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Talk about five professional development courses

Professional development courses are very important to improve quality in teacher. In the Malaysian context, the current
definition of teacher quality is based on the standards set by the Ministry of Education. Prior to the introduction of the
MBMMBI policy, the previous PPSMI policy was focused on improving the quality of students’ English language
proficiency rather than teacher quality. However, towards the end of the policy period, teacher quality was already a concern
as evidenced in the Malaysia Teacher Standards of 2009, which listed the professional competencies required of quality
teachers. In order to produce teachers of quality, the training of teachers emphasised on the following three main aspects,
namely the practice of professional teaching values, knowledge and understanding, and teaching and learning competence
(BPG, 2009)

The Pro-ELT project is a Malaysian Ministry of Education project, delivered by the British Council. Cohort 1 took place
2012 – 2013 with 5000 teachers participating. Cohort 2 took place 2014 – 2015 with 9000 teachers participation. The
project aims to strengthen English teaching and learning in Primary and Secondary Schools across Malaysia, by increasing
the English proficiency of teachers on the project.Students in Malaysia face tremendous challenges in attaining English
proficiency, and this is reflected in both national assessments and international English examinations. One of the priorities
for the Ministry of Education is to implement initiatives to help develop the language and teaching skills of English language
teachers across Malaysia. The Pro-ELT project has targeted 14,000 teachers across all the 13 states and 3 federal territories of
Malaysia to date. The British Council with the Malaysian Ministry of Education will raise the level of language proficiency
of Malaysian primary and secondary school teachers from B1 to B2 or B2 to C1 on the CEFR proficiency scale.

The rationale for Pro – ELT is based on two main beliefs:

 Quality of teachers is the single most important determinant of student outcomes


 English proficiency is a prerequisite to good teaching of the language
The British Council and the Ministry of Education work hand in hand to ensure that Pro-ELT maintains high standards and
meets its objectives. Apart from internal British Council and MoE continuous project assessment, external international
consultants have also developed a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to ensure the quality and success of Pro-ELT.

Teaching English Language and Literacy programme (TELL) in which experienced native English language teachers
were brought over to Mentor the Malaysian teacher. From the viewpoint of the teaching profession, mentors are denoted as
experienced educators who actively assist less skilled educators to achieve expected abilities and experience. One solution is
when a co-teaching environment with a Mentor is developed where the teacher’s own teaching site issued for learning allows
Mentor and Mentee to work closely together. In this way, any immediate problems can be quickly resolved and the long term
focus remains. This specific type of mentoring follows the same idea of ‘educative mentoring’ described by Feiman-Nemser
in which the day-to-day needs of the mentee are met while still focusing on the overall long-term goals that are being
implemented (Bradbury, 2010).

Today, the primary and secondary school subject teachers have a new “firing squad’ in the form of the School
Improvement Specialists Coaches (SISC), which have been formed in line with the new Education Transformation Plan.
the mentoring and coaching system is encouraged among teachers to provide continuous
support. This system also enables teachers to learn from one another by sharing best practices.
The support systems to enable schools and teachers to manage changes in the education
system are via School Improvement Specialist Coaches (SISC+) and FasiLINUS.
These officers facilitate, coach and mentor teachers by working hand-in-hand with them to
address the challenges and issues in the classroom. This collaboration and communication
among teachers to improve the quality of education delivered to students epitomises 21st century
education.
Such initiatives have shown remarkable improvements in teachers’ professional development
through the spirit of collegiality and inculcate a positive and conducive environment.

According to the programme, excellent teachers, from both primary and secondary schools, have been selected and placed in
the district education offices as SISC.
The SISC are special posts created to assist subject teachers in “hot spot” (with falling grades) schools in their teaching and
learning with a view to improve the examination grades.
General perception about this programme instead placing the officer in District office they should be seconded to “hot spot”
schools for a semester to coach, assist and co-teach with the subject teachers in the classrooms as the SISC are excellent
teachers who have a fantastic track record in their previous schools and

The Frog Virtual learning environment (VLE) is a cloud-based learning environment that compete with the traditional face-
to-face teaching and learning. It not only supports e-learning activities such as presenting information, managing course
materials, and running assessments but it also provides a rich media environment with numerous graphics, video, animation,
sound, and hyperlinks (Berns, Gonzalez-Pardo, & Camacho, 2013). In order to improve the ICT skills among the teachers
the government had given training for teachers are the selected ICT teacher from each school. Then the teachers will
become a main trainer in their school and give in house training to the teachers in her/his school. Through this programme
the 21st century teaching and learning can be done easily. This programme also develop the digital immigrants ICT skill

A professional learning community is described as a community to shape a culture that shows all
school staff to learn and be a student. In other words, each individual in the school community plays
their role and responsibility towards each other to learn as well as to ensure the well-being of the
school community (Myers and Simpson; 1998). At the school of principals, the second line of
leadership and teachers belong to the members of a professional learning community. They are
regarded as a professional staff crucially focused on the teacher and considered to be individuals
who always practice learning. They will seek to share learning and increase the effectiveness of the
school and the learning of their students. The creation of a learning culture is a practice showing the
PLC lifelong learning among the school population.

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