Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
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Teaching and Teacher Education
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate
Evaluating the quality of BEd programme: Students’ views
of their college experiences
Shafqat Hussain Khan a, *, Muhammad Saeed b
a
b
Government College for Elementary Teachers, District Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan
129 – C - 2, Johar Town, Lahore – 54770, Pakistan
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 7 February 2008
Received in revised form
23 April 2009
Accepted 1 October 2009
Quality assurance of teacher training has become of a great concern nowadays. This paper addresses the
quality of BEd programme of the University of Education (UE) Lahore. The main purpose of the study was
to evaluate the quality of BEd programme with regard to the internal efficiency of Government Colleges
for Elementary Teachers (GCETs), the affiliated institutions of UE. The study was conducted on a random
sample of 600 BEd students drawn from 11 GCETs in Punjab province. Data was collected through
a questionnaire which was validated through a pilot study in 2006. The reliability of the final questionnaire was established at 0.863 allowing the researcher to launch the study at large scale (Gay, 2000).
The findings revealed that BEd programme was effective in terms of updating student teachers’
knowledge and skills. Student teachers favoured the quality of BEd curriculum, lesson planning and
presentation by themselves and their teacher educators, and had some reservations about the proper use
of audio-visual aids for effective classroom teaching learning processes. Female gender showed more
satisfaction with the quality of BEd curriculum and teaching than their male counterparts. No significant
difference was found in the opinion of the students of GCETs having low, medium, and high enrolment.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
BEd programme
Curriculum
Punjab
University of education
1. About Pakistan and its education
Pakistan was emerged as an independent Islamic state on 14th
August, 1947. It has an area of about 796,095 Sq. kilometers.
Pakistan comprises of four provinces: Punjab, North West Frontier
Province, Balochistan and Sindh and some federating units which
include Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Federally Administered
Tribal Areas (FATA) and Federally Administrative Northern Areas
(FANA).
The education system of Pakistan is 3-tier: Primary (grades
1–8); secondary (grades 9–12); and higher education (postsecondary qualifications). There are 270 teacher education institutions, of which 227 are run by the public sector and 43 are
operated by the private sector (Academy for Educational Development, 2005). In Punjab, pre-service teacher education is catered in
Government Colleges for Elementary Teachers (GCETs) and
University Colleges of Education (UCEs), the affiliated constituent/
institutions of the University of Education (UE), Lahore. UE introduced its BEd Programme in 2002–2003 in all its 35 GCETs and six
UCEs. The main objectives of BEd programme are to: (a) provide
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ92 30 0609 1447.
E-mail addresses: shafqatkhanpk@hotmail.com, shafqatkhanpk@yahoo.com
(S.H. Khan), drsaeed61@hotmail.com (M. Saeed).
0742-051X/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.10.011
basic and advanced knowledge to the prospective teachers in
different disciplines and equip them with the latest trends in
teacher education; (b) prepare computer literate and research
oriented teachers; (c) train the teachers in view of the required
demands in the field of teaching methodologies and content of the
relevant subjects at elementary level; (d) practice the content and
methodology more rigorously under the supervision of highly
qualified supervisors; (e) broaden the vision of trainee teachers by
teaching them innovative topics; (f) enable prospective teachers to
use variety of teaching techniques and audio-visual aids for effective teaching learning process; and (g) create sportsmanship
among the prospective teachers (University of Education, 2005,
p.3). The main focus of teacher education programmes at UE was
‘‘to promote discipline of education as the core knowledge area for
continually improving and updating teacher education and
teaching learning strategies’’ (University of Education, 2002).
2. Introduction
2.1. Rationale for evaluation of teacher education programmes
The prime responsibility of a teacher in an educational institution is teaching. Teaching is a complex activity. Andrew, Cobb, and
Giampietro (2005) found that good teaching is a complex
S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
interaction of a wide range of teachers’ characteristics, abilities,
dispositions, knowledge of subject fields, experience, and pedagogical knowledge. These factors interact with particular school
cultures, sets of educational goals, and children to produce effective
teaching.
The teaching community is a significant group for ensuring
quality education and learning. The real teacher education depends
upon the personal as well as professional development of the
teacher. Memon and Pardhan (2001) stated that the teachers’
development should entail both dimensions: personal and
professional. Such development is embedded in the humanistic and
critical approach to teacher education.
