Shallwani, S., & Corter, C. (April, 2012). School readiness in Pakistan: School environment factors and children’s outcomes in early primary. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society, San Juan.

1. School readiness in Pakistan:
School environment factors and
children’s outcomes in early primary
Sadaf Shallwani & Carl Corter – April 26, 2012
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Shallwani, S., & Corter, C. (April, 2012). School readiness in Pakistan: School
environment factors and children’s outcomes in early primary. Paper presented
at the Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education
Society, San Juan.
Summary: http://sadafshallwani.net/2012/05/04/school-readiness-in-pakistan/
Contact: Sadaf Shallwani, Department of Human Development and Applied
Psychology, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education / University of Toronto.
http://sadafshallwani.net

2. Pakistan

3. Pakistan: Education Context
Challenges facing primary schools
School facilities
Availability of learning materials
Teaching / learning methodologies
System issues
Inequity, poverty, natural disasters, political insecurity

4. Pakistan: Education Context
Access to primary education (UNESCO, 2009)
1 out of 3 children will never enroll in primary
1 out of 2 children who do enroll will drop-out from primary
Most will do so in Grades 1 & 2
Learning outcomes in primary education (ASER Pakistan, 2011)
43% of C4 students unable to do 2-digit addition/subtraction
55% of C3 students unable to read English words
59% of C3 students unable to read a C1-level Sindhi/Urdu sentence
Outcomes are worse in government schools

5. School Readiness: Ready Schools
Education system not working for too many children
Much research and programming in ECD/ECE has focused on
the child and the family – but the role of the primary school is
perhaps more critical
Assessments of children’s ‘readiness’ may predict only about 20%
of the variability in children’s academic performance and 10% of
the variability in children’s social performance in later school years
(Pianta & La Paro, 2003)
Rights-based perspective
Schools must be ‘ready’ for children (whether or not children
are deemed ‘ready’ for school)

6. School Readiness: Ready Schools
Research suggesting high-quality classrooms contribute
positively to student outcomes in primary school (Pianta &
colleagues)
In the Majority world, the school environment seems to
have an even greater impact on children’s outcomes
(UNESCO, 2005)
Note: The term “Majority world” is used in preference to terms such as
“developing world” or “Third world” due to the negative connotations
associated with these terms. The term highlights the fact that the majority
of the world’s population lives in these countries.

7. School Readiness: Ready Schools
What makes ‘ready schools’ – schools that are ready to
receive children and enable their success?
Little conceptual and empirical work
Readiness of schools (Myers & Landers, 1989; CGECCD, 1991)
Availability and accessibility of school
Quality
Recognition of and adaptation to local needs and
circumstances

8. School Readiness in Pakistan
Need a contextually grounded, culturally valid, and socially
relevant (Kağitçibasi, 1996) conceptualizations in child
development and education
Necessary to inform and monitor change and progress at micro- and
macro-levels
Developing a contextually-grounded evidence-based
understanding of school readiness in Pakistan
What is a 'ready school' in Pakistan? What kinds of school
environments enable children's success in early primary?
Research study:
What school-level factors are associated with children’s successful
entry and adjustment to primary school in Pakistan? (Primary 1)
Mixed methods: quantitative data from 35 schools, and
qualitative data from 5 schools in Sindh, Pakistan

9. Methodology
Data collected as part of larger research study with the
Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC) programme of the
Aga Khan Foundation
Sample: 35 government schools in Sindh, Pakistan – included
schools with and without RCC intervention
Data collected Year 1 Year 2
2009-2010 2010-2011
School-level factors and aggregate 35 schools 35 schools
outcomes
Classroom observations (Primary 1) 29 classrooms 33 classrooms
Child outcomes in Primary 1 286 children 259 children
Child background information 155 children

10. Outcome indicators
Outcome indicator Indicator of the following
(Primary 1) aspects of transition:
(1) Enrollment Access
(2) Attendance rates Access and adjustment
(3) Retention rates Adjustment
(4) Promotion rates Adjustment and success
(5) Learning achievement
Adjustment and success
scores (literacy and numeracy)

11. Predictors
Level Data
Child characteristics (gender, age, pre-primary
Child and experience, etc.)
family Family characteristics (parent education,
occupation, etc.)
School characteristics (size, area, school
management committee, etc.)
School and School facilities (toilet, water, electricity, etc.)
classroom
Class 1 teacher
Class 1 classroom environment

12. Findings: Child and Family Predictors
Note: Mother occupation effects: Children whose mothers were working as maids or in other
forms of manual labour performed worse on learning achievement and had lower promotion
rates.
Spearman’s rho * significant at .05
** significant at .01

13. Findings: School-Level Predictors
Spearman’s rho * significant at .05
** significant at .01

14. Findings: School-Level Predictors
Spearman’s rho * significant at .05
** significant at .01

15. Outcome-outcome correlations
Spearman’s rho * significant at .05
** significant at .01

16. Discussion
Limits of drawing causal inferences from correlational
data; however, it is important to examine the
characteristics of ‘effective’ schools
Limits of outcome data:
Learning achievement tests only looked at written literacy and
numeracy
No quantitative data collected on other outcomes (e.g., social
and emotional adjustment and well-being, executive functions,
problem-solving, etc.)

17. Discussion
Different predictors of access (enrollment and attendance) versus
predictors of learning achievement
Enrollment and attendance
Area
RCC
Classroom: learning activities, interactions
Learning achievement
School facilities, community involvement, school/class size
RCC intervention
Classroom environment and processes… learning activities
Child’s pre-primary experience, attendance level
Unclear retention and promotion trends
In fact, at the child-level – small but significant negative correlation
between learning achievement and promotion

18. Discussion
Next steps:
Multi-level regressions on quantitative data
Analysis of qualitative data
Developing a conceptualization of ready schools in
Pakistan
Ongoing iterative process

19. Acknowledgements
Children, teachers, parents, and education officials in
Pakistan
Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) Geneva and Pakistan
Health and Nutrition Development Society (HANDS)
Releasing Confidence and Creativity Programme – funded
by the Royal Netherlands Embassy