Notes From Various Sources

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Usaha membentuk guru bertaraf dunia Berita Harian BAGAIMANA kita mendefinisikan guru bertaraf dunia? Apakah kriteria untuk melayakkan guru untuk bergelar guru bertaraf dunia dan apa pula cabaran bakal dihadapi Malaysia dalam usaha membentuk guru bertaraf dunia? Timbalan Pengarah Bahagian Pendidikan Guru (BPG) Kementerian Pelajaran, Datin Asariah Mior Shaharuddin, berkata Kementerian Pelajaran menyediakan Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan (PIPP) 2006-2010 yang antaranya menetapkan dasar memartabatkan profesion keguruan. “Satu daripada elemen utama dalam memartabatkan profesion keguruan adalah dengan meningkatkan kualiti perguruan,” katanya. Beliau berpendapat pendidikan guru Malaysia perlu berubah kepada satu sistem progresif, dinamik dan responsif terhadap keperluan negara. Justeru, katanya, Bahagian Pendidikan Guru dipertanggungjawabkan untuk memastikan sistem pendidikan guru sentiasa kukuh dan bertaraf dunia. Dalam menjayakan misi ini, Asariah berkata, kerjasama Institusi Pendidikan Guru (IPG) dengan Institusi Pengajian Tinggi (IPT) luar negara menjadi agenda penting dalam membangunkan pusat kecemerlangan pendidikan guru.

The Star Online http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007 /6/10/education/17949450 The mark of world-class teachers S T OR I E S B Y H AR I AT I A Z I Z AN AN D S AR AH C H E W

With Malaysia in full gear to achieve a knowledge-based economy by 2020, teachers have a vital role to play in the development of human capital. Are they up to it? WHEN I interview candidates from professional fields like accountancy, human resource and business for teaching positions at my school, I am always impressed by their confidence, command of the English language and knowledge of their area. “But when I interview Malaysian government teachers, I get concerned about the standards of education here,” said Ian James Kerr, principal of an international school in Penang. “Many generally lack confidence, are weak in English and are not able to talk about their job.” Apart from a smattering of muffled gasps and hushed whispers, the shocked silence that fell in the hall was deafening. Kerr continued: “Many are keen on rote learning and cannot relax with children. Some expatriate children who can sense this will find their other weaknesses and capitalise on them.” He was a speaker at the International Seminar on Teacher Education, organised by the Education Ministry’s Teacher Education Division (TED) in Kuala Lumpur recently.

Kendall- Seatter (second from right) making a point during a roundtable discussion. With her are (from left to right) Prof Ibrahim, Education Ministry's English Language Teaching Centre deputy director Dr Choong Kam Foong, who served as moderator, and Kerr.

Although Kerr went on to say that he knows many excellent teachers in Malaysia, the brutal honesty in his earlier statement cut to the core of the seminar, aimed at seeking new ideas and approaches for the development of the country’s teachers. However, his views are far from new. For years, parents have lamented the declining teaching standards in Malaysia while employers have often complained about the low English proficiency among new graduates. As acknowledged by Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein in his keynote speech, teachers are the backbone of the nation’s move to develop human capital for a knowledge-based economy. “Frankly, there can be no knowledge-based economy without good, if not excellent, teachers to bring our young people up to the level needed globally. Teachers are indeed the catalyst needed to raise Malaysia’s economic capabilities, and they must make the furthest quantum leap compared to other sectors,” he noted. However, as the seminar – entitled Teacher Education: Then, Now and For the Future –progressed, it was clear that the 450 local and international educationists present had diverse views on the concept of “world-class teachers”. Bringing back the glory

