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Research Study On Education, Curriculum & Pedagogy: Media and Contemporary Culture
Research Study On Education, Curriculum & Pedagogy: Media and Contemporary Culture
& pedagogy
Submitted By:
Maria Mohammed
Reg# 1657116
To:
Sir Taimur Suri
Topic/ Hypothesis
How do education, pedagogy and curriculum perpetuates power
structures of the ruling elites (political, military and capitalists) in
Pakistan?
(Explained through lens of Critical Education Theory).
Abstract
Education establishes the framework for political, economic and social growth and
stage ever since its initiation has been confronted with critical issues in the discipline
of education. And along these lines the education system has been unsuccessful in
conveying what the nation aspired to achieve. There are multiple elements, which are
to be held responsible for the current circumstances. Therefore, the study investigates
a portion of critical issues that have tormented Pakistan’s education system so far in
the light of in the light of critical education theory, and further assesses the
through the concepts and theories set forth by critical education theorists such as
Michael Young on education and social control; Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis
pedagogy to name a few. Hence, the paper aims to provide substantial data and
reasoning on the phenomena that how do education and it’s designed curriculum
serves the interests of few ruling elites, using education to exert social control, and to
individual and to a nation as a whole since it is a path to both individual and national
And how do we realize that how important education is? Well, there are only two
categories of groups of countries that have turned out to be successful. The first
category includes all those countries that have been lucky enough to possess precious
and expensive natural resources. Second category, composes of all those nations who
have cultured and educated their people into a state of well-being and success. But
well these success stories of being educated holds true for only those nations who
don’t have their education system set on ideologies or are manipulated to only serve
the interests of the ruling elites for example, Finland, Poland, Japan etc. whose
education system is more skill-based and most innovative in all aspects, and who let
their students decide on their curriculum and textbooks unlike Pakistan where we
have nothing but different political reforms setting our education ideology and
curriculum accordingly to serve their needs rather than educating us into a prosperous
So what is Education essentially? Let us dig a bit deeper into it. The standard
whatsoever, in fact it teaches us not to do so. There are numerous things that we learn
from the day we are born such as learning to cry, learning to sit, crawl etc. We are
blessed with this capability of learning things through our inherent ability of
simulating and imitating people and their behaviors, only till we reach our age of
schooling. This innate rule instantly changes there. We are no longer allowed to learn
things through our inborn ability or liking, instead we are just directly pushed into this
who employs complete power. Earlier we are allowed to have some freedom, but as
we go further, the tenets turn out to be more inflexible, with power of the educator
more supreme, hence, punishments more harsh. This entire system and the way it’s
demonstrated is so unnerving for a child that they try not to breathe a word about their
encounters to their parents as they are apprehensive that they too would comply with
the instructor’s will. This schooling process, as we move forth, only makes us more
submissive, less curious, and more controlled- in short, less of critical thinkers; to
transformed into this “composed native,” whose ready to take its place in the society
while acknowledging its dogmas and rules. This is precisely what defines
economic control whose core purpose is to maintain and preserve the power structures
which a very few influential people have access to. So this is where Critical Education
theory comes into play as it which investigates and challenges that how education
introduction, an aura, and a method for following up on the world with the ultimate
end goal to change it for good. Critical Theory, most importantly is a kind of social
introduced, which are just a by product of the dominant class’ self-created reality.
