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This research analyzed and compared administrators' supervisory and teachers' pedagogical skills concerning quality education in Public and Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools at the secondary level, in line with the Vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025 (Minimum Standards for Quality Education in Pakistan, 2016). The research employed a descriptive method and adopted a quantitative approach. For this study, 248 head teachers were selected from public schools and 126 from Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools via simple random sampling, making a total sample of 374 respondents. Data were collected using a five-response Likert scale and analyzed with SPSS, including mean, standard deviation, t-test, and f-test to assess the difference between administrators' supervisory and teachers' pedagogical skills towards quality education in both school types. The study concluded that administrators in public secondary schools exhibited better academic and professional qualifications and that both administrators' supervision and teachers' pedagogical skills were superior in public schools. Additionally, public schools were more aligned with the Minimum Quality Standards for Schooling to meet the vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025 for quality education compared to Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools. It is recommended that the heads of Punjab Education Foundation-funded schools enhance their supervisory skills, while teachers should improve their pedagogical skills to align with the vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025.

Gender disparity in science and mathematics performance is being researched internationally. In a complex education system, like Pakistan, studying the difference in isolation may not generate holistic understanding. Therefore, this paper investigates changes in trends of performance in Science and Mathematics for both genders across public and private schools. Data were gathered from a nationwide sample of elementary grades students (n=15,391) using SATs/MATS. Independent t-test and two-way-ANOVA were employed to analyse data. Results revealed that girls outperformed boys in Science (p<0.01) while no gender differences in performance were observed in Mathematics. Gender and school systems demonstrated significant interaction effect only in mathematics, unveiling that girls perform better in public schools while this difference diminished in the private school system. The results show implications for employing gender-fair policies and practices in science and mathematics education.

This article analysed gender disparities in Pakistan focusing on access to primary education and women's education in light of National Education policies from 1947 to 2017 to achieve universal primary education. This study aimed to trace the evolution of National Education policies (1947-2017) in the attainment of universal primary education and gender disparities in Primary education in Pakistan. A qualitative document analysis technique was employed to extract relevant data related to policy objectives, strategies, and targets of primary education, gender disparities, and women's education. The quantitative data was extracted from the Pakistan Economic Survey 2022-2023, Pakistan Education Statistics 2020-2021, and all National Census 1951, 1961, 1972, 1981, 1998, and 2017. The study found that education policies highlighted the importance of primary education but did not dedicate larger sections to women's education in the first 40 years. The recent education policies addressed the importance of women's education for achieving gender parity. These findings, which stem from a review of national education policies' documents, are in line with the findings drawn from the quantitative data extracted from authoritative reports which stated that significant gender disparities existed in the numbers of primary schools, access to primary education, and students' enrolments throughout the history of Pakistan. The study also found significant gender disparities in the number of primary schools per 100,000 children, with male students comparatively attending schools more than female students. The study found consistent gender disparities in primary education enrolment in Pakistan with notable progress in recent years but have not been able to eliminate these disparities. Gender disparity is evident in literacy rate, gross enrolment rate (GER), and net enrolment rate (NER). The study recommended that the revision of existing policies and formulation of new education policies should be based on comprehensive documentation on women's education and its impact on the economy, literacy rate, and universal primary education.

Human rights contribute to peaceful coexistence among citizens, which leads to societal and national progress as well. The present research focused on the analysis of the human rights teaching practices at higher education level in Pakistan. Fifteen (15) heads of departments, 61 teachers, and 419 students of BS programs were selected as a sample from four departments of four public universities of the Punjab (Pakistan). Human Rights (HRs) was considered as an aggregate of nine values; which were here rearranged in descending order of their rank as per their prevalence in teaching practices of the sampled teachers -- truth, integrity, respect for human dignity, freedom and responsibility, equality and justice, acceptance/appreciation of diversity, cooperation, accountability, and honesty. 'Truth' was the most focused value, and 'honesty' was the least. Human Rights Values (HRVs) were being taught less than that of the expectations of the students and teachers. Therefore, HRVs should be taught to the university students more frequently. Keeping in view greater importance of civic engagement and citizenship, Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) can offer a distinct course regarding Human Rights Education in its guiding principles for universities in its sponsorships.

This study introduced action research to a group of 25 teachers in a K-12 school in Pakistan. The objective was to understand how teachers viewed their identity as teachers and how they perceived action research as a possible professional development tool. Data were obtained through three focused group interviews with 12 volunteers from the initial group which was later analyzed through discourse analysis. Findings from data are shared about action research as a viable tool in effective learning and instruction. The teachers shared their apprehensions about action research. Implications for equitable education and research in international contexts have been discussed.

We assessed the Association of Mental Health and different education systems among high school students. A total of 174 students (107 females and 67 males) from age 16-19 years studying in 11th and 12th grades or equivalent to A levels in Karachi, Pakistan were surveyed in this cross-sectional study. Data collection involved using a specially designed structured questionnaire through literature review as well as the patient Health Questionnaire, a validated tool for assessing depression. Our study found that majority of students suffered from mild depression (29.3%). This was followed by 27.5% of students with severe depression, 23.0% with moderate depression and 20.1 with no depression. It was also found that more females suffered from depression as compared to males. However, no significant correlation was found between the association of different education system on the mental health of adolescents.

