How Fair and Aspiring Are the Education Practices at Higher Secondary Schools in Pakistan: Mapping Learners’ Transition to Higher Education and Social Mobility

Abstract

Globally, higher education is considered a tool for social mobility. Pakistan, as a developing country, faces the massive challenge of a low induction proportion of youth in higher education institutions as compared to the existing proportion in the population. Fair education that obligates the provision of a learning environment in which all students are valued and treated fairly and equally irrespective of personal circumstances, is thought to lead every learner to a smoother and fairer transition to higher education, paving the way to social mobility. Thus, the study intended to explore how fair and aspiring education practices at higher secondary schools in Pakistan may ensure higher education transition and social mobility of the learners. The study informants comprised public higher secondary school teachers and principals. The study employed a mixed-method sequential explanatory design in which a multistage sampling technique was used to locate the study participants. Quantitative data were collected from teachers (n=550) via a self-developed questionnaire, whereas qualitative data were collected from higher secondary schools’ principals (n=20) through interview protocols. Results showed that while the teachers’ self-reports declared their teaching practices as fair, inclusive and aspiring, the qualitative responses of principals negated this finding by showing dissatisfaction and disagreement with teachers’ fair teaching practices in schools. The principals highlighted teachers’ negative behaviors in classrooms, lack of teachers’ feedback, lack of concerns for students, inequitable learning resources, and the lack of support that helps in students’ transition to higher education, thus diminishing their opportunities to acquire higher education and social mobility.