Tribute Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan

Dr Ghulam Mustafa Khan [d. 2005] can truly be said to be a teacher of teachers [ustadh al-asatadha]. In his long and distinguished academic career spanning over six decades, he brought into existence literally hundreds of teachers in his subject Urdu and also created in many of them a taste for critical research that resulted in the existence of a whole corpus of standard critical material. This will endure in academic circles for a long time. It was his common habit to encourage his students, especially those of an academic bent of mind, to enrol for a Ph.D. In the course of which he would proffer them all kinds of assistance even if he were not their research supervisor. As such, the names of Dr Najmul Islam, who succeeded him as Chairman, Department of Urdu, University of Sindh, stands out. Dr Najmul Islam was the editor of a scholarly research journal, Tehqiq, which appeared in over 20 volumes in his own lifetime. Each issue contained scores of critical essays of a very high academic standard including his own [Dr N. Islam’s]. There is also the name of Dr Hasrat Kasganjvi, who emerged as a creative artist and critic of merit later on authoring dozens of books of high academic standard. The list is long and distinguished and contains the names of the major teachers of Urdu language and literature at the main Pakistani universities. Apart from Urdu teachers, the thousands of persons who had the benefit of attending his lectures and courses are also evidence of his intellectual wide-ranging scholarship. Then there is the select circle of his murids who formed his circle of spiritual knowledge and who had proffered their religious devotion at his hands. To these he gave the benefit of his spiritual counsel and advice as well as the vast knowledge he possessed of the Islamic sciences in his table-talk. Among these persons, the name of ex-President Ziaul Haq is most prominent.

Exploring Pedagogical Leadership in Schools: Teachers’ Perceptions on How Principals Promote Teaching and Learning

This study explores pedagogical leadership of school principals as teachers perceive and how principals promote teaching and learning in the schools of urban context of Karachi, Pakistan. In the last two decades the focus of policy makers and educators has been shifted from the provision of education to educational outcomes. Different reforms have been introduced to improve quality of education in Pakistan. The role of the principal is central to bringing quality change in schools. Therefore, many attempts have been made to understand principal's leadership styles. However, little empirical evidence is available to explore the principal's role as pedagogical leader with the teachers' eyes under qualitative study and how teachers as key players in school perceive principals' role in promoting teaching and learning in schools. Therefore, this study aims at exploring teachers' perceptions about role of a principal as a pedagogical leader in three schools (public, private and non- profit school organization) at secondary level in the context of Karachi. To achieve the purpose of the study and sufficiently address the research questions, a qualitative research study was designed to explore the perceptions of teachers regarding the pedagogical leadership in schools and how principals promote teaching and learning in the school. The study involved the use of semi-structured interviews, document analysis and field observations. Findings from the study indicate that teachers perceive principals as pedagogical leaders who guide them in classroom teaching and learning through effective pedagogies and strategies, creating collaborative relationships and provide constructive feedback. Whereas, the actual practices of principals rarely meet the perceptions and expectations of teachers because principals most of the time are consumed in day to day administrative tasks. This study is significant because the findings suggest that current and future school principals should attempt to understand how they are perceived by teachers, and, thus, adapt attitude, pedagogical skills, and strategies to demonstrate pedagogical leadership in the school. This study can also be beneficial for the policy makers to develop a policy document on training of teachers, administrative staff, and community members to appreciate and expect the role of principals in teaching and learning apart from the role of administrative matters. The study can further be expanded to teachers of urban and rural context under mixed research method so the result can be generalized. Moreover, perceptions of students about the role of principal as pedagogical leader at secondary level may add value to the study.