Servant leadership is a type of leadership that encourages people to work together. A leader intends to help the institution's personnel favorably. The school leader interacts with teachers and administrative staff as a collegial friend rather than a boss and tries to make things as easy as possible for them. The major goal of this study was to see if there was a correlation between servant leadership and job satisfaction among secondary school teachers in Pakistani settings. The study's participants were male and female public sector secondary school teachers from the districts of Lahore and Kasur, of Punjab province, Pakistan. The sample was chosen using a stratified random sampling technique. A total of 510 teachers participated in the study as a sample. In this study, adapted questionnaires with responses measured on a five-point Likert type scale was used. Both variables, perceived servant leadership style of principals and work satisfaction of teachers showed a strong association. Further sub-factors correlations showed significant results. It is proposed that school principals adopt a servant leadership style as it would be more beneficial for them to ease and comfort the school employees that might improve the institutional performance.

This research investigates disciplinary variations using syntactic features in Pakistani academic writing (AW). The corpus of this research is developed from 160 dissertations across four disciplinary divisions and analyzed through AntConc. Results reveal heterogeneous and homogenous use of the said features. Heterogeneity is seen in relation to the frequency of different types of clausal, intermediate, and phrasal features. Regarding the homogeneity, results reveal that the highest and lowest used features were similar across the four disciplinary divisions. That is, clausal coordinating conjunctions and WH complement clauses (highest and lowest used clausal features), nouns and prepositional phrases (highest and lowest used phrasal features), and adverbs and noun+to-clauses (highest and lowest used intermediate features) are observed to remain the same across the four disciplinary divisions. These results conclude that Pakistani AW does not reflect disciplinary variation. The practice is contrary to the expert convention. Therefore, Pakistani academic writers are suggested to appropriately use the syntactic features as per the expert conventions in their disciplines.

The current study aimed to explore the effect of Brain-Based Learning on students' intrinsic motivation (IM) to learn and perform in mathematics. Owing to the educational implications of Neuroscience, the researchers planned the mixed-methods experimental study with a convergent parallel research design. The participants were eighth-graders enrolled in a boy's public secondary school in the district Kasur of Pakistan in the academic year 2021-2022. Students were taught mathematics using the traditional lecture method in the baseline phase (A) and withdrawal phase (A). In contrast, in the treatment phase (B), they were taught mathematics with activities based on the BBL approaches and principles. The mathematics motivation scale and observation (field notes) were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously. Data were analysed using one-way repeated measure ANOVA and thematic analysis. The researchers revealed that BBL significantly affects students' IM to learn and perform in mathematics. After qualitative analysis, it was found that visual story-telling, role-playing, i-Think maps, back-to-board, and Kick Me Poison Box are the most effective BBL-based activities which keep them engaged, provide emotional support and contribute to students' IM to learn and perform in mathematics. The teachers were suggested to develop BBL-based activities to teach mathematics and to influence students' psychology in the schools.

With the use of technology, students can store, share, and record what they learned in a given session or day of remote learning. This study aimed to assess distance learners' abilities in digital literacy by examining their attitudes, concepts, and methods. The quantitative descriptive survey research method was used. For this purpose, 95 distance learners were selected from the different private colleges in district Swabi that were affiliated with Higher Education Regulatory Authority Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and were offering distance-learning programs (i.e., B.Ed. 1.5 and 2.5 programs). Likert scale was used through online Google survey forms. The study found that some of the digital competencies of distance learners were below average, as they had no awareness regarding the effect of extensive technology use. They did not know multimedia product designing as well as could not upload self-created content to any website for sharing. While some aspects of digital competencies showed better results as majority of the distance learners had an awareness of social networking and online collaboration tools. As a prerequisite for any distance course, an ICT-based course may be made available to all distance learners as well as tutorials may be made available for fresh distance learners.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between students' adjustment to the academic learning process (academic adjustment) and motivation for learning science. The study was conducted with the participation of university students enrolled in science-related programs. A correlational research design was utilized in which data was collected through the Academic Adjustment Subscale (AAS) and the Students Motivation towards Science Learning (SMTSL) scale. Both scales were piloted before administering to data collection. The research sample comprised of 526 students selected using a simple random sampling technique, with participants providing informed consent prior to their involvement in the study. The collected data was analyzed using Pearson's r correlation and independent sample t-tests after checking normal distribution of data. Results showed a small positive correlation between students' academic adjustment and motivation for learning science. Statistically, no significant mean differences were found between male and female students, as well as between the 17-22 years and 23-27 years old student groups. These findings suggest that academic adjustment plays an important role in motivating students to learn science and vice versa. Given that the study did not find significant differences based on gender and age groups, educational institutes should provide need based individualized support and guidance to all students regardless of their gender or age.

The International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) is a rapidly growing field in education which has gained considerable attention of stakeholders across the globe. Historically, ILSA emerged from the developed context which has drifted to the developing contexts in a short span of time due to globalisation. Pakistan has participated in ILSA (i.e., TIMSS) for the first time in the 2019 cycle. In light of the global critique on ILSA, this paper presents a critical analysis on Pakistan's participation in TIMSS by raising questions embedded in contextual realities. The discussion adds to the understanding of ILSA in terms of historical developments, theoretical underpinnings towards participation in ILSA, and the general as well as context-specific critique on ILSA. The paper ends with the argument in favour of strengthening national LSA instead of relying only on ILSA.