Improving teacher education is among the most prominent
reforms suggested for education today (Ginsberg & Rhodes, 2003) and
to ensure the quality of pre-service teacher education programmes
should be of high concern. Luseno (2001) also stress teacher education
programs can only be successful when the outcomes being fostered
are relevant to teachers’ needs. Mietlicki (2004) found that teacher
education programs for the 21st century must include a major focus on
diversity to equip all teachers with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to work effectively with students from diverse racial,
ethnic, cultural, and social class groups. Kim, Andrews, and Carr (2004)
highlighted the 10 initial teacher preparation competencies, developed by Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium
(INSTASC): (a) content knowledge and pedagogy; (b) student learning
and development; (c) diverse learners and the ability to adapt to
diverse learners; (d) instructional strategies; (e) classroom management and motivation; (f) communication techniques; (g) curriculum
and planning; (h) assessment; (i) reflective practice; and (j) professional relationships internal and external to the school. This is possible
through proper monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation of pre-service
and in-service teacher education programmes has been a major
concern of much of the literature on teacher education in these days
(Newton & Braithwaite, 1987).
In order to enhance the quality of teacher education programmes, their continuous evaluation is essential due to two main
reasons. Firstly, teacher education programmes are being challenged to undergo major changes that will ensure that all beginning
teachers are prepared to teach all the students. Secondly, global
developments are asking for a rapid change in the attitudes and
practices without reshaping or restructuring the current teacher
educational programmes. Shahid (2007) states that, the effective
pre-service professional preparation leads to profession commitment and excellence in teaching.
2.2. Strategy for quality of teacher education programmes
Quality of teacher education can be improved in order to gain
the competitive edge required in the knowledge based global
economy. For that purpose, the developed countries are increasing
their expenditures on research and education, as well as their
demands for greater efficiency and effectiveness of the education
system. The efficiency of the system can be achieved through:
establishing a system for quality assurance in education, a system of
teacher professional development, a restructured curriculum
aimed attaining lasting and transferable knowledge, skills, values,
and forms of behaviour suited for modern society. The system
efficiency may be increased through better use of the existing
investments and professionalizing the human resources in education. Ankomah, Koomson, Bosu, and George (2005, pp. 13–14) point
out that preparing teachers for the challenges of a teaching career
means equipping them with subject-specific expertise, effective
teaching practices, an understanding of technology and the ability
to work collaboratively with other teachers, members of the
community and parents. Adams (1993) included six elements of
761
quality i.e. reputation of the institution, resources and inputs,
process, content, output and outcomes, and value added.
Nietfeld and Cao (2003) assert that the quality of teacher
education programmes at changing student beliefs and ensuring
a deep understanding of pedagogical knowledge is mixed at best.
Alawiye and Williams (2001) state that, teachers must have both
basic knowledge about teaching and the ability to teach under real
time constraints. Lacking either, the teacher is ill prepared. Smith
and O’Day (1990), who were the earliest advocates for standardsbased reform, envisioned a reform that was systemic, affecting all
aspects of the educational system, and long-term. They placed
considerable emphasis on professional development for both preservice and in-service teachers and for conditions that would
enhance teacher professionalism. In the context of Pakistan, Ali
(1998) found that the staff of the GCETs is poorly trained and undermotivated, use inappropriate methods and do not supervise the
teaching practice of students in a way likely to enhance teaching
skills. Assessment of the prospective teachers depends entirely on
rote learning. Hussain (2003) found that the teachers of GCETs
mostly use the writing board and charts as teaching aids while
projectors, multimedia, and computer are not used at all.
2.3. Evaluation of the quality of educational programmes
The quality of any educational programme is evaluated in
numerous ways. Cao and Nietfeld (2005) investigated that the
effectiveness of instructional programme increases when teachers
include reflection on instructional goals, students’ characteristics
and needs, content level and sequences, teaching strategies,
materials, and other issues related to curriculum, instruction, and
assessment before, during, and after lessons.
