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Transforming the Teaching Profession in Malaysia

Abdul Mutalib bin Osman

Teacher Education Division

Ministry of Education Malaysia

Dr Haji Ahmad Rafee bin Che Kassim

Institut Aminuddin Baki, Genting Highlands Branch

Ministry of Education Malaysia

Introduction

The teaching profession in Malaysia is currently undergoing a major transformation

as a result of a comprehensive review of the education system in October 2011 and

the launch of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-

Secondary Education) in September 2013. The Blueprint stipulates a strategic and

operational change at all levels to better prepare the children of Malaysia for the 21st

century. In the context of Malaysia and this paper, the teaching profession

encompasses not only those who work directly at classroom level but also those in

the school leadership role in government educational institutions. Thus, the

discussion in this paper will focus on classroom practitioners as well instructional

leaders.

This paper starts with a brief overview of the historical background to the

teaching profession and subsequently, the changes that have taken place over the

years in the Teacher Education System. The main focus of the paper will be on the

current practices and the directions in which the teaching profession is moving within

the Ministry. This is in line with the effort to improve the quality of teachers and the

delivery system in relation to the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

Early Development of the Teaching Profession

The early development of the teaching profession in Malaysia was very much

influenced by the rich and diverse social, political and religious identity of the

country. Under the British colonial rule, schools were set up separately either by the

Colonial Government or the respective communities for the Malays, Chinese and

Indians with the vernacular languages as the medium of instruction. English schools

were established by the Colonial Government for the mixed urban population with

the English language as the medium of instruction (Tunku Ismail Jewa, 1991).

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The training of teachers was geared towards fulfilling the needs of these

respective schools. Separate training courses were organised for teachers in Malay,

Chinese, Tamil and English schools by different stakeholders. However, in 1955 at

the verge of Independence, in order to bring about national consciousness in a multi-

ethnic society, recommendations were made by the country’s first Minister of

Education, Dato’ Abdul Razak, towards the establishment of a national education

system. A report known as the Razak Report formed the basis of the present day

national education system. The Razak Report stipulated that the Minister of

Education would be responsible for teacher training and that the teaching profession

be reorganised (Tunku Ismail Jewa, 1991). This was the beginning of the

establishment of teacher education system with a more structured training for the

teaching profession in the country.

An Overview of Teacher Education System

The National Education System was established in 1957 through the Education

Ordinance 1957 and overseen by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. Currently, the

Ministry of Education comprises two sectors namely, the Education Sector and the

Higher Education Sector. Under the Education Sector of the Ministry, there are 33

divisions responsible for different aspects of the education system (Ministry of

Education Malaysia, 2014a).

The three main divisions responsible for teacher education and teacher

training are the Teacher Education Division (TED), the Institute of Teacher Education

(ITE) and Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB). The Teacher Education Division (TED) in

principle is responsible for policy decisions related to teacher quality and

professional development at pre-service and in-service levels. Working closely

together with ITE and IAB, TED plans the implementation for teacher training to fulfill

the need for teachers in schools nationwide. The training of prospective teachers

rests under the responsibility of ITE while the training in school leadership is under

the expert purview of IAB.

In 1982, the philosophy of teacher education was formulated to determine the

direction of teacher education. The philosophy gives emphasis to the desire to

educate and produce teachers who are noble and caring, knowledgeable and skilful,

creative and innovative, resilient and competent, scientific in outlook, committed to

upholding the aspirations of the nation, proud of their heritage and dedicated to the

development of the individual and preservation of a united, progressive, and

disciplined society (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2014b). This underlying

philosophy is translated in principle to the teacher training curriculum, which

encourages the development of balanced, well-rounded individuals, who are trained

and skilled individuals who will ensure that the Ministry’s aspirations are met.

