| Azaraimy HH |
WITH its sight set on realising the Brunei Vision 2035, the Sultanate rolled out the National Education System for the 21st Century (SPN21) in January 2009.
The success of this system is critically dependent on the commitment of various stakeholders and the community.
One crucial success factor lies in consistently increasing the quality of teachers to match the current needs.
This involves making changes that will yield outcomes beneficial to the nation as a whole. These changes may alter the roles of teachers, requiring them to push the boundaries, expand and even step out of their comfort zone.
Ready for the second school term, Mabohai Primary School Headmistress Salinawati binti Mohd Zainal is, like many other school leaders, channelling her focus towards raising the academic achievement level at her school.
With over 12 years of experience under her belt, Salinawati appreciates the perks and challenges of being an educator.
She believes that teachers need to be ready for change in the education system to stay abreast with the current needs.
Noting that every profession has its own code of ethics, she pointed out that, “Being a teacher is unique and important. The work requires a high intellectual capacity so that a teacher can effectively impart knowledge onto her students.
Secondary school students interact with their teacher. – AZARAIMY HH
Students perform an expirement during their Science class
“A teacher needs to equip herself with vast knowledge and skills, and to be mindful of the current educational development,” she said.
One of the initiatives at her school is to work with the Schools Inspectorate Department at the Ministry of Education (MoE) to ensure teaching standards are met.
She said, the 2014 implementation of the Teaching Performance Appraisal (TPA) provides a more reliable platform to measure and subsequently improve standards of teaching. This has enabled the school to improve the quality of teaching and learning.
Identifying the benefits of the improved mechanism for appraisal, she noted that there are however teachers who have yet to embrace the underlying concept of the new system.
Hajah Kalsom Limat, a retired teacher of a private school, recalled the challenges faced in maintaining the teaching standards, adding that, “Things came down to applying logic and a teacher’s passion for her job.”
Learning from experience at a few private schools – including an elite institution, the former ECCE and lower primary school teacher believes that a framework for standards is useful to guide teaching professionals.
“I never knew how to use a computer, so I managed my work by thinking ahead – planning what I needed to do and when it needed to be done, so that I would also have time for my family,” she added.
Meanwhile, Mabohai Secondary School teacher Shea acknowledged that the teaching profession can prove challenging as it requires that a teacher adapts to new changes in the scheme, creates lesson plans and cater to the differentiated needs of students.
However, she appreciates the support provided by her school (including 21CTL professional development training) and the feedback from lesson observations to improve her teaching techniques.
Teacher Yusri bin Haji Abdullah views the TPA implementation as an opportunity for schools to have in place a more systematic way of improving teaching techniques, and believes that teachers will need time to familiarise themselves with the appraisal.
Teaching is a noble and highly respected profession, with many challenges. It requires a high level of commitment, the ability to think ‘outside the box’ and to adapt to changes to stay relevant with the needs of being a teacher, he added.
While acknowledging the high dedication of these educators, the experiences they share and the challenges highlighted are very real. Such challenges concur with research on occupational stress that can also be experienced by other professions.
Through a number of sessions between the Ministry of Education and the school population, the ministry acknowledges that greater research and effort are needed to ensure these challenges are effectively and efficiently resolved.
This is crucial in achieving its aspiration of providing quality education.
The post Educators pushing boundaries for SPN21 success appeared first on Borneo Bulletin Online.