Educational leadership and the United Nations sustainable development goals in post-colonial Pakistan
Creators: name: Shah, Mir
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 390399
subject: Education systems not elsewhere classified
classificationCode: 390403
subject: Educational administration, management and leadership

description: As a post-colonial nation-state, Pakistan faces enormous challenges concerning education and development. The Constitution of Pakistan guarantees free and compulsory education to all children from 5 to 16 years. Yet the country continues to perform poorly on key education indicators, including access to and equity, quality of learning, learning environment, and school governance.

This thesis explores the challenges and opportunities for educational leaders in Aga Khan high schools  in the Chitral districts, Pakistan, in realising the promise of “inclusive and equitable quality education”. The research participants include three school heads of Aga Khan high schools and four other educational leaders at the organisational support service levels. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews with these participants and the thematic discourse analysis of organisation policy and curriculum documents. Drawing on post-colonial and development theories (e.g., sustainable development, decolonial, post-colonial, contextual) and theories of educational leadership (spiritual, bureaucratic/ hierarchal, situational/contextual), the thesis examines the ways in which organisational and community contexts, gender relations, and educational globalisation shape the possibilities of delivering on the promise for “inclusive and equitable quality education” – an agenda shared equally by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKESP). With an ambitious commitment to education in the global education policy agenda in the form of SDG 4, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (UNGA, 2015, p. 14), the UN SDGs are important in shaping local, national, and international concerns for Pakistan’s development and education.
 
The thesis argues that the organisational context of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) and community contexts and cultures (of the Ismaili community in Chitral) play a crucial role in assisting the school leaders in delivering education in the Aga Khan schools. Inspired by the leadership of Aga Khan IV, the local communities play a central role in establishing schools, enabling them to flourish, and supporting the educational leaders in delivering on the promise of quality education. At the same time, the cultural, religious, economic, and political forces shaping these communities pose several challenges for educational leaders in delivering on the goals of “inclusive and equitable quality education”.
 
Drawing on theories of post-colonial feminism, patriarchy, and development, I argue that problems of gender inequality are deeply rooted in Chitral’s patriarchal, social, economic,  and religious cultures. In such cultures, the existing family and social structures favour boys due to the central role assigned to males in society. To address the issues of gender equality, I suggest a paradigm shift in thinking about gender and gender equality that goes beyond enrolling girls in schools to consider curriculum, pedagogy, teachers, and leadership assumptions that influence the way we teach and lead in order to create conditions for gender equality.

In addition, the thesis argues that neoliberal globalisation and the notion of development influence the curriculum in the Aga Khan schools in Pakistan. Various developments in the curriculum demonstrate the increasing trend of neoliberal globalisation promoted by the AKDN’s discourse on modernity. In this context, the thesis argues for a critical post-colonial analysis of both the AKESP and UN SDG agenda for education and development in Pakistan to highlight and explore the challenges and opportunities for educational leadership in delivering on the promise of inclusive and equitable quality education for all.