Hence, critical education theory being its very branch, also examines the history,
method of education and its practices critically. It explains that contemporary
education in western world is based on the ideologies shaped and put forward by the
power forces that revert from capitalism, whose core objective is to shape such
conditions in which the people who are inherently dominant benefit, by creating an
environment in which education serves the political, social, cultural and economic
interests of the ruling elites, such that members of its community can’t challenge or
question the status quo, and be submissive towards the mandates given by the
Authority. Michael young- a critical education theorist proposes that the function of
education perceived in the society hasn’t been steady. At various circumstances, the
examines the constitution of the subject matters taught and the path in which it is
illustrating how they are formed and modeled, as a result reproducing existing power
Hidden Curriculum- School is one of the most important places where kids are
taught to comply with social values and their implications. And the school’s capacity
to incite passivity and compliance in their students isn’t much originated from the
content of curriculum, but rather from what is named as “hidden curriculum”- i.e.
informal administrations of teaching, scheduling and social order frameworks such as
the seating arrangement- facing towards the teacher (supreme authority), scheduled
Curriculum Studies- this refers to legitimation of approved text i.e. what could be
taught and who has the authority to permit that which specific type of learning is
selected among all others. The power to legitimize something is the most powerful of
all powers that prevails as it forms the majority of our perspectives and convictions
about the way of the world. In the naming of legitimate forms of education,
universities have a significant role; they are essential tools in confirming that the
imagination was the main thrust behind every single national objective. However,
according to Iqbal, Pakistan’s education system was not based on homogenous rules
and values. Firstly, because of the uncertainty that the new conceived country was
confronting and secondly, because of the stress laid on the two-nation theory for the
Implicitly, the idea of providing education has changed around the decade, which
previously acted as a social service in the pre-1958 period. According to article 26,
primary education is to be free and compulsory for all nationals and pakistan
committed to it. In spite of this, the provision of the constitution wasn't attained.
However, it became a developmental and a fundamental right during Ayub Khan's
rule and the Bhutto regime from 1972-1977 respectively and with Bhutto's idea of
that the nationalism policy was incompetent to reach its aim. After ages of demands
for Islam to form the education system, this intimation fell completely under the
were encouraged and sanctioned to seize those public school structures that were not
private sectors to 36000. Although these two sectors were catered, still noticeable
school) affirmed a promoter of literacy, where the main focus was Islamic education.
briefly explained why children are sent to madrassa. Firstly this may be the only
option to avail literacy for young village kids and secondly, for the mere interest of
Public schools:
Public schools are run by the government and are free of cost for all Pakistani
citizens. Additionally, there is one private Agha khan board, operated by the
Generally, private schools are considered to be the source of high standard teaching,
levels.
It can be concluded that the education system of Pakistan is divided into public,
private and madrassa whereby the public sector is Urdu medium focusing on people
from the middle class. On the contrary, private sector is English medium and attends
for the elites and upper classes and lastly, madrassa serves the under privileged
bestowing them with free education, food etc. Indicating that the division of the
We will be taking Pakistan’s public and private schooling education curriculum and
pedagogy of as an example to explain the critical education theory vividly and how it
holds true for the notion that education, pedagogy and curriculum perpetuates the
power structures of the ruling elites as stressed by the critical education theorists.
components that are center of attention to the theorists (Dubin, 1978). A theoretical
outline would assist and give a focal point, through which the information/data or
literature would be seen, examined and explained. Hence, it could be said that theory
For this research study, I have used critical education theory to examine the different
components that come under it in order to study the literature regarding the systems of
education in Pakistan. Critical Education is a branch of Cultural studies which, is
basically a way to deal with examining the society and its culture that is situated at the
literature.
British/West Indian Professor Stuart Hall and a group of Critical Theorists established
the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies. A group of critical theorists and
specially a British professor- Stuart hall constituted the Centre for Contemporary
Cultural Studies. It aimed at to analyze all the agencies and tools that developed or
produced culture. The instruments that induced cultural production were- The Media,
The Schools (Education), The Legal systems (Politics), Religious Places (The Church
They work together to recreate the relations of power in society by reproducing the
values, opinions and ideas of the members of the dominant culture. This actually laid
the foundation for the critical Media, education, politics studies and the liberation
theology.
