Vol 19 No 1 January 2020

IJLTER.
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International Journal
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Educational Research
p-ISSN: 1694-2493
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Vol.19 No.1
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
(IJLTER)
Vol. 19, No. 1 (January 2020)
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Online version: 1694-2116
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VOLUME 19 NUMBER 1 January 2020
Table of Contents
Transition to a Learning Organization within a Highly Centralized Context: Approaches in the Case of Greek
Teachers’ Perceptions ............................................................................................................................................................. 1
Nikolaos Raptis, Nikolaos Andreadakis and Konstantinos Karampelas
‘Driven in a Cart Pulled by Elephant and Horse Together’- the Perception of Government School Teachers about
their Capacity Building through Public-Private Partnership .......................................................................................... 16
Sujata Deshpande and Jyoti Chandiramani
Constructivist Learning and the Law of Sines in Advanced 10th Grade Geometry Textbooks in Vietnam ............. 38
Ngoc Giang Nguyen and Huyen Trang Pham
Empowering Learners with Role-Playing Game for Vocabulary Mastery.................................................................... 60

Aam Ali Rahman and Anggi Angraeni
The Effectiveness of a Training Program Based on Frank Williams' Model in Developing the Divergent Creative
Feeling among Students in Jordan ...................................................................................................................................... 74
Fadi Soud Samawi, Naifa Hamdan Hamad Alshoubaki and Hassan Rafi’ Ali Shaheen
Development of Mathematics Teaching Device Integrated with Quranic Values: Issues, Challenges, and
Implementation Model......................................................................................................................................................... 95
Widodo Winarso and Sirojudin Wahid
The Impact of a Teacher Preparation Programs on Professional Teaching Competencies – Female Novice
Teachers’ Perspectives........................................................................................................................................................ 118
Saba Qadhi, Manal Hendawi, Elham Ghazi Mohammad, Intisar Ghazi, Nasser Al-Dosari and Xiangyun Du
The Discursive Governing of Elementary School Student Identity in Norwegian Educational Policy 2000–
2015………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...136
Fred Rune Bjordal and Gunn Elisabeth Søreide
Paradigms to Drive Higher Education 4.0 ....................................................................................................................... 159

Pauline Swee-choo Goh and Norwaliza Abdul-Wahab
The Impact of Using Storyboards on Improving Reading skills of Third-Grade Students with Reading Disabilities
in Jordanian Context........................................................................................................................................................... 172
Haitham Abuzaid and Murad Al Kayed
Relationship between Academic Procrastination and Attributions of Achievement Motivation ............................ 188
Luis Enrique Quispe-Bendezú, Rey Luis Araujo-Castillo, José Enrique García-Tejada, Yuri García-Tejada, Antonio Silva
Sprock and Klinge Orlando Villalba-Condori
Educative Curriculum Material and Its Impact on the Teachers’ Instructional Performance and
Learners’Achievement ....................................................................................................................................................... 206
Momo Rosbiono Kartamiharja and Wahyu Sopandi
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 1-15, January 2020
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.1.1
Transition to a Learning Organization within a

Highly Centralized Context: Approaches in the
Case of Greek Teachers’ Perceptions
Nikolaos Raptis
Department of Nursery Education and Education Design Sciences,
University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece
Nikolaos Andreadakis
Department of Nursery Education and Education Design Sciences,
Konstantinos Karampelas
Pedagogic Department of Elementary Education,
Abstract. This research examined Greek elementary school teachers’

views concerning the transformation of their school into a “learning
organization” paradigm. This transformation is important for
contemporary schools as it allows teachers to develop, adopt new
roles, promote better learning, and contribute to the wider social
context. However, Greek schools have been found to be resistant to
reforms due to the prevalence of a highly centralized system.
Therefore, using a quantitative approach, this study aimed to
identify teachers’ perceptions towards adapting to a learning
organization, with regards to their believes and the actual
implementation. The conclusions that were drawn after the
statistical analysis demonstrated that teachers claimed to have
adopted certain new roles, but they did feel restricted in certain
cases.
Keywords: teachers’ views; centralized context; learning

organization; school transformation teachers’ board
1. Introduction
This study examined teachers’ notions regarding their role in the transformation
of schools from a traditional paradigm to a “learning organization” paradigm.
The rationale behind this transition is that schools need to adapt to the
continuously changing wider social conditions and demands. Moreover, they
need to be flexible enough to contribute to social progress (Senge, 1991). Hence,
©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

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the study focused on the teachers’ perceptions and beliefs, as teachers have a
significant role in any kind of reform and improvement within the context of
school and education. Therefore, teachers need to understand their new roles
and apply themselves accordingly—otherwise, any transition or reform would
be high unlikely to succeed (Fullan, 2015).
The context of the study is the Greek educational system. In Greek schools,
teachers have the opportunity to be involved in managerial tasks thanks to their
board, which has been given relevant authority and privileges by the law
(OECD, 2017). In that respect, the study attempted to identify whether in such a
highly centralized context, transformation toward a learning organization model
is assisted or not.
In order to achieve the goal of this study, it was important to first identify the
main themes and principles of the learning organization, which include five
basic principles (Senge, 1991). Besides that, it was necessary to point out the role
of teachers in decision-making, along with the research already done on this
subject (Foskett & Lymby, 2003). By combining the main theoretical points and
research findings of these topics, it was possible to explore the beliefs teachers
hold concerning this transition in the schools in which they are employed. It is in
this manner that this study aimed to provide accurate findings (Cohen et al.,
2011).
2. Educational Organization Principles
Contemporary schools are expected to follow the learning organization model,

which goes beyond the traditional perception and role of schools to support the
idea that the mission of schools is not knowledge transition for pupils solely but
to focus on supporting progress and improvement in more complex ways.
Schools are expected to promote new missions, such as by identifying the
concerns of the wider community that call for improvement and getting
involved with relevant activities. This can be achieved, either through their
educational role or other innovative roles that members of schools may adopt
according to their capacity and capital. Thanks to these multiple roles, schools
more flexible and capable of contributing to social progress and development.
With this approach, schools may contribute by promoting new ways of teaching,
school functioning, decision-making, and developing new sets of duties for
teachers and people involved in the learning organization. All these new
approaches would be expected to lead to more effective schooling that is capable
of catching up with changing and rising social demands. Thanks to the
interaction that is developing between the schools and the society, these
demands can be negotiated and discussed at the level of the school organization.
As a result, responses can be designed, decided, implemented, and, lastly,
evaluated. It is within this context that the role of teachers is changing. As
members of the learning organizations, it is teachers who need to adopt new
duties to make sure that these new approaches are realised (Senge, 1990).

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The new role of the teachers as well as all the members of the learning
organization depends on the establishment and achievement of five basic
principles, which are directly related to the notions regarding the mission of the
schools and the educators’ work. These principles are considered as
fundamental dimensions for the process of a school’s transition from the
traditional to the learning organization model.
First, there should be personal mastery from the teachers’ side. This means that
teachers should understand and internalize the idea that their role is changing.
They should appreciate the need for new roles and develop an accurate and
clear vision of their new roles. If teachers cannot conceive of the rational and
deep meaning behind these roles, it is high unlikely that they will adopt and
perform them (Fullan, 2015).
Second, these should be a set of mental models that will help in implementing
these ideas as well as the mastery and vision in the actual contest of the
organizational work and functions. These models will include thoughts and
attitudes about observing, identifying points that function effectively or
ineffectively, planning, carrying out plans, and evaluating actions. These can be
done at a personal or group level. Any kind of vision, idea, or inspiration on
behalf of the organization members could be submitted to these models and
processed through them. This process will turn them into applied practice,
leading to improvement (Fullan, 2015). Thanks to these models, teachers can
develop a dynamic approach to their work, making it flexible enough to match
up to rising challenges—consequently, increasing the potential of the
organization (Senge, 1990).
Third, there should be a shared vision among the teachers. This means that it is
important for all the teachers working in the organization to adopt these new
ideas. Moreover, this vision should be adopted by the organization’s wider
group of members, including the learners, parents, and collaborators.
Nevertheless, the emphasis should be put on the role of the teacher as in the case
of a change, the teachers act as the moral agents of this reform (Fullan, 1993).
Both the principles of personal mastery as well as a shared vision may be
considered to constitute a concrete theoretical background as they address the
attitudes and beliefs regarding what the schools should do and what they
should contribute to the society (Crossan et al, 1999; Foskett & Lumby, 2003;
Fullan, 2015).
Fourth, there should be team learning, which refers to the ability of the members
of an organization to interact and cooperate for the benefit of the organization. If
this principle is missing, an improvement is unlikely to take place. Without this
principle, even if teachers have developed mastery, they will not be able to assist
or be assisted by other members in their effort to apply their ideas. In the same
way, even if there is shared vision and members have common aspirations
related to their workplace, it will be difficult to work in that direction without
team learning. Moreover, mental models might not be as effective either in such
a case. Therefore, for all the previous principles to work, members should

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develop patterns to meet, exchange ideas, respect, observe, advise, and

collaborate (Senge, 1990; Slater & Narver, 1995). Following the pattern of team
learning, it is possible for the learning organization to take full advantage of the
organizational intellectual capital (Kelly, 2004).
Fifth, the principle of “systems thinking,” as proposed by Senge (1991, pp. 53),
should be involved. This refers to a desired complex set of capacities that the
learning organization needs to gain. These capacities deal with processes,
challenges, and incidents. Most of these are multidimensional and depend on
complex relationships and interactions. Moreover, the systems thinking factor
has to do with understanding what these interactions are, how they develop,
and what their effects are. In this manner, it is possible for an organization to
manage them in order to improve. Systems thinking also has to do with
establishing patterns to send or receive feedback from any type of groups,
people, authorities, or institutions. The feedback might lead to reinforcement or
balancing, depending on the case or the outcomes. Apart from that, it has to do
with a general understanding of how interrelationships work in any field.
A case where systems thinking could help is when a learning organization faces
financial challenges. Through systems thinking, a school can identify how
funding can work by understanding interrelations such as who can fund the
school, what are the legal possibilities or restrictions, how the funds can be used,
how the personnel and members can help, which further responsibilities have
been developed, or which risks have arisen. For these concerns to be dealt with
effectively, feedback should be provided by different groups, whether internal to
the organization or not. This will lead to the evaluation and improvement of
funding mechanisms. Further, this experience can prepare the organization to
deal with other challenges (Senge, 1991; Kelly, 2004; Fullan, 2015).
As Kalantzis and Cope (2012) claim, education cannot be treated as an

individualized psycho-cognitive process. It should be approached through the
totality of the relationship of its members in the context of learning or
knowledge society. Bearing in mind that cognition is a social process, it is
reasonable to treat learning as a collaborative endeavor. In that aspect, education
leadership should keep readjusting to catch up with the standards and demands
of the society. In return, there should be appropriate context for schools to work
in this manner. The school’s reality, functions, legal system, and behaviors of the
teachers and the wider social conditions should in some capacity assist schools
in that process. Moreover, the school’s mission should be compatible with all
these factors in conjunction with the concept of school culture (Fullan, 2015).
Creativity is indeed necessary in many aspects and levels. Harris and Jones
(2015) emphasized the importance of collaborative professionalism in school
improvement. This collaboration needs to be promoted through leadership.