The quality of the programmes of institution can be judged by
determining and assessing the indicators of the efficiency. Abagi
and Odipo (1997) pointed out the indicators for the internal efficiency of education system: (a) resource allocation to different
inputs; (b) pupil-teacher ratio; (c) teachers’ inputs in schools;
(d) transparency and accountability on utilization of physical
facilities; and (e) school management. However, the efficiency of
any institution also depends upon the encouraging environment
for the teaching–learning process. Kingdon (1996) found that
encouraging private unaided schools would lead to gains in efficiency as these institutions were more technically efficient and
cost-efficient. The internal efficiency of the institution generally
depends upon the enrolment of the institution, utilization of
human and non-human resources. A research study about the
internal efficiency of the institution shows that enrolment and
internal efficiency of any institution are positively correlated. This
study found that ‘‘if the enrolment rate is relatively low and internal
efficiency of the education system is very low. The low enrolment
rate and internal efficiency result in great loss of resources in terms
of finance, materials and equipment, and time to the country
as a whole’’ (Ministry of Education, Youth, & Sports, Cambodia,
1999).
2.4. Evaluation of the quality of teacher education programmes
Evaluating the outcomes of teacher education programme
requires firstly a definition of what we expect from teacher
education to accomplish and influence in terms of candidate’s
knowledge, skills, and dispositions, and secondly, means for
measuring these things. As Cochran-Smith (2001) has observed, the
question that is currently driving reform and policy in teacher
education is referred to as ‘‘the outcomes question’’. This question
helps to conceptualize and define the outcomes of teacher education for teacher learning, professional practice, and student
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S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
learning. The educationists admit the importance of assessing the
programme as a result of further help to improve the quality of any
programme. Muraskin (1993) states that an evaluation can be an
important tool to improving the quality of a prevention programme, if it is integrated into the fabric of a programme rather
than added on after the fact. Programme personnel are more likely
to use the results of an evaluation when they play a role in deciding
what to examine, conducting the evaluation, and interpreting the
results. Muraskin (1993) further adds four main reasons to conduct
to evaluate the quality of institution programmes: (a) determine
the effectiveness of programmes for participants; (b) document
that programme objectives have been met; (c) provide information
about service delivery that will be useful to programme staff and
other audiences; and (d) enable programme staff to make changes
that improves programme effectiveness.
Evaluation of input, process, and output of teachers’ training
institution is central to the teachers’ professional development.
Their performance in the classroom may be regularly assessed by
the principal and other senior teachers to evaluate the quality of
their training, their subject knowledge as well as their classroom
delivery and management skills (UNESCO, 2006). Diem (2002)
found that the impact of any programme is gauged from the ultimate change in people’s attitudes or behaviours, or benefit in other
ways like skills learned during the programme. Guskey (2000)
pointed out that there are some reasons for the growing interest in
evaluating professional development (PD). These include: better
understanding of the dynamic nature of PD; recognition of PD as an
intentional process; the need for better information to guide
reform efforts; and increased pressure for accountability. Wong
(2004) also argues that moving forward to measure participants’
change in behaviour widens the focus of the professional development evaluation studies.
According to Moore (2004), teachers are trained in the acquisition of certain competencies related to aspects of classroom
management, lesson planning, recording and reporting students’
work leading to the achievement of prescribed, assessable and
(presumably) acquired-for-life ‘standards’. Farooq and Shahzadi
(2006) quote Andrew, effective teacher much internalize knowledge
and skills so that they can deploy them quickly and flexibly. Moon,
Mayes, and Hutchinson (2004) indicated that there are three main
factors within teacher’s control that significantly influence pupil
achievements: professional characteristics, teaching skills, and
classroom climate. McBer (2000) further investigated that teacher is
not only carer and nurturer but he should also exhibit nine discrete
‘teaching skills’ for effective teaching like high expectations planning, methods and strategies, pupil management, time and
resources management, time on task, lesson flow, assessment,
setting appropriate and challenging homework. Soon (2004) found
that the skills of graduates of Postgraduate Teaching Course (PGD) in
Malaysia in developing the tests and making students’ report need to
be upgraded. Kolstad’s (1999) study demonstrated that female
students achieved more democratic maturity than the male students
in pre-service teacher education programme. Saeed and Mahmood
(2002) found that prospective male teachers were better than female
teachers in subject of mathematics. Khan (2004) indicates that the
pre-service programmes have added little value to teachers and
directly reflects on the poor level of instruction and curriculum of the
pre-service programmes.
