Task 1: Report Writing – 600 words

Conduct a structured interview with an Expert Teacher on the concept of teaching as a

Explore the current issues and challenges that are faced by teachers and legislations
related to the teaching profession.

Include teacher’s role as a professional leader in various aspects of teaching and

1.0 Introduction

According to Merideth (2007), there are four distinct roles of teachers as professional
leaders which are; improving pupils’ achievement, broadening their learning,
collaborating for school improvement and work towards progress from knowledge,
dedication and experience. Teachers as a professional should embody these features in
the teaching profession to achieve professionalism.

2.0 Concept of teaching as a profession & characteristics of a teacher as a professional

Based on the interview with Expert Teacher (ET), she has a perspective that teaching is
a passion and not a profession. She mentioned that teachers’ roles are to foster an
environment where the pupils are equipped with physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual
and social intelligences aligned with National Philosophy Education instead of focusing
to produce products with scarcely any valuable skills and knowledge.

Based on the ET’s comments, views on the teaching profession may varies among
teachers but it can be viewed that this profession, in its highest qualities should bring
about positive changes on the education development particularly on students’
achievement. This is supported by Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss & Shapley (2007),
where it stated that the endeavour in elevating teaching profession to its eminent form
would positively impact the education development, particularly on students’
achievement. Passion injects the necessary drive for a teacher to become better in the
profession. The teachers would be more motivated in doing their job thus achieving the
goals at the end of the day.

When asked about her opinion on the characteristics of a professional teacher, the ET
mentioned that it is someone that can bring changes. The ET added that onto becoming
 professional teachers, one must be positive as it can help to foster the commitment
needed in teaching. The ET also mentioned that a professional teacher should be well-
organised and knowledgeable while having perseverance in the practice and not give up
when dealing with problems. Apart from that, the ET remarked that a professional
teacher should have a sense of humour to cultivate an enjoyable classroom.

The ET point of view is in tandem with Forster (1997) where it stated, teachers have the
right and responsibilities to uphold leadership in teaching and learning process by being
professionals who will do anything to optimize and achieve the objectives of the lesson.
Without teachers with leadership skills, a continuous improvement among the pupils and
in school cannot be in its prime because the teachers would not have the best interest of
the pupils at heart. To uphold the value of leadership and professionalism in this
profession, all can agree that being positive, well-organised and knowledgeable are the
characteristics that one need to be to make progressive changes in teaching pupils just
like the ET mentioned. These kinds of teachers would revolutionize their way of thinking
thus creating or experimenting more effective pedagogical and content to deliver the
lesson.

3.0 Current issues and challenges and legislation related to teaching profession

From the ET experiences, it can be implied that she was challenged with proficiency
issues at the beginning of her career where she ought to be mindful with the use of both
her mother tongue and English language to make sure that she can teach English
diligently. The ET continued saying that, in these recent years, she is met with
pedagogical concern as the everchanging policies imposed to teachers make it more
challenging to carry out the lesson according to the aspirations derived from the National
Education Blueprint.

The ET mentioned that as a teacher, we are obligated to follow the rules and regulations
introduced in the education sector. The only drawback is that sometimes it contradicts
with teachers’ pre-existing mindset. To illustrate, the ET had some different perspective
to the “Zero Rotan” policy implemented by the government whereas she stood by the
notion that pupils’ negligence on their homework, for an example should be met with a
penalty.

As an ET with 23 years of experience, she has developed a perspective that has been
mould by her understanding of how the class should work. When dealing with issues
 such as pupils’ disobedience on doing homework, she believed that punishment could
help correct the error made by the pupils. According to Jamil (2014), teachers are
directly related to the improvement of the education quality and viewed as pillars of the
development of education. Getting pupils to do their task diligently in school is one of the
many jobs that are expected of teachers hence they should act like a professional that
would ensure pupils are doing what they are supposed to while bearing the status of a
student which is learning academically among other things. This notion is supported by
Childs-Bowen, Moeller, & Scrivener (2000), that when teachers operate with excellence
towards students learning and school improvement, it shows the functionality of teachers
being a leader in the professional learning communities.

4.0 Closure

As the world constantly bringing changes in our life, the education system specifically
has to move forward and adapt by nurturing excellent, professional teachers as
educated and well-rounded population are one of the highest aspirations that a nation
can achieve.
REFERENCES

Childs-Bowen, D., Moller, G., & Scrivner, J. (2000). Principals: Leaders of leaders. NASSP
Bulletin, 84(616), 27–34.