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3. The teachers’ board as a decision-making group
The development of schools as learning organizations highly depends on

teachers’ ability to adopt new perceptions and implement new roles. To review,
teachers need to develop a personal mastery, share their visions with other
people, develop mental models regarding their work, become accustomed to
team learning, and establish norms of systems thinking so that their workplace
is not restricted to knowledge transmission but expands to developing new roles
and new forms of learning through which they can contribute to education and
social progress in general. Following these principles, they will get used to
updating their philosophy and ideas regarding how to work and what type of
work they should carry out. In this manner, schools will develop into flexible
learning organizations capable of adapting to social reforms and changing
demands (Senge, 1990; Day, 2002; Foskett & Lumby, 2003).
Therefore, teachers’ board is useful for normal and effective functioning of a

learning organization. By paying attention to the teachers’ board and the way in
which it is organized, it is possible for teachers to work towards developing new
roles. This board can provide teachers with the opportunity to think, develop,
and reconsider their role as managers. By participating in it, they will cease to
treat themselves solely as employees who are expected to deliver the knowledge
pre-described in a curriculum without any option or choice and will be able to
express their opinion, exchange ideas, and develop plans about their work. In
other words, the teachers’ board is their opportunity to participate actively in
decision-making (Senge; 1990; Fullan, 1993; 2015).
According to Somech (2010), decision-making in schools is a complex and

important process. This is the main reason why it has attracted significant
interest in education research. The contemporary approach supports the notion
that effective school functioning and improvement is usually achieved when
there is participative and decentralized decision-making. In other words, school
members, including teachers, need to have a voice in decisions concerning the
school in which they are employed. The alternative would be to simply
implement the decisions made at the central level of national or even prefectural
authority, which allows schools little room for feedback and comment.
Therefore, there are significant advantages in the case of the former alternative,
as decentralised decision-making is open to those decisions that are more
compatible with a school’s reality and specific conditions, making them more
appropriate and applicable. This advantage is supported by the idea that
contemporary schools should have the flexibility to adapt to dynamic and
constantly changing social conditions. Decisions taken at school level can assist
that desired flexibility since these come directly from the experience of school
members who are aware of the school’s potential, needs, strengths, and
weaknesses.
Aside from this, teachers are thought to have higher satisfaction in their work
when their opinions are taken into consideration. This, in turns, is also claimed
to have a positive impact on their work motivation, performance, and outcomes

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as it makes them feel more responsible and respected within the school and the
wider community context (Townsend et al., 2017). It is these two factors that
have led researchers to conclude that the model of Participatory Decision-
Making (PDM) helps in developing an appropriate organizational behavior on
behalf of its members (Blogger & Somech, 2004; 2005; Somech, 2010; Townsend
et al., 2017). In this manner, this model helps teachers to develop the
fundamental principles of the learning organization and assist in the adoption of
this model on behalf of the school (Senge, 1990).
Bush (2011) described ‘certain categories of the nature of educational decision-

making and managerial models: the “rational” in the formal model, the
“collegian” in the collegial model, the “political” in the political model, the
“subjective” in the personal model, the “vague” in the unclear model, and,
finally, the “value-oriented national” in the cultural models.
In the case of collegial managerial models, in which administration is dispersed

so that groups contribute to school improvement, decisions should be based on
collegiality, cooperation, and concession. There are practices which help this
cooperation and the creation of an effective and cooperative group.
Brainstorming is such one type of practice and involves teachers’ participation in
an open and spontaneous discussion of ideas and concerns. During a usual
brainstorming session, the group members sit close to each other, and the group
leader clarifies the topic under discussion. Then, the members bring up as many
points as they find suitable. Usually, they are expected to do this without any
criticism or comment at first and under certain instructions and limits of time.
Sometimes, clarifying the topic and instructions in advance leads to better
outcomes as the members have the opportunity to prepare for the topics at hand.
Another practice is the nominal group technique, which is believed to prevent

pointless arguments as it focuses on structuring the interaction between the
members. In doing so, it follows six specific stages: In the first stage, group
members discuss a pre-stated topic and write down potential ideas or solutions.
In the second stage, each member presents an idea to the group. No discussion
takes place unless all the ideas are presented. In the third stage, ideas are
clarified and evaluated by the group. Afterward, in the fourth stage, each
member prioritizes these ideas silently and independently. Later, a decision is
made based on the idea that is most highly prioritized (Bogler & Somech, 2004;
2005; Bush, 2011; Bush et al., 2019).
Group work usually leads to more ideas and more accurate decisions. Moreover,
the quality of ideas tends to be better, since everyone has a say in the decision
making. Therefore, all the members have stronger vision, which can lead to a
greater possibility of implementing new ideas. Furthermore, there are also more
opportunities for communication and dissemination, which improves the
interaction as well as the learning. With this approach, each member can
contribute their strong points as well as help in alleviating their weak points,
which can create confidence and assurance within the group. Thanks to all these
advantages, group work leads to the enrichment of the intellectual capital of

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schools (Kelly, 2004; Harris & Jones, 2015; Kangas & Ukkonen-Mikkola, 2019;
Solheim, 2019).
However, in most real contexts teachers rarely get the opportunity and the time
to discuss managerial issues, which restricts their potential to exchange ideas
and experiences that would lead to fruitful decision-making (Bogler & Somech,
2004; 2005; Harris & West-Burnham, 2018). Certainly, any benefit from these
advantages need to be understood under certain conditions. First, there should
be adequate time, framework, and context for effective and efficient meetings,
discussions, and interactions. Second, members should know how to interact,
meaning that they should have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
If these conditions are not met, group decision-making is likely to be less
effective and beneficial for schools (Kelly, 2004; Vakola & Nikolaou, 2005).
In order to deal with any possible challenges or disadvantages, effective

cooperative leaders should establish the appropriate climate and institutions.
For example, a head teacher can identify each risk, challenge, or disadvantage
and draw appropriate solutions. Such a solution can be an appropriate time
scale, which will provide the adequate as well as sufficient time for quality
discussions, exchange of ideas, and decision-making. In the same context, the
head teacher should have a clear vision concerning the number of meetings to be
held and topics to be discussed, along with the allocated roles. In other words, it
is necessary for the head teacher to demonstrate qualities related to creative
design. Appropriate awards for punctual team members may act as sources of
motivation as well. For all these to work, the basic condition is the effective
managerial skills of the head teacher. These skills have to do with
communication, appreciation of the members’ strong and weak points, clear
vision, evaluation, and innovation. In short, effective group decision-making
requires the appropriate management, collaborative and collegial cultures.
However, this is dependent on the wider climate that abides the schools and
education system. In other words, it depends on the school culture (Fullan,
2015).
4. The teachers’ board within the Greek Education Context
In Greece, the teachers’ board is considered by law as a collective body of the

school management (MINEDU, 2018, par. 11) and belongs to the so called
“fourth level” of educational decision-making. More specifically, the teachers’
board is expected to meet at regular times and decide on the school’s functions.
Its duties cover expanding teaching dimensions, making decisions and
comments regarding school infrastructure, funds, and resources, identifying
challenges, planning and implementing solutions, evaluating and observing
progress, and allocating responsibilities. In this context, cooperation and group
work is especially important (Bush, 2011; Fullan, 2015, Harris & Jones, 2015;
Bush et al., 2019).
This law certainly provides schools the opportunities to adopt the learning
organization model. Moreover, teachers get to take advantage of brainstorming

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and the nominal decision-making technique by enjoying greater satisfaction and

making decisions, compatible to their requirements and demands (Bogler &
Somech, 2004; 2005. Bush, 2011; Bush et al., 2019). In turn, this may promote the
schools’ transition into a learning organization (Senge, 1991).
However, Greek schools lack autonomy in certain managerial aspects, which are
controlled centrally by the Ministry of Education. Moreover, plenty of decisions
concerning the functioning of schools are usually decided at the level of central
government. This also applies to actual teaching, as teachers are expected to use
the already prepared and designed textbooks, teaching packages, and lesson
plans distributed by the Ministry. Additionally, this also applies to issues such
as funding, resources, and problem-solving as teachers are thought to rely more
on assistance and instruction offered to them from a higher level than on their
own initiative (OECD, 2017). This can be disadvantageous to school
improvement, restricting the development of cooperation and group decision-
making, along with no established timetable and timeframe for teachers’ board
meetings (Kelly, 2004; Fullan, 2015).
In short, on one hand, there is a law that grants teachers the roles that are
compatible with the needs of a learning organization, while on the other, the
overall legislation and school climate does not seem to support these roles. It is,
therefore, interesting to examine if within these contexts the teachers’ board can
actually implement the roles as set by the law. In relation to that, it is interesting
to examine if any challenges arising out of the educational system’s highly
centralized character can be dealt with through appropriate leadership (Vakola
& Nikolaou, 2005; Bush et al., 2019).
5. Research aim
The present study aims to answer whether there is a correlation between

teachers’ beliefs regarding collegial decision-making and the reality of their
schools. It focused on the perception of elementary school teachers regarding the
administrative role played by teachers’ council as well as what concerns the two
levels of educational decision-making. The first has to do with their vision for
the decision-making role of the teachers’ council, while the second has to do
with the actual reality of the influence of the teachers’ council on the schools in
which the teachers are employed. By examining these data, it is possible to
identify if these teachers have developed a perception of their role that is
compatible with the demands of the learning organization model (Senge, 1990).
In this study, the sample size included 451 elementary school teachers from
various areas of Greece.
6. Research tool
The data were collected using an online questionnaire, which contained closed-
type questions grouped in three categories. The first had to do with introductory
personal information of the participants, such as gender, teaching subject,
education level, and the number of years for which they spent teaching (both

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generally and specifically)at the education organization they were involved with
at the time of the data collection. The second had to do with the characteristics
and figures of the unit they worked in such as the number of students and the
student/teacher ratio. Finally, the third dealt with the main portion of the study,
which included ten statements. At the first (perceptual) level, each participant
expressed either their agreement or disagreement with the items in a five-point
Likert scale, which included the following range: strongly agree, agree, no
comment, disagree, and strongly disagree. At the second (implementational)
level, each participant expressed whether particular statements applied to the
school in which they work. Here too, a five-point Likert scale was used, which
included the following range: always, frequently, occasionally, rarely, and never.
In other words, each participant had to rank each statement twice. The first
addressed to what they considered appropriate and the second addressed to
what they believed actually happened (Watling, 2006; Cohen et al., 2011).
The statements were drawn from the extant literature on the role of teachers, the
requirements of a learning organization, and the relevant legislation (MINEDU,
2018).The teachers commented on whether managerial roles should be
distributed and more employees should be involved in making decisions
concerning the units’ budget, equipment, and infrastructure. Moreover, teachers
commented on their participation in decision-making, which involved
comments on how they should be involved in challenge identification and
problem-solving. These statements helped in identifying whether the condition
for personal vision has been developed by investigating the level of perception.
Moreover, they also helped in identifying whether learning models have been
developed by investigating the level of implementation. Besides, the teachers
commented on how their meetings and managerial duties are or should be
approached and implemented with regards to cooperation, discourse, support,
and collegiality. These statements helped in identifying whether a shared vision
has been developed by investigating the level of their perception. Moreover,
they also helped in identifying whether a team learning had been developed by
investigating the level of their implementation (Senge, 1991; Bogler & Somech,
2004; 2005; Bush, 2011; Bush et al., 2019). Table 1 demonstrates this.
As soon as the teachers filled the questionnaires in, their responses were entered
on an Excel file. Then, the average of their resounces on the Likert scale was
calculated for each statement for both the perceptual and the implementational
levels.
By calculating the value of T-test between the average values, it was possible to
identify whether there was a significant difference between the teachers’ level of
ideas and the level of practices. This helped in identifying whether the principle
of systems thinking is being applied in the schools where participants were
employed.
These statements and comments demonstrate the teachers’ understanding of

their roles and whether these are adopted within the context of the school. In

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turn, this can show whether the schools adopted the learning organization
model (Senge, 1991; Fullan, 2015).
Table 1. Statements that the participants ranked on Likert scale and the principle that
each statement refers to for both the perceptual implementational levels
Statement Perception Implementation