Research shows that the teacher training institutions across
Pakistan in the government domain are under-utilized, neglected
with complex and inconsistent structures managed as hierarchical
bureaucracies across provincial and district levels. The quality of
teacher education institutions remains highly uneven across
Pakistan; demand of quality learning must be assured as it is
a major national challenge (World Teachers’ Day Forum 2005).
A number of studies were conducted to evaluate the quality of
teacher education programmes in Pakistan. Anees (2005) carried
out a study on comparison of formal and non-formal systems of
teacher education in Pakistan. He found that the course content of
programme was not future oriented and did not reflect the latest
knowledge. Akbar (2002) found weak areas in dimensions of
teaching which included: command over the subject; evaluating
students; and effective use of teaching aids. Hussain (2004) found
that the principals of GCETs do not facilitate their subordinates in
model lessons, selection of content, selection of instructional
technology, and analysis of classrooms instructions.
In view of the above scenario of teacher education in the
country, it was imperative to investigate the quality of pre-service
programmes of UE and performance of the affiliated institutions.
The quality of the programmes of any teacher institution may be
assessed through students’ perceptions toward the proper use of
physical and academic inputs of their institutions. The GCETs
perform the role of pre-service and in-service teacher education.
Since 2002, these institutions have been launching BEd and/or MEd
programmes to produce teachers for Punjab. These teacher
education institutions are the users of national resources – physical,
financial, and human resources. There is a need to analyze the use
of inputs, and both the quantity and quality of output in terms of
internal efficiency of these institutions. The study is designed to
find out the comparative evaluation of the quality of GCETs programmes considering the selected inputs, process, and outputs in
Punjab. It analyses the perceptions of students of GCETs which may
help to improve the quality of teacher education programmes and
other methodological issues. It may also be significant for the
schools to raise the quality of teaching and assessment at primary
and elementary levels. This study was based on following four
objectives.
1. To assess knowledge gained by students relative to core
themes.
2. To compare the opinions of male and female BEd students of
GCETs with respect to core themes.
3. To compare the opinions of BEd students of low, medium, and
high enrolment strata with respect to core themes.
4. To evaluate the quality of BEd programme.
To achieve the above objectives, four research questions and two
null hypotheses were developed. The purpose of developing
research questions was to analyze and report the results of qualitative data, while hypotheses were framed to test the significance
level of the results obtained through quantitative data.
2.5. Research questions
1. How do students perceive about the knowledge gained by
them relative to core themes discussed at the GCETs?
2. Is there any difference between the perceptions of male and
female students about knowledge gained by them relative to
core themes?
3. Is there any difference among the perceptions of students
enrolled in low, medium, and high enrolment institutions
about knowledge gained by them relative to core themes?
4. How do students perceive about the quality of BEd
programme?
2.6. Null hypotheses
Ho1 There is no significant difference in the perceptions of male
and female BEd students about the knowledge gained by
them relative to five core themes.
S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
Ho2 There is no significant difference in the perceptions of BEd
students of low, medium, and high enrolment GCETs about
the knowledge gained by them relative to five core themes.
3. Methodology
3.1. Population and sample
There were 5736 students in the 33 GCETs of Punjab which
formed target population of the study. The accessible population
was comprised of 1999 students of 11 sampled GCETs. The selection
of institutions was drawn using a two-stage stratified cluster
design. Complete lists of the GCETs were obtained from the UE,
Lahore. A sampling frame for 33 GCETs was created and three strata
were developed on the basis of the students’ enrolment for the
session 2005–2006. The GCETs of enrolment less than 100 were
included in the stratum of low enrolment, between 100 and 200 in
stratum of medium enrolment, and more than 200 in stratum of
high enrolment. Therefore, at the first stage of the survey design, 11
GCETs (2 GCETs from low enrolment, 6 from medium enrolment,
and 3 from high enrolment) were selected as clusters to make it
possible to obtain accessible populations. At second stage, the
simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample
(N ¼ 600) from each GCET included in the accessible population
(Table 1).
3.2. Instrumentation
The instrument was developed after adequate literature review.
The research questions and hypotheses of study provided the focal
guidelines to develop the instruments. The instrument was
a questionnaire which was developed after discussion with experts.
