Assignment 2: Individual Essay Writing (50%)

NAME

: ZAHIRAH BT DZANIMI

IC NUM.

: 920523-09-5072

MATRIC NUM.

: 0610/1869

Based on Malaysia Education Blueprint PPPM (2013-2015), teacher plays a role as

a catalyst to enhance the achievement of the students. The Malaysian system attracts a
large number of applicants for its teacher trainee programmes. This is promising as it implies
that there is strong interest in the profession. In line with international best practices,
applicants are selected based on a range of factors including attitude, aptitude for teaching,
and personality. The Ministry also sets a minimum academic requirement for entry into IPGs.
For example, the requirement for the Bachelor of Education programme or Program Ijazah
Sarjana Muda Pendidikan (PISMP) is three distinctions and three credits in the SPM. The
Ministry has also recently started prioritising applicants with a minimum of seven distinctions.
This prioritisation is producing a fundamental shift in the profile of teacher trainees.
Based on the shown graph, there have been a lot of changes in selecting the teacher
trainees. In 2010, 93% of PISMP applicants scored below the minimum academic
requirement, and only 1% of applicants had at least seven distinctions. In contrast, in 2012,
the percentage of applicants scoring below the requirement had dropped significantly to
38%, while the percentage of applicants with at least seven distinctions had risen to 9%.
More importantly, the prioritisation effort led to 65% of academic high-performers receiving
offers in 2012 as compared to 3% in. The Post-graduate Teaching Course or Kursus
Perguruan Lepasan Ijazah (KPLI) has also seen a slight improvement in intake standards,
from 7% of academic high-performers receiving offers in 2010 to 13% in 2012. These are
promising steps towards the practices of top-performing systems like Finland, Singapore,
and South Korea where only the top 10-30% of students are accepted into teaching. There
are two additional points worth noting. Firstly, there are sometimes insufficient qualified
applicants for specific subjects and locations. The Ministry is therefore exploring ways to
attract high performing candidates from a broader range of backgrounds into the teaching.

By changing the intake policy of teacher trainees for PISMP in the year 2012, I
believe that this huge transformation will be able to stimulate the students achievement
when they have been posted soon. Good teachers can make a lot of differences in a very
astonishing ways which will help to provide individuals with the opportunity to improve their
lives, become successful members of the community, and active contributors to national
development. Through interacting with individuals from a range of socio-economic, religious,
and ethnic backgrounds, a shared set of experiences and aspirations for Malaysias future
can be built. It is through these shared experiences and aspirations that a common national
identity and unity is fostered.
One of the advantages of having a capable teacher trainees for the future, they will
strive to motivate and engage all their students in learning rather than simply accepting
that some students cannot be engaged and are destined to do poorly. They believe every
student is capable of achieving success at school and they do all they can to find ways of
making each student successful. Effective teachers have high expectations of students in
terms of both their standard of learning and their behaviour, and they help their students
meet those expectations. They also have high expectations of themselves and their own
learning. This is in line with the student aspirations in the Blueprint where it stated that
Knowledge: At the most basic level, every child will be fully literate and numerate. Beyond
this, it is important that students master core subjects such as Mathematics and Science,
and are informed with a rounded general knowledge of Malaysia, Asia, and the worldtheir
histories, people, and geography. Students will also be encouraged to develop their
knowledge and skills in other areas such as the arts, music, and sports. The teachers will be
able to give a wider opportunities to the students to explore their abilities and their needs.
Teacher will give a positive impact to students achievement through providing the
scaffolding and feedback students need to practice and succeed. For example, teacher can
give students those complex tasks early on, but break complex processes into manageable
chunks and guide students through the processes and behaviors she wants to promote.
Then, she can provide early feedback, giving students a chance to succeed early in the
semester. This is because practice and reinforcement are key, even when teachers goals
include very complex, independent thinking.
Besides that, the changed in intake policy for PISMP is seen as one of a great shift
in producing a better teacher for a brighter future. For the new intake, the teacher trainees
are among high achievers for their SPM which means that they have a first-class of quality in
terms of carrying out their tasks. Teacher will work out as a role-model to the students.
Students need to be exposed to a very excellent kind of role model at school which of course
these responsibility comes to the teachers. Thus, how does a teacher as a role model affects

