Collaborative Action Research As an Approach to School Improvement to Develop Inclusive Education in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Education in Pakistan continues to be underfunded and only one in three children complete primary education. Children with special needs face further barriers to access good quality education, with an estimated less than one in ten disabled children attending any school. In this situation, mainstream schools struggle to provide an inclusive education environment. Given these multiple challenges, Collaborative Action Research (CAR) was used to attempt to improve educational services, by facilitating teachers, school management, and families and parents to work together to promote inclusion. A research team consisting of occupational therapists and teachers worked with five local primary schools, using the Action Research cycles of plan-act-observe-reflect to develop practical strategies, materials, and inclusive lesson plans to facilitate the participation of all children in all school-based occupations. Support from school management as well as interdisciplinary collaboration were crucial factors for implementing Action Research and the innovations resulting from this process. Resulting strategies were found to benefit all children in class, leading to enhanced engagement and attainment of children with special needs as well as their peers. Both occupational therapists and teachers discovered the value of interprofessional collaboration through this process. A Resource Guide has been produced and is freely available.

KEYWORDS:

• Inclusive education
• occupational therapy
• school improvement
• collaborative action research
• interprofessional collaboration

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical Approval

Ethical approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of the Department of Clinical Sciences of Brunel University London (Ref: 14/10/STF/23), as well as the Institutional Review Board of Dow University of Health Science (IRB-547/DUHS/Approval/2015/01).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Council Knowledge Exchange Partnerships Pakistan–UK program, in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan under grant number [KEP-PK-015].

Notes on contributors

M. Sajid

Madiha Sajid, Learning and Devlopment Manager, Department of People and Organizational Development, Imperial College London, UK.

B. Umair

Bushra Umair, Vice Principal, The KIVA School, Karachi, Pakistan.

M. Sohail

Maha Sohail Siddiqui, Senior Occupational therapist, Sindh Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Karachi, Pakistan.

N. Hirani

Naureen Javed Hirani, Director of Research and Development, The KIVA School, Karachi, Pakistan.

S. Hameed

Sanam Abdul Hameed, Occupational Therapist, Sindh Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Karachi Pakistan.