Social media technologies (SMTs), online brand communities, and social customer relationship management (SCRM) Capabilities play an indispensable role in the engagement and loyalty-building of university students to achieve a sustainable university reputation. This study provides pioneering input for higher education institutions (HEIs) by developing a new integrated SCRM model through self-congruity or self-congruence theory, which examines SMTs Use, online brand communities, SCRM Capabilities, customer engagement, customer loyalty, and university reputation. Using cross-sectional data from 400 students from Pakistani public universities, structure equation modeling applies to Smart PLS 3.2.7. Results indicate that all hypotheses have significant positive relationships, except SMTs use found insignificant with university reputation. Also, SCRM Capabilities mediate between SMTs use and university reputation, while customer engagement mediates between online brand communities and customer loyalty. This study indirectly supports public HEIs sustainability. Further, these findings contribute new knowledge to literature and theory.

Returned academics who have doctoral education abroad, a fast-growing group in developing countries, are seen favorably in producing quality academic outcomes. However, academic performance and barriers are also important to learning mobility benefits and ensuring optimal outcomes motivated by the absence of research in the native context. The explanatory sequential embedded mixed-methods study aimed to evaluate the teaching quality of returned doctorates compared with their local compatriots and explore teaching-related challenges at public sector universities in Punjab, Pakistan. A multilevel sequential mixed-methods sampling design was used to select 814 students and six academics from the six universities (three top and three medium-ranked higher education institution) of central Punjab. The researchers developed two research instruments: (a) Student Evaluation of Teaching Quality Scale (SETQS) and (b) Semi-Structured Interviews Protocol for Returnees (SSIP-R). The psychometric properties of quantitative measure (SETQS) were ensured through factor analysis, while an expert panel review validated the qualitative measure (SSIP-R). Inferential statistics were applied to quantitative data, while a thematic analysis technique was applied to qualitative data to find complementarity among results. The findings revealed that returnees and non-returnees were similar in a few teaching aspects. However, returnees performed relatively better in interpersonal behavior, subject mastery, instruction, and learning resources. Teaching performance differed slightly by discipline and largely by university ranking. Further, returnees' capacity to perform was impacted by various academic challenges. Explored challenges and relevant solutions correspond to Bronfenbrenner system theory's microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem levels. Higher education authorities and universities need to address academic challenges. In turn, this may lead to smooth, professional reintegration of the returnees into the local system, leading to enhanced teaching performance.

Assumptions regarding digital technologies in business schools have become part of the "hidden curriculum." It is generally assumed that students have the same levels of access and prior exposure to digital technologies as well as information and digital literacies (IDL) skills. Little attention has been given to the issues of social-digital inequalities and the impact of this hidden curriculum on students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this study, using a phenomenographic approach, we examine how students from rural, socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds in Pakistan, experienced digital technologies in the context of a full-time, in-person MBA program. The findings reveal the students initially had an "alienating" experience of digital technologies which for most transitions to either an "engaged" or "instrumental" experience. While the students exercised agency in transitioning from an alienation experience this was as a result of their own effort, time and labor. We conclude that without additional support offered to students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the hidden curriculum associated with digital technologies potentially perpetuates, or maintains socio-digital inequalities within management education.

Women's empowerment is an important goal of the educational processes around the world. Women in developing countries need support and motivation for attaining higher education and empowerment. This qualitative-exploratory study sought to explore the perceptions of Pakistani female university academics living inside predominantly patriarchal social structures regarding their motivation for and issues in attaining higher education and empowerment. The study also aimed at understanding the notion of empowerment and areas where women academics have achieved empowered status. The study also investigated women academics' access to higher education, and its impact on their current social positioning in a traditional social setup. A total of 30 purposefully selected women academics from public sector universities in Northwest Pakistan constituted the study sample. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that patriarchal social structures in and outside workplaces influence women academics' motivation for higher education and empowerment. However, some motivational factors, including economic stability, professional identity in society, intellectual fulfilment and support of fathers and husbands seemed instrumental in contributing to women academics' pursuits of higher education and attainment of positions in academia.

Gojri speakers, i.e., Gujjars and Bakarwals, are the relatively deprived indigenous tribal communities and groups. The hegemony of dominant languages in significant fields such as polity, judiciary, and education accentuates the exclusion of tribal and minority languages. The study relied on secondary sources and mainly focused on Gojri speakers of Jammu and Kashmir, and India. We examined the indigenous Gojri language, its genesis, evolution, resemblance, geography, and diversity, and the plight of its neglect and exclusion from significant fields. We highlighted how Census operations, official languages of States/UTs, schedules of the constitution, parliament and judicial proceedings, pedagogical medium & school curriculum, language education policies, and initiatives contributed to such exclusion. The study expands our understanding of language landscape and diversity, hegemony and preference for dominant languages, and exclusion of minority and tribal languages. Considering the linguistic diversity of J&K and India, we believe this study can sensitize educational and language policy planners and practitioners about language bias, non-inclusive, discriminant, and unjust treatment, alienating Gojri speakers in different domains.

