Professional Standards Training and Understanding Pre-School Teachers’ Knowledge About Professional Standards

Theimprovement of the teacher’s quality, including teachers in general and preschool teachers in particular, hasgained interested in many countries around the world. Currently, most countries in the world have issued a framework of competency or professional standards for teachers as a basis for preschool teachers to self-assess and be assessed for their qualities and competenciet. On that basis, preschool teachers can implement the plan of quality training, strengthen and improve professional expertise. This article, the author conducts research to evaluate the implementation of the professional standards manual of schools and the teacher's understanding of professional standards. This is considered an important factor that will contribute to improving the effectiveness of teacher ratings according to professional standards. In this study, the author uses mainly quantitative research methods (survey, descriptive statistics and inference statistics) to clarify the problems that the research has posed. Research results show that there is a relationship between standard manual training and preschool teachers' understanding of professional standards. Standards instructors have a good understanding of professional standards. Especially the training is organized by the school and the education and training department, so the training classes are small, with a small number of participants and therefore higher quality.

A Study of the Changing Role of the Balochistan Textbook Board

After the 18th Constitutional Amendment the role of all provincial Textbook Boards has changed. Since no study has been conducted so far to understand changing role of the Balochistan Textbook Board, this study investigates the changing role of Balochistan Textbook Board after the 18th Constitutional Amendment. This qualitative study comprises semi-structured interviews, focused group discussions and analysis of relevant documents. The study uses a purposive sampling strategy. The study finds that the changing role of Balochistan Textbook Board has helped in developing a sense of responsibility and ownership, making progress in textbooks development and speeding up the process of textbooks development including improving the quality of textbooks. However, the Balochistan Textbook Board has faced some challenges. These include; limited capacity, lack of effective coordination with different stakeholders, lack of teachers’ effective participation in textbooks development, lack of effective evaluation and to ensure quality of textbooks. The study recommends effective coordination among the stakeholders, effective participation of different stakeholders, effective evaluation process, and devising new strategies and mechanisms for textbooks development.