14.1%
Serakis
10.53%
Muhajirs – Urdu Speaking
7.57%
Baluchis
3.57%
Others
4.66%
(Source: Heritage Online, 2010)
For this report, investigating the cultural aspects of Punjab (Lahore being the centre of
discussion) using Hofstede’s framework is required. The dimensions that will be covered as part
of the cultural analysis of this society are as follows.
o Power Distance Index (PDI),
o Individualism Index (IDV),
o Masculinity Index (MAS),
o Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI),
o Long term Orientation Index (LTO),
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o Indulgence versus Restraint Index (IVR)
According to a research published (Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2011), Power
Distance Index in Punjab is high. That means there is a greater tendency of accepting unequal
distribution of power by less powerful members of the society. If we relate it to the school under
study, a top-down and authoritative approach to leadership makes the subordinated (people down
the hierarchy) accept the rules made by people on top. Hence, power culture in the society has an
influence on the region and also the school.
A strong index on collectivism over individualism is possessed by the society here. Uniformity
between provincial and national culture is also observed and a strong behavior towards strong
Masculinity exists in Punjab. The data on uncertainty avoidance index suggests that due to
increasing inflation, suicide bombings, terrorists’ invasions and high political instability; people
have less control over outcomes. People are “outer directed” who believe that Locus of Control
lies on the external factors that are beyond their control (Hodgettes et al, 2006). A majority of
people are Muslims in Pakistan who believe that everything is controlled by God Almighty. So,
people try to cope with ambiguous situations too.
A common perception about Punjabis (especially about the people of Lahore) is that they are
lively people and enjoy their life at best, spending their time in leisure, hanging out with friends,
buying and selling things, etc. Therefore, Long-term orientation Index is lowest in Punjab, as
compared to the other provinces. Punjabis mostly want to enjoy the present rather than thinking
about the future. Punjabis have a good Indulgence Index. People show free satisfaction of their
aspirations and feelings, during leisure pass time, and good consumption and spending habits.
Hence, restraint in the culture is less.
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12. National Culture
An attempt has been made to describe the societal culture around Hofstede’s Cultural
Dimensions. National culture represents the overall culture of the country (including all the
provinces). Pakistan is wrapped into three strong stratums: Country’s religion, Cultural bindings,
and Class consciousness.
Since, it is Islamic Republic of Pakistan; the majority of population consists of Muslims. Hence,
Islam plays a pivotal role in deciding about the activities regarding the dimensions given by
Hofstede. Many acts are forbidden in the country because they are not allowed in Islam. For
example, consumption of Alcohol is not allowed, open display of love between spouses is
forbidden, relationship between male and female without marriage is condemned, etc.
People in Pakistan prefer collectivism and closely tied in cultural boundaries. They prefer to opt
for the things that are culturally acceptable. Fried’s theory of ID, Super Ego and Ego, is relevant
here. The dress code which the majority follows, the food that is normally preferred, etc.
represent the cultural influences. People want their actions and decisions to be socially
acceptable by others. National culture represents the Provincial culture in case of Masculinity
Index and Uncertainty Avoidance Index too. Parity is observed between National and Provincial
culture on Long term orientation Index.
To sum up, Pakistan has power concentration, collectivism and gender biasness as part of its
National Culture. This influences the societal culture, regional culture and ultimately the
organizational culture. According to Hofstede’s findings, existence of a society that strongly
avoids is indicated. However, the political and economic instability in the country has made
people immune to uncertainties. In Punjab, the people are less oriented towards the long term
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goals. However, according the survey results, Pakistanis have a high Long term orientation if the
results of all the provinces are accumulated. Despite a general homogeneity across the provincial
cultures, diversity exists among different provinces of Pakistan.
The above analysis of organizational, regional, societal and national culture has been made in
order to see the cross-cultural factors that influence the selection and implementation of any
policy in educational institutions in Pakistan.
13. Sex and Relationship Education
Education provides a strong foundation for any society which helps in the development of any
individual. The literacy rate of Pakistan is said to be 56%. However, the figure is not reliable as
it also includes the people who can read and write their names. The country ranks among the
