Thesis (M.Ed. in Educational Leadership and School Improvement)
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Item Exploring the role of play-based learning in shaping early literacy skills among kindergarten children in Cambodia(BRAC University, 2025-09) Shumi, Sumaia Islam; Rashid, MamunurThis qualitative study explores the role of play-based learning in developing early literacy skills among kindergarten children in Cambodia. It focuses on how play activities support literacy, drawing on Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory and the idea of emergent literacy. The research also considers teachers’ views on using play in literacy lessons, their teaching methods, and the level of student involvement during play. It highlights the challenges teachers face when using play-based methods in their classrooms. Data was collected from kindergarten classrooms in both urban and rural areas of Cambodia through semi-structured interviews with teachers and observations of literacy activities. The study aimed to find common trends, challenges, and opportunities related to play in learning using thematic analysis. The results show that play-based learning improves children’s phonological awareness, vocabulary, storytelling, and understanding of print concepts. However, factors such as large class sizes, limited resources, and inadequate teacher professional development make it challenging to use these methods effectively. Teachers said they need more support from their schools, training tailored to their specific context, and teaching materials that reflect their cultural backgrounds. The study emphasizes the importance of policy changes, increased teacher support, and evidence-based approaches to enhance play-based learning as a crucial component of early literacy programs. These findings can help improve early childhood education by addressing systemic challenges and enhancing teacher skills, particularly in resource-constrained settings like Cambodia. The research also adds to wider discussions about fair and developmentally appropriate early literacy practices.Item Understanding home literacy environments: parents' perceptions and practices in government primary schools of Dhaka, Bangladesh(BRAC University, 2026-02) Mim, Naila Sultana; Islam, HriditaInterconnectivity between effects of parents on children in home literacy environment (HLE) is still an under explored area in Bangladesh. The aim of this study is to find relationship between parents and children from government primary schools in order to understand and support home literacy. The study took place in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Analyzing interviews and observation data from eight families, I looked for parents’ involvement with everyday literacy practices and hurdles they face in the process. Home provides a significant factor for parents to learn. Moreover, mental support plays more pivotal role than books or planned activities to support literacy. It underscores the point that literacy support is interconnected and embedded in caregiving routine, notably by mothers, who also manage household activities. Parents practice their own strategies and techniques. However, they deal with problems of limited resources. By resources, they indicate difficulties with learning, digital distractions, and blame scarcity of school guidance. This study shows importance of home literacy as a contextually grounded practice rooted in environment and emphasizes the need for schools to provide help that fits with the family’s daily lives in government primary schools.Item Private english medium school teachers’ perception on social emotional learning (SEL), its classroom practices, and implementation challenges for grade 3–4 children in Dhaka, Bangladesh(BRAC University, 2025-12) Chadni, Sultana; Saha, SomnathThis study explores how teachers in private English medium schools in Dhaka perceive and implement Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in Grade 3–4 classrooms. It focuses on teachers’ understanding of SEL, their classroom practices, and the challenges they face in the absence of formal SEL policies or structured training. Using a qualitative approach, the study draws on in-depth interviews with five teachers and classroom observations from two schools following international curricula. Findings indicate that teachers value SEL and integrate it informally through emotional support, relationship-building, and classroom management to promote student well-being. However, these practices are largely intuition-driven rather than guided by structured frameworks, resulting in variation across classrooms. The consistent implementation of SEL is further constrained by time limitations, academic pressure, limited professional training, and uneven institutional support. The study highlights the need for clearer guidance, capacity-building, and contextually relevant SEL strategies to strengthen socio-emotional learning in private English medium school settings.Item Exploring the role of parental involvement in learner’s academic experiences in semi-urban english medium schools(BRAC University, 2025-04) Gomes, Juliet G; Anwar, NafisaThis study investigates how parental involvement shapes students’ academic experiences in semi-urban English-medium schools in Bangladesh, focusing on two case schools in Narayanganj. The purpose was to examine the extent, nature, and barriers of parental involvement and to identify strategies schools might adopt to strengthen parent–school partnerships. Coleman’s Social Capital Theory provided the conceptual framework, highlighting how networks, trust, and shared norms influence collaboration between home and school. A qualitative case study design was employed, using semi-structured interviews with parents, teachers, and school administrators, alongside focus group discussions with students. This multi-perspective approach enabled a deeper understanding