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Teacher Standard

The guiding principle for professional development and training for all teachers,

teacher educators, administrators and managers, as well as teacher training

institutions and agencies in Malaysia is the Standard for Malaysian Teachers

(SGM) developed by the TED. The standard help to identify the level of the teachers’

professional competence; the level of teacher readiness and the implementation of

training needs; and the policies and development strategies for teacher education

that emphasize on the practice of the values of the teaching profession, knowledge

and understanding, and teaching as well as learning skills (Standard for Malaysian

Teachers, 2009). SGM is based on the following framework and model as shown

below:

Diagram 1: SGM Framework and Model

The framework and model for SGM comprises three standards: Standard 1:

The Practice of Teaching Professionalism which details the practice of the

professionalism competency based personal domain, profession, and social, should

be available to the teacher; Standard 2: Knowledge and Understanding which

specifies the competencies of knowledge and understanding of subject

specialization, science education, curriculum and co-curriculum should be available

to the teacher, and Standard 3: Teaching and Learning Skills which stipulates the

competencies of teaching and learning skills that should be mastered by a teacher.

The framework and model also specify the different requirements such as entry

requirement to teacher training, curriculum, evaluation and assessment requirement,

collaboration with different stakeholders, infra and info-structure requirement, and

quality assurance. The framework and model is based on the National Mission,

National Education Philosophy, Teacher Education Philosophy, the Teaching of

Professional Ethics and the Ministry of Education Work Ethics.

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Pre-Service Teacher Education

As mentioned above, Institute of Teacher Education (ITE) is responsible for the

training of prospective primary school teachers. As a note, the training for secondary

school teachers is under the jurisdiction of the Higher Education Sector of the

Ministry. The training of these pre-service teachers is done on 27 ITE campuses

located throughout the country. Currently, the campuses offer a Bachelors of

Teaching with honours degree programme (PISMP) in various academic disciplines.

These include Malay Language, Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL),

Physical Education, Special Education (Hearing Impairment), Special Education

(Visual Impairment), Special Education (Learning Disabilities), Chinese Language,

Tamil Language, Islamic Education, Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, Design

and Technology, Early Childhood, Visual Art, Music and Arabic. This degree

programme is accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency, Department of

Public Service and Education Service Commission.

To enter the degree programme, a candidate needs to acquire a distinction in

any five (5) subjects, at least a credit in Malay Language and History and a pass in

English Language in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or Malaysian Certificate of

Education Examinations which is equivalent to the O-Level Examinations. The

candidate is also required to undergo several screening tests such as Teacher

Eligibility Test (Ujian Kelayakan Calon Guru) consists of three components which are

Teaching Personality Inventory; Self-Validation Index; and Physical Fitness

Test/Practical Test of Physical Education (applicable to Physical Education

Candidates only). The candidate will also have to attend an interview before he or

she is offered the degree programme. Until September of 2014, a total of 35,551

students are studying at the 27 campuses with 3,535 lecturers where 338 of them

are PhD holders.

Under Wave 1 (2013-2015) of the implementation of the Malaysia Education

Blueprint 2013-2025, ITE aspires to offer high quality and dynamic teacher

development programmes in all its 27 campuses towards a world-class education to

produce the highest quality and competent teachers as well as educators. The effort

towards materialising this aspiration is in progress through strengthening teacher

recruitment channels to ensure that the top 30% of the recruitment into pre-

service training are candidates with excellent results in the Sijil Pelajaran

Malaysia (SPM) or Malaysian Certificate of Education Examinations;

strengthening ITE curricula; improving the quality of leadership ITE; improving the

quality of lecturers; upgrading the infrastructure; enhancing research and innovation

activities; and increasing the profile of ITE.

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Teacher Recruitment

The current practice in teacher recruitment is requiring graduates who have

completed their studies in the field of education in public and private universities or

ITE campuses to submit online application through the official website for the

employment of government services at a portal known as jobsmalaysia.gov.my. The

applications are processed by the Education Service Commission or Suruhanjaya

Perkhidmatan Pelajaran Malaysia (SPP). Eligible candidates are then called for an

interview. Only successful candidates will be appointed as education officers or

Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan (PPP) after which they will be posted to schools

throughout the country based on vacancies and needs of the schools.