Teachers' pedagogical beliefs play a vital role in the process of teaching and learning. These beliefs are often reflected in their practices which lead to the formation of their instructional decision making. Pre-service teacher education programs are offered in many universities of Pakistan with the aim to prepare professional teachers with strong beliefs in the value of teaching profession. Therefore, this qualitative case study aimed to explore the transformation of pre-service prospective teachers' beliefs regarding teaching skills during a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) program in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The data were collected from eight participants through semi-structured interviews in two phases: before teaching practice and after teaching practice. Findings revealed that pre-service teachers joined B.Ed. program with certain traditional beliefs about teaching skills that were rooted in their past experiences as students. The transformation of those beliefs took place at the time of teaching practice in a real classroom. The paper concludes that only coursework of pre-service teacher education might not be sufficient to transform prospective teachers' beliefs, rather the teaching practice should be a contributory factor in transforming their pedagogical beliefs. This could mainly be attributed to the prospective teachers' practical experiences in real classroom situations during the teaching practice. The study has important implications for teacher educators and educational researchers in terms of highlighting the important role of teaching practice in the professional preparation and development of prospective teachers.

Quality of science education is under the consideration of educationists and researchers. Achievement in science subjects, which is one of the indicators of quality of science education, determines not only the students' performance but it also helps the teachers to evaluate their teaching strategies. This study is an effort to explore the factors related to science achievement in Pakistani perspective. In this survey, science achievement scores of the students of 8th grade decide their entrance in science subjects at 9thgrade. Sample of 1149 students of 8th and 9th grade students of high and elementary government schools were taken randomly for data collection. Major results were that parental qualification and maternal job status effect significantly students' science achievement. Female students were significantly higher than male students, and 8thgrade students were significantly higher than 9th grade students in their science achievement scores. It is recommended that teachers of secondary schools and rural schools during parent teacher meeting may motivate the parents to supervise their children during studies at home and they themselves study books at home.

Pre-service teacher education comprises essential courses to prepare prospective teachers for effective classroom assessment practices. The study analyzes study material on students' assessment and assessment literacy of prospective teachers is investigated which require close attention of policy makers and practitioners for authentic assessment in classrooms. A sequential triangulation research design, using mix-method approaches, has been used for this research. All distance education students studying in B.Ed. and M.Ed. programs at Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad make the target population of the study. Through random sampling techniques, a sample of 344 prospective teachers and 18 teacher educators constitute the sample group. Results indicate that the study material satisfied the standards as stipulated in the National Professional Standards for Teachers in Pakistan; however, the assessment literacy of prospective teachers was found unsatisfactory. Furthermore, it was revealed that students' low motivation, low interaction between tutors and prospective teachers, and traditional approaches and beliefs were found to be the areas requiring urgent attention with regard to reforms in assessment. The presentation of study materials is found to be less engaging with no clearly specified road map for implementation in classrooms. Assessment practices by teacher educators included only summative approaches. Therefore, it is recommended that the study materials may be re-designed to ensure that it leads towards prospective teachers' assessment literacy.

Modern concept of education is based on students' centered learning approaches where collaborative instructional strategy is an emerging approach. It has been tested in different subjects and its effectiveness has been proved. Therefore, this experimental study investigated the effects of Collaborative Instructional Strategy (CIS) on mathematics achievement of fifth grade students. The experiment was conducted at a Government school in District Swat, Pakistan using pre-test post-test comparative group design on 64 students in two groups (control and experimental). Mathematics Attainments Test (MAT) was developed to measure students' academic achievement. Collaborative mathematics instructional lesson plans (CMIL) were also developed to teach mathematics. The collected data were analyzed though mean, standard deviation, pair sample t test and independent sample t test. The results of the experiment showed that Collaborative Instructional Strategy (CIS) has a significant positive effect on the academic achievement of Primary school students in the subject of mathematics. It was recommended that Collaborative Instructional Strategy (CIS) may be use to teach mathematics at primary level.

At present, genre analysis of various types of texts has gained much attention by the researchers worldwide. The focus of genre analysis in this study is on the examination of thesis abstracts written by Pakistani students in the field of TEFL in connection with move structure, lexico-grammatical features and style of the writer. The corpus of this study consisted of 30 TEFL thesis abstracts, collected through convenient sample method directly from the students via personal contact. The results of the study reveal that the thesis abstracts do not meet the criteria as mentioned in the said analytical framework. Further the rhetorical moves are not properly organized. Simple present tense has been used in 66% thesis abstracts. 90% thesis abstracts have been written in active voice. 80% writers prefer to use impersonal style of writing. This study recommends that the novice researchers in Pakistan in the field of TEFL may be provided proper guidelines for writing thesis abstracts.

The use of English articles is the most challenging task for the EFL learners particularly when there is no articles in their native language (L1). The purpose of this study is to investigate the underlying reasons for the difficulties in using English articles by analyzing the learners' own experiences. The data was collected in the form of written feedback from seventy-five adult Pashto (L1) learners of English (L2) having three different educational backgrounds. The data were analyzed by using qualitative thematic analysis software 'MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2020'. The results brought forth useful insights for learning and teaching the use of English articles for the adult EFL learners. The underlying reasons were found to be the failure in the identification of the concepts of countability, definiteness/indefiniteness of nouns, variability in physical form and concept of nouns, variability across languages, learners/teachers' attitudes towards articles, lack of article-check in computer software and pedagogical instruction.