Unlike most seminars on the teaching profession, the issues of remuneration and welfare did not dominate the proceedings. The ministry, said a participant who declined to be named, has demonstrated that it is serious in improving teachers’ lot. “They are looking into our housing and cost of living allowances, and those in remote areas are given better incentives and hardship allowances. Now I hope he (Hishammuddin) will deliver on his promise to revive respect for the profession.” As Hishammuddin pointed out: “If our teachers’ morale is low, we cannot expect wonders out of them. We have to revive the glory of the profession and increase the self-esteem of teachers... the whole profession needs a moral uplift to prepare for the challenges of the global world.” The ministry, he added, has identified key problems areas: how to nurture quality teachers within the system, manage teacher supply, overcome mediocrity in the profession and provide continuous opportunities for improvement. Five measures have been taken to address some of the concerns: introducing promotion schemes for teachers, attending to their welfare, improving their social standing, enhancing the quality of teacher education and upgrading teachers’ training colleges to institutes of teacher education. More importantly, he noted, teachers need to “learn, relearn and unlearn all the time.” Speaker Prof Datuk Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, director of the Unesco-Regional Centre for Educational Planning (RCEP), concurred. “How can we foster intellectual capabilities in students if we don’t foster it in our teachers? Teachers need to have an intellectual character; as long as the teacher is not an intellectual, then we are on losing ground,” he said in a roundtable discussion entitled Producing World-Class Teachers and Capacity Building in Malaysia. The panel of speakers in the roundtable discussion – which included Kerr, representing the Malaysia International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) and Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) Primary Education Department head Sue Kendall-Seatter – raised various salient issues related to the definition of a world-class teacher. As Kerr noted, it is difficult to define what world class means given the constant shift in the roles of teachers and teaching standards, brought about by the rapid changes in information and communications technology (ICT). “Teachers need to be equipped with IT knowledge to empower them to manage information,” he said. Raising the bar Participants, however, continued to argue over what the concept constitute, with one ministry official even questioning whether world-class teachers can be effective teachers. Responding to this, Prof Ibrahim said teachers’ roles are complex, and they often have to play multiple roles in school, from knowledge imparter to facilitator, counsellor and even nurse. Thus, teachers need to be prepared for the unpredictable and reminded that teaching is an art and not a science to keep them in touch with the classroom situation and their students. “If they can do this, the teachers can be effective. I believe ‘effective teachers’ is just another phrase for worldclass teachers,” he added. Participants identified pre-service teacher education as vital to boosting teaching standards, and resolved that teacher education has to be redefined and redesigned, with a multi-pronged approach adopted.

Ensuring that the quality of teacher education is maintained is a challenge, and the TED has, in fact, already taken the initiative to formulate the Malaysian Teaching Standards (MTS). According to Education deputy director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom, the MTS is a comprehensive guide for quality teacher education, and will ensure that all new teachers have the subject knowledge and pedagogical expertise they need to prepare them for the wider demands of being teachers. “Quality teachers believe in the best for every student, and do what is necessary to make sure that every child learns,” he said. Subject knowledge and pedagogical skills aside, SMK Engku Hussein Selangor principal Latifah Mohd Isa believes that, most importantly, a quality teacher is approachable. “Teachers must know and be close to their students, then only will they be able to teach effectively. “For example, if you have a popularity contest, a quality teacher will have to come out tops,” she said. On the other hand, a teacher trainer who declined to be named felt that quality ultimately depends on individual teachers who must set their own standards and strive to meet them. TED director Wan Mustama Wan Abdul Hayat said it will be unfair to gauge teaching standards based solely on students’ academic achievement, adding that the ministry plans to change the way teachers are assessed. “We need to include other aspects such as students' development and change of values. “Quality teaching has always been the focus of teacher training but the MTS will be a good reminder for us to maintain standards in teaching.” Perhaps Prof Ibrahim captured it best when he said that teacher training is complex but easy. “It’s about content and method. Maybe we need to follow the example of Singapore, which has redirected the focus of teacher education from curriculum to pedagogy,” he observed. “What is important is we need to continuously conduct education research if we are to maintain the standards of teacher development in the country.”