Questionnaires was prepared as it is a cost-effective, efficient, and
brief way to gather data from a large geographically dispersed
population (Anderson & Arsenault, 1998; Gall1, Borg, & Gall2, 1996).
The instrument was validated through experts’ opinions and
pilot study in mid 2006. After improving the instrument in terms of
language, style, format, and content, it was administered on the 20
subjects in GCET Mianwali for the try-out. Each item was independently analyzed during the field-testing. Unclear or ambiguous
items were either modified or discarded. A Cronbach’s Alpha was
also used to measure the internal consistency and reliability of the
questionnaire. The overall reliability of the questionnaire was 0.863
which was acceptable to launch the study at large scale (Gay, 2000).
The respondents were asked to indicate their level of agreement
corresponding to each item and were rated at Likert Scale: strongly
disagree (1), disagree (2), undecided (3), agree (4), and strongly
Table 1
College and stratum-wise No. of questionnaires administered and returned
(N ¼ 600).
Stratum
GCET
Low (Enrolment Less than
100 students)
Kamalia
Islamabad (w)
D G Khan (w)
Bhawalpur (w)
25
29
39
36
54
Medium (Enrolment Between
100 and 200 students)
Sargodha
Lala musa
Faislabad
Mianwali
60
41
60
60
296
High (Enrolment more than
200 students)
Multan
Kotlakpat
Ghakhar
66
64
120
250
*w ¼ women.
College wise
Sample
Stratum-wise
sample
763
agree (5). While revising the questionnaire Muraskin’s (1993, p.38)
guidelines for finalizing the instruments were kept in consideration: (a) The items in the questionnaire reflect the programmes
specific aims; (b) The questions, language, and reading level are
appropriate to the respondents; (c) The flow of the questionnaire
and the ease of responding should be assessed; (d) Wording biases
have been eliminated; (e) Questions are direct and focused, not
indirect or open ended; and (f) Coding requirements are incorporated into the instrument. The instrument of the study comprised
of 36 items with the break up of biographical information (7 items)
and items at five-point rating scale (29 items). The items were
developed on the five core themes: course content (9 items),
teaching practice (3 items), lesson presentation (5 items), audiovisual teaching aids (6 items), and teaching methods/techniques
(6 items).
3.3. Data collection and analysis
The whole activity of data collection was carried out with the
help of eleven research associates and personal visits of the principal researcher followed by necessary discussions with the coauthor. Each associate was requested to collect data from one GCET/
UCE as per convenience according to the instructions already
conveyed to them personally, via email or telephone. To seek high
response rate, follow up was made twice a time at each centre.
The analysis was mainly divided into four parts. Part-I covered
the analysis of the demographic profile of the sample of students.
The simple frequency and percentage technique was used to
describe the composition of sample. Part-II shows the overall
responses of the students in terms of percentages and mean scores
about the core themes discussed at GCETs. Part-III shows the
difference in the responses of the male and female students
through the use of t-test for Independent Samples to investigate
significant differences with regard to each of the five core themes.
Part-IV shows low, medium, and high stratum-wise comparison of
students’ responses in terms of mean scores. ANOVA was used to
investigate significant differences in the perceptions of students
enrolled in GCETs with low, medium, and high enrolment.
4. Discussion of results
4.1. Response rate and analysis of biographical information
The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 12.0. The analysis
revealed that the response rate for students was 100% (N ¼ 600).
The first part of the instrument contained the biographical information. Table 2 indicates the demographic profile of students’
sample. A marked majority (84%) of females in the sample shows
that females’ aptitude for seeking admission in BEd programme
was relatively more positive than males. In regard to the academic
qualifications, 84% of students held the pre-requisite qualification
of BA. In regard to the professional qualification, a remarkable
majority (93%) had no professional certification. BEd programme
was offered in morning and evening times. About three-fourth of
the students had enrolment in morning classes while one-fourth
had in the evening classes. The sample included almost equal
proportion of the BEd students from the rural and urban areas.
4.2. Students’ perceptions about core themes
The first research question was ‘‘to what extent the students
are satisfied with the knowledge gained by them relative to core
themes’’. Table 3 indicates the students’ satisfaction with the
knowledge gained by them relative to core themes discussed at
GCETs. About three-fourth of students were satisfied with the
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S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
Table 2
Demographic profile of students’ sample.
