Education is often spoken of as the cornerstone of a nation’s future. Yet, despite this widespread acknowledgement, it continues to be treated as a ‘soft’ issue, overshadowed by seemingly more urgent political and economic concerns.
Complaints about declining educational quality, poor teaching standards and compromised learning are common, but the inputs required to address these weaknesses rarely receive the same level of attention or investment.
A clear example is Continuous Professional Development for teachers. Large sums are invested in training each year, yet the impact remains limited. Workshops are held, attendance is recorded and teachers return to classrooms with little change in their practice. The core issue is not effort but direction. Training is rarely aligned with classroom needs or informed by research.
There are, however, signs of a shift. Ongoing research in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) is examining the adoption of Student Learning Outcomes, a move intended to reduce dependence on rote memorisation and focus instead on what students can do with what they learn. It promotes conceptual understanding and practical skills, a long-overdue step for our schools.
Yet no policy can succeed without teachers who understand and can implement it. Unless training is consistent, practical and connected to the realities of teaching, the SLO approach will remain a well-intentioned idea rather than a real change.
Improving education does not always require major new funds. It requires honest assessment, evidence-based decisions and the willingness to prioritise what happens inside classrooms. If we continue to treat education as an afterthought, we limit our own future. If we align policy, training and practice, we can begin to build the system we have long claimed to value.
In Pakistan, while the National Curriculum of 2006 formally incorporated SLOs in the policy framework, the concept remained largely aspirational for years. In 2022, the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) pioneered the use of SLO-based examinations at the SSC and HSSC levels. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on quality education, the Federal Foundational Learning Policy of 2024 emphasised early-grade competencies in literacy and numeracy.
Similarly, province-wise initiatives have also been taken: SLOs integrated into textbooks under the Educational Sector Plan (2019-2024) in Punjab; through the Directorate of Curriculum, Assessment and Research (DCAR), Sindh issued benchmarks and flowcharts; empowering Parent-Teacher Councils for supporting alignment with SLOs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; and with the help and support of Unicef and AKU-IED, piloting literacy and numeracy assessment.
On paper, the reform is ambitious and aligned with international standards. In practice, however, the classroom reality tells a more complex story.
Reports such as the World Bank’s 2023 policy note on improving learning outcomes in Pakistan stress that reforms will falter without continuous training, clear assessment frameworks, and adequate resources. Indeed, the gap between policy ambition and classroom practice remains wide. Although model papers and alignment charts are provided, most teachers lack hands-on training in designing activities or assessments that align with SLOs. The abruptness of the shift has also left students struggling, with many perceiving conceptual questions as ‘out of course’, reflecting years of conditioning to memorise rather than think critically.
The task for teachers is to balance the conceptual idea of teaching for learning by making it specific and actionable through the use of SLO framing. Unlike vague objectives such as “understand algebra”, SLOs demand specificity. Global research confirms that outcome-based education fosters higher-order thinking (Darling-Hammond, 2017; OECD, 2005). For Pakistan, where rote memorisation has dominated for decades, SLOs represent a necessary paradigm shift.
As teachers working at both international and national levels, we have observed that genuine educational reform is a technical, informed and intentional undertaking. It requires long-term investment in teacher education institutions and Continuous Professional Development that responds to emerging needs. Because education is a constantly evolving field, research must be built into the system as an ongoing process rather than an occasional exercise.
For many of the country’s most marginalised communities, such inputs have not been a priority for decades. This is not solely due to administrative neglect. Pakistan continues to face severe economic, political and environmental pressures, and resources are often diverted to address immediate crises. Within such constraints, the challenge of moving from a deeply entrenched, rote-based model of instruction, inherited from colonial structures, to an outcomes-based system is immense.
There are also issues of social acceptability and professional disposition. Over time, teachers have made trade-offs simply to survive within the system. After decades of classroom work, many appear almost cognitively ‘hardwired’ into traditional practices, not out of stubbornness but because these methods have long been the safest and most reliable way to meet expectations. In many ways, these practices have kept the system functioning.
Thus, when teachers are advised to design lessons around SLOs and to align instruction and assessment accordingly, the response is often one of hesitation. This reluctance does not stem from unwillingness. It emerges from habit, limited training and the competing demands they face daily. Recognising this reality is essential if we are to support teachers through meaningful and lasting reform.
Other systemic factors compound the challenge. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) opportunities remain sporadic and short-term. Class sizes are often unmanageable, especially in public schools, making it difficult to practice student-centred approaches. The diverse socioeconomic backgrounds of students present another layer: many come from households with limited literacy or financial resources, which affects their readiness and parental support. Finally, issues of teacher professional commitment – itself linked to motivation, workload and career incentives – cannot be ignored.
For SLO reforms to take root, several steps are crucial. Teachers need sustained, mandatory training focused on practical lesson planning and assessment design. The curriculum must be rationalised so that teachers can teach for depth rather than rush through content. Schools also require basic teaching resources such as model lesson plans, teaching aids and digital tools.
Through our research, we found that SLOs have been introduced abruptly. To address this, we created an SLO-focused resource pack for secondary school teachers, which is a simple resource intended to demystify SLOs and support teachers in trying out core practices. It is not a complete solution to the challenges in teacher development, but a small first step. We also plan to design a 15-day SLO-focused online course requested by the KP education department.
Pakistan’s move toward SLO-based education is bold and necessary. It promises to cultivate a generation of problem-solvers and critical thinkers. Yet, success depends not only on policy documents but on empowering teachers to embrace change. With adequate support, the resilience and dedication of our teachers can indeed turn this reform from paper into practice – from rote learning to real learning.
Dr Syed Munir Ahmad is an associate professor at the Institute of Education and Research, University of Peshawar, Peshawar.
Dr Aliya Khalid is a senior departmental lecturer at the Department of Education,
University of Oxford, UK.
This article is from consortium research, part of the DARE-RC project funded by UK International Development from the UK government. Its implementation is led by Oxford Policy Management in partnership with its consortium partners.