So, to explore the hypothesis of this study, Critical Education Theory has been used to
analyze and explain that “How do education, pedagogy and curriculum perpetuates
social, cultural, economic and political supremacy?” The Critical theory is applied
to Education to critically examine the constitution of the subject matters taught and
the path, in which it is educated, hence, both being viewed as an instrument of social
critical education theory of State, the people and resistance, critical pedagogy,
on. Since each critical theorist haven’t worked on all of the three branches of critical
education theory, I have used the work of major critical education theorist who have
provided great insights in each branch i.e. curriculum studies, critical pedagogy and
hidden curriculum separately and collectively, both. The work of Michael Apple,
Henry Giroux, and Michael Young has been used to critically analyze the education
theorist, Paulo Freire who’s best known for his work “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”,
and is considered as major critical theorist in the critical pedagogy has been used to a
great extent and further the analysis of critical pedagogy concepts of theorists Chris
Watkins, Peter Mortimore, Basil Bernstein and Peter McLaren have also been studied.
Henry Giroux, Michael Apple, McLaren and Freire have analyzed the concept of
Moreover, sociologists Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis explained the notion of hidden
education’. All these theorists’ work have been thoroughly examined to gain deeper
understanding of culture, its instruments to exert control and power and shape society
of Pakistan to serve the best of interests of the ruling aristocrats- the dominant
members of society.
Pakistan's most important need, and its only biggest failure – is its heartbreaking
political stability. Apart from that, the country is exposed to increasing terrorism, and
social uncertainties, economic deterioration and political chaos. Hence, implying that
these issues are a mere appendage of a contradictory and a divided education system.
attracted the interest of two super powers. First were the British, and then the US, to
whom it provided manpower opposing to the previous Soviet Union. And this is
likely one reason that why Pakistan’s education system has a background marked by
obtaining educational methods and ideas from these nations i.e. the west.
Curriculum:
The curriculum of different schools of Pakistan covers an extensive range of
disputable issues in the present era. The word “Curriculum” is of Latin origin, which
impartially or justly, but rather that it is vigorously one-sided towards the beliefs of
specific social gatherings. This process develops a pecking order of learning, the
system legitimates some part of it and the other part is delegitimized, similar to
The greater part of this theorizing guided specifically toward the controversy of
who had the power to choose and decide? Information or knowledge that is
the part of curriculum. The subjects taught and the curriculum of the schools is in
reality the content records that legitimize the power of the governing constitutions. So
is the case the with education system of Pakistan and its curriculum.
Pakistan’s education framework is all influenced by internal and external factors. The
system has been made a captive to political obstructions externally, whereas, it’s been
Pakistan’s current curriculum of education isn’t able to meet the challenges and
system varying from one political regime to another for example since the period of
political in nature. Since his times in 1981 Pakistan studies was made a mandatory
subject for students of all disciplines be it professional degrees of medicine,
engineering or business. Hence, the present structure of curriculum practiced till date
in Pakistan was introduced amidst military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s.
Pakistan studies include, history and geography, while history is always getting
altered as per different political regimes over the years, especially prominent in the
textbooks of Punjab, KPK curriculum, which are as volatile as our ruling parties could
be.
As naming and molding of history has been one of the main weapons utilized by the
State of exerting social control. Churchill said that, “Official History is always written
by the victors,” because who wins is always in the power, and they have all the access
to write it as their own version of reality- i.e. Their History. That’s why teaching of
history has been of significant importance in order to make and enforce a specific
view about the Pakistani Nation’s nature and existence. In Pakistan, composing of
history had been deliberately twisted and bended to encourage develop and promote
Consequently, the history that has been taught to kids has been self-created, warped,
precluded or even falsified to serve the political, ideological and capitalists’ interests.
For example our history that’s being taught to us is twisted to create an antagonistic
perception of India and Hindus in our minds. Always stressing on misrepresented fact
that Hindus have done atrocious killing of Muslims during the time of separation and
that we were not even given our right share of land etc. If we move a few decades
back in 1970s during Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s regime- which was elected by the civilians
democratically, he introduced the text books in which the course glorified war and
years of it’s existence ever, it tried to shape the history and introduce it to students in
a way that it would serve their interests such as purifying the military actions by
relating them to brave and heroic achievements of them in order to justify justify their
supreme power and existence in the state. Further more, producing pretty positive and
schools.