Forster, E. M. (1997). Teacher leadership: Professional right and responsibility. Action in

Jamil, H. (2014). Teacher is matter for education quality: A transformation of policy for
enhancing the teaching profession in Malaysia. Journal of International Cooperation
in Education, 16(2), 181-196.

Merideth, M, E. (2007). Leadership Strategies for Teacher. Thousand Oaks, California:

Yoon, K. S., Duncan, T., Lee, S. W. Y., Scarloss, B., & Shapley, K. (2007). Reviewing the
evidence on how teacher professional development affects student achievement
(Report No. 033). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of
Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional
Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest.
APPENDIXES

Interview Transcription

Interviewer Good morning madam. Can we ask a few questions? You can answer
freely based on your opinions and experiences.

First question. Do you agree teaching is a profession? Why?

Expert teacher Ok. I would like to disagree that teaching is a profession because I
feel that teaching is a passion. You have to have the passion to teach
in order to … not to… produce products but then to produce individual
with… err… social intelligence and all this what they have in our…
Yes, the JERIS.
Interviewer Okay. Thank you. Next question. Based on your opinion, what are the
characteristics of a professional teacher?

Expert teacher Professional teacher ... ok ... First you have to define a professional
teacher. OK. Right. a professional teacher is someone … who can …
make changes, ok. To an individual… Make changes to an individual
and for me to have to … to be able to change a person or to have
(paused) .
In order to be a professional teacher, as I said earlier you know, you
have to be positive because you receive students from all
backgrounds … pupils from all backgrounds and then you have to be
committed. Committed in what you are doing especially in teaching
and you have to be very well-organised and to be knowledgeable. I
think teacher can learn how to be knowledgeable by reading.
Nowadays, you have a lot of social media, you have a lot of shares on
the Facebook. So you can always learn to be more knowledgeable.
Ok, and of course as a teacher, you have to be very patient. Ok, you
have to be very patient with the students. Especially the weaker
students, the weaker pupils. ok. You have to make sure that you
achieve the objectives but when you do not achieve the objectives for
certain days of the respective lesson, do not be frustrated cause you
can always carry forward the lesson on the next day and make sure
that the pupils achieve the objectives that you have set and don't
 forget to be very kind and a funny teacher at times. Sometimes you
have to be a funny person in the class, to be a clown in the class in
order to attract the attention and in order for the pupils to love you as
what you are.
Interviewer From your experiences, what are the challenges that you have faced
when you first started until now?

Expert teacher Ok so… As I was from err… Malay medium, and I was … I was doing
TESL in maktab .So my first challenge was my own language. So I
was more proficient in Bahasa Melayu compared to English language.
So I had to make sure that what I deliver to the pupils were correct
especially grammatically. I had to make sure that I become proficient
and I lead the pupils. And as years go by and I feel that the
challenges would be between you and the pupils where you have to
… to … to be able to know how to solve certain problems with the
pupils. You have to keep up with the latest policy by the government
because policies change… and in each of the policy given to us, we
are the people, teachers are the people who have to carry out
successfully. The blueprint can be perfect but then how do we carry
out the blueprints. That is the most important thing. So for me, the
challenges would be … an ongoing learner to the policy given by the
government to us, the teachers.
Interviewer The last question. To what extent do you understand/know/follow the
guidelines from the legislation regarding teachers. What is your
opinion about it?

Expert teacher Ok. Right. The law. Actually when it comes to law with the teaching
profession, umm… like for example, you have to follow certain rules
given by the PPD or the JPN or the KPM. For example, I still
remember when they first implemented err… ‘Zero Rotan’ in the
district of Johor Bahru and we had to make sure that we do not… we
do not use … we did not carry the cane at all … into the classroom.
And then they also had that policy that we should not punish the
pupils for not doing their homework. Whereby, we teachers, it’s in our
mindset that they have to do home, it's compulsory. So… when we err
… very focus on certain things that we think is correct, this is where
legislation will come in. Because parents will be involved. When they
are not satisfied with what we are carrying out and especially when
 we do not carry out according to the rules given by the KPM or JPN or
PPD.
Interviewer Ok. Thank you very much madam.