A Study of the Key Roles of Teachers' Associations in Education System in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The purpose of this study was to investigate the key roles of Teachers' Associations in education system. The main objectives of the study were to find out the basic functions of teachers' associations, to highlight the importance of teachers' associations, to evaluate the responsibilities of teachers' associations and to investigate the effectiveness of teachers' associations. All High Schools of District Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan were the population of the study. Ten High Schools in urban area and 100 teachers were selected randomly as sample of the study. The data was collected through questionnaires. It was tabulated and result was shown in percentage, mean score and standard deviation. Findings of the study indicated that Teachers' Associations play very important roles in education system. They work for the protection of teachers' rights, keep them united, solve their problems, help in raising funds for the betterment of education and bring reforms in education system.

education system. These associations provide a platform to a large number of teachers and their collective voice has the power to solve the problems of teachers and to work for the betterment of education system. Different researchers and experts have disclosed very important roles and functions of teachers' associations.
According to Nelis (2001) the availability of Teachers Associations in educational institutions play positive role in promoting the quality of education. They work for the professional development of teachers, introduce new trends and innovations, create awareness among teachers to face new challenges and work regularly for the betterment of educational institutions. Teachers' associations work for the best possible working conditions and collective interest of teachers (Loyo 2001).
They solve various problems of teachers, help them in their promotion and transfer, demand possible attractive wage for them and make efforts for reducing work load of teachers. According to Masenya (2013) Teachers' Unions play their vital role in school system and they cannot be isolated from school system. They are considered as an integral part of education system due to their many-fold purposes. They usually demand for more teachers to provide best teaching facilities. They mostly demand for more budgets for developmental activities at school. They also create opportunities of cocurricular activities for the overall development of students.
Teachers' Associations provide great support to teachers when they face problems (Ager and Pyle 2013). Teachers cannot defend their rights individually. They generally face great problems in their promotion, transfer and other official works. The collective voices of these associations enable them to get their due rights and to provide them support whenever they are in trouble. According to Han (2012) Teachers' Associations play their vital role to increase salaries of their members so that they will fulfill their needs easily and will perform their duties. Associations generally work for decreasing working hours and increasing wages. It means that these associations want to According to Rosenfeld (2010) Teachers' Unions struggle for their dignity, benefits and for their rights. The united forum of teachers provide them strength as union is strength which enable them acquire their rights and dignity in a most convenient way.
Like other unions, teachers' unions also have the right to defend their rights and to raise their collective voice for justice, equality and dignity. Harman (1984) reported that teachers' associations can play their important role during educational policy making process because these associations can easily exert pressure on authorities for developing attractive and more useful educational policies. Educational policies must be developed with the help of expert teachers as they are well aware of the needs and requirements of education system. According to a famous proverb "Every man does his business well", teachers' responsibilities can contribute well during educational policy making. According to Eberts (2007) teachers' associations work to improve working conditions of teachers, enhance job security and raise teachers' salaries. Almost all the unions of the world keep the same fundamental rules. Their foremost duty is to increase their salary, to get job security, to reduce work load and to achieve their rights. Teachers' associations also follow these rules for the betterment of their members. Many teachers are organized in various associations because they cannot face all the challenges alone.
These associations provide them support on local level, national and global levels  (Beltran 2012). Teachers' associations provide support to their members, that is why most teachers join associations to solve their problems through their association leaders.
According to Kleiner and Petree (1988)  According to Dinardo and Lemieux (1997) associations reduce inequality among the wages of teachers and standardizing the pay level among workers. According to Kingdon and Muzammil (2008), the important role of teachers' associations is the development of professional honesty and the resistance of professional misconduct.

1.
To find out the basic functions of Teachers' Associations.

2.
To highlight the importance of teachers' associations.

3.
To evaluate the responsibilities of teachers' associations.

4.
To investigate the effectiveness of teachers' associations in education system.

Methodology & Delimitation
It was a survey type study; data was collected through a questionnaire from the targeted population. Due to time constraint the study was delimited to urban area schools only. Research tool was administered personally and then collected data was

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Issue. analyzed properly and suitable statistical tools were applied the result was shown in graphs. The findings were discussed, conclusion was drawn and at the end some suggestions were given.

Population and Sampling
Population of the study was chosen as all High Schools of District Swat in K.P Pakistan. Ten High Schools in urban area and 100 teachers were selected randomly as sample of the study.

Discussion
The analyzed data indicated that out of hundred respondents 51% opted for agreed, 30% opted for disagreed and 19% were undecided with the statement. Mean score is 3.39 which is above than 3. It shows that teacher associations are important for replied that Teacher Associations defend the rights of teachers and only 16% were disagreed. Its mean score is 3.74 which is above than 3 and indicates that teachers' associations defend the rights of teachers.

Findings
· Teacher Associations defend the rights of teachers.
· Teacher Associations keep teachers united · Teacher Associations work for the increase of salary.
· Teacher Associations solve the problems of teachers.
· Teacher Associations work only for their own members.
· Teacher Associations bring educational reforms.
· Teacher Associations work to raise funds for education.
· Teacher Associations work for the protection of human rights.
· Teacher Associations play their role during educational policy making.
· Teacher Associations are important for the development of education system.

Conclusion:
Teacher Associations have many fold purposes. They work for the improvement and quality of education, provide best possible working conditions for teachers, support them when they face problems, struggle for the increase of salary, work for teachers rights and dignity, facilitate educational policy making process, struggle for teachers' job security, bring educational reforms and work for the professional development of teachers. The study indicated that these Teacher Associations can improve education system through their multi-dimensional roles.