Teacher Responsibilities

Like in many other countries, the role Malaysian teachers’ or specifically

classroom practitioners’ encompasses many activities. The teachers do not only

spend time on instructional activities such as lesson planning, classroom interaction

and grading homework, they also carry out tasks such as running extra curriculum

activities, attending or facilitating professional development activities, handling

student’s affairs, and engaging parents and the community. They also engage in

administrative duties related to teaching and learning such as filling out student

report cards and tracking student attendance in class.

In 2007, the Ministry of Education conducted a review on Teacher Duties and

Responsibilities. On average, teachers spend 66.24 hours weekly to carry out duties

and responsibilities before and after class activities as shown in the diagram below.

Diagram 2: Roles and responsibilities of teachers

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The review shows that teachers spend 48.32 hours on managing curriculum

activities such as conducting instructional activities (lesson planning, classroom

interaction and evaluation and assessment), sitting for relief classes, attending and

managing professional development (meetings, trainings and research), handling

student’s activities (extra classes, motivational talk, student’s workshop and

academic co-curriculum) and engaging with parents and teachers academic

meetings. The detailed time spent on each activity is shown below.

Diagram 3: Time spend on curriculum activities

Salaries

With reference to salaries, Malaysian teachers earn salaries which are comparable

to those working in other public and private sectors in the country like lawyers,

accountants and IT executives (MEB, 2013). In this respect, the teaching

professional offers an attractive remuneration.

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Diagram 4: Average starting salaries of teachers in comparison to other

professions in Malaysia

Starting 1st January 2014, a new salary scheme was introduced for teachers

joining the teaching profession with masters and doctoral degrees. The starting

salary for those with a master’s degree is MYR 2,733.98 and for those with doctoral

qualifications is MYR 3040.60. This new salary scheme however does not apply to

serving teachers with the masters or doctoral degree.

Welfare and Benefits

Teachers in Malaysia are civil servants who work under the purview of the Ministry of

Education. The benefits for teachers are no different from the other civil servants in

various government agencies in terms of annual leave and medical benefits. Those

serving at school levels can enjoy the school breaks and are also given 7 days

leave. Those in the administrative positions such as school principals can enjoy a

maximum of 35 days of annual leave. As for medical benefits, the spouse and

children of the teacher are eligible to receive free medical care. For those who opt for

a pension scheme, even after retirement the government covers the retirees’ medical

expenses.

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At present, teachers also have the privilege to participate in professional

development programmes funded by the Ministry. For example, the Ministry provides

scholarships for teachers to pursue higher education locally or abroad, and the

Ministry also pays teachers’ expenses including their travelling costs to attend

in-services courses. Unlike Malaysia, there are many other countries that do practice

supporting teacher financially to join professional development activities.

In comparison to other civil services, teachers have been given a special

scheme which is known as the time based system where they could be promoted

taking into consideration of the number of years they served. This is not offered to

other civil servants working in other government offices.

Career Paths for Teachers

In Malaysia, teachers’ career progression can be seen as synonym with the

promotional pathways set by the government and the Ministry. Upon meeting the

criteria set such as demonstrating high performance based on the annual

performance appraisal report and competency evident through the work done

especially with reference to students’ outcomes, teacher could progress further in

their career by taking up different available positions or remain in their current job.

For example, all teachers have the opportunity to enjoy promotional

administrative and leadership positions at school, district, state and ministry levels

based on vacancies. For those who would like a change from teaching children to

training adults, opportunities are set for teachers to pursue their career as lecturers

in training institutes such as Institutes of Teacher Education (ITE), Institut Aminuddin

Baki (IAB), Matriculation Colleges and English Language Teaching Centre (ELTC).

For those who prefer to remain as classroom practitioners, the promotion offered is

through the excellent teacher and excellent lecturer posts (Guru dan Pensyarah

Cemerlang) if they demonstrate excellence in multiple competency areas such as

subject matter and pedagogy. This promotion position however is based on quota.