the students achievement? Firstly, a role model is a person who inspires and encourages us
to strive for greatness, live to our fullest potential and see the best in ourselves. A role model
is someone we admire and someone we aspire to be like. We learn through them, through
their commitment to excellence and through their ability to make us realize our own personal
growth. We look to them for advice and guidance. Teacher will be able to show a positive
attitude towards students in order for them to be moulded holistically, In aligned with The
National Education Philosophy for Malaysia, written in 1988 and revised in 1996, enshrines
the Ministrys and Governments vision of education as a means for the holistic development
of all children: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
Other than that, a quality teacher among the best teacher trainees will involve an indepth and adequate knowledge of the teaching subjects both major and minor. The
goal of teaching is to assist students in developing intellectual resources to enable them to
participate in, not merely to know about, the major domains of human thought and enquiry.
Helping students learn subject matter involves more than the delivery of facts and
information (Debora Ball, 1986). Philosophical argument as well as common sense
supports the conviction that teachers own subjects matter influences their efforts to help
students learn subject matter. Impact is made on learning when students are able to use the
subject matter taught in class to actively participate in their environment. Students are
enable to do banking, teaching, nursing and even solve current economic crises their
country undergo. Understanding of subject matter also enables teachers to impact on
teaching and learning. Understanding enables them to use different teaching methodologies
to help students learn subject matter, usage of different methodologies impact on teaching
and learning.
In the future, only the best candidates will be recruited as teachers. This means that
the Ministry will rigorously enforce entry standards to ensure that 100% of every teacher
training intake meet the minimum academic requirement. The Ministry will also work with the
Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to ensure that the same standards are put in place in
the Public Higher Education Institutes or Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTAs) teacher
training programmes. Additionally, the Ministry will work with Teacher Education Institutes or
Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPGs) and MOHE to ensure that the quality of the curriculum and
lecturers are upgraded to deliver the kind of teachers desired. The Ministry will also
introduce more stringent graduation requirements so that only the best trainees can
graduate and be guaranteed placement in Malaysian schools. (Malaysia Education
Blueprint)

Based on the above statement, the selected teacher trainees will enhance their
teaching performances when they have been posted soon through techniques that best
serve the learning needs of their students. There are many things that students can learn
themselves through discovery, with the teacher structuring the learning to suit. There also
are many things that require the teacher to teach in a more direct way. Students not only
learn by being exposed to learning opportunities but they also need to be explicitly taught
those things it is important for all students to know. Some students will learn these things
quickly and with only minimal direct teaching. Other students will need concerted direct
teaching and correction by the teacher before they master the learning required. Effective
teachers help students learn on their own as well as with and from others. They know that
students learn best if they are provided with opportunities to learn not only from the teacher
but also from other students and from sources outside the school that are now more readily
accessible through various forms of technology.

To close up my argument, effective teachers are capable of inspiring significantly

greater learning gains in their students when compared with their weaker colleagues.
Factors such as family background continue to predict a majority of the variation in student
achievement, but scholars generally agree that teacher quality is probably the most
important school-based factor affecting achievement. Specific estimates are difficult to arrive
at because economists have been unable to link a portion of the variation in student
achievement to any particular input (Sawchuk, 2011). Of the measurable characteristics
isolated for study, teaching experience has consistently been linked to student scores. Our
education system has been the bedrock of our development. It has provided this generation
and those before it with the skills and knowledge that have driven the countrys growth and,
with it, our prosperity. At the centre of this are the thousands of dedicated teachers,
principals, administrators, and officers and staff at the Ministry of Education, both past and
present, whose contribution can never be overstated. In the 55 years since our
independence, they have overseen a dramatic improvement to the quality and provision of
education. And through their efforts we have, for example, achieved near-universal access at
the primary and lower secondary levels, while global organisations such as UNESCO and
World Bank have recognised and lauded Malaysias progress in education. But in order to
meet our high aspirations amidst an increasingly competitive global environment, we cannot
stand still. Our country requires a transformation of its entire education system, lifting
achievement for all students. Lastly, the nation has lay a golden expectation and view
towards the teacher trainees in the IPG. Thus, we should work to meet those ambitious yet
achievable aspirations and goals.