During the time of Nawaz Sharif regime, he made some improvements in the
curriculum, yet not very substantial- keeping the ruling party interests closely intact
i.e. manipulating generation’s mind; never letting the truth come to surface or let the
forcefully made submissive clan to be able to voice their opinions against the
powerful group.
Similarly, revisions were made in KPK, Punjab and Balouchistan textbooks during
regime of liberal Awami National Party, to serve their concerns with their ideologies
being practiced by the children. Following this, when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party-
the conservative one, came into power, they reversed many of the alterations made
probably due to halfway under weight from its alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami, they
extremist interests.
Hence, it seems that the ruling elites, which are allegedly the politicians, asserted
above educational alteration and reforms to accentuate their status quo and power.
And that history has been actually just fabricated and composed based on false
ideologies to lead the nation astray. All this contributed towards more ambiguities as
each generation further twisted the fabricated facts and forwarded them to the next
generation to come.
Other than History in the National curriculum, Islamic Studies had also been made a
regardless of their faith. Majority of the course readings communicate about five
pillars of Islam in the very first chapter, which is tricky in light of the fact that it
rejects non-Muslims from the identity of Pakistan, thus forcing them to study the
principles, values and traditions of religion Islam irrespective of their faith. Urdu and
English courses are also mandatory, no matter even if Urdu isn’t a student’s native
language. This all points towards one reason that is doing it for eliminating
differences among cultures and suppressing voice of minorities. And the curriculum
minorities that did reside in Pakistan such as Dorab Patel, Bapsi Sidhwa, Cecil
Choudhry and others who have been a source of pride for Pakistan.
invincible.
that bring about changes in the person- a learner. In the educational contexts of
present era the educational theorists Chris Watkins and Peter Mortimore, in their
structures or creates existing types of lead, information, criteria and practice from
someone or something considered to be a suitable evaluator and provider (Bernstein,
2000, p.78).
principles of teaching.
The practice and method of teaching in Pakistan varies from institution to another.
Since the education system of Pakistan is based on different platforms such as public
while, privatization is only available to a few elites (yet again the pedagogy of it
differs from school to school) and home schooling, the privilege of having equal
quality/ standard of education, skills that you learn in the process and opportunities is
not possible for all the students acquiring knowledge among various schooling
systems. The literature for critical study of pedagogy available is so vast, therefore
this study does not try to delineate entire region of it. Instead focus on the
concepts of critical educational theorists work that have been mentioned in the study
approaches:
Performance model: visible pedagogies where the teacher explicitly spells out to the
students what and how they are to learn, with a recognizable strong framing or lesson
generation of learning, the institutional structures of the school, and the social and
explained in one of his books: “The Education of the Oppressed” that imbalances
rights in contemporary societies. Further more, critical pedagogy had also revealed
insight into the educational disparity and inquired the illusion of having equal
attitudes and comprehension about the curriculum practiced. The educating and
learning procedure, and their students, which have an affect in their teaching
practices, that is, what a teacher basically thinks, does and says in the classroom
(Alexander, 2001).
Teaching being a challenging job be it anywhere in the world requires a lot of teacher
assessment in order to let the deserving candidate have it. All around the globe, there
are certain criteria set for every level of education, be it elementary, secondary, high
school or bachelors and so on. They are highly qualified and equipped for the level
perpetual consideration since that would determine gravely the quality of knowledge
they would communicate with the students, the way in which they will teach, their
understanding of curriculum, to what extent they would encourage creativity and
novel ideas from a student, their behavior with the students and their way of assessing
In Pakistan there aren't much quality training centers or opportunities for teachers.