Table 4
Item-wise analysis of students’ perceptions about core themes.
Variable
Category
Frequency
Percentage
Statements
Gender
Male
Female
Total
94
506
600
16
84
100
Age
Less than 25 year
25–30 year
31–40 year
541
58
1
90
10
0
Academic qualification
BA
BSc
MA
MSc
504
22
60
14
84
4
10
2
Course content
The courses of BEd programme are helpful for you to equip with the required
knowledge in the following disciplines:
Teaching and communication skills
4.15
1.07
Teaching through arts and crafts
4.01
1.09
Psychology applied to classroom teaching
4.19
0.98
Instructional technology and computer application
3.98
1.10
Primary school mathematics and teaching
4.32
0.90
Primary school science and teaching
4.35
0.85
Teaching of Urdu
4.33
0.82
School english
4.03
1.15
Islamiat and professional ethics
4.25
1.01
Professional qualification
No
PTC
CT
559
14
27
93
2
5
Admission in BEd Programme
Morning
Evening
436
164
73
27
Residence
Rural
Urban
314
286
52
48
Teaching practice
Your supervisor assesses you during teaching practice
Your supervisor guides you during teaching practice
You are overall satisfied with the teaching practice
programme of GCET
PTC ¼ Primary Teaching Certificate, CT ¼ Certificate in Teaching.
knowledge gained by them relative to all the core themes except
audio-visual aids. The overall mean score (4.07) and mean score
of each core theme were also greater than the criterion mean
(3.0). The percentages of frequency show that the students were
relatively more relatively more the most satisfied with the
knowledge gained relative to the three core themes – course
content, teaching practice, lesson planning and presentation but
had the least satisfaction with audio-visual aids and teaching
methods/techniques.
Item-wise analysis of ‘course content’ depicts that the students
approached agreement concerning all nine statements (Table 4).
The highest-rated item was ‘Primary School Science and Teaching’
(mean score 4.35). Item-wise analysis of ‘teaching practice’ shows
that the students approached agreement concerning all the
statements. In the third core theme ‘lesson planning and
presentation’, students approached agreement concerning all the
statements, however, they felt difficulty to deliver a good lesson
in the subject of mathematics at elementary level. The highestrated item was ‘deliver a good lesson at elementary classes in the
subject of Islamiat’ which had a mean score 4.35. Item-wise
analysis of the fourth core theme ‘use of audio visual aids’ shows
that the students approached agreement regarding five statements but they thought that they were not capable to utilize
multimedia (M ¼ 2.53) in the teaching learning situation. In the
fifth core theme ‘teaching methods/techniques’ respondents
agreed to a large extent with all the statements but they felt that
they had the least skill to apply problem solving method as
compared to other teaching methods. The highest-rated item was
‘apply lecture method’ which had a mean score 4.42. Previous
research (Ali, 1998; DSD, 2006; Hussain, 2003) also supports this
finding.
Table 3
Core themes discussed at the GCETs.
Core themes
Course content
Teaching practice
Lesson presentation
Audio-visual aids
Teaching techniques/method
Percentage of frequency
Mean
Agree
Disagree
Uncertain
82.96
83.27
82.90
64.87
78.56
8.78
10.17
6.57
22.98
9.69
8.26
6.56
10.53
12.15
11.75
Criterion mean ¼ 3.0, Overall mean ¼ 4.07.
4.18
4.18
4.22
3.66
4.09
Mean
4.29
4.27
3.97
SD
0.95
0.99
1.18
Lesson presentation
The GCET is preparing you to deliver a good lesson in the following subjects
i. Mathematics
4.27
0.92
ii. English
3.93
1.09
iii. Science
4.29
0.89
iv. Urdu
4.27
0.87
v. Islamiat
4.35
0.89
Use of audio visual aids
The GCET is preparing you to utilize the following teaching aids
i. Writing boards
4.73
ii. Charts
4.08
iii. Models
3.69
iv. Overhead/opaque projector
3.16
v. Multimedia projector
2.53
vi. Computer
3.79
0.64
1.09
1.27
1.43
1.36
1.30
Teaching methods/techniques
i. Lecture
ii. Demonstration
iii. Assignment
iv. Presentation
v. Problem-solving
vi. Activity-based
0.81
1.05
0.92
0.82
1.18
1.18
4.42
3.77
4.26
4.42
3.74
3.92
4.3. Difference in male and female students’ perceptions
The second research question was ‘‘is there any difference in the
perceptions of male and female students about the knowledge
gained by them relative to core themes’’? The null hypothesis
derived from this research question was ‘‘there is no significant
difference in the perceptions of male and female students about the
knowledge gained by them relative to five core themes’’. Independent samples t-test was applied to investigate the significant
differences in the perceptions of male and female students about
the five core themes discussed at GCETs (Table 5).