Assignment 3: Individual Reflection (20%)

The implementation of Public Officer Regulations 1993 can help to control the power
that has been given to the civil servants so that they will not commit fraud as well as use the
power for their personal interests. Based on my practicum, at Sekolah Kebangsaan Buluh
Lima, there were some of teachers who do not comply with the dress code etiquette based
on the Public Officer Regulation 1993. Some of men teachers were no neatly dressed when
they came to the school. This rule is the rule 6 in the Public Officer Regulations 1993
where it stated that the civil servants will have to obey the dress code etiquette that
has been declared by the government. For example, there were teachers who folded the
sleeves up to elbow and not wearing ties. Teachers should portray a good value in dressing
so that the citizen will respect us and our jobs. While for some women teachers, I could see
that some of them tended to wear fit clothes that are not really suitable to be wore at school.
Teachers need to be a good role model to the students both in physical appearance and
attitudes.

One of my recommendation in order to minimize the above issue is the Headmaster

of the school should conduct a weekly spot-check for dress etiquette among the
teachers and students. This way can give the alert to the teachers that they also need to
dress properly to come to school as a civil servant. When there are some teachers who
disobey the rule, the Headmaster should give warning letter to them. For teachers, the
school can also organize talk or course about the Public Officer Regulations once in a while
as a reminder to them.

The second issue that I have observed during my practicum was the 23 rule in
Public Officer Regulations 1993, namely the absence of a public officer on duty is also
one of the issues that arose in the school. The issue of absences work occurred in the
absence of the teacher on duty at school without leave, without permission or without
reasonable cause. This includes absences for any program on the time and place required
to be on duty. Teachers should be committed to the tasks that are carried out so as to
guarantee the future performance of the students. As a teacher, honesty and responsibility in
a job is important and is the main things that help improve teachers ' profession worldwide.
With the availability of these properties, the teacher should be aware of their attendance and
to ensure that teachers are always punctual and present to school to educate the students.

There are several steps that can be taken in order to overcome this problem, such as
give a letter of warning to teachers who did the mistake. Headmaster and other teachers
must be strict about the rule. When a teacher could not attend to school, he/she must
provide a valid Medical Certificate from the government hospital. In addition to improve the
teachers attendance, the school can improve attendance to school, a fingerprint scanner
can replace the old method of punch card as a proof that teachers come to work. This
is because the use of punch card is also found to be unable to curb the problem of absence.
By using the fingerprint scanner system, the school was able to detect the presence of
teachers easier and will indirectly helps teachers to be more in compliance with the
regulations of civil officers.

To recap, the teacher must comply with the regulations of civil Officers 1993
appointed with a view to ensure that the quality of education will continue to increase in
aligned with the current development of the world. With the availability of teachers as well as
complies with every ethical rule, it will help us to mould better students and to create a useful
human capital for the country in the future. As a teacher trainee, I need to pay attention to
the matters stated in the regulations in order to become a dedicated and successful
individual in my honoured career.

REFERENCES
Clotfelter, C.T., Ladd, H.F., Vigdor, J.L., "How and Why Do Teacher Credentials
Matter for Student Achievement?" Calder Center, March 2007.
Goldhaber, D., Brewer, D., "Teacher Licensing and Student Achievement," 1999.
Hanushek, E.A., Kain, J.F., and Rivkin, S.G., Teachers, Schools, and Academic
Achievement, (NBER Working Paper No. w6691), National Bureau of Economic Research,
1998.
Harris, D.N., Sass, T.R., "Teacher Training, Teacher Quality, and Student
Achievement," Calder Center, March 2007.

Sawchuk,

S., "EWA

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Observations