of how parental involvement is perceived, practiced, and constrained in the semi-urban context.Findings reveal that although parents demonstrate strong emotional commitment and a genuine desire to support their children, their involvement is often limited by time constraints, parents’ educational backgrounds, and restrictive school procedures. Purposeful engagement is further hindered by deficient communication strategies, a lack of structured extracurricular activities, and the underutilization of platforms such as Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and School Management Committees (SMCs). Teachers and administrators similarly reported difficulties in engaging parents consistently, citing socio-economic conditions and cultural expectations as key factors. The study concludes that schools can strengthen parent–school partnerships by adopting inclusive communication practices, building parents’ capacity, and implementing culturally responsive strategies. Such measures can foster collaborative educational environments that support not only students’ academic outcomes but also their overall growth and well-being.Item Practices of parental involvement in government primary schools(BRAC University, 2025-09) Sultana, Rebeka; Islam, HriditaThis study addressed the significance of parental involvement in children’s education as an essential factor in achieving children’s academic success. However, the existing practices of parental involvement concern challenges to the stakeholders in government primary schools. This study endeavored methods of optimal parental involvement strategies perceived by parents and teachers. Furthermore, this study also explored ways of effective parental involvement practices according to the opinion of parents and teachers. This study undertook a qualitative research framework and semi-structured interviewing procedures to obtain data from 6 primary school teachers. Besides this, 12 parents were chosen for the focus group discussion from both rural and urban primary schools. This study addressed a high requirement of having stronger communication between parents and teachers, which was acknowledged by them, this investigation also uncovered numerous challenges associated with parental engagement process, which are: miscommunication between parents and teachers, parents’ ignorance, illiteracy, poor economic condition. From the teachers’ side; overloaded classroom, workload, and ineffectiveness of PTA activities. In the final analysis, this study revealed certain factors that has been proposed as recommendations by the participants for facilitating productive parental involvement initiatives. These are: Parents’ close connection with children, strong communication with teachers, facilitating parents’ workshops, and strengthening PTA activities by the school authority. The findings determined that respectful collaboration between parents and teachers is crucial for promoting children’s academic performance and comprehensive growth.Item Exploring caregiver-child interaction in child care center in Dhaka(BRAC University, 2019-11) Abedin, Syed Shamsul; Yesmin, SakilaThe number of working women is increasing with the enhancement of women education in Bangladesh. So, it has become a burning expedition for the working women of the country to secure and educate their children in a sound way. Thus, the need of quality child care center is in rise in the country in the current century. On the other hand, quality child care center refers the quality care through quality caregivers. By the way, quality child care refers a base of constructions which can effective in early childcare, like, responsiveness is responding to the needs of individual children and acknowledging children’s feelings and thoughts and providing opportunities for children to develop. Caregiver-child interaction plays a big role to ensure the quality of child care. Caregiver-child interaction is a fundamental key of early development. Positive caregiver-child interaction refers to sensitive responsiveness, language & cognitive stimulation support for peer interaction, positive warmth, positive affect, reciprocity, and mutuality. Caregiver-child interaction very much important for all the child’s basic physical and psychological needs must be met by one or more people who understand what infants, in general, need and what this child, in particular, wants. However, caregiver-child interaction need early years because of children latter development and for school readiness. Also a limited numbers of studies have been done in this topic, so need to more work on it. The research was an exploratory study which collected in depth information about the knowledge and practices by the caregivers in the child care center`s during caregiving hours. The research was to explore the knowledge and practice, consequently, it followed a qualitative data collection approach. By this method is able to give in-depth knowledge and practice about the caregiver-child interaction. Conversely, 6 caregivers have selected who is working in daycare center in Dhaka city. The researcher used qualitative method. The primary purpose to choose qualitative research approach is to gather in-depth understanding of caregiver-child interaction in child care center. The findings of the study show that, the knowledge of early childhood development varied among caregivers on some aspects but then also similar opinion was found on some aspects, of understandings. Again, the practices among the caregivers were found to be inconsistent with the knowledge shared in most of the aspects. For some factors are influenced on caregiver-child interaction that’s way caregivers lacked in implementing their knowledge while caregiving. A conclusion can be drawn that some factors which influenced caregiver-child interaction. Child-caregiver ratio, skill and training, and educational qualification it will help to address the