The teachers’ council shares managerial roles with Personal Mental models
1
the head teacher. vision
The teachers’ council is involved in managing the Personal Mental models
2
budget of the school. vision
The teachers’ council is involved with the issues Personal Mental models
3 concerning the equipment and infrastructure of vision
schools.
The teachers’ council identifies causes of risks and Personal Mental models
4
challenges. vision
The teachers’ council identifies alternative solutions Personal Mental models
5
and options to problems and challenges. vision
Shared Team learning
6 The teachers’ council’s meetings are well planned.
vision
Brainstorming takes place before or during the Shared Team learning
7
meeting of the teachers’ council. vision
The teachers’ council members have developed the Shared Team learning
8
sense of a shared responsibility. vision
Collegiality is important among the members of the Shared Team learning
9
teachers’ council vision
There is room for debate and disagreement among Shared Team learning
10
the members of the teachers’ council. vision
7. Findings and discussion
Analytically, Table 2 presents the average and standard deviation for all the
statements of the questionnaire along with the statistical significance.
Based on the teachers’ responses, the principles embedded in these statements

had been partly implemented in the school units where they were employed. In
fact, the teachers indicated that only occasionally was there room for
disagreement, identification of alternatives and solutions, high level of
collegiality, identification of causes, shared responsibility, brainstorming, and
well-planned meetings. Moreover, they also indicated that the teachers’ council
rarely shared duties with the head teacher, rarely got involved in budget
planning, and rareky made decisions related to infrastructure and equipment.
With regards to statistical importance, as seen in Table 2, there was a correlation

in the level of perception and the level of implementation for all the ten
statements. In other words, teachers’ ideas regarding their council and its role on
decision-making had not been applied. In fact, in some cases, this deviation was

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less than 1%, which suggests a great difference. Additionally, in all the cases, the
perception was much higher than the implementation.
These findings show that the educators of the sample agreed strongly with four
of the ten statements regarding the role of the teachers’ council. They strongly
agreed that there should be room for disagreement, feelings of collegiality and
shared responsibility, and careful planning, which would include different
alternatives and solutions to a problem. Moreover, they agreed with the rest of
the statements, which claimed that the teachers’ council should have well-
planned meetings, identify the causes of the problem, spend time brainstorming,
get involved in the provision of infrastructure and equipment, have a say in the
budget of the school, and, share managerial duties with the head teacher.
Table 2. The average and standard deviation of the perceptions and implementation
statements regarding the role of teachers’ council in decision making, as calculated
from the sample of educators
Research Sample
Statements concerning the role of the teachers’ Perceptuall Implement Statistical
Α/Α
council evel ationallevel significance
AV. SD AV. AV. SD AV.
1. The teachers’ council should share managerial
4,05 1,12 3,39 1,40 5,725 .000
roles with the headteacher.
2. The teachers’ council should be involved in
4,11 0,92 3,23 1,24 7,487 .000
managing the budget of the school.
The teachers’ council should be involved with
3.
the issues concerning the equipment and 4,19 0,89 3,41 1,26 7,037 .000
infrastructure of schools.
4. The teachers’ council should identify the causes
4,31 0,75 3,79 1,01 5,048 .000
behind the risks and challenges.
The teachers’ council should identify alternative
5.
solutions and options to problems and 4,62 0,56 3,91 1,04 7,984 .000
challenges.
6. Meetings of the teachers’ council should be well
4,42 0,67 3,58 1,23 7,329 .000
planned and prepared.
7. Brainstorming should take place before or during the
4,22 0,83 3,59 1,31 5,164 .000
meetings of the teachers’ council.
8. Teachers’ council members should have
4,65 0,55 3,79 1,11 8,861 .000
developed the feeling of shared responsibility.
9. Collegiality is important among the members of
4,79 0,41 3,87 1,11 9,265 .000
the teachers’ council.
There should be room for debate and
10.
disagreement among the members of the 4,82 0,39 3,95 1,15 8,410 .000
teachers’ council.
This means that the principles of personal and shared vision had been
developed among the participants, who obviously understood the need to adopt
new roles in their work and assist their school’s transformation towards being a
learning organization. The teachers seemed to agree that they need to be actively

a12
involved in the organizational duties or functions of their schools by expanding

their traditional teaching duties. Moreover, they expressed support for the idea
that their roles should not be restricted in following and implementing a
predesigned curriculum. On the same note, they expressed that this applied to
the whole of the school (Senge, 1991; Foskett & Lumby, 2003; Fullan, 2015).
In Table 3, the average and standard deviation on the level of agreement and
reality for the ten statements of the role of teachers’ council are presented. It
indicated that the average value of agreement level for the educators of the
sample concerning the ten statements is 4.41 which is corresponds to “strongly
agree” on the Likert scale. As regards the level of implementation, the value is
clearly lower, being equal to 3.65. Statistically, the difference between the
average is in favor of the agreement level (p=.000), which points to the
divergence between the expectation and the reality of the decision-making role
of the teachers’ council.
Table 3. The average and standard deviation of the perceptual and implementational
statements regarding the role of the teachers’ council in decision-making, as
calculated from the sample of educators.
Sample
Implementationall Statistical
Sum Perceptual level
evel significance
AV. SD AV. SD t-pair p
Role of the teachers’council
4,41 0,43 3,65 0,98 8,568 .000
Bearing these values in mind, it can be concluded that as regards the

development of systems thinking discipline, there had been achievements
within the units where the participants worked, even though they seem limited.
The considerable lack of coordination between the perceptions and
implementation indicates that there is room for improvement in the field of
establishing patterns and models within the schools for applying new modes of
working (either of the educational nature or wider). The lack of established
institutions that allows teachers to cooperate and exchange ideas and experience
leaves limited room for understanding the complex relationships at the
organizational or social level. This can be an opportunity to promote new roles
and relationships for the school to contribute and be assisted (Senge, 1991;
Bogler & Somech, 2004; 2005; Somech, 2010).
8. Conclusions
The aim of this research was to examine teachers’ perceptions regarding the role
of the teachers’ board and its’ effectiveness. The context was Greek elementary
education. The teachers’ board has a significant role to play i n the normal
functioning of a school; therefore, it needs to be given authority. This can be
beneficial for the teachers. According to research, teachers express satisfaction
when their opinion and experience is heard and taken into consideration. As a

a13
result, they perform better in their teaching duties. Besides, there are greater
benefits for the school climate and context. If the school is to work with
democratic procedures and climate, the teachers’ board needs to have the
appropriate privileges, voice, and role in decision-making. Certainly, this
authority should be used prudently for the school to benefit (Senge, 1991;
Kalantzis & Cope; 2012, Fullan, 2015).
Thanks to the teachers’ perceptions regarding their contribution in decision-

making, it is possible to evaluate whether the schools are adopting the learning
organization model effectively. This includes evaluating whether the teachers
have developed an appropriate personal vision, mental models, shared vision,
group learning and the ability for the organization to implement systems
thinking (Senge, 1991). As with any kind of reform, the effective achievement of
it depends on the teachers and the level at which they are able to shift ideas and
understand as well as carry out newly reformed roles (Fullan, 2015). This is
perhaps the most innovative point of this study, which is among only a few that
have thus far examined the perceptions related to this topic (Vakola & Nikolaou,
2005; Kalantzis & Cope, 2012).
The study was of quantitative nature. The most appropriate tool for data
collection was the online questionnaire, which is known to assist the collection
from rather large samples in a convenient time (Watling, 2006; Cohen et al.,
2011). This questionnaire was in two parts. The first set included statements
reflecting the teachers’ perceptual level, which could provide insights
concerning the principles of personal vision and shared vision. While the second
set included similar statements from an implementational level related to their
work contexts, which could provide insights concerning the principles of metal
models and team learning. By evaluating the deviation between the two sets, it
was possible to get insights concerning the fifth basic principle of systems
thinking (Senge, 1991). Teachers had to rank their agreement towards these
statements on a Likert scale. As soon as the questionnaires were completed, the
average for each statement and level was calculated. This led to data analysis
and conclusions (Cohen et al., 2011).
The findings demonstrated that teachers had developed the appropriate

personal and shared vision. With regards the implementation, they believed that
the metal models and team learning had been achieved, although there was
room for improvement. This applies to the principle of systems thinking, which
has been developed but the statistical significance between perception and
implementation suggests that it has been limited to some extent (Senge, 1991).It
might be that the highly centralized character of Greek schools and educational
system imposes these restrains. In conclusion, despite the fact that teachers have
the legal right to act as members of the learning organization, the overall climate
does not provide them with enough room to exercise these rights in reality. In
other words, a highly centralized system might be restraining for the transition
to the paradigm of learning organization, even when legislation might help
occasionally. Perhaps, along with legislation, there should be a general shift in

a14
the character and climate of the educational system (Fullan, 2015; OECD, 2017;
Townsend et al., 2017)
However, before generalizing these conclusions, it is necessary to stress on the

limitations of this research. The findings were drawn from questionnaires of a
certain sample of teachers and are based on their personal impressions, in
limited contexts. Perhaps in the near future, it would be interesting to have these
data triangulated (Cohen et al., 2011).
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16

Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 16-37, January 2020
‘Driven in a Cart Pulled by Elephant and Horse

Together’- the Perception of Government School
Teachers about their Capacity Building through
Public-Private Partnership
Sujata Deshpande
Symbiosis International University
Pune city, India
Jyoti Chandiramani
Symbiosis International University
Pune city, India
Abstact. The purpose of this study is to identify the relevance and

adequacy of capacity building initiatives from government school
teachers’ point of view. The enrolment of students in government
schools in India is dwindling due to poor teaching-learning practices
and so to enhance the quality of education and supplement
government’s efforts in capacity building of teachers a unique public -
private partnership (PPP) based teacher mentor program has been
initiated at Pune city in India. The data collected from both the survey
and in-depth interview of fifty government school teachers were
analyzed through framework approach to identify teachers’ perceptions
on A) what according to them is effective capacity building, B) the
perceived strengths and weaknesses of the ongoing PPP based training
and C) their suggestions on the way forward. The findings reveal the
deeper reasons for sub-optimal results despite the best intentions from
both government and private partners. Metaphorically inferred, the PPP
based capacity building is like an elephant and a horse pulling a cart
together. Where ‘Elephant’ denotes the large, powerful yet
bureaucratically slow placed government school system and ‘Horse’
represents the goals driven and fast-paced external (PNGE) specialist/
catalyst. The researchers hope that the insights from teachers’ ‘voices’
will help optimize the outcome envisaged by the PPP, and the findings
will foster the advocacy for deep-rooted policy changes.
Keywords: Capacity building; Government school teachers; PPP; teacher

perceptions; teaching-learning practices

17
1. Introduction
The government school teachers of India are at crossroads of expectations. There

is extensive research highlighting the urgency for the teachers across the globe to
revamp their existing practice to meet the complex learning needs of twenty-
first-century students (e.g., Cole and Knowles, 2000; Bolam, 2002; Darling-
Hammond, 2009). In the context of India, age-appropriate reading and
numerical skills are lacking in students from government schools pointing
towards ineffective teaching-learning practices that call for improvement. Also,
various studies point out that since India is poised to witness a huge
demographic dividend, strengthening the foundation of students is necessary
(e.g. Rath, S. K., & Bhagavan, B. 2014; Contractor, F. J., Kumar, V., & Dhanraj, C.
2015; James, K. S. 2008). Therefore, to enhance the capacity of school teachers, in-
service training programs mandated by the centre and state governments are
periodically conducted by DIETs. Despite a spate of successive education policy
reforms in the last decade (see notes, NCF1; NUEPA2; NPE3),the dismal
PISA4performance of India and the more recent results ofASER5 survey indicate
that only 44.2% of standard five students from government schools can read the
grade two level text. To strengthen the government’s effort, the PNGEs are also
supporting in the government schools. For this study, one unique PPP between
municipal (local) government and PNGE, for capacity building of vernacular
(Marathi) medium school teachers are selected. Through this PPP, an internal
cadre of teacher mentors has been identified and systematically developed since
2017, and these mentor teachers, in turn, train the 1300 teachers. The purpose of
this study is to understand the perceived relevance of PPP based capacity
building, by the teachers.
2. Review of Literature
For this study, a review of literature is conducted by authors to understand the

emerging views on the capacity building of teachers.
2.1. Changing expectation from twenty-first-century teachers and their

professional development
As aptly quoted, “To solve the learning crisis, all children must have teachers
who are trained, motivated and enjoy teaching, who can identify and support
weak learners, and who are backed by well-managed systems” (UNESCO, 2013,
p. 30). There has been an extensive literature on the changing expectations from
the teacher while stepping into the new millennium. Bransford et al. (2005)
observed that only capable and competent teachers would be able to
demonstrate the resilience to incorporate new pedagogy and knowledge
required in the changing times. Bransford further added that teachers need to be
aware that their day to day decisions have a significant and transformative
impact on student’s long term development as each student is unique in terms of
his or her context, language, culture, personality as we move more towards
inclusive learning. The approach towards teaching must be child-centric and
embrace diversity. Similarly, Turner- Bisset (2001) highlighted that to have the