The heterogeneous data acquired by educational institutes about students' careers (e.g., performance scores, course preferences, attendance record, demographics, etc.) has been a source of investigation for Educational Data Mining (EDM) researchers for over two decades. EDM researchers have primarily focused on course-specific data analyses of students' performances, and rare attempts are made at the domain level that may benefit the educational institutes at large to gauge and improve their institutional effectiveness. Our work aims to fill this gap by examining students' transcripts data for identifying similar groups of students and patterns that might associate with these different cohorts of students based on: (a) difficulty level of a course category, (b) formation of course trajectories, and, (c) transitioning of students between different performance groups. We have exploited descriptive data mining and visualization methods to analyze transcript data of 1398 undergraduate Computer Science students of a private university in Pakistan. The dataset includes students' transcript data of 124 courses from nine distinct course categories. In the end, we have discussed our findings in detail, challenges, and, future work directions.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the direct and indirect relationships between Personality Traits (PTs) and Conflict Management Styles (CMSs) through Job Performance (JP) in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: This is a quantitative study that employed a survey questionnaire to collect cross-sectional data from academic leaders of Pakistan's Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The researchers derived this study's findings from 320 useable responses. Findings: The authors used a Structural Equation Model (SEM) which shows a positive and significant effect of agreeableness on Integrating Styles (IS), Avoiding Styles (AS), Obliging Styles (OS), Compromising Styles (CS) and Dominating Styles (DS). Extraversion has a positive and significant effect on IS, OS, DS and CS. Emotional Stability (ES) is the positive and significant predictor of IS, AS, OS and CS. The conscientiousness trait has a positive and significant effect in predicting IS, OS, DS, CS and AS. Likewise, openness has a positive and significant effect on IS, OS, DS and CS. On the other hand, extraversion and openness have a negative and insignificant effect on AS. Finally, amongst HEIs' academic leaders ES is the negative and insignificant predictor of DS. Practical implications: This study's findings offer additional insights into understanding the direct and indirect connections between PTs and CMSs through JP. These support the development of effective policies and organizational arrangements to resolve and manage conflict and employee behaviours. Finally, through another contribution of empirical evidence, these findings further enrich the worth of the literature. Originality/value: This study's findings provide both, directly and indirectly, the original contributions of Pakistan's HEIs' academic leaders PTs and CMSs.

In 2020 Pakistan's first-ever hackathon on school emergencies was organised, where schools and community stakeholders collaborated to deconstruct problems and develop solutions. The study aimed to investigate participants' motivation for and experiences of the hackathon. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from hackers, mentors, judges and organisers before, during and after the event. Findings indicate diversity amongst participants in terms of age, gender and experiences. The hackers' motivations were both intrinsic and extrinsic. The challenges were insufficient time, absence of investors, inconsistent mentoring, low participation from public schools and imbalanced gender participation. The hackathon provided a unique opportunity for multidisciplinary collaborative problem-solving and accessing experts for creativity and innovation. Future research should focus on increasing participation and fostering social innovations through school-based civic hackathons.

Purpose: The firms use training evaluation practices (TEPs) to determine the return of billions of dollars spent on employee training and development activities. The firms need to modernize the set of TEPs for evidence-based workforce management decisions. This study aims to examine a mediation mechanism to explain how human resource (HR) professionals' design thinking (DT) mindset strengthens the set of TEPs using predictive workforce analytics (PWAs). Design/methodology/approach: The authors used SPSS computational named MLMED to test the proposed relationships by collecting data from 180 management professionals serving in subsidiaries of multinational corporations in Pakistan. Findings: The statistical results demonstrated that DT is not directly related to firms' TEPs. However, the statistical results supported the mediating role of firms' use of PWAs between DT and TEPs. Originality/value: The findings offer a new perspective for firms to use HR professionals' DT mindset for modernizing the set of existing HR practices.

This study examined the impact of personality traits on the knowledge sharing behavior of academicians in the public sector. The data were collected from 237 respondents using a questionnaire. The results showed that the personality trait openness to experience had a significant and positive impact on the knowledge sharing behavior and its sub-dimensions such as written contributions, organizational communication, personal interactions, and communities of practice. Furthermore, the personality traits extraversion and agreeableness positively predicted the knowledge sharing behavior for the dimensions of communities of practice and organizational communication, respectively. The results of this study would be helpful for the administrative staff of universities to develop programs to promote a knowledge sharing culture in universities and improve collaborative learning, research, organizational effectiveness, and performance. It would also be a worthy contribution to the existing literature as only a limited number of studies have addressed the role of personality traits in the knowledge sharing behaviors in the academic environment of a non-western country.

