Project Description

Pakistan's social structure and economy have been supported by a caste system in terms of class and gender. Although one's educational attainment may influence one's occupation and career, education by and large does not move individuals across SES strata, especially for the extreme poor. Furthermore, educational practices in both quality and quantity are segregated within this caste system. With few expectations, children in the lowest SES strata do not graduate from secondary schools (US equivalent 10th grade). In fact, the expectation for poor children in Pakistan, like poor children in many parts of the developing world, is that they will leave school after primary education to work in the factories, on farms, or in the home.

In this study we are undertaking an ethnographic study of six primary teachers who teach science for political empowerment and social change in schools which serve children in extreme poverty in the greater Lahore (Punjab, Pakistan) area in order to answer the following questions:

• How do such teachers define through discourse and practice the reasons for and value of an education in science for children in poverty, in particular an education in science that is geared towards political empowerment and social justice?
  
  
• How do teachers craft their role as teacher in this kind of practice? And, what kinds of structures do these teachers utilize to enact such a vision (in terms of parent-teacher and community-teacher relationships, material resources, student participation and involvement, time, and space)?
  
  
• How do these beliefs and practices shape and grow throughout the school year in response to their daily practice with children and their families?

• PI's: Angela Calabrese Barton and Rubina Zahure
• Graduate Research Assistant: Bhaskar Upadhyay

• Ali Institute for Education

• Funded by the Spencer Foundation