INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU KAMPUS SULTAN ABDUL HALIM

08000 SUNGAI PETANI, KEDAH

TASK 3: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT

(INDIVIDUAL)

NAME

: RUBATARSHNE A/P VASU

INDEX NO

: 931113-02-5438

NRIC NO.

: 931113-02-5438

GROUP/UNIT

: P8J

COURSE

: CURRICULUM STUDIES

LECTURERS NAME

: MR. GAUTAMAN GANESAN

MADAM NG SI EE

DATE OF SUBMISSION

: 04TH SEPTEMBER 2016

TASK 3
WRITTEN
ASSIGNMENT
(INDIVIDUAL)

STIMULUS
Teachers (and school leaders) are the most
important
school-based
drivers
of
student
outcomes. Seminal research conducted in the state
of Tennessee, USA in the mid-1990s showed that
high-performing teachers can improve student
achievement by up to 50%, over a three-year period,
relative to low-performing teachers.
With close references to the quote above, discuss
how teachers can influence their students
achievement. Your essay should be about 1000
words long.

Malaysian education system was built in other to uphold the education aspirations
where the main aim is to empower the nations citizens to compete in todays era
globalisation.. A research by S. Chinnammai (2005) also supported that the effects of
globalisation on education bring rapid developments in technology and communications are
foreseeing changes within learning systems across the world as ideas, values and
knowledge, changing the roles of students and teachers, and producing a shift in society
from industrialisation towards an information-based society. So, Malaysian curricularist has
reform the Malaysian curriculum that meets the globalisation needs where Malaysian
Education Blueprint (2013) agreed that high aspirations is significant in order to properly
address the needs of all Malaysians, and to prepare the nation to perform at an international
level, it is important to first envision what a highly-successful education system must
accomplish, particularly in the Malaysian context. The advent of globalisation democratises
the transformation of Malaysian education through the educational aspirations reforms
(Fraser, 2011). Thus, in order to develop a successful transformation of the Malaysian
curriculum, teacher plays an important role as agents of change. In this essay I will discuss
how teachers can influence their students achievement.
There are four types of change that can be done by teacher namely shift towards
increase, changes in the organizations strategic , proactive changes and lastly changes
resulting from outreach. As agents of change, teacher should improve their skills by changes
in the performance of duties. In relation to the Eleven Shifts of Malaysian Education
Blueprint (2013), the curriculum develops aims to focus teachers on their core function of
teaching from 2013 by reducing administration burdens. Based on the fourth shift, teachers
have the opportunity to improve their skills because the workload of administrating will be
lessened. Furthermore, the teacher can focus more on their core business which is teaching
and thus they can perform well in their duties. This is supported by Joseph (2012) where if
educational reform is to work, teachers should believe that the proposed changes in
education will actually help them be successful with students. The above statement indicates
that teacher as agents of change should agree with the shifts proposed by the Malaysian
Educational Blueprint to ensure the system aspirations for Malaysian Education can be
achieved. One of the five systems aspirations related to the shift of performance duties by
the teacher is closely related to the aspirations of equity in which Malaysian education aims
for top-performing school systems that deliver the best education for every child, and
teachers are responsible in improving their performance in duties to uphold this aspiration
(Jicky,2006).

Teacher as agents of change should have changes in the organizations strategic

which means a strategic plan should be developed to meet the goals of the curriculum
reforms by taking into considerations many factors related to the teachers role in school.
First and foremost, teachers should think of possible strategies to empower the national
aspirations of the school curriculum. For instance, teacher should change their teaching
methods from teacher-centred to students-centred. This change is important in order to
mould the nation citizens into creative and innovative citizens that well-equipped with ability
to acquiring knowledge as well as developed the citizens that can apply knowledge learned
critically and innovatively. So, by changing the teaching method, teachers should ensure that
the teaching materials should mirror the globalisation of the world where the use of ICT
should be emphasizing more during school hours. Apart from that, teacher as agents of
change should well equipped with the ICT skills where teaching and learning activities could
be maximising beyond the Malaysia context. For example, the activity such as video
conferencing can take place between the primary school Malaysian students with the New
Zealand students. Such activity will eventually help our students to practice their knowledge
skills in ICT as well as gain confidence in speaking skills.
Teacher involvement leads to a curricular transformation where teacher as agent of
changes should be proactive in their work. In order to meet the aspiration of quality, teacher
should be able to be proactive, which means, teacher should be able to create and control a
situation in classroom and school rather than responding to the situation after it has
happened. Perpecia (2012) agreed with this statement where proactive teachers do not
avoid problems in learning or problems with behaviour. However, these teachers accept
responsibility for their students successes and their students failures. A proactive teacher
should be able to create a proactive classroom through the positive learning environment.
Therefore, other than emphasizing on the academic, some changes should be made within
the teacher and the classroom such as inculcating the social skills in daily lessons and
routines. By inducing social skills in the lesson, students will be interested in the lesson in
classroom. This is supported by the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013) whereby teacher
as agent changes should ensure that the students aspirations in ethics and spirituality is
being highlighted in which the education system will inculcate strong ethics and spirituality in
every child to prepare them to rise to the challenges they will inevitably face in adult life, to
resolve conflicts peacefully, to employ sound judgement and principles during critical
moments, and to have the courage to do what is right. Thus, the above statement has
specified that to empower the citizens with good ethics and spirituality, it falls back on the
teachers role as agents of change in implementing the curriculum transformation in school.

