Continuous Professional Development courses for Teachers

INTRODUCTION

The vital part in every organization is to keep the staff to remain well trained and
prepared in every aspects and challenges especially a field which requires us to face
up with the public frequently. The type of field is suggestively refers to educational
field.

Professional development for teachers is now recognized as a vital component of
policies to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. Consequently,
there is increased interest in research that identifies features of effective professional
learning. Considerable funds are allocated to a wide variety of professional
development programs from a variety of sources. As investment increases,
government policy are increasingly asking for evidence about its effects not only on
classroom practice, but also on student learning outcomes. They are also looking for
research that can guide them in designing programs that are more likely to lead to
significant and sustained improvement in students opportunities to learn.

1
Teacher development can be seen as having two aspects. One is the input of new
theoretical ideas and new teaching suggestions.... The second is trying out, evaluation,
and practice of these new theoretical and teaching ideas over an extended period of
time in a collaborative situation where the teachers are able to receive support and
feedback, and where they are able to re ect critically.... Both are important if all
three aspects of teacher development personal, professional, and social
developmentare to occur.
(Linda Evans, 2002)

The Research Unit of Ministry of Education Malaysia is seeking an approval from the
Secretary of Education regarding on the implementation of Continuous Professional
Development courses for Teachers, which involving teachers with critical needs in
order to match the necessities of the current policies as the Ministry imposed.

1
Oxford Review of Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2002


The interpretation of teacher development incorporates consideration of its having a
range of applicability that extends from an individual to a profession-wide level. It
may be applied to variously formed professional groups or units, such as: individual
teachers; the staff of an institution, or a department in an institution; teachers who
hold a common role (eg. primary head teachers, mathematics teachers, further
education (FE) teachers) and the profession as a whole.

As an area of study, teacher development is dominated by examination of issues,
while methods, on the other hand, are comparatively underexamined. In this respect it
is quite distinct from most other key areas of educational study. The studies of special
educational needs (mainly in Malaysia known as Pendidikan Khas), education
leadership and management, primary education, and assessment, for example, as well
as subject-based specialisms, all include extensive examination of methods which
indicates how Special Educational Needs (SEN) children, or primary school children,
ought to be taught, how schools and their staff ought to be managed, how assessment
ought to be carried out. The method is keep evolving according to the changes
occurred in which required globally. The fact is the changes of information
technology and accessibility might mainly transforms the thinking ability of children
nowadays.

The need of this stand shall be referred as the recent problems we had encounters and
received from various types of reports including problems rose from the
administrational task, teaching and learning and even the curriculum assessment.
Getting things to be remain constructively active we shall highlight the needs of
having this stand is also related to several sudden changes in the education policy
which is regardless of the several teachers which is below the ability and with their
limited knowledge in resources handling to execute the task proficiently. Thus the
paperwork for the stand shall remain as relevant as to the evolvement related to the
educational policies and affairs.




THE RATIONALE

We see teachers as more then variables that needed to be changed in order to
improve the educational system according to the Ministrys vision but for all of the
people they should regard the teachers as the most significant agent in order to see
some of the transformation which came out from the Ministry that is likely to have
some of different new approach in education system especially in the assessment
systems and the curriculum.

Recently we found out some of the serious matters regarding to some school with
teachers that are lacks of some vital professional skills especially in information
communications technology as well as other resources handling.

The concern is partly focused on how do teachers needed to do to match the higher
expectations from the administrator as well as the policies, which designated targets
for schools or institutions that is mandatory to be met. Higher expectations do always
require higher skills and intelligently executed. The situation might refers to all
qualified teachers in their ability to evolving or transform in order to placed their
professionalism and ability to respond the surrounding changes as well as effectively
performs in the classroom.

The recent correlated issues such us globalizations and the recent introductions of the
new curriculum should be a strong reason pertaining to have the program for the
teachers. Professional development for teachers is a key mechanism for improving
classroom instruction and student achievement. It create variability of teaching
applications as well as accordingly to the current evolvement of the educational field
mostly.

Recognizing the short supply of high quality professional development for teachers,
the National Education Philosophy formulated in 1988 mandated that teachers receive
such learning opportunities, through the emphasizing of establishing education in the
country:

Education in Malaysia is an ongoing effort towards further developing the potential
of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner so as to produce individuals who
are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious,
based on a firm belief in and devotion of God. Such an effort is designed to produce
Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral
standards and who are responsible and capable in achieving a high level of personal
well-being and being able to contribute to the betterment of the family, society and
nation at large.

Teachers professional development was recognized as a means to enhance the
teaching profession. Some of the recommendations put forward by the committee
were:
Teachers should be encouraged to attend in-service courses.
Teachers should be encouraged to further their education
Opportunities should be given to teachers for study visits overseas to study
current developments in education.
Induction programmes be given to teachers appointed to new posts and with
new responsibilities.
Management courses be provided to those teachers who have been promoted
to head teachers.
Staff rooms should be subject-based.
Teacher centres should facilitate the professional development of teachers;
they should be built in strategic locations, equipped with modern technology,
fully funded and adequately staffed.

