Measuring Teacher Educators’ Beliefs Regarding Professional Standards of Teacher Education in Pakistan: Development and Initial Validation of a Scale

Abstract

This study was conducted for developing and initially validating a reliable and valid scale for measuring professional standards in teacher education of Pakistan from the perspectives of teacher educators. Data were collected from 300 teacher educators from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhaw and Federal Capital Islamabad. Exploratory factor analysis was used as a technique for initial validation to determine the dimensionality of the scale. Based on literature review a 60 items scale named Professional Standards of Teacher Education Scale (PSTES) was developed based on the national teacher education professional standards set by the government of education in collaboration with USAID for the enhancement of quality of teacher education in the country. The factor analysis identified a 10-factor scale representing the 10 dimensions of the professional standards of teacher education. The results strongly supported the hypothesized 10 factor scale model of the study. The scale may be used for measuring the beliefs about quality of teacher education professional standards in Pakistan and elsewhere. It is suggested that the scale may be tested in other context for further validation.