The Malaysian Education Blueprint acts as the outreach of the teacher as agent of
changes because mainly this blueprint emphasizes on the significant roles of teachers and
administrators at school. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (2013) stated that the blueprint is indeed
so committed to preparing our children with skills in six student characters, and it would be
better if it is to be well-received with immense feelings of responsibility so that the
programmes could be fully implemented to achieve the desired results. From the above
statements, we could say that the goals of the blueprint is included in helping students to
become productive members of the workforce, knowledgeable consumers, savers and
investors, and participants in the global economy. The role of teacher is vital where teacher
as the implementer is the person that is responsible to mould our citizens by understanding
the current challenges globally. Teacher should focus on improving the education lesson into
a classroom where students would be able to think critically creatively by preparing a lesson
with hands on learning, collaborative learning as well as encouraging students to be more
confidence in giving out their ideas and thoughts. Therefore, the role of teacher here will be
able to meet the objectives of Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013) which allow the
education to meet new demands and rising expectations, and to ignite and support overall
civil service transformations.
The development and reformation of educational curriculum in Malaysia requires
teachers to contribute as the architects of change, not just its implementers (Perpecia,
2012). Hence, teacher should change their leadership from autocratic style into a democratic
style. As leaders, there were several ways that teachers can do as agents of change. First,
teacher should acquire openness whereby they should be ready to accept any changes
especially in education transformation. As agents of change, teacher as key players of
curriculum should accept the education reforming and then teachers should be creative to
modify and fine-tune the design work of the Malaysian Education Blueprint into a meaningful
learning lesson. Marter (2007) agreed to this statement that curriculum expectations emerge
from teachers capacities to enact curricular and pedagogic actions with discretions,
judgements, and proficiency. So, teacher should acts as the active participants in the
curriculum transformations rather than being passive recipients of the curriculum
reformation. This is because, the teachers perspectives as important as others stakeholders
in reforming the curriculum in Malaysia where teacher is the one that undergoing the
strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum implemented. Thus, they know better about the
implementation of the curriculum compare to other stakeholders (Handle, 2013).

Malaysian Education Blueprint states in detail the five system aspirations and six
student characters to be achieved in the next 13 years. It focuses on student outcomes
encompassing all levels of schooling, that is, from pre-school to post-secondary level where
the main stress turns on the teacher roles as agent of changes. From the above supports,
teacher is seen as the important key players in ensuring that the curriculum transformation is
being implemented well in the school. Thus, teachers should take the responsibilities to
implement the curriculum of the Malaysian Education for the better future that will be facing
more challenging globalisation.
(1442 WORDS)

REFERENCES

Chinnamai, S. (2005). EFFECTS OF GLOBALISATION ON EDUCATION AND

CULTURE (1st ed., p. 1). Chennai: ICDE International Conference. Retrieved from
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andculture.pdf
Fraser, M. (2011). Educational Aspirations. Encyclopedia Of Adolescence, 807-812.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1695-2_147
Handler, B. (2013). Teacher as Curriculum Leader: A Consideration of the Appropriateness
of that Role Assignment to Classroom-Based Practitioners Historical Role of Teacher in
Curriculum Development. ResearchGate. Retrieved from
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Jicky, R. (2006). Definitions of Globalization: A Comprehensive Overview and a Proposed
Definition- The International Relations and Security Network ETH Zurich; June 19,
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Joseph, C. (2012). Chapter 8 Curriculum Implementation - Ace Recommendation Platform 1. Learningace.com. Retrieved from
http://www.learningace.com/doc/7737579/eee5593862dd2843a0618df0d274266e/chapt
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Marter, G. (2007). Education for Social Change: From Theory to Practice. Louisville.edu.
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Perpecia, B. (2012). Classroom Behavior Management: A Dozen Common Mistakes and
What to DoInstead. Web.cortland.edu. Retrieved from
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