As stated in the previous section, teachers can also be promoted based on the

number of years in service. In 2012, the time based promotion was reviewed and

improved. Teacher can now progress to the highest grade in the government service

at a shorter promotion timeframe.

Professional Development of Classroom Practitioners

The Ministry recognises that teacher may need assistance in meeting the new

competencies expected of them, and is deeply committed to providing teachers with

the support they need to succeed. At present, MOE has provided teachers with

various support to enhance teaching quality such as developing e-Guru video library

of exemplary teaching and teacher coaching program.

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MEB calls for TED to restructure various in-service training programs

according to the Continuous Professional Development Master Plan (CPDMP) in

ensuring teacher competencies. All training programs will be regulated to match the

standard of quality required to strengthen teachers’ competencies, performances

and skills to remain relevant and of high quality throughout their teaching career.

TED has successfully developed a teacher profiling system known as SPLKPM

which assists the ministry in identifying teachers with certain competencies at every

grade levels. In order to ensure that new teachers are capable of combining their

theoretical knowledge with best practices of classroom teaching to create more

meaningful learning, new teachers will be exposed with the school organizational

aspects, adjustment to school environment and social structure as a transition

support to begin their teaching career more effectively.

Quality teachers must have adequate competencies to potentially build

effective classroom teaching. In order to ensure teachers are equipped with

necessary competencies demanded for high performance services, TED has

developed Competencies Development Modules based on grade levels started with

modules for grade 41, 44, 48 and 52. Various transformation efforts in the ministry

require teachers to have better understanding and insights in new developed policies

and regulations on curriculum development.

In ensuring teachers to have adequate relevant knowledge and skills to

facilitate and manage learning of various types of students ranging from the most

talented and brilliant to the special needs who have different potentials and

capabilities, TED has arranged for more specialized and customized courses. These

courses are grouped under the elective courses where teachers can choose relevant

courses to enhance and strengthen their teaching competencies. TED has started

initial discussion in offering specialized modules for high performing group of

teachers to assist and prepare them to become effective leaders. The focus of the

modules will be on aspects that can uplift their personality trait through talent

management approaches.

Career Path and Professional Development of School Leaders

Recognizing the leadership of the school plays an important role in fostering the

teaching and learning environments that are effective, the 5th shift in Malaysia

Education Blueprint 2013-2025 specifically focuses on school leaders. As presented

in the earlier part of this paper, the discussion on the teaching profession will include

school leaders who will certainly help provide directions for teachers and may be

closely associated with the notion of job satisfaction and self-satisfaction of teachers

(Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2011)

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Due to the fact that the quality of school leaders is the second major school-

based factor in determining student outcomes, it is important to ensure that every

school in Malaysia is led by high performing school leaders (Sharma, Sun & Kannan,

2012. An outstanding school leader is one who focuses both on instructional and

administrative leadership. Research shows that effective school leaders could raise

student outcomes by as much as 20% (MEB, 2012). Therefore, the government of

Malaysia hopes all schools in Malaysia will have high-performing school leaders who

are relentless in his or her focus on improving student outcomes.

To achieve effective and sustainable transformation of the Malaysian

education system, school leaders must understand their roles as instructional

leaders and as agent for change in their organisation. Thus, to ensure transformation

for school leaders runs smoothly, the Blueprint introduces Principal Charter which

provides more expansive view of school leadership in Malaysia.

Under this Charter, every school will have high-quality principal and

supporting leadership team to provide instructional leadership and drive overall

school performance. The way principals are selected, developed and rewarded will

be enhanced. Measures undertaken will include 1) refining and clarifying the

selection criteria; 2) building a pool of potential future school leaders; 3) improving

preparatory and continuous professional development; and 4) introducing a

performance and competencies based on performance management approach.

Selecting the right candidates to leadership positions has a significant

impact on school performance. Therefore it is important to secure the best talent

available in the entire teaching body for its leadership positions; and ensure the

talented principals will serve in their role for a longer time. TALIS 2013 showed that

the average age of school leaders in Malaysia is 53.5 years as most of the principals

in the schools are selected based on seniority of employment and work experience

in the field of management as well as administration. Under the Charter, the new

principal selection criteria are being implemented based on performance, level of

education and courses attended by the principals. A rigorous, clear, and transparent

principal selection process is critical for building and sustaining effective schools.

