Instructional Strategies at Primary Level: An Investigation of Teachers' Perceptions and Classroom Practices

Abstract

This research focused on the study of instructional strategies used by primary school teachers in Tehsil Sehensa, District Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It also explored teachers' perceptions of and practices in their classrooms. For this purpose, a descriptive survey method was chosen, and 230 teachers from the government primary schools in the tehsil were randomly selected. A structured questionnaire was designed on a five-point Likert scale and was approved by experts. Besides, it was pilot-tested (Cronbach's α = 0.87), which reflects a high level of internal consistency. Personal visits were made for data collection, and percentages and mean scores were utilized for data analysis. The findings indicated that 91% of teachers confirmed the need to be multi-skilled, whereas 98% supported that both teacher-centered and student-centered approaches are to be used. Teachers significantly favored traditional methods (M = 3.95), group discussions (M = 4.02), problem-solving strategies (M = 4.10), and practical learning (M = 4.05). Nevertheless, major gaps in the implementation were found as 86% of the teachers hardly ever used audio-video multimedia in their lessons (M = 2.25), 62% of the teachers had an unfavourable attitude towards teaching (M = 2.68), and 70% of the teachers recognized that they compromised on the quality of the study materials (M = 2.80). The study reveals that the teachers have a good theoretical understanding of effective instructional strategies but various systemic constraints such as insufficient training, lack of necessary resources, and limited technological infrastructure prevent them from practically implementing these strategies in the classroom. The research result implies that besides professional development programs, which is focused and well-targeted to the needs of the teachers teacher, it is necessary to increase resource availability and supportive administrative policies to connect positive teacher perceptions to actual classroom practices. Besides, It has been suggested to train the inservice teachers regularly on the integration of technology into the curriculum, supply high-quality teaching-learning materials, and create a positive teaching environment which will help the student learning outcomes in the rural primary schools of Tehsil Sehensa to be improved.