The first core theme was ‘course content’. The mean score of
female students was higher than that of male students by 0.26
(male 3.96 and female 4.22) which shows difference in the opinions
of male and female students. The Cronbach Alpha for this core
theme was 0.767. Two-tailed t-test demonstrated significant
difference in the perceptions of the male and female students about
course contents. The t-value was 3.97 at level of significance 0.05,
which shows that females perceive more positively than males.
Otherwise the course content of BEd programme was helpful to
equip the students with the required knowledge in the different
domains of learning.
The second core theme was ‘teaching practice’. The difference
between mean score in the perceptions of male and female
students was 0.37 (male 3.87 and female 4.2) which shows more
S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
Table 5
Comparison of the male and female students’ perceptions using t-test.
Curriculum content areas
Males
(N ¼ 94)
Females
(N ¼ 506)
t-test
Mean SD
Mean SD
t-value Sig. (two-tail)
Course content
Teaching practice
Lesson presentation
Audio-visual aids
Teaching techniques/method
3.96
3.87
4.13
3.38
3.77
0.75
1.04
0.72
0.84
0.67
4.22
4.24
4.24
3.71
4.15
3.97
3.75
1.62
4.02
5.73
0.000
0.000
0.106
0.000
0.000
Overall
3.82
0.61 4.11
0.45 5.39
0.000
0.55
0.82
0.58
0.71
0.56
p* < 0.05, df ¼ 598.
positive opinions of female students than male about the teaching
practice of GCETs. The Cronbach Alpha for this core theme was
0.782. Two-tailed t-test demonstrated significant difference in the
perceptions of the male and female students for the core theme
‘teaching practice’ therefore, the null hypothesis with respect to the
‘teaching practice’ was rejected. The t-value was 3.752 at 0.05,
which shows that females perceive more positive than male that
the teaching practice programme was helpful for BEd students to
improve their teaching skills.
The third core theme was ‘lesson planning and presentation’.
The difference between mean scores in the perceptions of male and
female students was 0.11 (male 4.13 and female 4.24) which shows
more positive opinions of female students to deliver a good lesson
in the different subjects than their male counterparts. The Cronbach Alpha for this core theme was 0.664. The t-value (1.619) for
the core theme ‘lesson planning and presentation’ is significant at
p 0.05 level of significance, therefore, the null hypothesis with
respect to the ‘lesson presentation’, was accepted. Two-tailed t-test
demonstrated no significant difference in the perceptions of male
and female students about the preparation of GCETs to their
students to deliver a good lesson in the different subjects.
The fourth core theme was ‘use of audio-visual aid’. The difference between mean scores in the perceptions of male and female
students was 0.33 (male 3.38 and female 3.71) which shows more
positive opinions of female students than male. The Cronbach
Alpha for this core theme was 0.668. The t-value (4.019) for this
core theme was significant at p 0.05 level of significance, therefore the null hypothesis with respect to the ‘use of audio-visual aid’,
was rejected. Two-tailed t-test shows that female students perceive
more positively than male about the preparation of GCETs to their
students to utilize different teaching aids.
The fifth core theme was ‘teaching methods/techniques’. The
difference between mean scores in the perceptions of male and
female students was 0.38 (male 3.77 and female 4.15) which
shows more positive opinions of female students than male. The
Cronbach Alpha for this core theme was 0.662. The t-value (5.725)
for the core theme ‘teaching technique/method’ was significant at
p 0.05 level of significance, therefore, the null hypothesis with
respect to the ‘teaching methods/techniques’, was rejected. Twotailed t-test shows that female perceive more positive than male
about the preparation of GCETs to their students to apply the
different ‘teaching methods/techniques’ in the classrooms.