Training aspect is very crucial to pedagogy, because it prepares and produces quality
instructors with much better understanding of teaching methods. There aren't any
country. The courses that are being taught for teacher education training programs are
obsolete and customary which does not enhance the aptitudes, quality and motivation
of teachers. So, when the teachers themselves aren’t well trained and informed in this
profession, how will the pass on excellent form of knowledge in the best possible way
to meet the demands of the current techno-world. This scenario prevails for all types
of schooling, the public sector has its own qualms, so does the private, and madrassas
When teachers aren’t qualified enough and not given enough liberty to teach
according to the demands of modern society, much can’t be expected for developing
performances. The system of examination of Pakistan is not only outmoded, but isn't
competent enough to assess the thoroughly the performance of students. This kind of
examination method of Pakistan only attempts to test the memory and rote learning
understanding of the course outline, its implication etc. that is required to be educated
enough to compete at international level and forth. The teachers in our schooling
system mostly tend to read out a few pages of the course book as per each lecture,
merely rehashing the sentences stated in the book, and offering little and ordinary
In the same way there are several pedagogical issues in textbooks of various schools.
And there are enormous repercussions on pupils due to this. The core concepts, in
many books are vague, claims and arguments need rationale, clarifications are
missing, and the major stress is laid on rote learning topics and when it comes to the
power of the teacher, the textbooks and examination demands- blind deference is
given to all of it. All these are pretty strong deterrents to inquisitive and skeptical
minds that look for verity and deeper understanding through debate, legitimate
arguments and unbiased facts. Because of low payrolls, teachers are in constant
pursuit of achieving decent and sufficient standard of life. The people who we look up
to as our teachers, mentors etc. are indirectly compelled to take on unjustifiable means
for check and balance and liability to be answerable to the authorities, this has lead to
encouragement of many criminal components to abuse funds, unjust use of power and
making power. Students who’ve been transformed through this kind of education
system and practices aren’t learn-ed in any respect. They are by products of rote
learning with very little knowledge of reality; critical thinking ability, low confidence
and a lot more which directly and indirectly benefits the capitalists and the governing
bodies because capitalists need work-force/employees who would work for them
without questioning the system and bias nature of social classification of groups; and
whatever they make-believe them. This is all possible through weak education,
HIDDEN CURRICULUM:
As Critical theory opposes the generally accepted meaning of education and says that
it's a mythology built on social construct, and that one of the primary purpose of
education is to develop conditions for exerting social control, low-waged labour and
submissive masses that can be effortlessly abused. Education is actually about the
inverse of freedom, if seen from this point of view. Its not the curriculum content only
that enables the schools to incite passivity and congruity in the student, but mostly
Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Passeron, later Basil Bernstein in Britain made
major contributions in this area of critical study. Their theory proposed that school is
a tool of social propagation, which cannot be altered without changing the social
predominance of the upper class in the more extensive society, and this contributed to
help comprehend the ways and structures in which this social power was evident in
environment of education.
The explicit information material provided for learning is actually considered a way
implicit social codes and its alleged values. Consequently learning to be in a state of
We also learn subconsciously though the environment created to ‘not to this’, ‘not to
do that’ and huge list of dos and don’ts, which reveals that it’s a socially constructed
list of whats appropriate or not rather than what should be naturally permitted or not
at first place- we are in constant pressure to accept this as ‘truth’, consider ‘this’ as
The hidden curriculum concept has been a very strong and effective tool in critical
working-class, the continual generation of biased social relations and the unceasing
supremacy of specific fragment of society and culture, even though often being larger
in number. The hidden curriculum has shed light on the behavior of students and
teachers in the classroom as well as on the field, hence it unveils the levels of
subconscious impact which affect behavior and experience of pupil to the core, not
just when they are in the classroom, but also in every day life.
