Sharing expertise

THE current education landscape in Pakistan desperately requires innovation. Some 137,234 private schools operate across pre-primary, primary and secondary level and this makes up 43.8 per cent of the total number of schools in the country. Among the private schools, there are many variations with economic, cultural and social differences often even within the same geographical areas. Each school contends with its own challenges and works within its en­­closed staff community to strengthen teaching and learning. Not surprisingly, huge gaps arise in performance and delivery.

Very few of these schools tap into the potential that teaching communities offer where groups of teachers in school clusters share expertise, best practices and work collaboratively to build on classroom pedagogy. Although this approach is not new, it is seldom practised in schools here.

Some of the more successful education systems worldwide have upskilled and enabled teachers by operating teaching communities. For decades, Singapore has operated a structured system with top-down support from the education ministry. Teachers are organised into Professional Learning Teams that collaborate on lesson planning, classroom practices, data analysis and student progress. Finland has a collaborative teaching culture where team teaching operates across school levels. Subject-based teaching groups from different schools operate in China, Professional Learning Communities operate across schools and districts in the US and in Australia a similar PLC-style inquiry-based approach is used to track the need for intervention in schools.

Whichever model is followed, it brings professional teaching groups out of isolation as they learn to drive change through exch­anging information and best practices. Most frameworks are based on the DuFour model which raises questions that are prioritised in education systems the world over — what should students learn? How will we know what they have learnt? What intervention should be provided if they don’t learn? It’s a simple model requiring only committed groups of professional educators willing to collaborate and learn from each other.

Groups of teachers can learn from one another.

Teaching communities in Pakistan can operate through networks at local, regional, and national levels. Schools within a district can form clusters where teachers meet regularly to exchange teaching strategies, discuss curriculum challenges and co-develop lesson plans. In rural areas, where teachers may be isolated, cluster-based collaboration is particularly valuable in reducing professional isolation and improving morale.

Digital platforms have opened doors to a host of opportunities for collaboration across cities, even borders, and offer significant potential with easy access through WhatsApp groups, Facebook communities and learning management systems. This would be especially useful in Pakistan, where mobile phone penetration is high.

In fact, many chain schools now operate across the country and, instead of maintaining administrative distance, they could share teacher expertise in groups across rural and urban areas. Some of the biggest and most successful school networks have capitalised on this opportunity and seen a needle shift in patching some of the gaping divides in rural and urban education.

Teaching communities are like well-tended gardens that can change the whole ecosystem. At their best, these communities transform isolated classrooms into interconnected learning landscapes, where innovation can flow freely between schools, cities and regions.

They are equally important for school staff as they operate as both a compass and fuel. They provide dir­ection through shared purpose and energise practice through collective wisdom. There’s strength in numbers and when teaching groups take on new initiatives, the resulting dynamism leads to continuous innovation. Professional communities tend to overpower resistance in favour of resilience and growth. Teachers refine their craft with intentionality. The groups act like a mirror — reflective, constructive and empowering.

Teaching communities also elevate student outcomes by fostering a culture of shared accountability. Educators collectively track progress, analyse data and respond proactively to learning needs. No student ‘falls through the cracks’ because the cracks themselves are minimised. What results is a self-regulatory system where reflection and correction become etched in classroom teaching.

When students observe their teachers engaging in collaboration, dialogue and continuous improvement, they internalise these habits. The classroom becomes not just a place of instruction, but a living example of lifelong learning. In this sense, teaching communities do not merely influence what students learn — they shape how they learn.

The writer is an author, teacher educator and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. The views expressed are her own and do not reflect the views of her employer.

neda.mulji@gmail.com

X: @nedamulji

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2026

if you want to get more information about this news then click on below link

More Detail