Task 2- Report Writing

In a recent interview, I had managed to interview a teacher from Sk Sendayan

named Miss Chitra Malingam. She has been working as a teacher for 15 years, which she
started in 2003 in a rural school in Simpang Durian near the border of Negeri Sembilan and
Pahang. She is currently teaching in Sk Sendayan as an English teacher. Based on the
interview, I managed to summarize the role of Education Service Officer in teaching and
learning processes as well as the impact on the teacher professional development of teacher
professionalism towards global sustainability.

First and foremost, based on the interview with Miss Chitra, she had developed a
research culture in herself by attending courses. She mentioned that she had been to many
courses throughout her career. In the interview, she thinks that every course has got its own
uniqueness and there will always be something that she can learn from it. She made an
example based on her experience which she mentioned that even though she knows how to
use computers she still went for a computer courses because she believes that there'll be
some element that is beneficial for her to use in her own teaching and learning process.
Furthermore, she believes that the prior knowledge that she possesses is not sufficient,
hence attending courses would help her understand a concept clearly and how to apply it
back in school. In addition, what she had learn from the courses over the years had
encourage her to read more about teaching and learning process and improvise so that she
will be able to get some kind of impact on her own planning in her teaching.

Therefore, it shows that Miss Chitra is aware the she should constantly update her
knowledge about her specialization. It is for this purpose that teachers should constantly
update themselves with the evolving of teaching technologies (Danielson, 2006). It is aligned
with the Goal 4 in Sustainable Development Goals in which it aims to have substantially
increase the supply of qualified teachers. Furthermore, when administrators invest in a
professional training program of teachers, they will be handholding educators to not only
develop new skills but also sharpen existing skills. And the best part of such a program is
that new and established teachers can make the most of the knowledge that is imparted. All
these will lead to a deeper understanding of the subject they will be proud of, hence creating
a research culture.

Moving on, Miss Chitra gave me an insightful view in the world of teaching especially
the challenges that she had been through and it shows that she also had developed a
thinking/reflective culture. One of the major challenges she mentioned, is stress. In the
interview, she felt stress when her work is overlapping and in order to manage all that with
personal life and working life, she believes that a teacher should have a lot of patience and
hard work. Other than that, she thinks that having an efficient planning on how she wants to
do things help her to manage her work stress. Furthermore, she believes in punctuality and
there is no last-minute works because everything has to be done on time. Teacher leaders
have been described as perseverant, resourceful, action oriented committed, and passionate
(York-Barr & Duke, 2004) She also believes that the role of teacher as a professional leader
is to have discipline to overcome the work challenges because teachers should not take
things lightly. In the interview, even though she had been teaching 15 years, but she still
behaves like a trainee teacher with loads of teaching aids and teaching methods.

She would also plan her lesson thoroughly and she undergoes post-mortems about
her teaching and learning process by herself, and she would consult other senior teachers in
the school. Therefore, developing a culture of reflective practice improves schools by
creating a strong foundation for continuously improving teaching and learning. It sends the
message that learning is important for both students and adults, and that everyone is
committed to supporting it. It creates an environment of collaboration as teachers question
and adapt both their own practice and that of their colleagues. Teachers can team-up,
drawing on expertise and offer each other support. It shows that teachers must possess the
ability to build solid relationships with colleagues(York-Barr & Duke, 2004). This develops
best practices across the school, resulting in a more productive working environment.
Hence, it would also contributes to the Goal 4 in Sustainable Development Goals under 4.A
which aims to build and upgrade effective learning environments for all children.

In her DG44, she is capable to execute her roles and responsibilities with the help of
minimum guidance and monitoring as well as able to solve problems. She also has the
ability in managing and supervising a team of teachers in the planning, implementation and
review of teaching and learning programs according to the school strategic plan’s goals and
priorities. In the interview, she mentioned about doing a discussion among teachers about
the problem of their students and the solutions to solve it. They would plan out activities
together and execute it in the classroom. Then, they would collect feedback from the
students as well as the teachers to investigate the result of the activity and the process will
keep on repeating to achieve the desired result, eventually teachers will become an expert in
it.

Due to her experience and long period in the teaching profession, she has become
the model exemplary classroom practice and mentor/coach other teachers in the school to
engage in critical reflection of their practice and to support staff to expand their capacity as
well as provide expert advice about the content, processes and strategies that will shape
individual and school professional learning. Teacher leaders can lead by engaging, inspiring,
and motivating others to improve and become better through their actions (Bascia, 1996).

Based on Miss Chitra, in the school, the teachers often have Professional Learning
Community program where she had been under the School Improvement Specialist
Coaches (SISC +) officer herself where the officer will come to school, she will look at how
she teaches and then she would give her guidance. Throughout the assessment, Miss Chitra
had finally passed and had been selected as one of the mentors where the other teachers
can always refer to Miss Chitra.

Usually, teachers would discuss with Miss Chitra on how to go about teaching and
learning strategies or not sure how to assess the method of learning or what can they do to
improve this particular batch of students. She also has the content knowledge and
pedagogical practice to meet the diverse needs of all students especially when she is
currently teaching in an estate area where students come from different background. It
shows that , teacher have a deep understanding of various theories and practices of
teaching (Killion & Harrison, 2006).Through this type of working environment, it helps to
inculcate collaboration and cooperative culture and it contributes in achieving Sustainable
Development Goals 4 which is under 4.C which aims to increase the supply of qualified
teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing
countries.

In conclusion, the interviews that I had done gave me a very informative view about
the development of teachers. It is very crucial for teachers to develop their profession to help
them improve their quality as well as able to contribute to successfulness of their students.
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