As regards overall core themes, a significant difference in the
perceptions of male and female students was found. The difference
between mean scores in the perceptions of male and female
students was 0.29 (male 3.82 and female 4.11) which shows more
positive opinions of female students than male about the core
themes discussed at GCET. The overall Cronbach Alpha for all of five
core theme was 0.863. The t-value (5.393) for the core themes
was significant at p 0.05 level of significance, therefore the null
hypothesis with respect to the ‘core themes’ was rejected, as can be
seen in Table 5.
765
Table 6
Comparison of the perceptions of the students of GCETs of low, medium, and high
enrolment toward core themes.
Indicator of efficiency
Groups
Sum of
squares
df
mean
square
F
Sig.
Responses of the students
toward core themes
Between
Within
Total
0.115
0.204
0.319
2
8
10
0.057
0.025
2.25
0.167
p* < 0.05.
4.4. Comparison of the GCETs with low, medium,
and high enrolment
The third research question was ‘‘is there any difference in the
perceptions of students enrolled in low, medium, and high enrolment institutions about knowledge gained by them relative to core
themes discussed at the GCETs’’? The comparison of mean scores of
students shows that the GCETs of medium enrolment (M ¼ 3.84)
were better than GCETs of low (M ¼ 3.61) and high enrolment
(M ¼ 3.69). Table 6 shows the comparison of GCETs of low, medium,
and high enrolment on the basis of students’ responses. The null
hypothesis (Ho2) to be tested was ‘there is no significant difference
in the perceptions of students of low, medium, and high enrolment
GCETs about the knowledge gained by them relative to five core
themes discussed at GCETs’. ANOVA revealed no significant differences in each core theme. Hence, null hypotheses were accepted for
all core themes discussed at GCETs. It means that there was no
significant difference among the GCETs included in the stratum of
low, medium, and high enrolment with respect to any core theme
discussed at GCETs.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
The study reveals that better students’ perceptions toward their
teachers and institution show the educational quality in an institution. If students perceive positively about their teachers, it leaves
a positive impact on teaching learning environment (Mehmood,
2000; Saeed, 2001). In other words, positive relationship between
students and teachers is essential for raising educational quality. The
analysis of students’ perceptions reveals two major conclusions.
First, the BEd pre-service teacher education programme at UE is
relatively better in the core theme areas of course content, teaching
practice, lesson planning and presentation, but the area of use of
audio visual is relatively weak. Previous researches (Ali, 1998; Hussain, 2003; Khan, 2004; Soon, 2004) support this finding. Second,
female students were relatively more satisfied with their male
counterpart with regard to the core themes discussed at GCETs.
On the basis of these conclusions, following recommendations
are put forwarded for the planners, policy makers, and academicians of teacher education institutions:
C
C
C
C
The UE and concerned college staff should think ways to
improving the ability of their prospective teachers in the use
of multimedia and other audio-visual aids to make teaching
learning process more effective.
There is a need to give special focus on lesson presentation
skills of prospective teachers, especially in the subject of
mathematics.
Co-operative learning may be encouraged by the faculty at
the GCETs so that BEd students might get involved in learning
from each others.
The frequency of the refresher courses designed for teachers
of GCETs at district or provincial levels may be increased.
Moreover, in such training courses, emphasis should be given
766
C
C
S.H. Khan, M. Saeed / Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 760–766
on activity-based and problem solving ‘teaching methods’
and ‘use of audio-visual aids’ such as projectors, multimedia,
and computer application in the teaching learning process.
Directorate of Staff Development, Punjab may plan to provide
professional support to the GCETs staff such as initial and
ongoing training programmes, developing teacher guides,
lesson plans, and instructional materials to improve their
performance.
More research is needed to assess the effectiveness of teacher
education programmes offered in other higher-level institutions. The study may be replicated for GCETs of other provinces of Pakistan. A specific study may be conducted to
evaluate the internal efficiency of teacher training institutions by applying various approaches of measuring efficiency
i.e., Cost-benefit Analysis, Data Envelop Analysis, and
Stochastic Frontier Analysis.
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