additionally includes that this hidden curriculum compels the pupils to acknowledge
the present power connections, ideology and established standards of the dominant for
These teaching practices according to Giroux are liable to understanding that how
they deliver and communicate various cliques of beliefs, cultural, norms, social
practices and meanings. Hence the hidden curriculum places schools, educational
institutes etc. at the service of ruling bodies (Politicians, capitalists). And it constitutes
an arrangement of values and standards that are in accordance with the predominant
Sam Bowles and Herb Gintis also extended the analysis of hidden curriculum from
interactions between students and teachers in the classroom to the method and
practice of education in entirety and how its connected to the social dealings of
capitalist productions. This was later known as their correspondence theory of
education. They figured out that in spite of the fact that the entire education system in
general is suppose to support self-development and support the aspirations and needs
social relations not conforming to the forward-looking educational goal, but rather to
hierarchical capitalist economic network of wage and labour. As Michael Young puts
it:
Since the very beginning, Pakistan has staggering and obscure ideologies as the core
foundation of its education system due to being torn between two different ideologies,
succeeded in creating a fallacious image of social reality through its education system
which is always under the influence of ruling bodies- the politicians, the capitalists,
the governing bodies. When public schools were introduced and privatization in
schooling system was done in Pakistan, it basically was done mainly under the
influence of the western culture and their method studies, such as making English as a
mode of achieving higher education. West is a dominant part of the world, thus,
influencing all the countries around the globe, be it in the part of education, or when it
comes to running the state, or acquiring deep rooted capitalism, or just following the
latest fashion trends and fads. All of these areas in Pakistan are also under their
dominance. Unfortunately, being in the hands of the most corrupt governors and
politicians, we are doomed to have such tragically ruined education system and
pedagogies. How the hidden curriculum practiced in Pakistan has affected, exploited
and shaped the very innocent and ingenuous individuals of our nation just to
Below are the results of hidden curriculum that involves a specified set of rules and
regulations and subject matters that establish power relations and how are they
ESTABLISHING PASSIVITY:
A child in Pakistan’s education system, in his initial years is made to learn not to
question authority and by the time of graduation they are shaped to become
acquiescent citizens and school plays a pivotal role in this. Here defiance towards
authority of teachers is useless making the child stay quiet and turn their heads away.
So to pin it down, this passivity is internalized inside of them due to which, they learn
not ever critically think about the organizations that work within the country to
allegedly safeguard civilians’ rights, but in reality they only safeguard inequity within
CONSTRUCTING HIERARCHY:
In Pakistan, the key function of education is to create a sense of fear, which in turn
makes an individual obedient. All hierarchical social structures in our day-to-day life
education theory, this leads to submissive employees for the job market of capitalist.
Hence, the only those in authority are made to benefitted from such a system.
negative too. Students tend to thrive in competition. but if its about only one single
person surviving the competition, its not healthy anymore then, its corrosive then, as
it encourages a strong feeling of individualism and this detaches a human from its
being collective or united. There are many schools around the world like Canada,
Japan etc. that promote healthy attitude towards competition i.e. co-operation,
only.
parent possesses, the elitist schooling they could choose for their child, which is
reflective of the fact, that in Pakistan academic excellence has not much to do with
has benefitted the economy, the ruling elites and favored a specific- supreme class of
society, whereas on other hand, have demotivated the working class, by unjust means
of securing a seat in the best of schools available, thus, not much seats left for the
very deserving ones- which are mostly the ones who apply on merit. Subsequently,
This research study concludes that education creates and transforms individuals in all
areas of life, for example, social, ethical, spiritual, political and monetary. But given
the present situation of multiple education systems operating Pakistan, its nearly
impossible for majority (if not all) to have equal quality, access and level of education
research and innovation because its not about education here, its essentially about
serving the interests of the ruling bodies- politicians, capitalist, economists etc. The
them to submissively accept the existing regulating structures and the beliefs and
ideologies of the dominant class and their role within it. Ergo, a perfect system of
years ago. The inevitable problems reflected in Pakistan’s education system would be
prevalent unless the ruling elites and politicians stop imposing their own form of
education, knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy upon the groups that aren’t in power.
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