Secondary school teaching in Pakistan: the interrelationship of didactical strategies with pedagogical and self-efficacy beliefs

The present study explores the actual adoption of didactical strategies in Pakistan and how it is linked to secondary school teachers cognitions level; i.e. teachers Pedagogical Beliefs and Self-Efficacy Beliefs. In the current study, we involve 395 secondary school teachers from twenty government secondary schools across the largest province of Pakistan. Respondents reported their actual adoption of didactical strategies, Pedagogical Beliefs, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs about teaching on instruments. The study aimed at describing and explaining the adoption of didactical strategies by linking it to secondary school teachers cognitions. In relation to the didactical strategies adoption, Constructivist Beliefs, Traditional Beliefs, instructional Self-Efficacy, decision-making Self-Efficacy and disciplinary Self- Efficacy were linked with didactical strategies to explore the current level of adoption. Our findings suggest that: (1) there is generally lower level adoption of varying didactical strategies by secondary school teachers; (2) there is a notable theory-practice gap in the actual classrooms (3) specific teacher cognitions are meaningfully connected with the adoption of didactical strategies. Implications are put forward as to a benchmark-driven professional development policy for secondary school teachers and the establishment of quality monitoring systems in school