1.

Introduction
A curriculum is considered the core for education in all learning
institutions. Curriculum refers to the means and materials with which students will
interact for the objective of attaining specific educational outcomes (Ebert, Ebert
and Bentley, 2014). Therefore, factor of curriculum development such as roles of
stakeholders are being given great emphasis. Every stakeholder has its own
importance in ensuring the effectiveness of the curriculum. Teachers are one of
the stakeholders in curriculum development. Where there are students, there are
teachers. They are the ones responsible for developing and carrying out the
curriculum. The latest curriculum, KSSR, aims to produce a balance, creative,
critical and innovative individual through six aspirations which are knowledge,
thinking skills, leadership skills, bilingual proficiency, ethics and spirituality and
national identity (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2013). Hence, need to be
mastered by all pupils in schools based on how the teachers implement and
promote the curriculum.
This essay is going to discuss the way how a teacher, one of the
stakeholders, can effectively implement the latest curriculum, KSSR in English
Language, and promote relevant key attributes needed by every student to be
globally competitive.

2. How a teacher implements KSSR and promotes key attributes to be competitive.

One of the key attributes in Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 is
the knowledge. Based on the new curriculum design especially in English
language, the significant element in the standard-based English language
curriculum is the curriculum organization. It is designed in a modular structure
with modularity of focus and this is reflected in the organization of the content
and learning standard (Curriculum Development Division, 2012). By organizing
the language curriculum into four modules, pupils are able to focus on the
development of specific language skills as described in the content and learning
standards in the module. By this, teacher will be geared to a more specific and
effective orientation in the teaching and learning. Teacher has to be
knowledgeable in advance because it will lead to be more focus in writing the
daily curriculum through a lesson plan, a unit plan or even a yearly plan
(Aguilando & Parungao, 2012). Besides that, teachers carry out the curriculum by
planning and preparing various related activities for students learning will also
help consolidate the implementation of KSSR. At the same time, it promotes and
helps the students towards betterment by recognizing their goals, interests,
needs and characteristics. For instance, different teaching styles fit in the lessons
differently. Group work, pair work, individual work will consolidate their
understanding of the lesson and make the lesson more impactful and compact.
Projects, presentation, scrap book, portfolio can also cater to all individual
differences. By the end of this adjustments and modification after implementing
the curriculum, all students will be more competitive in knowledge wise in order
to achieve various goals and objectives.

In order to make learning more meaningful and purposeful, English

language input is presented under themes and topics which are appropriate for
the pupils. Three broad themes identified in the English language curriculum are
world of self, family and friends, world of stories, and world of knowledge and
these three broad themes are covered in all four modules which are listening and
speaking, reading, writing and language arts. Change in this curriculum
development organization also involves inclusion of basic reading literacy
through phonics, penmanship and language art as the new curriculum content. It
is therefore recognized as the key feature of Shift 2 in Malaysian Education
Blueprint 2013-2025 which seek to ensure that every child is proficient in the
English language (Ministry of Education, 2012). It is also one of the key attributes
which is the bilingual proficiency. As a teacher, the latest curriculum development
in KSSR English language can be implemented effectively based on the different
underlying principles with various activities. For instance, a teacher can use
several of activities such as games, dramas, and jazz chants to arouse the
pupils interest in the lesson. This is because acquire a language especially
English language, the second language in Malaysia, pupils will learn better in a
fun, meaningful and purposeful situation. According to Krashen (1988), in his
hypothesis, there is one affective filter hypothesis which stated that learning the
second language, the learners learn well in a non-threatening condition. If the
lesson is interesting and meaningful, the pupils will acquire the language input by
the teacher and it will surely equip the pupils to be well verse in multi languages
besides the national language which is Malay language. This will prepare the
new generation to be globally competitive.

The following key attribute is the thinking skills. Basically, in a new latest
curriculum, all stakeholders have to work together in leading towards a
curriculum based on the modern classroom environment. For example, Malaysia
schools are rapidly undergoing changes in the curriculum in the past few years,
whereby students learning are leaned towards Higher Order Thinking Skills
(HOTS), critical thinking and problem-solving skills and integration of technology
in the teaching-learning process. Critical thinking is probably the most current
label for what many call analytical reasoning, synthesis, problem-solving, or
higher mental processes (Scriven & Paul, 1992). One of the main 21 st century
components that teachers need to be alerted with is to encouraging the pupils to
use higher-order thinking skills. This is important because this is where the pupils
use complex ways to think about what they are learning. Higher order thinking
takes thinking to a whole new level. Pupils are not merely memorizing facts but
understanding facts. They would have to understand the facts, infer the facts,
and connect the facts to other concepts. For example, teacher can encourage
questioning in lessons, ask pupils in connecting concepts, guiding pupils in
inferring, using of Graphic Organizers to frame the pupils thoughts in an
organized manner, using problem-solving strategies in lessons, encourage
creative thinking, encourage pupils to elaborate their answers. By this, teacher
can effectively implement the ideas in the latest curriculum and promote every
student to be globally competitive.
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, stakeholders play major and vital role in curriculum
development in order to ensure quality education is being delivered in schools,
with hopes to materialize the nations aspirations and goals. With much guidance
and reference, KSSR implementation has considered successfully implemented
(Curriculum Development Division, 2011). To ensure a curriculum change is
successfully implemented, teacher should be dedicated to any changes occur in
the curriculum and committed to implementing the new curriculum in order to
promote relevant key attributes needed by every student to be globally
competitive (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2014)

Works Cited
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