influencing factors of caregiver-child interaction. Therefore, it can be recommended that adequate professional training on caregiver-child interaction should be provided to the caregivers. On the other hand, to ensure the quality practice of the caregiver’s performance through supervising and monitoring. A large-scale study is required to come up with the right picture of the knowledge and practice of the caregivers in the child care centers.Item Adolescents’ perception on extracurricular spaces: a comprehensive exploration of adolescent play lab(BRAC University, 2025-07) Nusrat, Nazia; Nahrin, WasimaThis study explores adolescents’ overall experiences, perceptions, and playful behaviors within the Adolescent Play Lab (APL) in rural Bangladesh. Conducted in four government schools, the research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining surveys, focus group discussions, and observations. The findings suggest that most adolescents view the APL as a positive and engaging environment that promotes creativity, social interaction, and a sense of belonging. Adolescents report enjoying group activities, feeling motivated to participate, and experiencing increased social connectedness. However, some challenges, including limited space and occasional boredom, were noted, highlighting areas for improvement. The study underscores the importance of well-designed play environments in supporting adolescent development, while also identifying issues such as space constraints and gender-related participation gaps. It concludes that incorporating adolescents' feedback is crucial for creating inclusive and meaningful extracurricular spaces, and that minor adjustments in space and activity planning can significantly enhance their experiences.Item Primary education for transgender children: available supports and facilities for transgender children in the classroom of government primary schools(BRAC University, 2025-05) Tithi, Jannatul Ferdous; Sultana, DilrubaThis study explores the challenges transgender (TG) students face in primary education, focusing on societal attitudes, institutional barriers, and inclusion efforts. Interviews with two TG students, four teachers, and four parents, along with classroom observations, reveal deep-rooted stigma, with many associating transgender identities with sin or moral corruption. TG students experience bullying, exclusion, and familial rejection, while teachers often lack awareness, reinforcing binary gender norms. Some schools provide support through fee waivers, counseling, and inclusive programs, improving TG students' well-being. However, resistance from parents and staff hinders progress, with some advocating for segregated schooling. While a few teachers foster inclusivity through respectful language and individualized support, systemic discrimination persists. The findings underscore the need for policy reforms, teacher training, gender-neutral facilities, and curriculum integration of gender diversity. Recommendations include sensitization programs, mental health support, and stronger anti-discrimination measures to ensure equitable education for TG students in Bangladesh.Item Sexual abuse prevention education in grade 5 of English medium schools of urban areas in Bangladesh(BRAC University, 2020-01) Haider, Nusrat Bintay; Sultana, DilrubaThis research examines whether sexual abuse prevention education is being provided in English medium schools in urban Bangladesh, specifically for grade 5 students. While the schools' formal curriculum does not include sexual abuse prevention education, teachers and students express a strong interest in integrating such learning opportunities. A qualitative approach was adopted, using online interviews with teachers and students from two schools—one in Dhaka and one in Chattogram—to determine whether any form of sexual abuse prevention education is currently being implemented. The study employed purposive sampling, ensuring voluntary participation, with parental consent obtained for student involvement. Findings reveal that while no structured educational framework exists within the curriculum, teachers and students acknowledge the need for such education and show eagerness to engage in discussions on the topic. The study underscores the importance of formalizing sexual abuse prevention education, ensuring students receive consistent, age-appropriate guidance to recognize and respond to potential abuse.Item Government primary school teachers’ perspectives on socio-emotional learning in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh(BRAC University, 2025-06) Sadaf, Mirza Muhammad Tehzib; Mahmood, AyeshaThe purpose of this study was to explore government primary school (GPS) teachers' perceptions and practices of socio-emotional learning (SEL) in the context of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, which is a disaster-prone coastal area, heavily influenced by the presence of Rohingya refugees. The research employed a qualitative approach. Three GPSs in Ukhiya and Ramu Upazila were selected using purposeful sampling. A total of three Head Teachers (HTs) and twelve Assistant Teachers (ATs) participated in six Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), three Focus Group Interviews (FGIs), and six Classroom Observations, all based on Convenience Sampling. A thematic analysis was done to find the main ideas in the data. The findings suggested that most teachers lacked a structured understanding of SEL. Classroom observations revealed that there were gaps in stated beliefs and classroom actions. Many of the teachers acknowledged that whatever forms of training they received on SEL were limited and indirect. The thesis recommends implementing SEL training for teachers that is culturally and contextually relevant, aligned with the curriculum and includes supporting materials created in Bangla, along with a peer-support system to provide feedback for teachers.