Willing but Unprepared: Prospective Teachers' Beliefs about Peaceful Coexistence and the Structural Gaps in Pakistani Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher education programmes in Pakistan anticipate that prospective teachers will arrive with a commitment to peaceful coexistence; however, these programmes are unable to facilitate them in applying this belief within the classroom setting. The present study is based on a qualitative study that revealed the beliefs of fourteen prospective teachers towards the pedagogic approaches of 'peaceful coexistence' and 'collaborative learning' at a Women University in Sialkot, Pakistan. Semi-structured interviews of participants produced the data, and thematic analysis informed by a reflexive process was used to analyse the data. Four themes were developed: peaceful coexistence as an active moral practice, collaborative learning as a gap-filling relational bridge, the difference between belief and readiness for practice, and teacher education as an unprepared ground. The prospective teachers are motivationally and conceptually ready to do peace-oriented and collaborative teaching, but the structure is not ready to do it. It reframes the problem of teacher education with respect to attitudes as a case of deprofessionalisation, which has important consequences for embedding change in teacher education curricula and changes in practicum and teacher education policy in Pakistan.

Keywords: Prospective Teachers, Peaceful Coexistence, Collaborative Learning, Teacher Education, Pakistan, Reflexive Thematic Analysis, Teacher Beliefs