The effort to standardize and improve the selection and preparation process

for new principals is made in recognition of the fact that 40% of the current principals

will retire over the next five years. Thus, a non-tenure-based selection criteria and a

standardized process have been utilised for the selection of school leaders. Only

candidates who have a minimum of three years of service before retirement, and

who have completed the National Professional Qualifications for Educational

Leaders (NPQEL) training programme (see below for elaboration) will be appointed.

Potential principal candidates are encouraged to apply for and undergo the NPQEL

programme if they are interested to pursue the career at school leadership level.

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The Ministry is targeting a back-to-back transition process between the

outgoing and incoming principals. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the

selection process for every retiring or transferring principal commences early, and

that the selection process is shortened by at least 50%. The Ministry is also working

at widening the pool of potential candidates through a more aggressive recruitment

campaign. In sum, the Charter includes the processes of Selection, Placement and

Development of school leaders as shown in the diagram below.

Diagram 5: Process of Selection, Placement and Development of School

Leaders

National Professional Qualifications for Educational Leaders (NPQEL)

In order for teachers to be eligible to take up a leadership role in school, teachers are

required to obtain the National Professional Qualifications for Educational Leaders or

NPQEL through undergoing a training programme to equip future managers and

leaders of the school with the necessary competencies and skills.

This programme started in 1999 as a result of the following key factors:

1) the rapid expansion of education in Malaysia and the global development which

causes school managers and school leaders to acquire and master new knowledge

and skills such as conceptual skills as well as craft skills for use in schools (Guskey,

2002); 2) the recommendations made in the Cabinet Committee Report (1979) that

education officers should undergo training to improve their professionalism; and

3) the influence of professional training programmes for managers and school

leaders offered in the United States (Council of Chief State School Officers, CCSSO

1996) and in Britain (Teacher Training Agency, TTA, 1998) which formed the basis

for the production of NPQEL training modules in Malaysia (Abdul Aziz, 2003).

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PRIme

Newly appointed headmasters and principles are then further supported in their new

role through a programme known as PRIme. This programme is designed to develop

excellent school leadership, and train leaders who are well prepared for changes in

education system. It is a holistic training framework which encompasses three

phases as shown in the diagram below:

Follow up(IAB)

PRIme

strengthening capabilities / competencies of school leaders

Diagram 6: PRIme Framework

Under this programme, novice leaders (principals / headmasters) are

provided guidance to as they embark in their new positions as leaders of the school

for the first time. Through a residency programme, they will be able to gain

experience and understand the environment and climate of the school. The novice

principles and headmasters will receive the professional guidance in this immersion

programme from the Principle Coach (PC). The overview of this residency

programme is illustrated below.

Diagram 7: Overview of the Residency Programme

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Differentiated Continuous Professional Development

To ensure that school leaders maintain personal and organisational excellence,

Differentiated Continuous Professional Development Programme is also offered

covering a range of courses designed for principals who are at different performance

levels. It is expected that the competencies of each principal will differ as they rise

through the three levels, namely Competent, Excellent, and Expert as school

leaders.

Diagram 8: Framework of Differentiated CPD for Principals

Diagram 9: Modules for school with specific requirements

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Teacher Reforms and Innovation

The Ministry will ensure the delivery of effective student-centered and differentiated

teaching and learning in every classroom and elevate teaching to become a

profession of choice. The Ministry will achieve this goal by introducing a new

Teacher Career Package to fundamentally change the way teachers are selected,

developed and rewarded throughout their entire careers. Measures undertaken will

include raising and enforcing entry standards into teacher training programmes,

improving the effectiveness of pre-service and continuous professional development;

and developing exciting new career pathways that support fast-tracking based on

performance and competencies, along with opportunities for redeployment for

consistent underperformers.