bottom thirty out of one hundred and ninety-two United Nations countries. The discussion on
sexuality is often wrongly perceived as being synonymous to pornography and its understanding
is mostly limited to the act of sex only.
The common assumption is that children between 12 to 18 years are too young to understand
sexual and reproductive health information. According to a recent study conducted on this topic
by World Population Foundation, Pakistan; it is stated that puberty begins in panic for many
pupils in this country. They do not possess necessary information about how their bodies evolve
biologically. Also, they are unaware of the psychological effects of this change.
In this scenario, most of the people try to get information about sex and sexuality from their
peers, media e.g. advertisements, movies, etc.; magazines, leaflets, books and websites. All of us
know that although some of the information gained through these sources could be accurate;
most of it would be misleading. They might become open for exploitation or leaving most of
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them confused. While parents, teachers or guardians withhold information related to sex, these
young people try to find out other sources to finish this temptation about sexual knowledge.
For a country like Pakistan, importance of sex and relationship education and information about
reproductive health cannot be ignored. The main reason for the selection of this specific policy to
be implemented in the school understudy is the significance of this topic. Bloomfield Hall
School has already stated in the mission statement: “We want them to be happy, have a good selfimage, be good citizens and set the foundations needed for adult life.”
Therefore, for sustainable growth and development of young people, to make them wellinformed citizens of this knowledge economy and making the pupils aware of their rights and
duties at school level is imperative. The educational policy selected from DFE (Department for
Education) – UK website is “Sex and Relationship Education (SRE)”. The policy is wellexplained in seven sections in the statutory guidance of ‘Curriculum and Standards’. This is the
role of any Educational Leader to deeply synthesize the policy before borrowing and putting into
practice in any other culture. An analysis of important areas worth considering before the
implementation of this policy in Bloomfield Hall is done below. These important areas need to
be addressed for successful execution of this policy; keeping under consideration the above
stated cultural aspects.
14. Discussing the feasibility of the selected policy
PSHE (Personal, social, health, and economic) education is a mandatory part of all pupils’
education which all schools must include in their curriculum. PSHE is a non-statutory subject in
England; therefore, it allows the teachers the flexibility to deliver high quality education. It
would also encompass various areas of study after understanding the needs of their pupils. The
23
local PSHE program, designed by schools is supposed to provide sound knowledge and
necessary skills to the pupils so they become capable of making well thought-out decisions.
The PSHE Association work with various schools to advise them in development of their local
PSHE curriculums which are tailored to the needs of the students. Their role is also to improve
the quality of teaching. The schools willing to produce SRE policy in England are required to fill
up the Sex Education Forum (SEF) that aims to provide comprehensive guidance to schools for
curriculum development.
It has been stated in the policy that all the maintained schools in England create a draft policy
under the guidance of PSHE Association. This draft is then discussed with the parents and
student body, professional colleagues and school governors. Here, discussion means consultation
not negotiation. It means that individual viewpoints of everyone in the school community would
not be met. This consultation only helps in the process of writing the policy.
The schools are supposed to show their statement of intent following the aims and objectives of
SRE policy. The policy is used by teachers, parents, health professionals, and partner schools to
ensure progression in learning. Schools also have a confidential policy to make everyone
understand the boundaries of what should and/or should not be kept confidential. These
boundaries are stated clearly in the SRE policy. All the children should know where to get help
on personal concerns such as abuse and sexual health. The curriculum should be integrated, i.e.
not restricting SRE to the PSHE lessons only and aligning it to other subjects, e.g. Science. This
gives students enough knowledge to apply in their pragmatic lives.
This being said, parents still have the legal right to withdraw their children from all or part of any
Sex and Relationship Education provided at school, with the exception of biological aspects
24
necessary under the national curriculum of Science. Many schools provide such parents with
relevant material so that they can undertake this learning at home.
The Sex and Relationship Policy covers the following areas in its seven sections:

