An essential cog in a machine: The role of academic research in education

“Assessment, curriculum development, teacher training, and research are all interlinked components of any comprehensive education system. They cannot be separated from one another, and I believe that one of the key reasons Balochistan’s education system faces major issues is because not enough attention has been given to the area of research. It is only through the ability to properly conduct research that we will be able to make sense of the problems present in our province’s educational landscape: Why do some districts perform poorly compared to others? What can interviews with teachers and students from local schools tell us? What remedial action can we take in order to combat this phenomenon? All of these questions can only be answered if academic research is given its due importance.

I feel that this training has met our needs well, as it has clearly been designed on the basis of our contextual needs and focuses on both qualitative and quantitative research. My own institution focuses on assessment and conducting examinations, so there is an obvious benefit towards conducting research about how students perform in various examinations in order to determine whether there are any potential areas of improvement on our end. However, research is also equally important for other institutions represented here to conduct their own research -- how else would we know if, for example, recent teacher training efforts or revisions to the curriculum have been effective? My ultimate hope for this training is that it marks the beginning of our institutions coming together to help promote a culture of research within educational circles in Pakistan. By creating a strong research base, I believe we will be in a good position to raise our assessment standards to an international level and thus do justice by our stakeholders!” Abdul Razzaq, Senior Research Officer, Balochistan Assessment and Examination Commission