The Ministry will also ensure that every school, regardless of location and

performance level, will have a high-quality principal and supporting leadership team

to provide instructional leadership and drive overall school performance. The Ministry

will achieve this goal by introducing a new career package to enhance the way

principals are selected, developed and rewarded. Measures undertaken will include

refining and clarifying the selection criteria, building a pool of potential future school

leaders, improving preparatory and continuous professional development and

introducing a performance and competencies based performance management

approach.

Private-sector innovation in Malaysian education: Teach for Malaysia

Based on the successful Teach for All programmes such as Teach for

America in the United Kingdom and Teach for India in India, the Teach Malaysia

(TFM) programme is aimed at attracting high-performing young graduates into the

teaching profession.

The Teach for All programmes target students who have very strong

academic credentials, leadership and management skills and an aptitude for

teaching. In America, the programme currently attracts applications from close to 20

percent of graduates from top universities such as Yale and Harvard, allowing them

to be extremely selective.

Established in late 2010 with the support of numerous corporate sponsors, the

TFM programme works with the Ministry to place TFM fellows in high-need schools

in two-year placements. TFM fellows are provided coaching and support during their

placements, while simultaneously working towards a professional qualification in

teaching. The pioneer group, comprising of 50 fellows, were placed in 17 schools in

Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

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Instructional Coaching Program: School Improvement Specialist Coaches

To strengthen the nation’s mission to boost Malaysian education standard, initiatives

were also proposed to help the low performing schools to improve. School

Improvement Specialist Coaches (SISC) programme was introduced and conducted

in 2011 and changed into School Improvement Specialist Coaches Plus (SISC+) in

2013. It aimed at improving the performance of low-performing secondary and

primary schools throughout the nation by surpassing the teachers’ teaching quality

with the help of instructional coaches. School Improvement Specialist Coaches are

experienced, highly accomplished, and well-respected educators. Coaches must

have credibility with teachers and administrators, the ability to juggle several roles,

and the skills needed to work one-on-one with teachers as well as to oversee a wider

professional development effort in the school.

Previously, specialist coaches are currently part-time positions, leading to

inconsistent and insufficient coverage of schools. By creating full-time positions at

the PPD level, coaches will be able to specialise in mentoring, and can develop

stronger relationships with their teachers and principals. The level of support

provided by the specialist coaches will be differentiated based on the school’s

performance band. The specialist coaches are responsible for coaching along the

three interlinked dimensions of curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. They will

focus on providing school-based coaching to teachers in lower band schools (Bands

5, 6, and 7). These coaches are appointed from various sources within the education

system: Excellent Teachers or Guru Cemerlang, Excellent Head Teachers or

Pengetua Cemerlang, IAB or ITE officers, existing FasiLINUS, and officers from the

States and Ministry level. By 2015 almost 1300 Specialist Coaches are expected to

be deployed to all districts nationwide.

Issues and Challenges

Higher Expectation by Public

The role of teachers in schools must be addressed. Currently, teachers are

burdened with work beyond their primary scope of teaching. At present, teachers are

over-burdened with secondary tasks, such as administrative work, assessments, and

long meetings.

Teachers are seen as agents of change by the society and teachers not only

teach academic subjects, but also serve to educate and build personality of students.

Parents put high expectations towards teachers. They demand teachers to help their

children to excel in academics, co-curricular activities and also accountable for the

personal development of their children. With the implementation of 10% merit-based

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points student participation in extra-curricular activities policy, which determine the

selection of students to enroll in Public Higher Education, a greater responsibility is

given to teachers to provide opportunities for all students to engage in such

activities.

On the academic achievement of students, the national assessment system

requires students to compete among themselves in order to achieve the level of

excellence which give them the access to enroll in high performing schools, higher

education institutions local and abroad, and to be offered selections of scholarships.

Public expect the quality of the national education system to constantly rise,

especially in terms of curriculum reform, assessment system, infrastructure and the

quality of teachers.