18
upper hand in the teaching profession; the teachers need to continue their up-
gradation of knowledge and skills and apply their practice in classrooms.
The impact of quality inputs from teachers in catapulting students learning has
been accepted and widely emphasized upon in literature (Hammerness et al.
2005; Darling Hammond, 2009).Researchers also emphasize that capacity
building programs cannot be considered ineffective if they do not result in
enhanced student learning outcomes(e.g., Shymansky et al. 2001; Fletcher et al.
2002; OECD, 2005). OECD study elaborates that in a complex school
environment, many factors affect students learning and not just teaching inputs.
The demanding nature of the job, high expectations from the teachers to be
prepared to face the needs of 21st-century learners are highlighted through a
large number of scholarly articles highlighting the importance of adaptivity and
integration of nuances in teaching-learning (Cole & Knowles,2000; Darling
Hammond, 2009). Given the vast and fast-paced changes in education today,
there is a shift in teachers' roles from the positivist approach (Snape & Spencer,
2003),which promotes the transfer of knowledge to the constructivist paradigm
(Ormston et al., 2014),where a teacher is a facilitator to students in co-creating
their meanings. It is, therefore, crucial for teachers to not stagnate and keep
enhancing their repertoire of pedagogy and content. However, it is not enough
for teachers to know and actively seek what they need to learn without a
supportive environment and an equally change savvy education system.
European Commission (2000, p. 40) asks a pertinent question that while teachers
are facing demands to evolve with huge expectations from them to transition
and become “multifaceted” do they have matching capacity building support or
experience to adapt and cope with this new wave of change. Menter et al. (2010)
aptly point out that the main themes of the educational debates across countries
are around “positioning” and “ownership” of teacher education. From the
systemic nexus who onus is capacity building of teachers is important for the
successful teacher development. Collinson et al. (2009) point out that in the
highly interconnected world with enormous interdependencies, teacher learning
through continuous and ongoing learning is viewed with importance today. In
their article, they highlight glocalization, mentoring, and teacher evaluation as
evolving themes in different countries. In their critical analysis of what makes
professional development effective. Garret et al. (2001) who studied a national
sample of teachers, claim that the contemporary professional capacity
development of teachers is planned to ensure sustainable learning over time.
Researchers agree that only concentrating on content, facilitation skills and
methodology is not enough to ensure effective professional development. As
stated by Webster- Wright, A. (2009), the ongoing methods of planning
professional development for teachers do not focus on actual learning outcomes
instead they focus on delivery, methodology and evaluation. As noted by Kirby
et al. (2006), the professional development of teachers is more “exaggerated
wordiness and lofty ideas” which lack objectivity. Commenting on the need and
scope of teacher professional development amid educational reforms. Little, J.
W. (1993) states that effective Professional development (PD) should lead to a
useful association of thoughts and practices among colleagues, even outside the
context of the classroom. It should not be one pill panacea to all requirements. It

19
should allow for ‘informed dissent.’ It should be learner-centric and help them
employ ability and grow. It should promote ‘inquiry’ and finally, Little argues
that there should be bureaucratic non -interference. Thus, the literature points
out to an enhanced focus and interest in expectations from teachers and their
corresponding professional development.
2.2. Professional development of government school teachers in India
Teacher education reforms are not new to the Indian education system. Even the
Education Commission (1964), professed professionalization in training the
teachers through comprehensive colleges and interlinked programs, among
many other recommendations. Subsequently, NPE (1986) also acknowledged
that the teacher education scenario was far from satisfactory and emphasized on
revamping both the pre-service and in-service training. NCF (2009) highlighted
that insufficient training of teachers and their inability to equip the learning
needs is one of the reasons for the educational crisis along with the disconnected
and incoherent curriculum. NCF further pointed out that teacher training and
school education have a ‘symbiotic relationship,’ and without looking at both in
totality, the quality of the education system cannot be improved. For teacher
training, the policy recommendation included twenty-one days in-service
training, conferences, professional fora, resource room, faculty visits exchange
and fellowship. NUEPA (2014), Annual report which also documents the
summary of their research studies conducted on its different states of India,
admitted that “education planning in India is yet to be professionalized and
made result-oriented’” not merely a “compliance exercise to access funds” from
the federal government. NPE (2016), pointed out that the poor quality of
education in schools was directly linked with the poor quality of teaching inputs
as the teacher education was not up to the mark. NPE (2016), states that teachers
with low academic achievement and inadequate pre-service training get
appointed as school teachers. Though there have been several successive policy
regulations to improve the capacity of the school education system, even the
recent draft NPE (2019) also points out the need to “reconfigure, transform and
reinvigorate” the education system. Therefore, in a nutshell, if one looks at the
comprehensiveness of the thought process of policymakers towards teacher
education, it is highly commendable, however, ironically most of the studies
reveal that there are many challenges in the implementation at the ground level.
Batra, P (2009), observes that a lot of government resources are spent on
“motivating” teachers who have a weak academic foundation, and therefore the
author denotes them as “poorly qualified” through “piece-meal in-service
training” without taking into consideration the actual need of millions of
teachers. Clearly, in this case, ‘motivation’ given to teachers is a waste of time as
what limits them is a skill issue and not a will issue. It does not, however, mean
that all the government school teachers are in-efficient in delivering quality
inputs; in fact, some of them are highly experienced and adept in their practice,
and therefore it is equally important to provide them with specific and need-
based learning opportunities to develop further. As opined by Anuradha De et
al. (2005) in their study, “…parents face a difficult choice between low quality
and no quality at the primary level.”

20
The study of the literature reveals that in India, only a few researchers including
Batra, P (2009), highlight the importance of teacher’s voice stating that there is
not enough seriousness at the policy level to cull out their felt relevance about
such interventions. The paper is an attempt to surface teachers' voices on their
capacity building. To bridge this gap, there has been increasing support
provided to government schools by Corporate Social responsibility (CSR)
funders, private philanthropists, and NGOs. For the ease of understanding in
this paper, we would refer to all the non -government supporters as private non-
government entities (PNGEs). Though the PNGEs bring expertise and quality,
they do not have the advantage of scale and bandwidth. For this study the
researchers selected a unique PPP partnership between the local government
and PNGE, to internally build the capacity of teachers by developing a cadre of
teacher mentors. The teacher mentors are selected from among the existing
government school teachers based on the pre-specified criterion and further
trained by experts through PNGEs support and in turn, are expected to train and
coach the teachers in their respective clusters through a structured approach to
build their capacity. The city is divided into fifteen clusters each with twenty to
thirty government schools on an average depending on the area. The purpose of
our study is on teachers’ perceptions of their professional development (Bolam,
2002).Our objective is to enquire from the teachers ‘ex-post’ (that is after
attending both DIET training and PPP based training) periodically during 2017-
19 on vernacular (Marathi) language reading fluency about the following:
1) What are the components of effective capacity building for teachers?

2) What are their perceived strengths and challenges of PPP based
program?
3) What are their suggestions for way ahead?
3. Research Design
3.1 Sample
The researchers conducted in-depth inquiry from teachers who have attended
both government training and PPP training, which is based on a partnership
between municipal (local) government and PNGE during 2017-19,while the
government training is also conducted per the mandate of Centre and State
government through DIET periodically. The study focused on vernacular
(Marathi) medium schools where through both the initiatives, how to teach
reading of Marathi language was trained to teachers. The government schools
are divided into fifteen area clusters with an average of twenty to thirty schools
in each and a total of 1300 primary school teachers from Marathi medium
schools. Out of these, a random sample of fifty teachers was selected. The basis
of selection was a random selection from those who had in the academic year
2017-18, attended both ‘DIET training’ and ‘PPP based training’ simultaneously,
and were permanent teachers (not contract teachers). The purpose of choosing
vernacular (Marathi) medium schools was that in recent times the effort towards
capacity building of teachers to improve the teaching-learning practices in these

21
schools has increased, given the dwindling enrollment of students and move
towards private schools.
3.2. Methodology
The qualitative study has been conducted with fifty randomly selected
municipal school teachers from 15 clusters in a large city in Maharashtra, India.
Since it was carried out in government schools, a due letter of permission was
sought from the Education Department of the municipal (local) government. To
avoid bias from the result both online survey and in-depth interviews were
conducted to bring out deeper meanings and perceptions from the teachers.
3.3. Data Collection and Analysis
First, the dipstick understanding of the teachers' perception was garnered from
the survey which was followed by an in-depth interview of teachers at pre-
agreed time and place in school. Additionally, the key stakeholders were
interviewed to understand their role in design, delivery or implementation of
capacity building interventions including DIET trainers, education officers, PPP
trainers, NGO representatives, and school Headmasters. Their view was
important for a holistic interpretation through data triangulation for qualitative
analysis. As aptly stated by Taylor and Bogdan (1998:7), the qualitative research
“produces descriptive data on people’s own written or spoken words and
observable behavior.” Most of the teachers taught in 3rd to 8th standard. The
qualification of 80% of the teachers interviewed was D.Ed. and only 20 % had
B.Ed. or M.Ed. qualification. The approval letter from the Education officer
helped galvanize the research process as teachers are government servants and
without prior permission, no one is authorized to interview them. Audio or
video recording was strictly prohibited therefore interviews were conducted in
the Marathi language and captured by the researcher verbatim through notes
and then translated in English on excel sheets. The instrument was based on
essential information questions recording gender, educational qualification, days
and type of training attended, etc. along with the questions asked on research
objectives, the instrument was piloted to check the ease of comprehension,
modified, and the content was validated by experts. The online survey results
revealed that the majority of teachers found capacity building exclusively by the
government through DIET very useful. However, during the next level of an in-
depth interview which lasted on an average for forty minutes, many ‘tongue- in-
cheek’ responses were received stating that. “… the training was good, I attended it.
Do I have a choice”? The data analysis was done using framework approach
which involves recurring and repeated reading of the transcript to identify the
underlying themes, the data was rearranged in excel sheet, and against each
theme/sub-theme, each teacher’s entries were coded and categorized with a
frequency of pattern in similar texture or meaning (Ritchie & Spencer, 2002). For
ease of further interpretation and analysis of data, the transcribed data included
“rich, thick descriptions” with “adequate engagement (of the researcher) in data
collection” strategies to arrive at meaningful, candid and data-based inferences
(Merriam, 2009). While the in-depth interview was conducted, detailed verbatim