Based on the learning organization theory the main purpose of this research is to discuss how demographics variables affect the learning organization disciplines perception in faculty members of higher education institutes (HEIs) of Pakistan. This study explores that how demographic variables affect the learning organization disciplines perception at the HEIs level. We use the demographic variables and learning organization model in higher education institutions of Pakistan. In doing so, we used a survey instrument to collect data from 253 faculty members of HEIs in Pakistan. In addition, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with the same respondents. Study findings revealed that there is a low application of the learning organization disciplines in HEIs in Pakistan. Further study also explains that demographic variables generated a variance of 2.7% in learning organization culture. Further, this study suggested some substantial implications for universities and regulatory bodies of HEIs.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore contribution of informal learning space -- Research Cafe -- to enrich research learning experiences of graduate students. Developing strong research skills among graduate students is a prime focus of higher education around the world. Thereby, universities are striving to maximise opportunities that can foster and enrich students' learning experiences of research; however, the focus is mostly confined to formal opportunities such as research method courses and thesis writing. The provision of informal learning spaces has been recognised as a useful tool for fostering research learning experiences of graduates. This reflective paper is among a few focusing on a model of student-led informal learning space for enriching research experiences in higher education in the context of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses a reflective approach to generate a metalogue. The research experiences shared by the participants were further reflected by the authors after each research café session. The authors then shared their collective metacognitive reflections with each other, generating a metalogue, which was used as the data set. The metalogue was analysed thematically to generate themes. Findings: Findings reveal that the research café is an informal space to promote academic socialisation by providing a conducive environment, peer support and informal supervision opportunities to foster the research learning experiences of graduate students. Importantly, the model presented in this paper provides a complimentary pathway for boosting learning experiences. Research limitations/implications: This paper would be useful for graduate students, faculty and university manager to acknowledge the potential of informal learning spaces in promoting research learning experiences. This paper highlights opportunities for replication, and further empirical research are needed to establish the efficacy of research café. Originality/value: This study contributes to the global debate about graduate research learning experiences through informal learning space, which is yet to be explored, particularly in developing contexts like Pakistan. The idea of the research café is original, as it was conceived keeping in consideration the contextual and cultural aspects. The methodology used in this paper was specifically derived which can be replicated by other researchers.

In order to obtain good grades, students involve themselves in hard work according to the best of their ability, yet an experiential learning project makes it even harder to attain the grades that the students are aiming for. Researches have shown that students are generally optimistic about their grades, yet no research has been found in Pakistan to gauge student optimism in grades with regard to experiential learning projects. This study is an attempt to gauge an empirical attempt to gauge students' optimism towards their grades in an experiential learning project. A sample of 106 students is obtained via purposive sampling technique enrolled in the same university and same course. After being involved in an experiential learning project, they were asked their expected marks which were compared later with their actually obtained marks. Pair sample t-test is applied to figure out whether the average of perceived marks is statistically different than the average of actually obtained marks. The average of expected marks exceeds by 2.14 which is statistically significant at 99.9% confidence interval.

The major focus of school education is the intellectual development of students and mathematics is a very effective subject in this regard, if taught and assessed properly. For this study, papers of SSC (Grade-10) for the years 2014 and 2015 set by the Board of Secondary Education, Karachi were scrutinized to know if the items of these papers had measured essential mathematical skills or not. These items were then compared with the items set by General Certificate of Education (GCE: O-Level), University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) for mathematics papers, serving as a benchmark for this study to highlight the shortcomings. The results revealed that the items of SSC papers were highly biased towards 'Factual Knowledge' and 'Routine Procedures'. The study concluded that these items assess knowledge of facts and algorithms only and do not measure essential mathematical skills (involvement of higher levels of thinking processes) of students. The study recommends to improve the items of papers so that essential mathematical skills can be measured rather than the capacity of memorization because with this practice, thinking habits cannot be inculcated among students.

The article documents the reflections on gathering data from the home country via distance while living and studying in New Zealand. These reflections strengthen the idea that data collection via distance could be a viable solution in circumstances where face-to-face data collection may not be an option. Three threads: negotiations, insider advantage of establishing relationships, and support systems to facilitate patterns of communication are elaborated to discuss challenges and strategies adopted to mitigate the challenges. The growing popularity and access to video-conferencing technologies indicate broader usability of such technologies to conduct data collection. This article has implications for new researchers or doctoral students who intend to collect data from home countries, especially in times of border closures due to Covid-19.

With the closure of educational institutions due to COVID-19, the biggest challenge with the universities and the instructors was engaging students in virtual learning. This research aimed at supporting university students in Islamabad (Pakistan) for online learning through a collaborative approach. The university started online learning during COVID-19 and had no earlier experience of such mode of learning. The first phase was identifying the problems faced by students during online learning and seeking their suggestions for overcoming them. The next step was working on the students' opinions with a team of instructors to modify existing instructional practices during online instruction. We measured students' satisfaction level pre and post-modification to evaluate students' adoption of online learning. The data for both the phases were collected through a Google Form. The post-modification data revealed students' greater satisfaction in online learning. The findings offer useful insight related to students' adoption of online learning and making it a more meaningful, organized, and productive medium for future learning.

The debate on the value and relevance of commerce versus business administration education is at its full swing in Pakistan. Conventional focus of the commerce education has been on areas like accounting and trade, while business administration education focuses more on areas like management and administration of a business entity. Recently, degrees pertaining to business administration have seen limelight, while commerce degrees have lost their charisma. To some educationists, commerce and business administration domains are mutually exclusive and rise of one necessitates abolition of the other. This study took up this subjective debate to provide a starting point for an objective dialogue on improvement/ abolition of commerce education. The nature of the study was descriptive, as it analysed the courses included in the curriculum of three eminent universities for their undergraduate commerce and business administration programs. It was found that there are many differences between these two domains of knowledge, where business administration focuses more on the soft skills, marketing and social science subjects and commerce focuses more on accounting, finance, taxation and auditing. This study also identifies a need to improve curriculum of commerce education, rejects the idea of its abolition, suggests that the curriculum of commerce be aligned with the demands of the society, and also recommends that commerce education be integrated with the professional accounting associations.