Developing an SRE policy with the involvement of parents, teachers, and student bodies;

Important issues that need to be covered in this education include: puberty, menstruation,
contraception, abortion, and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections;

The national curriculum to be followed in primary and secondary schools;

Teaching strategies and use of appropriate material for SRE;

Working with parents and wider community;

Confidentiality;

Teaching students to respect themselves and others and making them more confident
when they move from childhood through adolescence into adulthood;

Learning to manage emotions, develop empathy for others, and maintaining relationships
confidently and sensitively;

Understanding human sexuality, discouraging early sexual experimentation, learning the
reasons and benefits for delaying sexual activity;

Learning about obtaining appropriate advise on sexual health and contraception;

Preparing pupils for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life;

Managing conflict and learning how to recognize and avoid exploitation and abuse.
For implementing the above stated policy in the Township branch of Bloomfield Hall, the
following limitations are supposed to be discussed. Teachers and parent members are added to
School Management Committees in Hong Kong (Wong, 1995). The purpose of involvement of
25
parents in these committees is to support learning and facilitate good academic performance by a
more proactive participation of the parents. The importance of parents’ accountability is also
recognized in England, resulting in increased parent representation in governance of schools. For
implementing SRE policy in Bloomfield Hall, parents’ accountability is a primary concern.
Keeping the organizational, regional, societal, and national culture under consideration, most of
the parents would show resistance to sexual health education in classrooms. The institute
provides co-education and teaching SRE to a mixed group (including both genders) would
further aggravate the scenario. There is no involvement of parents in designing any of the
policies and this is considered to be the job of the top management in the Head office.
However, for preparing students for a better adult life and to be good and informed citizens of
this society; SRE is important. This is a sensitive issue; therefore for combating resistance;
getting approval from parents is important. Hence, the first limitation that needs to be considered
for successful execution of SRE policy is parents’ accountability.
Most of the parents would have a “tauba tauba attitude” after getting to know the school’s
intention to make SRE as part of the curriculum. Parents would have various reasons to oppose
the SRE policy; for instance, the resisting due to religious, cultural, or social reasons. Most of the
parents in this community would neither appreciate such a program nor willing to talk about Sex
and Sex-related issues with their kids themselves. Conducting workshops for the awareness of
these parents should be the first step that the school needs to take.
Reducing the opposition or resistance from these parents would be very challenging though. In
these workshops, discussing concerns openly and providing evidence-based research and
information to parents about sexual education should be the objective. Many parents also want to
26
talk to their children about this issue but because they don’t know the appropriate strategies to be
used in delivering this knowledge, so they avoid communicating to their children about it.
Hence, professionals should be invited to those workshops in schools.
Parental concerns should be addressed first. If parents get this confidence that their kids are
going to benefit from the SRE, they would not oppose this policy. A psychologist and a
gynecologist is in a better position to explain the parents the importance of Sex Education in the
School. They would be explaining “what sex education entails?” to the parents. Also, explaining
parents that needs, qualities and age or developmental stage of the targeted group within the
school district would not be neglected. The more support the program gets, the better it is
received. Arranging separate training sessions for girls and boys should be arranged for making
the SRE policy acceptable.
The school should still give this leeway to the parents that students will not be allowed to attend
SRE lessons without the consent of the parents. So, even after the workshops, if parents are
reluctant, they should always have this right to exclude their child from SRE.
Another important concern is about the content to be covered in the SRE policy. In another wellknown school of Lahore, Gulberg; a three-hour workshop was organized. The culture of that
school is open as compared to this school in Township. Most of the parents willingly sent their
daughters in grade six to attend that workshop. Most of the parents of those kids were educated
and they had no issues in making their children exposed to such information. However, the
workshop raised a debate about what kind of sex education would be appropriate according to
the age of the children
27
The parents complained that the workshop focused on unpleasant results of sexual relationship
between teens. Some said that the lesson was disgusting and hard to absorb. The school’s
management refused to talk to the media and kept the curriculum confidential.
Issues regarding the selection of the content can also be seen in public sector. Various
government schools of Karachi have included a controversial book “Zindagi guzarney ki
maharaton per mubni taaleem” This book with a sensitive content is approved by the Sindh Text
Book Board (STBB). Many parents got emotionally disturbed after reading the objectionable
content of the book. Some examples pointed out by parents were as follows:
In the fourth paragraph of chapter 12, page no 56, students have been instructed to use ‘secure
procedure’ during sexual intercourse with their partners, to avoid inheriting diseases such as
Aids or Hepatitis.
The next point in the paragraph instructs, ‘During sex with an affected person or someone you
don’t know, a condom should be used’. It may be mentioned here that the book is being
taught to the students of class sixth to Matric.
Hence, an important point worth mentioning here is that the content that is to be taught in the
SRE lessons should be carefully planned with the involvement of experts and health
professionals like doctors, nurses, etc. Also, the contents should be clearly stated to the parents,
staff, pupils and visitors. This is part of the Confidentiality policy (also stated in the statutory
guidance). Also, the responsibilities and rights of all the stakeholders associated in the school
community should be explicitly stated to everyone through this school’s confidentiality policy.
28
For Bloomfield Hall School, Township branch; another important concern; other than parents’
accountability, discussing the contents to be covered by the SRE policy, budgetary constraints
