AS BRUNEI continues its efforts towards the set national targets of at least 90 per cent students achieving grades A to C in Primary School Assessment (PSR) and 60 per cent of our students achieving at least five ‘O’ Level credits by 2017, stakeholders in education continue to work together to realise these goals.
Strengthening the quality of teaching remains on top of the education agenda with focus also given to materials and resources in the classroom.
Along with the teacher’s delivery skills, these provide quality learning experience for the student, according to a press release from the Ministry of Education (MoE).
The relevance of teaching materials in terms of its content, promoting of active learning and student centred approach play an important role. In primary education for instance, emphasis placed by groups of some of the best teachers in English, Mathematics and Science to create an effective intervention for Year 6 students in the respective subjects (Mathematics, Science and English) led to the creation of Learning Designs (LDs) in 2015.
Leveraging on the usefulness and the positive impacts of LDs on students’ learning, in tandem with the intention of sharing materials on best practice in teaching and learning amongst teachers, LDs have been further developed as resources that teachers can adopt and use as their teaching.
Learning Design in Pengiran Dipa Negara Pengiran Jaya Sengkarai Primary School, Tutong
Cikgu Surayani binti Haji Md Dinie
For Cikgu Surayani binti Haji Md Dinie, a Mathematics and Science teacher at Pengiran Dipa Negara Pengiran Jaya Sengkarai Primary School, Tutong, who uses LDs in the classroom, LDs have proven to be useful where “every step is there for you to follow, it is up to the teacher to adapt the material into their own students’ learning needs so it very helpful. All the teaching materials and worksheets are ready and I especially like how student centred it.”
LDs incorporate components from other best practices programmes such as the Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) and Numeracy Intervention Programme (NIP) which contain concepts such as knowledge construction, student-centred, inquiry based and the Concrete, Pictorial & Abstract (CPA) approach.
These concepts are adapted to the Bruneian context to maximise learning and teaching quality using knowledge construction and conceptual understanding as its main features.
The easy access and availability of LDs through the Brunei Darussalam Teacher Academy (BDTA) are also one of the strong points of LDs.
Cikgu Dayangku Asralelawati binti Pengiran Haji Saidi
Learning Design in Bengkurong Primary School. – PHOTOS: MOE
Another experienced teacher from Bengkurong Primary School, Cikgu Dayangku Asralelawati binti Pengiran Haji Saidi, shared her thoughts on using LDs as an English teacher, “I have learnt some teaching best practices from the Learning Designs. I have been teaching English for 18 years but there were times when I wonder if there was something else that I could have done to help my pupils. Learning Designs offer new practical methods and also reminds me of pedagogical principles and language teaching approaches.
“Furthermore, the step by step descriptions of the activities give me a clear picture of what to do in the classroom with my pupils. The ready to use resources make my life easier. I like the flexibility in the allocation of time to implement a particular Learning Design.
“There is no rush to complete the syllabus because I can help my pupils to improve on a specific language skill that they can use with any topic.
“In addition, the self-evaluation section of the Learning Design compels me to reflect on the activities and write suggestions for improvement. This makes me more critical of the pedagogical and language teaching implications of my own teaching.”
LDs continue to be improved as teachers identify new needs on teaching and learning.
As a living document, LDs will continuously be developed to match students’ needs and preferred learning styles.
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