Under the governments initiations of establishing teachers training centers we shall
aware that teachers shall not only being equipped by the current teaching certs and
degrees but a continuous development training. We see the infrastructure can be
benefitted by all teachers all over nationwide and the manpower for the training
courses can be some expertise internally or by outsourcing through the collaborations
from other government agencies or corporate bodies.

Another issues is the recent introduction of the new curriculum activity the
Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) and Kurikulum Standard Sekolah
Menengah (KSSM). The curriculum is actually creating massive changes towards the
teaching approach rather then the current curriculum. It is identified that the most
demanding part to be continuously focus on is to train the assessor and evaluation
methods for the teachers as the standards are actually did not clearly shows how
achievements are measure for the students. Clearly it is to be stated that assessment is
the most vital part to end a journey in the school learning process through a
standardized curriculum.
There are some hightlights in the problems which mainly in our radar. There are a
number of reasons why implementing the SBA in this way is unlikely to succeed and
these are discussed below.
1. Lack of Knowledge: To ask the teachers to follow the descriptors above is to
require the same knowledge they would need to become assessment designers.
2. Modular Structure: The KSSR syllabus describes its modular structure as
organising the curriculum standards under five modules, which means that
skills related to reading are grouped together. In order to read simple texts
with guidance, however, learners need to speak, listen, talk, and respond,
which are categorised under the Listening & Speaking and Language Arts
Modules. This also applies to reading skills when undertaking competencies
within the writing module, as skills integration is exploited strategically to
enhance pupils development of specific language skills.
To go through the KSSR and reorganise it would also require knowledge of language
and teaching methodologies that many teachers would not have, even if they had the
time required to do this.
3. Missing Descriptors: Finally, and partially because of its modular structure,
some texts are very fully described by their competency descriptors while
others are less so. For example, the KSSR syllabi make repeated references to
reading and writing non-linear





Why Continous Professional Development?

Teacher Preparation

The best teacher-preparation programs emphasize subject-matter mastery and provide
many opportunities for student teachers to spend time in real classrooms under the
supervision of an experienced mentor. Just as professionals in medicine, architecture,
and law have opportunities to learn through examining case studies, learning best
practices, and participating in internships, exemplary teacher-preparation programs
allow teacher candidates the time to apply their learning of theory in the context of
teaching in a real classroom.
Many colleges and universities are revamping their education schools to include an
emphasis on content knowledge, increased use of educational technologies, creation
of professional-development schools, and innovative training programs aimed at
career switchers and students who prefer to earn a degree online.

Teacher-Induction Programs

Support for beginning teachers is often uneven and inadequate. Even if well prepared,
new teachers often are assigned to the most challenging schools and classes with little
supervision and support. Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession in their first
five years, so more attention must be paid to providing them with early and adequate
support, especially if they are assigned to demanding school environments.
Mentoring and coaching from veteran colleagues is critical to the successful
development of a new teacher. Great induction programs create opportunities for
novice teachers to learn from best practices and analyze and reflect on their teaching.

Ongoing Professional Development

It is critical for veteran teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn
from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new
research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new
curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing,
experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students
and understanding their culture.


The Role of Teachers Educational Department (TED)

The Teachers Educational Department is another resources that can be benefitted by
the ministry for not just recruiting and training new teachers but also involves in
continuous development training for professional teachers. We can see how TED
carries out its various operations with the help of the Planning and Policy Unit which
plans and determines the direction of teacher education. By the role of TED we
believe by manipulating such an department we could manage to reach our goals of
reaching the high quality of a developed countries nation of education by upgrading
the knowledge as well as establishing a center of excellence for all teachers around
the country.

We could see how we can benefit the government policies pertaining to the teachers
development program. The professional development programme is designed to
provide in-service training for serving teacher trainers as well as primary and
secondary school teachers so as to upgrade their professional skills and competencies
academically and professionally in their respective fields. We might recognize this as
an in-house training programme conducted by fine experts within the organizations.
The goal is in order to meet the requirement of the policies as well as challenges
which prospectively in the highlight of the educational field.
THE ADVANTAGES OF CONTINOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FOR TEACHERS

We can see how does the continuous professional development for teachers can
actually provides some of advantages for their career path as to be referred:

. i) acknowledge teachers who are good in their field or subjects
. ii) to improve the quality of teaching,
. iii) be a role model to other teachers,
. iv) to enhance school excellence by utilising the experience and expertise of
the ET,
. v) expand the horizon of promotion in educational services,
vi) promote teachers without their leaving teaching behind or changing to
administrative duties.
.
This is as to refers the Ministry of Education acknowledgement towards the necessity
of being trained continuously for the reason.
Somehow we as well as they as a teacher they might look into a deeper situations as
they might positively responds to what they gained from their colleague or the trainers
as well. First,teachers who work together are more likely to have the opportunity to
discuss concepts, skills, and problems that arise during their professional development
experiences. Second, teachers who are from the same school, department, or grade are
likely to share common curriculum materials, course offerings, and assessment
requirements. By engaging in joint professional development, they may be able to
integrate what they learn with other aspects of their instructional context. Third,
teachers who share the same students can discuss students' needs across classes and
grade levels.Finally, by focusing on a group of teachers from the same school,
professional development may help sustain changes in practice over time, as some
teachers leave the school's teaching force and other new teachers join the subjects of
teachings. Professional development may help contribute to a shared professional
culture, in which teachers in a school or teachers who teach the same grade or subject
develop a common understanding of instructional goals, methods, problems, and
solutions.