This mixed-method study investigates the state of media and information literacy education in Pakistan by underlining the availability of relevant courses and trained teaching and research faculty at both public and private universities. Using United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) framework, this study explores the perception of faculty members across six key areas of general education and teacher development to improve the quality of media and information literacy in the country. These six key areas include (a) policy and vision, (b) curriculum and assessment, (c) pedagogy, (d) media and information, (e) organization and administration, and (f) teachers' professional development.

Teacher's professionalism is a social construct that is defined through educational policy, practice, and standards. These are considered inevitable for developing professionalism. This paper discusses the role of National Education Policy (NEP) and National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPSTs) for the development of professionalism based on the views of experts who had direct experience with the process of formulation of NEP and NPSTs. Six experts; three associated with the preparation of NEP (2009) and three of NPSTs were interviewed through a semistructured interview consisting indicators of professionalism, conducted, recorded and transcribed. The analysis showed that while preparing NEP (2009) and NPSTs, teachers' professionalism was not considered in true spirit. They declared that there was no mutual coordination between NEP and NPSTs experts for the development of teacher's professionalism and was also not included onto the agenda. It is recommended that teacher professionalism may be focused while developing National Education Policies.

Purpose: This study explored the perspectives of teachers on outcomes of service-learning participation in vocational training institutes. The main purpose was to gain a better understanding of outcomes concerning service-learning participation of vocational training institute students in Pakistan. Methodology: A total of 315 respondents participated in the study. Data were collected from 15 randomly selected vocational training institutes using a self-designed questionnaire which was drafted and validated after expert approval. The construct validation of the questionnaire was established through Exploratory Factor Analysis. Findings: The findings indicated that participation in service-learning resulted in increased course content knowledge, the development of interpersonal skills, and the development of a volunteering attitude among the vocational institute students. Significance: This study is one of the few studies related to academic outcomes of vocational education students as a result of service-learning participation. The results facilitate understanding of the pedagogical role of service-learning as a practical teaching approach, and would be of particular interest to employers who are looking for skilled manpower in the current job market.

Background: In this technologically advanced era, media literacy is necessary to effectively evaluate the information and understand various biases inherent in media messages. Several media literacy (ML) tools are available; however, we need generic and objective tools that can be applied to all forms of media messages. Objectives: The current study aimed to develop and validate an objective and generalized measure of media literacy based on the previously available tools. This study suggested that the access component should be removed from the media literacy tools as recommended in previous literature. Methods: The total of 386 respondents, both males and females, were recruited from different universities in Lahore. The age of the sample ranged from 18 to 25 (M=20.98, SD=2.12), with an approximately equal proportion of males (47%) and females. Results and Conclusions: This study proposed a compact Media Literacy Scale (MLS) with 3 constructs--analyze (09 items; [alpha]=0.76), evaluate (08 items; [alpha]=0.72), and comprehend (07 items; [alpha]=76). This 24 items scale explains 55.4% variance was administered to 386 respondents aged 18 to 30 years (M=20.98, SD=2.12). This developed scale will help assess the baseline level of media literacy in the audience so that in the future, evaluation of the efficacy of media literacy, and media literacy programs could be provided.

It is very essential to understand all the phenomena and circumstances running within the process of education or teaching-learning setting, some of the factors that should be considered on the top of the understanding list are pedagogical beliefs and practices of teachers. Pedagogical beliefs and practices are very much related to the tactics, ways, methods and strategies that teachers use for facing or challenging coming in their routine professional line. These are also essential for refining teaching and students' learning atmosphere for keeping their motivation and interest up for enhanced performances. The objective of the study was to compare the pedagogical beliefs of English and Urdu teachers. In order to achieve the objectives of this study related literature was reviewed. A questionnaire on the basis of reviewed literature on five point Likert scale i.e. 5 = Strongly Disagree, 4 = Disagree, 3 = Undecided, 2 = Strongly Agree, 1 = Agree was used for data collection. Random sampling technique was used to draw sample from the population of school teachers from all public -sector secondary schools of the Lahore. Two English and two Urdu teachers were selected randomly from each school total 660 secondary school teachers of Lahore 330 Urdu teachers and 330 English teachers were the sample of the study. Frequency and percentage and t. test used for data analysis. The study revealed that Urdu teacher had High level of pedagogical beliefs in comparison with the English teachers. Which indicates that Urdu teachers recognize themselves more proficient and comfortable in caring out of their responsibilities of teaching as compared to the English teachers. Urdu teachers felt High level of contentment and comfort in involving their students in class activities, planning better approaches to increase students' interest, and handle complex situations in the class during teaching as compared to English teachers.

