Role of Punjab Public School Support Program in Promoting Professionalism among Teachers

Abstract

The Punjab Public School Support Program (PSSP) has been positioned as a major reform initiative to enhance the quality of public primary education in Punjab, Pakistan. This study investigates the role of PSSP in promoting professionalism among teachers through five core dimensions: responsibility, individual integrity, collective integrity, judgmental and polite behavior, and accountability with excellence. Data were collected from 260 respondents (172 teachers and 88 principals) in Attock, Bhakkar, and Mianwali districts using a researcher-developed 60-item, 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire (Cronbach’s α = .904). Findings revealed strong overall agreement that PSSP contributes positively to teacher professionalism (M = 3.88, SD = 0.62), with 74.8 % of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing. Hierarchical regression showed that perceived PSSP implementation accounted for 39.1 % of unique variance in overall professionalism (β = .62, p < .001) after controlling for demographics. Teachers perceived significantly higher gains in individual integrity (p = .023) and judgmental/polite behavior (p = .001) than principals. The study concludes that while PSSP has strengthened measurable aspects of professionalism, perceptual differences suggest a need for more teacher-centred, autonomy-enhancing strategies to achieve deeper and sustained professional growth.