22
notes (in Marathi) were taken by the researcher also documenting the non -
verbal cues (Creswell 2012) as the researchers noticed signs of enthusiasm,
pauses, masking, sarcasm, spontaneity or caution in their responses.
4. Findings and Discussion
The data collected from the teachers were collated and analyzed. The analysis of
data revealed four broad categories on what teachers considered as effective
capacity building programs for them. In the table below the first column enlists
broad categories and themes emerging from teachers' views on effective
professional development. The second and third columns capture their views on
strengths, areas of improvement and suggestions for way forward for the PPP
based capacity building. Due to the limitation of space for this paper, sub-
themes are not discussed. This article only presents the analysis of the teacher’s
perception of PPP and does not include the more extensive comparative analysis
with DIET training as the objective of this study was to identify the teacher’s
perception of the PPP based training program. The results have been
summarized in the table below:
Table 1. Summary of findings on teacher perception
Need based and relevant

. Teaching Experience
Strengths of PPP
• Skill enhancement & motivation
• Professional approach
• Post training, Coaching &  Teaching-Learning
Feedback & school context strategies
• Personalized coaching
New practices supported by str Data driven observation

system rubric assessments Way Forward
• Headmaster & Supervisors  Institutionalization
• Learning circle /group
 Planned systemic
• Calendar adherence
Challenges of PPP Buy- in
• Best practices showcasing • Accountability
• Clash with school time-
table
•
Planned intervention • Less Classroom modelling
• Communication of schedule
• Union objection
• Inter-dependencies

23
4.1 Research question one: What is effective capacity building according to

teachers?
4.1 (a) Need -based and relevant
Most of the teachers stated that according to them the capacity building is
effective if the topic, content, and methodology is as per their specific learning
needs:
4.1 (a) 1. Teaching Experience
Among the senior teachers who have ten plus years of teaching experience and
exposure to training over the years (15,30%),most of the teachers voiced that
their learning needs were different than those of new teachers, for instance, a
verbatim of one (T14)was, “I am fifty years old and joined when I was twenty, so I
already have sufficient experience of teaching, and at this time according to me effective
capacity building should be subject-specific and not merely a motivational training.:
Another senior teacher (T9)with over fifteen years’ experience opined that“
Attending random training programs is not my idea of capacity building, it may be a
checklist item for authorities, profession for NGOs and compliance for us but not value-
adding, effective capacity building should take me forward from where teacher is at the
given moment, if I talk for myself then I find the refresher courses repetitive and
monotonous, and only when we get a program on new ways of teaching, I learn a lot.”
The experienced teachers’ views were similar to the study conducted by Feiman-
Nemser (2001) which highlighted the link of capacity building with the phase of
teacher’s career. Similarly, Huberman (1995) pointed out that the learning needs
of a teacher are related to the stage of career. He classifies them as “career
entry,” then “diversification and change,” followed by “stock-taking and
interrogation,” and finally “serenity” or “disengagement.” Serenity is a function
of the “life review” by teachers and if the teacher is not satisfied the same will be
replaced with “disengagement” in the last phase of career (Huberman,
1995).Varied perspectives were shared on expected training matching
experience even less experienced teachers also wanted more in-depth content
training. The experienced teachers learning needs were different from those of
novice teachers.
the videos.
4.1 (a) 2. Skill enhancement and personal motivation
Most of the teachers (33, 66%) shared that capacity building is effective if it leads
to change in practice. For example, the teacher (T6) said, “In government schools,
there are only children from poor families and as per RTE Act, every child between 6 to
14 years of age has to be compulsorily enrolled in an age-appropriate class. This is with
or without prior schooling, so effective capacity building for me is to learn the
differentiating strategies and optimize on thirty minutes duration of each period”.
Another teacher stated, “Capacity building is knowing ‘how’ in addition to
understanding ’what.’ Most training that we attend only focuses on what we need to do;
they are good, but more recently, I like the program, which helps me with the skills.”
Teacher (T8) stated, “Effective capacity building is skill-building not trainers notes

24
being transferred in my notes and then after the sermon, the trainer vanishes. I need to
learn the application in class”. The teachers categorically mentioned skill and
learning of the process as an essential aspect of capacity building. The findings
resonate with the expectations of the teachers highlighted by Joyce and Showers,
2002 and Hammerness et al. (2005) on the importance of skill learned during the
in-service program through an iterative process of practicing and reflecting on
the new skill learned. There were teachers (28,56%) who attributed personal
motivation or will to excel in their chosen field of teaching as the reason to
attend all training programs with the belief that they will learn something. It is
similar to the study by Feiman-Nemser (2001), pointing that the desire for
teacher training depends on the teacher’s perception, motivation, and attitude
for self-development.
4.1 (a) 3. Post- training expert coaching and feedback
Teachers considered the capacity building program which closed the loop after
the workshop through classroom modeling, observation, coaching, and feedback
as effective. For instance, one teacher (T16) said, “I have attended many workshops
and while it did seem to be important at that time, on the very next day once I was back
to class routine everything was forgotten, however more recently I have been exposed to
such training workshops where there is a mentor who observes my class and shares
feedback, and there is gradual change in my practice.” Another teacher (T5) stated, “I
find effective capacity building when there is a modeling in my class, and when I see my
students learning faster it motivates me to apply my learnings in class with a confidence
that if I make a mistake, I will be given a constructive feedback after the class to
understand areas of improvement.” Learning from competent and expert trainers
and coach’s adept in both andragogy and pedagogy was the nutshell of the
voices. One of them (T7)said that “If a trainer who has never taught children tells me
how to teach or observes my class and only tells what I could have done better though I
have to accept as that person has more knowledge of new innovative methods, but if not
able to teach my students in class, then the feedback has no significant value to me.” It is
similar to the importance of handholding after the training highlighted by Garet
et al. (2001) in their study of a national sample of American teachers.
4.1 (a) 4. School and community context
One of the most significant aspects for effective capacity building for the
teachers was the ability to the context relatable to their specific school, and
community context, a teacher (T5) said: “My school is located in a violent
community my classroom challenges are different and more than content training, I need
classroom management strategies.” Another teacher (T12)stated that” Parents of the
children in our government schools are not educated, so their academic support at home
is missing in student’s holistic development, and effective capacity building for me
would be an ability to loop in parents for their non -academic support.” The findings
matched with the description given by Fullan et.al. (2006) on “contextually-
based, personalized, data-driven instruction context” (Fullan, Hill & Crevola,
2006). It is necessary for professional development to take into cognizance the
specific school and personal context of teachers. The teachers said that when the

25
school and community context were missing, they felt that the training was not
relevant to them “nice to hear” but “not practical.”
4.1 (b) New practices to be supported by the system
One of the most critical voices from teachers was the importance of systemic
support for their capacity building. The following were the main perspectives:
4.1 (b) 1. Headmasters and supervisors
“An effective program for me would be when seniors in school hierarchy agree to the
importance of training and support me in applying the new learnings in class,” stated
one teacher (T3) who also shared that it happened very rarely. Another teacher
said, “Our role is to develop the students academically and also inculcate values;
however, as we are also government servants and have to do other duties like election
duty, census survey and our headmaster not his fault but requires us to do non-
academic, administrative work during school time. So, if we cannot even do justice with
our syllabus when can we apply the learnings from training”. Teachers felt that
acknowledgment of incremental changes in practice from headmaster and
Supervisors would be very motivating to apply the learning. It is because unlike
private schools, the context of teachers and students is different in government
schools, a teachers (T22) said. “we are always told that due to job security our
teaching practice is poor, but another reality is that students are not at appropriate class
level, so if I make small improvements in teaching practice some appreciation from
authorities will motivate me to continue, but if the culture is more to complete the
administrative work there is no reason to swim against the tide.” Researchers have
pointed out that educational changes have to be system-wide, the stakeholders
(e.g., Levin & Fullan, 2008; Wedell, 2013).It was evident from the data that one of
the significant strengths or impediments for the effective implementation of any
positive change in school is from the seniors within the system. The
unsupportive system will quell the benefits from capacity building and the
training would only remain a theoretical exercise. Sandholtz, J. and S. P.
Scribener (2006), in their article ‘The Paradox of Administrative Control in
Fostering Teacher Professional Development,’ highlight the importance of
systemic support, which was reinforced by teachers views.
4.1 (b) 2. Learning Circles/ Groups
A few (10, 20%) teachers shared the need for an overall culture to learn, discuss,
debate, divide among the peer groups, or teaching staff would be a great help.
One of the teachers (T3) said, “ Most of the time only one or two of us from my school
are nominated at a time, and when those teachers come back feeling motivated, other
teachers cannot relate to enthusiasm nor can they get any further input in the same
direction from within the school. An effective program should have a mechanism to keep
the tempo on from within the teachers who participate”. Teachers stated that if they
have a support group with whom they could share their challenges and get
solutions, it will make the program far more effective and sustainable. There
have been similar studies which highlight the need for teachers to participate in
learning communities for in-depth learning (Putnam & Borko, 2000).

26
4.1 (b) 3. Calendar adherence
Almost all teachers (42, 94%) voiced the need to have flexibility in the school
calendar. A teacher (T25) said, “if we take practice sessions, the supervisors who visit
want us to follow the calendar strictly.” A teacher (T4) quoted,” while training is
conducted after school hours or on holidays all the new teaching-learning practices like
action learning or reading fluency classes need to be applied in school but if the school
does not accommodate the existing calendar the three is not enough scope to practice.”
These findings are similar to an analysis of the ways in which the school
leadership team can help in effective implementation of professional
development of teachers including openness and flexibility to experiment,
among other things (Loxley et al., 2007).
4.1 (b) 4. Best practices showcasing
The majority of teachers (39, 78%) in government schools reiterated the need for
inspiration, role model, and motivation, which will be met by sharing that for
capacity building to be effectively implementable. Incremental learnings
incorporated in class should be showcased. Their perceptions correspond to the
experience of Finnish teachers on the benefits of receiving appreciation
(Jyrhämä, R, 2008). As one teacher (T1) said,” it would serve two purposes, one if it
is my best practice, I will feel acknowledged and motivated from peers and seniors and
second it would inspire other teachers.” Another teacher (T5) shared similar views
stating, “unlike private schools, we do not have promotions or performance-linked
appraisal and if the best practices are showcased it will be a motivator also to be one of
the best.” This is the problem of government school teachers since the jobs are
permanent; they have no performance linked appraisal or promotion. The
teachers feel that at least if their best practices are showcased, they will get some
acknowledgment and limelight which alludes them as their training program of
elementary education suffer from “isolation, low profile and poor visibility”
(NCTE, 2009, p. 11).
4.1 (c) Planned Intervention
Many teachers (30, 60%) particularly commented that effective capacity building
program should be a well -planned activity. They said that random programs
are very inconvenient; however, content-rich they may be. The following were
the verbatims on both the aspects of communication and involvement in design
voiced by teachers. The findings were akin to the study highlighting the
importance of methodological factors for the capacity building like process and
procedure in addition to content and context (Villegas-Reimers, E., 2003;
Terehoff I. I., 2002).As Terehoff, emphasizes that only through planning teachers
will receive “rich opportunities” for learning along with “growth and self -
fulfillment.”

