Effectiveness of in-service teacher education programmes offered by the University of Education, Lahore

The report presents the finding of an evaluation study conducted in regards to teacher professional development programs in subjects of English, mathematics and science run by the University of Education, Lahore from 2001-2003. Interviews and focus group interviews, questionnaire, class observation and document analysis in late 2003 revealed that although the ambition of the project was overwhelming, the project had several inherent weaknesses within design, planning and implementation that prevented the programs to have an impact on teacher’s behavior in classrooms. The researchers provide several recommendations to the university including the need to set realistic strategies that are time bounded, conducting a rigorous evaluation beforehand, gaining the corporation of various stakeholders such as teachers and government through initiatives and the need to employ trainers that can instill the desired skills within the teachers.

The study emphasizes that the university must concentrate on designing programs that are relevant and of high quality by developing explicit objectives and planned criterion. The study concludes that the University must design long term solutions as opposed to short term solutions by applying multi pronged approaches and recognizing the importance of teacher development in growth of education.