The Star Online http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2007/6/10/education/200706091 30612&sec=education Sunday June 10, 2007

Best practices near and far WE NEED to benchmark against the world’s best, said Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, so that we won’t be jaguh kampung (village champions). Hence, in developing the Malaysian Teaching Standards (MTS), the ministry’s Teacher Education Division (TED) researched various best practices around the world, namely those of Japan, Finland, Indonesia and Hong Kong. At the recent International Seminar on Teacher Education, a few foreign experts were also invited to share best practices. The United Kingdom Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) Primary Education Department head Sue Kendall-Seater and the department's programme director, Dr Viv Wilson, shared that they have been involved since last year with the Education Ministry on a new teacher training curriculum for primary school. “We're working with nine local teacher training institutions to develop a teaching degree,” said Kendall-Seatter. “We're basing this on active and participative models of teaching in which teachers need to take ownership of their training instead of being passive recipients.” The project involves four foreign universities, two Australian and two British, one being CCCU. According to Dr Wilson, the training curriculum being developed has a special focus on science, design and technology and mathematics. “The degree courses are being taught in English full-time in Malaysia. The curriculum depends on the partner university – they are either UK or Australian degrees – and each one is slightly different, but the courses are taught by Malaysian lecturers. “The partner universities only train the local lecturers and moderate students’ work,” she said. Currently, close to 900 students are undergoing training under the project at the nine institutions, with 130 enrolled in the CCCU programme at its two partner institutions in Batu Pahat and Kuala Terengganu. The CCCU programme places emphasis on practical work, where students go into schools every semester for up to two weeks in a row before returning to the institution to reflect on their experiences. “The students are given observation and teaching tasks and then have to write a report on what they have learnt. Students learn more this way. It is crossing the theory-practice divide,” said Kendall-Seatter. Japan After World War II, Japan's teacher education has been characterised by a certification or licensing system under which students have to obtain licences to teach. They have to undergo about four years' training to obtain a regular certificate or a special certificate, in the case of those with specialised knowledge or skills.

PROF TABATA: We must provide the young with incentives to become teachers.

Regular certificates consists of Second Class certificates, probably equivalent to a diploma, First Class certificates (Bachelor degree) or Advanced Class certificates (Masters degree). Graduates then sit for an employment examination administered by each state or prefecture's education board, which includes essays, interviews to assess their personality and practical tests in physical education, fine arts and the like. New teachers have to go for “induction training” for 90 days, 60 of which are school-based while those already teaching are required to participate in “in-service training” such as central seminars and a month-long workshop. Even with all this in place, said Prof Yoshinori Tabata, from the University of Hiroshima's Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Japan's teachers still struggle with employing creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills in the classroom. “But now we have a new open system, where teachers invite others to visit their classes while they teach; they ask for feedback, which is a positive thing,” he said. The Japanese Government, he added, is introducing a teacher evaluation system this year, and those lacking in competency will be sent for training and evaluated again. “It's easy to improve teaching skills, but difficult to improve communication skills with children and their parents,” he said. The government is also introducing a merit-system salary scheme based on a teacher's competency. Currently teachers' wages vary according to qualifications. Teachers in Japan are well rewarded as they get benefits that include housing, commuting and area adjustment allowances as well as bonuses. Prof Tabata believes that with these factors in place together with the prevailing culture in Japan where teachers are highly regarded, the government will be able to attract capable people. “We must provide the young with incentives to become teachers,” he concluded. Indonesia Aceh Province Education Department head Dr Anas M. Adam believes that better qualified teachers will help to achieve Indonesia's aim of improving its standard of education. “In 2007, all teachers must have at least Diploma IV or a professional certificate following a fouryear university degree. “They must also go through a competency test, and they would be sent for further training if they fail.” Areas covered include personality, pedagogy, preparation of course outlines, teaching, interaction with students, being a role model to students, classroom management and knowledge of subject. The assessment tools for the test are written tests, performance tests, self-appraisals and portfolios, and evaluation by superiors, students and colleagues. Dr Anas hopes that the whole process will not be viewed as a punishment but as a way to improve and empower teachers. “Teachers must have a passion for teaching and must know their subjects,” he said.