27
4.1 (c) 1. Communication of schedule
Most of the teachers (32, 64%) felt that whether it is a one-time workshop or a
long intervention, a proper prior notification of the timeline and other
commitments is a pre-requisite. The vocal teacher (T3) stated,” I would prefer to
know before the starting of next academic year as to what training will be imparted,
when would it start, what would be the benefits and all other relevant details.” The
importance of “timely update” and regular information was emphasized by
another teacher she said,” We must show mutual respect as surprise announcements
and especially of long- term duration change our existing teaching and personal
schedule.”
4.1 (c) 2. Involvement from design to implementation
For a useful capacity-building inclusion in design and overall plan was the felt
need, most of whom were senior teachers (28, 56%.) One senior teacher (T9)
said,” I can share the classroom context to make the design practical. So, for me, most
programs seem theoretical with an outside-in view such inputs are needed, no doubt, but
they should not remain just pleasant to listen but impractical to implement.” Another
teacher (T30) shared that, “I know the program comes from management and they
can’t ask each one of us however at least while implementing each one’s context and
inputs should be taken for better results.” Frost et al. (2010) effectively highlight the
importance of planning, mainly when a teacher training program is run through
a collaboration.
4.2 Research question two: What are the strengths and areas of improvement
of PPP based training?
When asked about the strengths and challenges of PPP as compared to regular
government training programs on Marathi reading fluency, the following views
were seen:
4.2 (a) Strengths of PPP
Most of the teachers (37, 74%) were thankful for the PPP training received and
could experience the difference in comparison of regular training that they
received directly without any private (PNGE) support:
4.2 (a) 1. Professional approach
The teachers invariably stated that PPP training was far more precise in terms of
timelines, objectives, methodology, delivery, post-training support, etc. For
example, one teacher (T20) said, “Apart from how to teach ‘Marathi reading fluency’,
I also see the demonstrated punctuality, discipline, planning of resources, use of teaching
aids, communication during PPP. I have learned positive ways of teaching discipline,
accountability, and punctuality which I have started using with my students than
shouting and scolding them.” Another teacher (T17) added, “The teacher mentors are
chosen from amongst us, and they are trained by (PNGEs), and when we see them

28
demonstrating professional skills using PowerPoint presentations, flip charts, and other
teaching aids effectively, we feel inspired to learn and practice the same.” The use of
various teaching aids and demonstrated professionalism was tremendous
learning, according to teachers. The findings were similar to the importance of a
professional approach to teacher development highlighted by Pitsoe, V. J et al.
(2012) who emphasized the constructivist approach of giving teachers a choice
to learn rather than only passive listening of rote -based training programs.
4.2 (a) 2. Teaching-Learning strategies
Teachers felt that PPP training had given them exposure to many teaching-
learning strategies to reach students with different learning styles. On being
interviewed one teacher( T 16) said,” I used to only cater to the students who were
below the class average, and the brighter students would feel bored and play mischief
during the class, and when I would begin teaching them the others would lose connect
and my grades used to be chaotic. The PPP on reading fluency has segregated the lower
order reading skills as level 1, next level 2 and age-appropriate as level 3 and this has
solved a lot of problems for me.” Another teacher said (T37), “instead of only reading
from books and writing on the blackboard, I have started bringing assignment sheets,
newspaper cuttings, other material as trained by mentors, and it is a mutually engaging
experience for students and me.” One teacher (T12) said, “My creativity has been
spurred as I think of innovative ways to teach and organize the available resources.” The
importance of how new teaching-learning strategies evolve, and the role of
productive dialogue is also highlighted by Routman R. (2000) which is similar to
the findings of this study where teaches also voiced that they appreciated the
new strategies taught through PPP.
4.2 (a) 3. Personalized coaching
Teachers appreciated the mentoring support after every module completion to

see the implementation in the class. A teacher (T27) said, “I await the day when the
teacher mentor comes in my class, unlike other classroom observation where I feel judged
as the observer sits with impassive expression and then goes away making me wonder
what his/ her opinion was, this is one observation I cherish.” Teacher (T18) said, “If I
struggle with any aspect of applying the new learning, I know teacher mentor is there to
guide and even my students await the teacher mentors as they have developed a bond
with frequent visits. My practical challenges and struggles are known to my mentor.”
Another teacher (T4) shared, “When the training is over the onus of applying the new
practices is on teacher earlier the trainers did not have any experience of teaching
children; however, the teacher mentors trained by PNGEs have been picked up from
among us so they understand students context which reduces the frustration of just
listening to desirable but unpractical stuff. In government-run DIET training programs,
there is no after the training handholding”. Researchers have similarly pointed out
that having an expert/ veteran coach, and observer for personalized goal setting
and action is beneficial for teachers, rather than a one-time workshop (Martinez,
M., 2019; Johnson, S. R.et al., 2016).

29
4.2 (a) 4. Data-driven rubric assessment
Another exceptional feature of PPP based capacity building was the use of a
data-driven rubric for assessment of teacher competency. One teacher (T23) said,
“Our lessons are observed with the help of a rubric and after each session, our mentor
gives us feedback.” Another teacher (T42) said,” The feedback is always constructive,
and areas of improvement are shared with data in terms of teacher actions and student
activities, and we are asked what would have been a better way than telling us down.
This system has helped me reflect on my teaching practice and bring positive change
where needed.” There have been a lot of studies (e.g. Avalos, B., 2011; Kane T. J, et
al., 2011) emphasizing the importance of data-based observation and assessment
of practice, as Avalos has pointed this based on in his ten-year analysis of
teacher capacity building.
4.2 (b) Challenges of PPP
Out of the fifty teachers interviewed (29, 58%) shared many challenges of the
PPP model as well, which gives a more in-depth explanation of why despite two
years of PPP National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017 reveals that students in
this city of research study have lower (less than age-appropriate) reading levels
compared to others in India. The perceptions have been clubbed in given
categories.:
4.2 (b) 1. Clash of timetable
Teachers found the clash in time-table of reading fluency class with earlier
timetable an impediment. One teacher (T31) said, “Since the order comes from top
to attend the program, we only follow it however if the PNGE intervened program
requires changes in time table only top layers permission guarantees attendance but
other levels have to agree and just getting an order to that effect leads to challenges.
Another teacher (T7) said, “ Only a short duration class is given for Marathi reading
fluency, which should be ideally longer duration and I have to send level-wise students
to other class and receive students from other class in my class for the level I am teaching
example level 3. This shuffling takes away a good ten minutes of the thirty minutes
duration. Children take five minutes to settle down and align with the topic.” Another
teacher (T4) said, “I do not like to send my students to other classes rather with
differentiating strategies learned. I want to plan the thirty minutes for all the three levels
of reading for my students; however, this PPP model does not give us flexibility.”
Though it seems to be a small problem, the rigidities of the system, coupled with
rigidities of models, create a lot of difficulties, which was also seconded through
interviews of PPP teacher mentors. As stated by Terehoff, I. I. (2002), planning is
essential for the success of professional development. In the case of PPP despite
thorough planning by PNGE partner the rigidities of the school calendar lead to
a change of plan or clash of timetable as stated by teachers.

30
4.2 (b) 2. Less classroom modeling
One of the shortcomings of PPP was that the teacher mentors trained, observed
class and gave feedback but had no classroom modeling. One teacher (T32) said,
“the mentors are handpicked from among us and trained by PNGEs as part of PPP, so
we need to see how they would teach differently. Initially, they did not model a lesson
plan in class at all, but during the quarterly feedback, we shared this concern and as a
response, they have begun modeling which is value-adding but not adequate.” Another
teacher (T18) said, “Since teaching us is comparatively easier as compared to teaching
students we prefer class modeling, and this is an area which is not very effective in
PPP.” PNGE partners also stated the same which was used for deeper
understanding and triangulation of data for analyses, and it was clear that
andragogy (training adults) and pedagogy (teaching children) are two different
skills and after receiving quarterly feedback, the mentor teachers who had been
teachers earlier were through course correction trained to model the lesson in
class; however, the class modeling was not enough. As pointed by Pitsoe, V. Jet
al. (2012) the professional development should not only be “sustained, ongoing,
intensive” it should also be “supported by modeling.” This observation and
feedback of teachers for PPP are very crucial.
4.2 (b) 3. Union objection
The union objects to any private or NGO interference fearing privatization and
resisting interference. A teacher (T22) said, “Our Union instructed us to ban PPP
training, it was sad as the training was beneficial and yet we had to succumb to the
pressure for a while. However, thankfully they allowed us to attend later but they are
still against any third party(external)observation of classroom practices.” Another
teacher (T49) said, “In my cluster, all the schools had to ban PPP training for a longer
time as compared to other clusters. It was done unofficially due to the presence of many
union teachers in our cluster. Union resists because though teacher mentors are from
within the government school system, they are trained by PNGEs. After a lot of
discussion and directives from the top, the training resumed but a lot of time was
wasted.” Teacher union is against the PNGEs influence in government schools.
Three of the teachers interviewed were from the union, and they shared that
they fear “privatization” of government schools and object to PNGEs imposing
any rules, routines, and structures. They also do not allow third-party
assessment of teacher training or student learning level assessment from outside.
For the future success of PPP, a dialogue with the union is also necessary. The
objection from teacher union is not new in research across time and geographies
(for e.g. Gaynor C, 1998; Adams A.et al., 2005) have also discussed this long-
standing tussle. Therefore, it is essential to find a way to harness the Union’s
energy constructively.
4.2 (b) 4. Interdependencies

The interdependencies of government and PNGEs to leverage strengths is not
without challenges as PNGES have to take fast action, and decision making is
slow and bureaucratic in government schools. Teacher (T16) shared, “Many a
time when I have a PPP training, a letter is received for all teachers to report for some
other program by the administrative officer. There are too many interdependencies.

31
Another teacher (T3) shared, “I feel that PPP should be allowed to adhere to their plan
but due to many official and non- official work requirements either some or all teachers
request for change of schedule’. This is one of the biggest challenges, the same was
highlighted by PNGE partners and teacher mentors who reiterated that there
has to be “mutual accountability “along with “joint ownership’ of PPP capacity
building. The views were similar to the findings of Acar, Metal. (2004)
concerning PPP interdependencies in the US. In their recent study of the need
for PPP in the Nigerian school context (Oyewole, 2016) highlighting the
intricacies of public-private partnership nexus. There is a need to demarcate the
responsibilities in PPP for sustenance (Bajwa, S. U, et al.,2018).
4.3 Research question three: What is the way forward for PPP training?
4.3 (a) Way Forward
When teachers were asked about the way forward, only (20, 40%) teachers
shared their views, and the remaining teachers more or less had the same
opinion that the ongoing program was excellent and should continue in the
same way. The themes on suggestions were:
4.3 (a) 1. Institutionalization
The teachers said that new learning practices usually continue only while the
‘NGO’ support exists and forgotten after that, however since they found this
PPP model unique with their teachers as mentors, they spoke about
institutionalization. One of the teachers (T29) said,” We hope to have a teacher-
mentor system as a continued way and not as a fad which will come and go. If this
method of strengthening our teaching practices stays, we will benefit consistently and
not for this one reading fluency program.” Another teacher (T10) said, “this level-wise
progression to teach Marathi reading taught by PPP should continue for students so
that poor reading levels which are less than age-appropriate will no longer be a problem
in government schools.” If, after the PPP tenure, the cadre of teacher mentors is
dissolved, it would be just an experiment and the resources time and expertise in
training the mentors by PNGEs would be lost. This PPP helps develop an
internal cadre of teacher mentors and it is the first time that for the capacity
building of teachers government and PNGE’s are working at a large scale with
joint ownership, the teachers' perception based on their experience of other
NGOs forgotten efforts is an essential indication of the need to institutionalize
the process. The failure of institutionalization in PPP is succinctly dealt with by
Kumar, K. (2008), where he says that it only leads to joint ownership but does
not allocate tasks or institutionalize the learnings.
4.3 (a) 2. Planned systemic buy-in
A few teachers felt that while PPP was much more professional teachers, they
thought that any program however good, should be intimated at least in the
previous year. Also, all stakeholders including HM, supervisors, union, parents,
students, should be aware of and co-own the process. A teacher (T5) said, “In the

