Keywords (Extracted from title, table of contents and
abstract of thesis)
Developing, Alternate, Criteria, Evaluation, Textbooks,
Curriculum, Wing, Cronbach, Alpha |
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Abstract
Textbooks are one of
the major teaching and learning resources used in schools. In
Pakistan, the Curriculum Wing (CW), Ministry of Education is the
apex national institution that frames and approves curricula for all
subjects up to class XII. The CW is empowered to prescribe and
withdraw textual materials for schools in Pakistan. Textbook
evaluation and approval is one of the key responsibilities of CW.
Textbook development and evaluation has always been a subject of
debate in Pakistan owing to number of reasons. This study has been
designed to explore and develop professional resources for
facilitating objective evaluation of teaching and learning
materials. The study intends to achieve the forth-coming objectives:
1) identify indicators and criteria of quality textbooks through
literature and good practices employed internationally in the field;
2) critically appraise the existing indicators and criteria used in
Pakistan for evaluating the textbooks by comparing them with the
indicators; and 3) develop alternative criteria for review,
evaluation and approval of quality textbooks in Pakistan.
The key premise of the study is based on the understanding that it
is difficult to assess quality in textbooks if there are no pre-set
indicators for them. This study takes the approved textbook as a
product and attempts to apply the general principles used for
assessing the quality of any given product with product specific
customization. The principal conceptual framework for developing
indicators for quality textbooks used for this study is Garvin’s
framework for quality products which has eight dimensions: a)
Performance; b) Features; c) Reliability; d) Conformance; e)
Durability; f) Serviceability; g) Aesthetic; and h) Perceived Value.
The related literature was reviewed and a theoretical framework was
developed on the basis of the findings. Criteria for textbook
evaluation along with indicators of quality textbooks through
literature and good practices employed internationally were
identified. To critically appraise the existing criteria and
indicators used in Pakistan for evaluating the textbooks by
comparing them with these identified indicators, the study was
delimited to grade three textbooks in the subjects of science and
mathematics. Out of the sampled participants 230 (95.8%) teachers,
67 (55.8%) subject specialists /teacher educators and 51(85%)
experts participated in the study. A sub group 23 (76%) of
identified expert was requested to participate in building consensus
on indicators and validate their compliance conditions for the
alternate criteria for textbook evaluation. Both qualitative and
qualitative data were collected for the study. For quantitative
data, the research instruments were administered to: a) school
teachers of three districts- two from Punjab and one Islamabad
Capital Territory; b) subject specialists /teacher educators from
Govt. Colleges for Elementary Teachers in the province of the
Punjab; and c) experts from institutions associated with textbooks
development and review in Pakistan.
Textbook Evaluation Forms for Teacher/Teacher Educators and Textbook
Experts were developed in the light of the identified indicators to
seek their judgments on the approved and published books. The
Cronbach Alpha values of these forms were 0.938 and 0.914
respectively. Interview protocols were developed to elicit the
opinion of experts about various aspects of quality textbooks.
Guidelines for content analysis of the approved textbooks were also
developed.
Data was mostly collected in workshop settings. Based on the
results, alternate criteria and indicators for the objective
evaluation of quality textbooks in Pakistan were developed. In the
light of the data collected through the instruments, indicators for
quality textbooks were agreed upon through the Delphi technique. For
quantitative data; mean, percentages, ANOVA, Post Hoc,
Kruskal-Wallies tests etc. were used for data analysis whereas for
qualitative data; themes were identified for developing major
categories of evidences.
The study revealed inconsistencies in the curriculum reports
(booklets) and vis-āvis in approved textbooks. There was lack of
homogeneity with regard to the level of understanding demanded by
each of the approved textbooks. The criteria given to the National
Textbook Review Committee to evaluate textbooks with respect to
conformity of the curriculum objectives were not explicit for all
members of the committee. Proper coverage of scope of the content in
the approved textbooks was also an issue. In some books, it was not
covered completely and in some of textbooks, other than the topics
mentioned in the national curriculum were included. The approved
textbooks both in the private and public sectors have given
different amounts of space for the explanation of the same topics.
Different approved textbooks adopted different approaches to layout,
quality of paper, title, page layouts, pictures and line diagrams,
presentation of culture, use of letter type and size of font,
printing etc.
According to the data collected through Textbook Evaluation Form
(for experts) based on the identified indicators of quality
textbooks, the approved textbooks in Pakistan are lacking in: a)
content covers objectives given in the national curriculum; b)
content is helpful in promoting ideology of Pakistan; c) content
promotes conservation of environment; d) author(s) of the books are
known for their mastery in the subject; e) binding and cover of the
books are durable; and f) end of chapter assessments are according
to student's mental development level.
Keeping in view the identified indicators, the alternate criterion
along with compliance indicators for the textbook evaluation was
developed. In order to make the criterion more tangible, rubrics for
each of the compliance indicators were developed in consultation
with experts. These rubrics were designed to review each chapter or
section of a textbook /supplementary teaching and learning material
against the given indicators. The developed criterion was validated
by the experts.
In response to its three objectives, the researcher has a)
identified indicators and criteria of quality textbooks, b)
critically appraised the existing indicators and criteria used in
Pakistan for evaluating the textbooks and c) developed alternate
criteria for textbook evaluation.
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