Social Context as a Source of Teaching-Learning Process: A Qualitative Study in District Mohmand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

Social interaction exerts an immense impact on the process of teaching and learning. A student cannot educationally survive in a social vacuum. The holistic and overall development can only occur in a vital and potent social environment. This qualitative study aimed to investigate how social context affects the overall development of students. This study highlighted the role of teachers and peers in the classroom, as well as the role of society outside the school, in fostering the learning and socialization process of the students. A case study as a method of inquiry was employed to gain an in-depth understanding of the problem. The purposive sampling technique was used for the collection of data through semi-structured interviews. The total number of respondents was fifteen; five teachers who were well versed in the field of education and social work, and ten students who were the topper of five public sector schools in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination, 2023-24. The collected data was properly reduced by elimination of redundancy and thematically analyzed. This study revealed that society has have the grave effects on the socialization of the students. The interaction of teachers, their teaching techniques, their cooperative behavior, the impact of ICT on students, proper utilization of leisure time, and morality as a master value were revealed by the teacher respondents of the study.  The students’ reflections were about their social ordeals, skills of social relation, learning disability, coping with stress, and some cooperation as well as some grievances from society. Deficient communication skills and negligent teaching practices can contribute to the expansion of learning disabilities in students within an oppressive classroom environment. The study recommends that home-school relationships and parental involvement should be given due importance.