By having such an advantages teachers might giving their best to the students as well
as primary pupils as their attributes which recently developed from the continuous
development program such as their pedagogical strategies, their capabilities
encountering critical students or pupils, their ability of manipulating resources in the
classroom or the one possessed by themselves, their high competency in managing
ICT resources and as well as their ability to using physiological effectiveness in order
to deliver the subjects taught by them.

The example of the activities also vary in the specificity of the changes in teaching
practice that are encouraged. Some activities focus on helping teachers use particular
curriculum materials such as new textbook, new application software for teaching a
particular subjects, new standards of curriculum and etc.

THE TARGETED AUDIENCE

We believe it is quite likely that the teacher development process shares some stages
in common with what we have identified as the process whereby individuals achieve
job fulfillment, presented as a model and explained in detail elsewhere. The audience
should be selected according to these stages. This involves three stages, including:
Stage 1awareness of an imperfect job-related situation;
Stage 2formulation of remedial action strategy; and
Stage 3effecting remedial action.
(as Cited form Linda Evans)
We see this as he targeted audience shall refers to what Linda Evans has modeled the
stages which mainly suggested to be imposed to all teachers in the nation. By saying
that we are only reaching in the early stages of implementing a new curriculum the
models might be ideal for several audiences.
Stage 1
Some teachers are not in a suitable position in the school where mainly they are not
graduated to teach some particular subject. Example a Science teacher who teaches
English Language. We might later suggest that the officers might need to do some
monitoring activity to identify teachers who is not in their common stream of
executing the task.
Stage 2
Sending teachers to courses for just one week might not letting them to execute the
policy effectively. The idea of this stand is to ensure efficiency towards task
delivering by the teachers towards the students. A continuous workshops should be at
least to conjure the understanding yet to appreciate the value of the recent curriculum
which introduced but the Ministry of Education in 2009.
Stage 3
By the point of remedial, the teachers should also were given a special attention by
the ministry of ensuring everything regarding by the curriculum is successfully
executed. However in this stage it is to mend or somehow to rectify a few mistakes
and yet to identify problem which can be measured the vulnerability of the policy
through a post-mortem.
We have seen so many problems regarding such as, despite the repeated and
continued attempts to pursue the former strategy of training teachers to become
assessors and evaluators, this approach consistently fails. Even with extensive and
targeted training, teachers consistently prove to be poor assessment designers,
regardless of whether they are designing traditional tests or school-based assessment
materials. The reasons for this failure relate to knowledge and culture. Somehow
these reasons might let us into a state of vulnerability thus encountering the public
awareness of the issue.
Another problem which actually critically needed to be in the radar as noted, teachers
(and assessment designers) have some freedom in determining what evidence is used
to demonstrate completion of each Band Descriptor. They have NO freedom
whatsoever to change the Band Descriptors themselves.

CONCLUSION
The issues surrounding nowadays are the most vital influence in order for us to do
changes, which actually regard as the factor to do with. Implementing is as simple as
saying it in front of the media and the press conferences but the most important
people in the educational world of diving the policies to be placed rightly is the
teachers.

We need to overcome some of the public complaints and the internal issues by
manipulating every internal resources we had orderly as well as creating a much more
encouraging environment of letting the teachers to express themselves on inquiries
and complaints. We have to admit is as they have their rights to do with it. Even the
teachers are actually too busy with clerical jobs and somehow reluctantly to be stated
the clerical jobs are actually forced them to abandon the teaching task such as
preparing lesson plans and remedial classes for critical students. From the proposed
idea in this paper we shall look into several ways of making things better for the
teachers and most likely the students.

























REFERENCES
Simone Evans, PhD (May 2012) RELTmax Implementation of the KSSR Standards-
Based Assessment

Garet, Michael S. (2001) What Makes Professional Development Effective? Results
From a National Sample of Teachers

Evans, Linda (2002) What is Teacher Development? Carfax Publishing: London

Kwang, Suk Yong et. al (2007) Reviewing the evidence on how teacher professional
development affects student achievement: Regional Education Laboratory At
Edvance Research, Inc.

Hazri Jamil et. al (2011) Teacher Professional Development in Malaysia: Issues and
Challenges: Universiti Sains Malaysia