Fundamentally Different, Essentially the Same: A Study of the Impact of School Effectiveness Research on an International School Community in Pakistan, and Suggestions for the Creation of a New Paradigm of Effectiveness
This paper is based upon a dissertation submitted as part of an MA in Education Management studied at Kings College, London, in 2004. In the light of experiences of working in a variety of schools in Karachi during the last two years, the paper has been amended and updated.
Schools strive for excellence and the notion of an elusive set of correlates that can measurably account for the improved results shown by a particular school is one that is attractive to both politicians and school leaders alike. Since the pessimism of Colman (1966) and Jencks (1972) in the 1960s, researchers (Levine & Lezotte, 1990; Reynolds et al., 1996; Creemers, 1996; Sammons et al., 1999) have been seeking to identify ways in which lessons learnt in effective schools can lead to an improvement within the wider school community. This paper seeks to examine the extent to which the findings of school effectiveness research have permeated the ideas and aspirations of a unique school community in Karachi, Pakistan. While the school itself should not be considered a model of education within Pakistan, it is a useful starting point for a discussion centred upon the dangers of globalisation of a homogenised theory of education.
The study details the increased levels of political influence that effectiveness research has experienced within the UK and globally through the activities, political and economic, of transnational organisations. Considering criticisms of its lack of sociological awareness and narrow functionalist outcome measurements, the study challenges its transfer across national and cultural boundaries, particularly in the light of studies being completed in developing countries. Fertig cautions against the danger of accepting 'the assumption that the secrets of school effectiveness could be identified in the developed world and then transferred into school systems operating within a different cultural framework' (2000, p.389).
The paper draws upon emergent literature on education in Pakistan, documentation and policies from the Pakistan government, and the school and current research in the field of school effectiveness globally. This was combined with the findings of a series of interviews with members of the school community who identified their own opinions about priorities in good schooling and the extent to which these agreed with the received canon of effectiveness as identified by Sammons (1999). Similarities are discussed and trends in new ideas are identified to form the creation of a new paradigm of effectiveness for the school that reveals the emergence of a sociological aspect to schooling. The study seeks to contribute towards a dialogue on effectiveness that encourages leaders within education to be both reflective and reflexive in providing a culturally relevant, socially just and equitable education.