for arranging workshops and seminars conducted by the professionals, is teacher training.
Throughout this period of one and a half year of service at Bloomfield Hall School, Township
branch; the following cases (related to the importance of SRE policy) were reported in the
school.
The Mathematics teacher when teaching Graphs to the students had issues in the management of
the class. When she was teaching about the horizontal and vertical axis, the students giggled and
whispered “Sexis! Sexis!” The teacher was able to read their thoughts. She knew that the
students were teasing her and had something else going on in their minds. The teacher, finding
the topic hard to teach, scolded these fifth graders and a chaos was caused in the classroom. The
young teacher came to the staff room and narrated the incident to her colleagues.
The English teacher taking the reading lesson in grade six had problems in explaining certain
passages to the students. These passages narrated the incident of a girl being sexually abused by
a close relative. The students asked the teacher about rape and she avoided discussion on this
topic. She just said, “You guys are too young to understand this concept. You will yourself get to
know about sexual abuse and rape when you grow up. For the understanding at this level, you
can consider it to be a physical harm caused to someone.” The teacher then talked to the school
head about what happened in the class. The Head asked the teacher to prepare an assembly
presentation on this topic using appropriate language. The other day, they teacher prepared a
presentation, explaining the importance of protecting our bodies and not allowing anyone to
touch them.
29
A girl in grade four, without having any prior knowledge about menstruation, got her period
during school hours. She was coming back to her class after the Game lesson when another
teacher saw some blood stains on her shirt. She called that girl in the staff room and inquired.
She realized that the girl didn’t have any information about it. The mother was called to school
and she took her daughter to home. The teacher didn’t consider it her responsibility to educate
that girl about this topic. In early 1900s, girls generally reached menarche at the age of fourteen
or fifteen. For various reasons, girls these days start to menstruate between ten and sixteen, or
sometimes even before ten. The onset of menstruation could be very alarming for them if they
were not prepared for it.
Teenagers display certain other behaviors which makes the provision of Sex and Relationship
Education more important and sensitive. For instance, flirting is common in school students
despite the strict supervision and rigid culture of the organization. No matter how many
restrictions are placed, the students find ways to fulfill their intentions. Technology usage in
students has further exacerbated and intensified the situation. The students have their friends
added on the Face-book accounts, contact through phone, etc. Sometimes the students used dirty
words and jokes in class with friends and even teachers.
Therefore, teacher training is mandatory in order to make the implementation of SRE policy
successful in this school. The teachers should have proper knowledge about the content that is
supposed to be covered in these sessions. Also, they should be familiar with the appropriate
techniques and materials that they should use considering the social and cultural background of
the students.
30
Since the school has classes from Reception to Class Seven, the average age of a seventh grader
would be twelve or thirteen. The school management has to keep the target group into
consideration before making the borrowed policy normative and implementing it in the school.
For these young students, knowledge about different types of contraception, telling them about
the accessibility and availability of these contraception, and strong demonstrations using various
materials are not required. Also, knowing the cultural and religious boundaries in this country
such strong demonstrations would never be encouraged.
Appropriate materials can be used when the teaching or educating the children. For instance, in
an SRE lesson organized for girls, the teacher could display a card with an illustration depicting
a girl going through a medical check-up by a male doctor. The teacher should first explain the
children about what are the private parts of the body and then explain the illustration through an
example. Any related case from the newspaper should be narrated to make them clear about what
sexual harassment is and what are the preventive measures to avoid such incidents.
Pakistan is a very conservative society, where sex is one of the biggest secrets, a taboo, topic not
to be touched or discussed in open, forget about the education. This national viewpoint obviously
affects the minds of the people in various provinces and regions. Talking about sex is considered
a vulgar in this culture. Is someone dares to talk about it; he/she is labeled as amoral. The
dilemma is that this labeling is not only done by un-educated but also the educated and otherwise
liberal people. Still, considering the need of the hour, the implementation of SRE policy in
Bloomfield could be done by changing the name of the policy.
31
15. Conclusion
Lahore-based, Arshad Javed has written three books on sex education and it is said that he sells
about 7,000 per year. None are sold to schools. Little or no provision of knowledge on sex
education exists in most of the schools of Pakistan. Parents’ accountability, contents to be
covered, appropriate use of materials, teacher training, making a sincere effort to decrease the
number of cases being reported about sexual harassment or sexual abuse in schools, the name of
the policy itself, and the cultural limitations although make the successful implementation of the
SRE policy difficult and challenging; it has become a mandatory part of education.
It is a topic people don’t want to talk about but it has become a fact of life. We cannot close our
eyes anymore. We cannot expect pupils to act as responsible citizens of this society when we
have ourselves not played a proactive role in educating and training them in appropriate age. Sex
education lessons in the school should cover the changes in the bodies, what their rights are and
how to protect themselves. Also, information about puberty, menstruation, sexually transmitted
diseases and related information should be given to the students according to their age.
In this age of globalization, almost all information is easily accessible to pupils. As stated
previously too, many people try to get information about sex from their peers, media, magazines,
leaflets, books and websites. This could set a base for their exploitation. As, the mission
statement of Bloomfield states, “Setting the foundations for adult life is important”; it is essential
to provide students with appropriate Sex and Relationship Education.
32
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