From Policy to Practice: Understanding Teachers’ Experiences with Student Learning Outcomes-Based Education

This project explores how SLO-based education reforms are understood and implemented in Pakistan, focusing on policy, curriculum, and teachers’ classroom experiences in KP and ICT.

This research project investigates the implementation of Student Learning Outcomes (SLO)-based education in Pakistan, focusing on how these reforms are shaping teaching and assessment practices in secondary schools, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Using a systems thinking approach, the project explores how SLO-based reforms are understood and enacted at different levels of the education system—from policy and curriculum design to classroom practices. The study is a collaborative effort between academic researchers, education institutions, and local stakeholders, aiming to bridge the gap between national education goals and the everyday realities of teachers and schools.

The research seeks to understand how SLO-based education is conceptualised and implemented across different levels of the education system. It examines how recent curriculum and assessment reforms have influenced what and how teachers teach, and how these shifts are being interpreted and managed by headteachers and educators in schools. By focusing on the practical experiences of teachers and headteachers, the project aims to uncover the everyday challenges they face in adapting to SLO-based expectations and what support is needed to improve alignment. English and Mathematics are used as case subjects to help explore how subject-specific practices vary under the same policy framework.

Through this multi-phase design, incorporating document reviews, expert interviews, curriculum analysis, and school-level fieldwork, the project draws out key insights from the ground to inform future education policy reforms. Ultimately, the aim is to generate actionable recommendations that can support more coherent, well-communicated, and responsive SLO-based teaching and learning across Pakistan’s school system.

This project is funded by DARE-RC and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.