Why Teachers Do Not Teach for Understanding: The Washback Effects of SSC Exams on Pedagogical Practices of Teachers in Sargodha

Abstract

High-stakes examinations exert a powerful influence on classroom instruction, particularly in developing-country contexts where public assessments dominate educational culture. This qualitative case study investigates the washback effect of the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations administered by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Sargodha, on the pedagogical practices of secondary school teachers. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with five teachers and six students from a government high school in District Sargodha and through the systematic analysis of five years of SSC examination papers using Bloom's Taxonomy revised framework. Findings reveal that between 88% and 92% of examination questions target only the knowledge (recall) level of Bloom's Taxonomy, with negligible representation of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) such as analysis, synthesis, or evaluation. Consequently, teachers adopt examination-oriented pedagogical methods centred on rote memorisation, repeated practice of past papers, and guidebook dependency, all of which foreclose meaningful language development. Students similarly prioritise memorised answers over communicative competence. The study concludes that the SSC examination generates strong negative washback and recommends systemic assessment reform encompassing formative assessment, performance-based tasks, and higher-order thinking questions to restore pedagogical quality and promote positive washback.