32
past, many NGOs conducted sessions directly with students, a few gave us free
resources, and they could reach a limited school for a short while, hope this is going to be
different and long term.” Another teacher(T44) said, “This PPP is different as the
teacher members are selected teachers from within our school system; all we need is
blessings from seniors to implement the new learnings. Our success will largely depend
on support from our seniors in the system.” Earlier, various NGOs have worked in
few schools by only taking the permission of the school headmaster. However,
when the NGO withdrew support, the changes brought by them were forgotten
due to no systemic buy-in from the education department, supervisors, local
politicians, or other stakeholders in the system. In his in-depth paper on PPP
Paradox, Gopalan, P. (2013) has also pointed out the perils of not getting the
systemic buy-in.
4.3 (a) 3. Accountability
Another important theme that most teachers shared (though in undertones) was
two-way accountability. One teacher (T30) said, “ We are learning how to optimize
the time with students by addressing students from all reading levels, it would be nice if
our administrative workload is exempted on the day of training, we should not be called
back for any official work.” Another critical recommendation from one teacher
(T26) was, “when three teachers share one level each (among 1,2,3) while teaching
reading fluency, each one should teach the students from other classes sincerely and this
does not always happen. Without ownership and accountability from all teachers, the
reading level in each category will forever remain skewed. The teachers spoke about
the accountability of their peers to teach with same sincerity and almost all of
them said that they were saddled with administrative work, the PNGE partners
implored on the accountability of government stating that even when there is
transfer of senior officials the practice should continue seamlessly without a
change in schedule or planned commitment. Most teachers said that at the last
minute, the administrative officer of their respective cluster sends an order to
them to attend another meeting instead of PPP training scheduled on that day,
which they cannot refuse. It is similar to the paper on the futility of PPP by
Kumar K (2008), where he argues that to increase the efficiency of government
more inefficiency is generated; authority remains the same, but accountability
towards the work is given to non -government partner.
5. Conclusions and Recommendations
This study highlights the importance of teachers’ voices; hence we recommend

that instead of idolizing, patronizing or criticizing the teachers, their views
should be duly taken into consideration before any change intervention in
schools. The study reveals the bureaucratic and systemic nexus within the
educational eco-system. The researchers caution that it is not enough to only
subject the teachers to a multitude of programs as a captive audience and they
recommend the availability of options like lengthy or modular or granular
programs that are not one size fits for all (Diaz-Maggioli, G. 2003). The study
also revealed that there is very less focus on teachers as the co-authors of their
own professional development and therefore, there is a need to assimilate their

33
views, assess their needs, perceptions and elicit their active involvement from
design to the implementation phase of capacity building through PPP. Teachers
found PPP based training far more effective and professional than regular
training by the government. The lack of policy on systemic support on teaching
-learning practices (Knapp, 2003) are evident in this PPP based initiative and
there should be a periodic review of trainings conducted and class room
implementation without any bureaucratic hinderances.The accountabilities
should be co-owned by both the partners otherwise, this intervention, may also
be forgotten. Since this PPP is already operational at a scale in the last two years,
with optimum results of capacity building this model can potentially be
replicated in other districts. Based on this study of government school teachers,
inputs from teacher mentors, PNGEs, DIET trainers working at the ground level,
the researchers recommend that along with capacity-building efforts, the teacher
selection, assessment, and accreditation standards of government schools need
to be revamped. The study reveals a need to committedly drive one change at a
time. The research is also a pointer to Local government to prohibit arbitrary
orders to not allow teachers to attend pre-planned PPP training. PNGEs face
resistance from teacher union members who do not even allow a third-party
assessment of their teaching practice. A constructive dialogue with union
teachers is recommended, as, few union teachers who were interviewed had
unaddressed grievances and feared privatization. Therefore, taking them on
board is required with a demarcation of responsibilities, to pave the way for a
seamless and impactful PPP training.
5.1. Limitations of the study
Due to the space limitation the present study does not provide a
comparative analysis of the perceived relevance of teachers for the
government’s DIET training with PPP based training and therefore may
seem to be unidimensional.
5.2. Directions for future research
Researchers hope that this study would help policy makers, educationists,
PNGEs and future researchers to delve deeper into real issues from ground for
sustainable improvement in capacity building endeavors. The findings could be
used to foster the advocacy for deep-rooted policy changes and pave way for
more research on How best to build the teachers capacity with systemic
involvement? Whose onus is capacity building of government school teachers?
Should mutual accountabilities in PPP be defined perfunctorily by MOU as
present scenario or be prescribed by policy or should the partnership be a
project management exercise transacted professionally?
Finally, this paper recommends the PPP stakeholders to synergize their

respective strengths of ‘Elephant’ (government) and ‘Horse’ (PNGEs); otherwise,
the differences may lead to unsustainable results.

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Notes:
1. NCF1: the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher
Education (NCFTE) 2009 is a government entity to suggest changes for
the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)
2. NUEPA2: National University of Educational Planning and
Administration (NUEPA) was established towards the universalization
of quality education.
3. NPE3: National Policy of Education (NPE3,1986)- As per Wikipedia, The
National Policy on Education (NPE) is formulated by the government to
promote education. The successive policies are applicable for elementary
education to colleges in both rural and urban India. Recently draft NPE
2019 has also been published.
4. PISA4- Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), is the
international scholastic test for students introduced by the Organization
for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) once in three years.
India ranked 72nd among the 74 countries that participated in 2009.Since
then there has been a reluctance to participate in PISA.
5. ASER5(Annual Status of Education Report), is an annual survey to
conduct learning levels of students since 2005. The students from the 5th
standard in government schools, who were able to read 2nd standard
book has been around 41.1% in successive years. The latest ASER 2018
reveals a slightly higher 44.2% of the standard five students can read 2nd
standard book which is not commendable.
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38

Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 38-59, January 2020
Constructivist Learning and the Law of Sines in

Advanced 10th Grade Geometry Textbooks in
Vietnam
Ngoc-Giang Nguyen
Banking University of Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Huyen - Trang Pham

Faculty of Primary Education, Hanoi Pedagogical University
Phuc Yen city, Vinh Phuc Province, Vietnam
Abstract. The law of Sines is the law that appears much in mathematics
in particular and in science in general. The law of Sines allows us to
calculate the length of the remaining sides and angles when we know
three of the six elements of the side or angle of a triangle. This law,
along with the law of Cosines, are the first two laws, the most important
when one wants to build a trigonometric system. In Vietnam, they teach
the law of Sines in Geometry 10 program, including the Basic and
Advanced sections. Constructivist learning is one of the theories of the
teaching process based on Piaget's psychology generating awareness
and Vygotsky's operation theory. There are many different views on
constructivist learning. All of these points of view agree that this is a
positive teaching method, promoting the internal strengths of learners.
In other words, this is a learner-centered teaching method. Although the
law of the Sines function is important, there are not many documents
that mention how to teach the law of Sines effectively. The paper
examines the combination of the constructivist learning method and the
law of Sines as well as the relationship between mathematics and other
fields expressed through this law.
Keywords: Law of Sines; Constructivist learning; the real problem;

Informatics; Physics
1. Introduction
The content of the constructivist theory has existed for a long time. According to
Husen, T., & Postlethwaite, TN (1989), the content of the constructivist theory
appeared in Giambattista Vico's De antiquissima Italorum Sapientia in 1710. He
thought that "to know something means to know what parts it is made of and
how they have been put together.” In modern psychology, Mark Baldwin (1861-
1934) and Jean Piaget (1896-1980) first developed the concept of cognitive

39
construction. Among the pioneers of the development of the constructivist

theory, Jean Piaget is one of the most knowledgeable about the constructivist
theory. According to Jean Piaget, the cognitive structure develops gradually in
the process of a subject adapting to the environment. That adaptation starts at
birth as a result of natural physiological development and experience of
environmental exposure. Children transform and develop structures to function,
think, and perceive the world, so they become more and more sophisticated
with age. (Tran, T. M. L, 2012)
This cognitive structure develops according to a dual process, the assimilation

process, and the accommodation process (Tran, T. M. L, 2012). The process of
assimilation is the process of transforming new knowledge by the existing
cognitive structure, so that the subject can rely on old knowledge to solve new
situations. It is necessary to fully exploit the students' existing knowledge and
experience related to the knowledge to teach as the basis for creating new
knowledge. In particular, it is necessary to identify the "input" as the knowledge
and experience that students know, analyze the "black box" as thinking
manipulations such as: analysis and synthesis, generalization, analogy,
systematizing knowledge to build a process of organizing learning activities for
students. The process of accommodation is the process of transforming new
knowledge when it is different from the existing cognitive structure, forcing the
subject to change the cognitive structure to suit the new knowledge. In doing so,
we need to exploit misconceptions (or inadequacies) of students as a basis for
designing learning activities, thereby building a process of organizing learning
activities for students. Thus, the assimilation process leads to the growth of old
knowledge structures, which is the process of dealing with new information of
the environment in the form of pre-existing thinking, while the process of
accommodation creates the development of new knowledge structure and the
process which the subject transforms the previous cognitive structure according
to the interactions with the environment. (Tran, T. M. L, 2012)
The second person that we cannot help but mention when studying
Constructivism is Vygotsky. He is regarded as the father of the zone of proximal
development (ZPD) theory. According to Vygotsky, teaching is the origin of
newness in development and unity with the old. Teaching always needs to be
ahead of development (teaching pulls development along with you). The
teaching process is carried out through the individual psychological
characteristics of students. Vygotsky acknowledged that "Teaching, in one way
or another, must be appropriate to the child's developmental level, which is a
fact discovered by experience and tested over and over again, undeniable. ”.
(Vu, T. N, 2014)
Vygotsky said that the child development process often takes place at two levels
of the present level and the zone of proximal development. The present level is
the level at which the psychological functions have reached maturity, and in the
zone of proximal development, the psychological functions are maturing but not
yet mature. In practice, the current level of performance is expressed by children
independently solving tasks without any help from the outside, and the zone of

40
proximal development is shown in the situation when children complete the

task when there are cooperation and help from others, and they cannot do it
themselves. Thus, two levels of child development represent two degrees of
maturity at different times. At the same time, they are always in motion: the
zone of proximal development today will become the current level tomorrow,
and the new zone of proximal development will appear. (Tran, T. M. L, 2012)
Many people have studied constructivist learning. For example, Jones, M. G., &
Brader-Araje, L (2002), Husen, T., & Postlethwaite, T. N (1989) studied the
impact of constructivism on Education which are language, discourse, and
meaning. Olusegun, B. D (2015), Sjoberg, S (2007) referred to a paradigm for
teaching and learning of constructivist learning theory. Matinez-Delgado, A
(2000) gave to the radical constructivism. Suhendi, A., & Purwano, P (2018).
Koohang, A., Riley., L., & Smith, T (2009) determined e-learning and
contructivism. Mogashoa, T (2014) researched the applicability of the
constructivist theory in qualitative educational research. Ramsook, L., &
Thomas, M (2016) referred to constructivist-linking theory with the practice
among pre-service teachers at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. Ayaz, M.
F., & Sekerci, H (2015), Maheshwari, G., & Thomas, S (2017), Bhattacharjee, J
(2015), Le, T. L. H., Luu, T. T., & Nguyen, T. L. A (2016), Doan, T. K. N., &
Hoang, T. M. T (2016) explored the effects of the constructivist learning
approach. Nguyen, T. T., & Dang, T. X (2013) used the Google Sites tool to set up
a website to boost students' self-study ability on the constructivist theory.
Nguyen, D. N., & Manyvanh Inthavorigsa (2018) talked about teaching the
constructivist topic "primitive - integral" in high schools of the People's
Democratic Republic of Laos. Truong, T. H (2011) discussed testing and
assessing the formation process of Vietnamese knowledge in High School from
the perspective of the constructivist theory. Nguyen, T. H (2013) knew how to
apply the constructivist theory in teaching Education at pedagogical schools.
Tran, V. D (2015) presented a constructivist theory that underpins collaborative
learning. Pham, V. H (2016) referred to the practical lesson design skills of the
constructivist theory of elementary pedagogical students. Nguyen, T. T., Hoang,
T. P., & Tran Trung Ninh (2014) studied the development of the ability to apply
knowledge into practice for students by applying the constructivist theory to
teaching chemistry 10.
Although there have been many studies on teaching with the constructivist
theory and teaching the law of Sines, there have not been any researches on
teaching the law of Sines by the constructivist theory. In this paper, we study
how to teach the law of Sines according to the constructivist theory in Vietnam
in this article.
2. Content
2.1. Teaching according to the constructivist theory
Currently, there are many different views on the constructivist theory. The
constructivist theory states that the learners' knowledge, skills, and competences
are not an "empty box" for teachers to teach what they want to. The teacher only