Present study aimed to find out the anxiety factors among students of distance learning of Allama Iqbal Open University. The sample of the study comprised of 322 students of M.Ed. programme selected by using purposive sampling technique. The study was descriptive in nature. Questionnaire was used as the research instrument which was based on five point Likert scale. Mean score and t-test was applied by using SPSS version 21.The results highlighted that factors, like lacunae in admission process, books distribution, assignments, course tutorials and student support services were found to create anxiety among the students of AIOU. The overall mean values for all factors of anxiety were slightly higher in male students as compared to female students. A significant effect of anxiety on the academic performance of distance learners was found. Present research found a significant effect of anxiety on the academic performance among distance learning students of AIOU. It is recommended that University may support students in managing their academic anxiety through counseling and behavioral techniques.

The aim of the present study is to find the gap between expectations and perceptions of students regarding the service quality of higher education public institutions of Lahore, Pakistan. Paired sample t-test was used to explore the gap between expectation and perception of the students of the higher education of the public institutions of Lahore. Stratified random sampling technique was used to collect the data from the students. The results indicated that there were differences between the expectations and perceptions of the students which relate to Reliability, Responsiveness and Assurance dimension. There was no significant difference between the expectations and perceptions of the students towards service quality of higher education public institutions of Lahore, Pakistan in terms of Assurance and Empathy. Research limitations: The data was only collected from the capital city of the province of Punjab. Moreover, the study focused only on higher education public institutions. The research methodology of this study is different from all the other studies which were conducted on this topic. In this study, we have focused to find the problem that students may face in service quality in higher education public institutions.

Foreign language learning may become exciting if students are motivated towards learning. Active learning and teaching methodologies can make a positive difference in students learning especially for second language learners. The current study investigates the outcome of using activity based learning method on the development of reading skills of Grade-VI students. The study employed pre-test, post-test equivalent group experimental design. The study population consisted of all 6 grade students (295,575) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. For the purpose of the study, a sample of 50 students was randomly selected from Government Shaheed Waseem Iqbal High School Tarkha. Experimental and control groups were formed by equal distribution of students i.e. 25 each onteacher made pre-test scores. In the same groups, low and high achiever students were also identified. While the experimental group was taught using activity based learning method, the control group received routine teaching instructions. For data analysis t-test for independent samples was used. Data analysis revealed that both groups had almost the same reading competency the before treatment as evidenced by pre-test scores. However, the experimental group showed better results in reading than control group on post-test. The findings suggest that teachers need to involve students in reading by conducting meaningful and demanding activities.

Teaching and learning of differential equations (DEs) have a prominent role in all the fields of education. In spite of its prominence and frequent applications, teaching and learning of DEs is still considered as one of the most difficult, particularly at pre-university level. This is because, the topic of differential equation along with differentiation and integration is only introduced first time at the 12th year of study or at pre-university level, and the students have no previous knowledge and understandings of this topic. Therefore, the aim of current study is to determine whether teaching and learning of DEs is a challenging task and also, to find out the ways these challenges can be tackled to develop a better understanding for differential equations problem solving. Results showed that teaching and learning of differential equation is not only a difficult part of the mathematics as compared to algebra, trigonometry but also demand high level of conceptual understanding and special efforts for solving differential equation problem. Addition of non-routine problems has been found major factor to enhance teaching and learning. Teacher should also be properly equipped and trained, so that they may educate both routine and nonroutine differential equation problem.

Focusing on the contemporary conflicts and social political complexities of South Asia (specifically, India and Pakistan), this paper explores the roles and relevance of Gandhi's and Bacha Khan's moral education in negotiating/addressing the situated disparities. Drawing from the words and wisdom of Gandhi and Bacha Khan, this paper examines identity issues particularly in the context of (i) gender (disparities and struggles of women (and girls) in the society); (ii) age (situation and contributions of youths and elderly people in bringing about changes); (iii) class (including occupational and caste-based complexities and their negotiations); (iv) ethnicity (struggles of indigenous populations in overcoming situated adversities); (v) religion (tensions and acts of negotiating religious orthodoxies towards creating more secular society); and (vi) regional identities (roles of regional identities in fostering local development). Grounded in their philosophies and pedagogies, the paper discusses the contributions of the two visionaries and their epistemologies/ideologies in studying and/or addressing the issues of contemporary world. This scholarship seems particularly important today when dominant sociopolitical and religious institutions and their agendas often do not value (if not oppose) such moral education, which potentially affects the lives of South Asian populations at large.

The primary achievement of distance and regular students is managing time effectively. Mismanagement disturbs the academic achievements of learners. Time administration plays a significant role in improving learners' performance and accomplishments. It is a skill to manage time and every learner must familiar and command on this skill for the sake of better results. A student can only survive if he/she has ability of time utilization properly. The motive of this study was to establish path relationship of time management and academic achievement of students in distance learning institutions through structural equation modeling. The population of the study was consisted of distance learning students of Virtual and Allama Iqbal Open Universities. Four hundred participants belong to different departments were participated conveniently in this study. Self-developed questionnaires regarding time management and academic achievement on five point likert scale were used to collect data from respondents. Validity was ensured by field experts before using scales. Internal consistency was checked among items by applying Cronbach alpha, rho-a, and composite reliability for reliability confirmation of scales. All three techniques verified that instruments are valid and reliable. Data were analyzed by smartly for path analysis. There was strong positive relationship between time management and academic achievement r = 0.778 of distance learning students. It is concluded that both variables are associated with each other and time utilization skill affects students learning seriously. Students of web-based learning may more focus on proper time managing ability for better academic success.