With millions of students in Punjab struggling to meet basic learning benchmarks, education researchers and policymakers gathered at the LUMS School of Education to debate an urgent question: how can better teaching transform outcomes for the most marginalised children? Co-hosted by the Data and Research in Education – Research Consortium (DARE-RC) and the LUMS School of Education, this significant policy dialogue convened key representatives from government, academia, and development partners to deliberate on emerging evidence concerning the management of the teaching workforce and its effectiveness across Punjab.
This dialogue marks a pivotal step in a collaborative initiative designed to mobilise the robust evidence generated by DARE-RC and situate it within active policy and practice debates. By anchoring these discussions at the LUMS School of Education, DARE-RC aims to foster a sustainable, locally-driven push for evidence-based education policy frameworks aligned with Punjab’s educational priorities.
The discussions structured around key themes such as the Digital Evolution in Teacher Development, Punjab’s Teacher e-Transfer Policy, and Continuous Teacher Learning. Prominent policymakers, educationists, and researchers emphasised the critical need for impactful policy decisions to be grounded in rigorous research, aimed at improving teaching quality and learning outcomes for all students, including the most marginalised.
Mr Mazhar Siraj, Education Team Leader at FCDO said, ”Punjab has been a trailblazer at education reform implementation and has been in a historic partnership with FCDO to move the needle on student learning. Through the DARE-RC programme, the FCDO is funding quality research to help shape policy making, and engagements such as today’s policy dialogue are important to help solidify a research-policy partnership, to explore how research is improving policymaking and making a difference in the lives of children.”
Mr Muhammad Khan Ranjha, Secretary of the Special Education Department Punjab, spoke about how teachers are mainly perceived as government employees and cogs in the larger state system, without having a real voice in the system. “The movement of the teacher workforce is not ideal in the context of Pakistan, as having teachers move from one school to another impacts their teaching effectiveness and consequently students’ learning outcomes.”
Dr Tayyaba Tamim, Dean, LUMS School of Education, highlighted the importance of policy-academia linkages and the pivotal role of the LUMS SOE being at the centre of these conversations. She emphasised, “teachers are at the heart of education, and the instrumental stakeholders that shape the educational experiences of children. It is crucial to understand the impact of policies and processes that support the management of teacher workforce through rigorous research.”
Dr Monazza Aslam, Research Director, DARE-RC, said, ““DARE-RC is conducting highly innovative research that covers various aspects of the teaching lifecycle: recruitment, initial preparedness of teachers, their deployment and distribution, support during their careers, retention and motivation, and career progression and leadership.”
Mr Kamran Khan Khattak, Policy Engagement Lead, DARE-RC, highlighted, “DARE-RC has a vast research portfolio investigating climate resilience, teaching, pedagogy, disability and inclusion in education, with the intention to connect the realms of academia and policy, which lead to policy outcomes.”
The session concluded with key takeaways and a forward-looking agenda, solidifying the commitment of both DARE-RC and the LUMS School of Education to a continued partnership focused on ongoing engagement with Punjab’s education sector, ensuring that the latest research continuously informs and refines policy.
Following its broader mission, DARE-RC is a pioneering collaborative knowledge-building programme aimed at empowering policymakers to drive education reform. It is implemented by Oxford Policy Management (OPM) in partnership with the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED), and Sightsavers, and is funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Through strategic dialogues with key institutions like the LUMS School of Education, the consortium helps cultivate a lasting culture of effective data-use for education policymaking, ultimately benefiting all children, especially the most marginalised.