In this final phase of the research study issues related to the process of change were explored using a structured questionnaire with a larger sample of teachers and the data gathered through this questionnaire is presented and analysed in this chapter. This structured questionnaire was based on the outcomes of the exploratory survey presented in chapter 6. The overall themes of the study were the same as the ones explored in the preliminary survey of teachers, but the specific issues within those themes have been drawn from the qualitative data on teachers’ views from the earlier investigation (for questionnaire see appendix 14).
7.1 Demographic information
The questionnaire began with factual questions regarding (1) the subject taught by the respondents and (2) the length of their teaching experience. These two factors were deemed pertinent to this study. The three subject areas were focused in the research, so the sample included teachers teaching any of the three subjects at higher secondary level. These subjects were English, Urdu and Pakistan Studies. The following table illustrates the composition of the sample by subject.
Table 7.1 Subject taught by the interview participants Subject area Frequency
English 50
Urdu 45
Pakistan Studies 29
Total 124
An attempt was made to include a third of the total numbers of teachers teaching each subject from the pre-selected institutions. The difference in the number of teachers in each of these
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subjects indicates a usual difference in staff strength in the three departments. There are less Pakistan Studies teachers because this subject is taught in only class XII while English and Urdu are taught in both XI and XII. Within the three subject areas, the sample was also selected to balance the number of more experienced (more than ten years) and less experienced teachers (less than ten years). Here the sample was selected to attain a balance across two categories namely ten years or less and more than ten years, which are presented in Table 7.2.
Table 7. 2 Teaching experience of the interview participants
Experience in years Frequency less than 10 years 59
more than 10 years 64
missing 1
total 124
As the table indicates 59 (48%) teachers fall into the category of less experienced teachers (ten years or less) The curriculum reform process started in 2002 so those with less than 10 years of experience either started their careers in the period of transition or experienced it in their early careers. In the category of experienced teachers (more than ten years), there are 64 (52%) teachers. Those with more than ten years of experience have worked in both old and new system for a considerable time. This variation might have an effect on their response to the reform and the way they adjusted to it and took it forward.
The possibility of the varying length of teaching experience influencing the attitudes was also examined in the analysis of the whole data in this section. This aspect has been analysed for every item on the questionnaire through the application of Independent-Samples t test on SPSS. The significance (p value) of Levene's test was used to determine if the Equality of Variances for both groups can be assumed or not, which led to the use of an equal variances or unequal variance t test from the inferential statistics. The application of t test on responses
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for every item of the questionnaire revealed that the difference in teaching experience was not significant for most of the items except for three elements. The analysis of the three elements, (1) the perception of this change programme being abrupt, (2) difficulties in the implementation of the change in the classrooms due to the class size and (3) suggestions made for more extensive examination reforms, indicated significance, and this analysis has been included in the relevant sections below. The analysis of the significance of teaching experience has been discarded for those parts, which did not reveal any significance.
After demographic and factual questions, the rest of the questionnaire had a composite design including dichotomous, multiple choice, rank ordering, rating scales and open-ended items. These designs were used in different sections of the questionnaire for different purposes as explained in chapter 4. Most sections of the questionnaire looked for structured responses but the questionnaire ended with a section in which participants could add comments. This space was enough to write 2-4 sentences. Out of 124 participants, 65 used this space to add comments. The contents and tone of the comments varied across the respondents. Most of the respondents made suggestions but some of them made statements on the benefits of the reform, pinpointed flaws in the process of change management, or added general comments on the content of the change especially the new syllabus. All these comments addressed some specific aspect of the reform initiative, which had already been included in the earlier sections of the questionnaire. Therefore, it is important to state at the outset that it has been deemed suitable to include and analyse these comments in the relevant section of the analysis of the rest of the questionnaire.
7.2 Initial information about the change
The first section of the questionnaire asked teachers when they first heard about the change and the source of this information. Of the 124 respondents, 110 gave a specific year while only 14 mentioned a period like 7 years ago which was converted to the relevant year. The following table shows the data obtained on this item.