These factors explain why teachers are working hard to fulfil all of these

demands and at the same time develop the personality of their students.

Consequently, teachers have little time to invest in teaching and improving their

teaching skills and methods. It is recommended that the Ministry to review the role of

teachers in schools, and ensure that the majority of time is spent on teaching.

Schools should be employing non-teaching staff for administrative work.

Placement of teachers

Immediate placement after completing the pre-service teacher’s training is believed

to inhibit competition and lack of excellence among temporary trained teachers.

Unlike other countries, the selection and appointment of excellent graduates as

teachers helps in building up a quality teaching profession. The tendency of rejection

on teacher placement in rural and remote areas has led to a critical shortage of

teachers in certain areas. This problem implies an excessive amount of teachers in

other areas especially the town and city and placement of untrained teachers and

non-option teachers especially in rural and remote areas. Human factors are often

taken into account in the course of teachers exchange and settlement thus led to the

problems. Other teachers have to do extra work due to the teacher shortage.

Placement of temporary teachers and non-option teachers who are lack of content

expert on the subjects affects the quality of teaching and learning. In addition these

teachers need more time to prepare lessons.

Inconsistent Professional Development

While there are many excellent teachers in the Malaysian education system, a 2011

research by AKEPT found that only 50% of lessons were being delivered in an

effective manner. This means that the lessons did not sufficiently engage students,

where it followed a more passive, lecture format of content delivery which was only

effective in achieving surface-level content understanding, instead of using higher-

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order thinking skills. This study showed that teachers were found lacking in key

competencies such as creativity and high-order thinking to deliver the curriculum in

creative ways that could make learning meaningful as well as interesting for

students.

Continuous professional development is very important for professional and

personal development of teachers. For that reason, the fundamental exertion

initiated by TED is to come out with The Continuous Professional Development

Master Plan (CPDMP), a comprehensive guideline as a core reference by educators

on how to execute continuous professional development.

The execution of training mode currently caused many complaints. The

frequency of teachers leaving the classroom has led to other teachers spend more

time on class relief. Implementation of courses conducted by several organizers is

causing duplication of courses and participants. The absence of features to detect

the movement of teachers attending course in the existing database had caused the

same teachers being called for the courses more than once.

The current training mod widely use prescriptive modules that give precise

instructions to teachers on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ to teach specific topics or content.

This practice restricts creativity and autonomous learning among participants. The

unintended consequence is a higher risk of developing a cohort of teachers with a

dependent mind-set, who lack creativity and have less inclination to take risk in

changing their teaching practices. Being less creative, teachers tend to restrict

students’ creativity and spontaneity in the classroom. This practice if continued over

time will make learning boring as it lacks ‘wow’ factor to attract and retain students’

interest in the classroom. The challenge in moving forward is to ensure teachers’

creativity is enhanced and critical thinking strengthened by doing away with

prescriptive modules that is commonly practiced in the current CPD activities.

The current CPD programmes and modules do not adhere to any specific

quality process and are not managed in a systematic way. This practice has many

unintended consequences such as poorly developed programmes with vague

learning outcomes. Deficient planning also meant that many training programmes

lack the development and growth approach that allows participants to track progress,

continuity and articulation for further advancement that contributes to career growth

and talent management. For the recommendation, more specific and well manage

continuous training is needed to improve teaching skills. A culture of continuous

learning and improvement among teachers is vital to ensure we have world class

teaching standards.

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Suggestions for ASEAN Cooperation

Teacher Exchange Program (pre-service and leadership) and International CPD

Programme

In accordance with Malaysia’s vision to enhance international cooperation in

education, the nation through the Ministry of Education will continue to initiate efforts

in organizing courses to upgrade continuous professionalism in pedagogy,

leadership in education and other specific educational fields. This initiative may be in

the form of program that involves exchange in expertise or international discourses

in education.

We would also like to suggest that initiative is taken to promote best practice

in education through the establishment of professional learning communities. With

the advancement of the technology and the significance of the 21st century skills, we

should promote professional dialogues among all practitioners.

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