41
imparts knowledge to the learners based on the existing knowledge base on the
learners' experience. Learners only acquire when connecting new knowledge
and their life experiences. The close relationship between new and old
knowledge is systematically arranged, then the new knowledge is valuable to
use and remember longer.
“Constructivism is not a theory about teaching… it is a theory about knowledge, and

learning…the theory defines knowledge as temporary, development, socially and
culturally mediated and thus, non-object” (Brooks & Brooks, 1993, p. vii)
“Constructivist allege that it is we ho constitute or construct, based on our theorizing or

experience, the allegedly observable items postulated in our theories.” (Nola, 1998)
“Knowledge, no matter how it is defined, is in the heads of person and that the thinking
subject has no alternative but to construct what he or she knows based on of his or her
own experience.” (Glasersfeld, 1992)
From the above points of view, we propose the concept of the constructivist theory as
follows: Constructivism is the process by which subjects perform assimilation and
accommodation activities, to establish new knowledge based on old knowledge. This
process of establishment is not a process of mechanical establishment. Still, the process of
a subject perceiving, eliminating outdated, inappropriate, and inheriting the core,
nature, correct, thereby adjusting, developing experience and available capacity to
receive knowledge and build new knowledge for himself or herself. The process of
establishment is not only the discovery but also the explanation and the structure of the
new experience to receive, or it is the process of adaptation and evolution. This process is
both personal and public.
2.2. The process of learning according to the constructivist theory
(Bui, V. N, 2009)
3. An Illustrative example of applying the constructivist theory to

teaching the law of Sines
For a constructivist teaching method to succeed, a teacher must create learning
situations that stimulate students' interest in learning. That understanding must
be received by learners in a positive, proactive, and creative manner. Learners
must discover knowledge by themselves, not passively learn from the
environment. Learners both act as instructors, leading the problem to help
students confirm the correctness. Depending on the specific teaching content,

42
specific teaching subjects, teachers give students different learning tasks.

Students interact with each other to create an atmosphere, both personal and
socia,l in the classroom.
Bui, V. N. (2009) provided the following steps for designing and implementing a
constructivist teaching lesson:
Here we will illustrate how to teach a math problem through the law of Sines.
- Step 1. Select teaching content

Teacher: Our teaching content is the law of Sines.
- Step 2. Design a constructivist situation
Teacher: Please see the following problem.
Example 1
A person is sitting on a train from station A to station B. When the train was at
station A, through binoculars, he saw a high-voltage pole C. The direction of his
view to the high-voltage pole created with the path of the train at an angle of
60 . When the train was at station B, the person looking back could still see the
tall voltage column C, the view from that person to the high voltage pole created
in the opposite direction of the train's path at an angle of 45 . Given that the
railway section that connects Station A with Station B is 8 km long. What is the
distance from station A to tower C? (Doan, Q., et al. 2019)
Teacher: To find the distance from A to C tower we need to solve the problem of
finding the side AC when we know the edge AB; angle
C = 180 − 60 − 45 = 75 ; angle B = 45 .
- Steps 3 & 4. Design questions, activities and guide students to participate in the
constructivism.
Teacher: Draw the triangle ABC in example 1, measure the lengths of the edges,
the angles, and then fill in the following table:
A a a B b b C c c
sin A sin B sin C

43
Students: We do not know how to draw and measure shapes on GeoGebra

software.
Teacher: I will draw and measure BC on GeoGebra software as follows.
- Draw a line AB with a length of 8.
- Draw the rays AC and BC so that BAC = 60  ; ABC = 45.
- Hide unnecessary routes.
- Measure angle A, sides AC and BC.
We have the following table:
A a a B b b C c c
sin A sin B sin C
60 7.17 8.28 45 5.86 8.28 75 8 8.28
a b c
Teacher: What do you think about the quantities , , ?
sin A sin B sin C
Students: These quantities are equal.
Teacher: Can you show that the triangle ABC has
a b c
= = ?
sin A sin B sin C
Student: We haven't found a way to prove it yet.

a b
Teacher: If = , then, a2 sin2 B is equal to b2 sin2 A or not?
sin A sin B
Students: Yes.
Teacher: If a2 sin 2 B = b2 sin 2 A , then, a 2 − a 2 sin 2 B − (b 2 − b 2 sin 2 A) is equal

to a 2 − b 2 ?
Students: Yes.
Teacher: Put the common factor of the expression
a 2 − b 2 = a 2 − a 2 sin 2 B − (b 2 − b 2 sin 2 A)?

44
Student:
a 2 − b2 = a 2 − a 2 sin 2 B − (b 2 − b 2 sin 2 A)
= a2 (1 − sin 2 B) − b2 (1 − sin 2 A)
= a 2 cos 2 B − b2 cos 2 A
= ( a cos B − b cos A)( a cos B + b cos A).
Teacher: Use the law of Cosines to calculate a cos B − b cos A; a cos B + b cos A ?
Student: I calculate the following:
c 2 + a2 − b2 b2 + c 2 − a2 a2 − b2
a cos B − b cos A = − = ;
2c 2c c
c 2 + a2 − b2 b2 + c 2 − a2
a cos B + b cos A = + = c.
2c 2c
Teacher: So ( a cos B − b cos A)( a cos B + b cos A) = ?
a2 − b2
Student: ( a cos B − b cos A)( a cos B + b cos A) = .c = a 2 − b 2 .
c
Teacher: Please deduce the solution.
Student: Suppose that a, b, c are three sides and A , B , C are three angles
respectively with three sides a, b, c. Applying the law of Cosines, we have:
b2 + c 2 − a2
a2 = b2 + c 2 − 2bc cos A  b cos A = (1).
2c
a2 + c 2 − b2
b = a + c − 2ac cos B  a cos B =
2 2 2
(2).
2c
From (1) and (2) we have:
c 2 + a2 − b2 b2 + c 2 − a2 a2 − b2
a cos B − b cos A = − = ;
2c 2c c
c 2 + a2 − b2 b2 + c 2 − a2
a cos B + b cos A = + = c.
2c 2c
a2 − b2
So ( a cos B − b cos A)( a cos B + b cos A) = .c = a 2 − b 2 .
c
a cos B − b cos = a (1 − sin B) − b (1 − sin 2 A)
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
Or:
= a2 − b2 + b2 sin 2 A − a2 sin 2 B = a2 − b2 .
a b
Therefore: a 2 sin 2 B = b 2 sin 2 A . Inferred: a sin B = b sin A  = .
sin A sin B
a b c
Similarly, we have the formula: = = .
sin A sin B sin C

45
- Step 5. Validation, consolidation of new knowledge, new skills.

Teacher: Say the law of Sines:
a b c
Student: For every triangle ABC, we have: = = .
sin A sin B sin C
Teacher: Let's return to example 1. Do you know the length of the edge AB?
Student: AB = 8
Teacher: What about angles C , B ?
Student: C = 180 − 60 − 45 = 75 ; B = 45.
Teacher: Please use the law of Sines to prove the problem.
Student: I demonstrate the problem as follows:
Take a look at the triangle ABC. We have

C = 180 − (60 + 45 ) = 75 .
b c
Applying the Law of Sines to the triangle ABC, we get = .
sin B sin C
sin 45
Inferred b = 8 .  6 ( km).
sin 75
So the distance from Station A to Tower C is approximately 6km.
Teacher: Please apply the law of Sines to solve the following similar problem:
Example 2
In the figure, there is a ship moored at position C on the sea, and there are two
people at observation positions A and B 500 meters apart. They measured CAB
angle of 87  and CBA angle of 62 . Calculate the distances AC and BC (Doan,
Q., et al. 2019)

46
Student: I solve the problem as follows:

We have C = 180 − 87 − 62 = 31 .
BC AC AB
Applying the Law of Sines to the triangle ABC, we get = = .
sin A sin B sin C
500 AC BC 500.sin 62
Or = = . So AC =  857 ( m).
sin 31 sin 62 sin 87 sin 31
500.sin 87
Similarly: BC =  969 (m).
sin 31
Teacher: Please solve the same problem in physics as follows:
Example 3
A bus named B moves steadily with a speed of v1 = 54km / h. A passenger
named A is at a distance from the bus a = 400m , and at a distance from
d = 80m, to take the bus. Which direction and what minimum speed does he
have to run to catch the bus? (Bui, Q. H., et al. 2003)
Teacher: Call C the position of the car and the person meeting; the velocity the
person runs to meet the bus is v 2 ; t is the time from the start of the run until
the moment when he or she meets the bus. Can you show AC, BC in v1 , v2 and
t ?
Student: AC = v2 .t ; BC = v1 .t.
Teacher: If we apply the law of Sines to the triangle ABC, what do we get?
v t v t sin 
Student: 2 = 1  v2 = . v1 . Inferred v 2 has minimum value with
sin  sin  sin 
d
 = 90 ; ( v2 )min = sin  .v1 = v = 10,8 ( km / h).
a 1
Teacher: Please complete the solution to the problem.
Student:
Suppose that C is the location of the meeting. AC = v2 .t ; BC = v1 .t.

Apply the law of Sines to the triangle ABC:
v2 t v t sin 
= 1  v2 = .v.
sin  sin  sin  1

47
Inferred v 2 has the minimum value with  = 90 ;

d
( v2 )min = sin  .v1 = v = 10,8 ( km / h).
a 1
Teacher: The following is another example that illustrates the law of Sines in
physics similar to example 3.
Example 4
A taxi moves straightly on the road with a speed of v1 = 16 m / s. A passenger
stands 60 meters from the road. This person saw the taxi at a time when the
vehicle was about b = 400 meters away.
a. Which direction must the person run to get to the way at the same time or
before the cab gets there? Given that the average human speed is v2 = 4 m / s.
b. If he wants to meet the vehicle at the lowest speed, which direction does he
have to run? What is the smallest velocity? (Le, V. V, 2018)
Teacher: Please use the solution shown in example 3 to find the answer to this
problem.
Student: I solve the problem as follows.
a) The direction of the person running to meet the bus.
Assume  is an angle formed by the direction of the person to the vehicle and
the path the a person must run;  is the angle formed by the direction the
person running and the direction of the car (figure).
Applying the law of Sines to the triangle ABC, we have:

sin  sin  AC
=  sin  = sin 
AC AB AB
with
a a vt a
AB = b; AC = v1t1 ; BC = v2t2 ; sin  = =  sin  = 1 1 . (1)
BC v2t2 b v2 t 2
If the person arrives before the vehicle does: t2  t1 (2)

48
16t1 60 0,6t1
Inferred sin  = . = (1')
400 4t2 t2
Inferred sin   0,6  36 45'    143 15' .
So to meet the bus he has to run in the direction that creates with the path from
the person to the car at an angle of 36 45' to 143 15'.
b) The minimum speed for the person to meet the vehicle.
For the person to meet the vehicle at the lowest speed t 2 = t1 and sin  = 1.
v1 a a 60
Inferred . = 1  v2 = v2min = v1 = .16 = 2, 4 ( m / s).
b v2 b 400
So the minimum running speed for the person to meet the vehicle is
v2 = 2, 4 ( m / s) , and the direction then is perpendicular to the direction
min
where he or she sees the car.

Teacher: Another problem similar to example 4 is the following:
Example 5
The car I starts from point A running on straight line AB with a velocity of v1 .
At the same time, car II starts at point C, which is a segment L away from A,
with a speed of v 2 to reach car I. Given that the segment AC creates with CH
line at an angle  .
a) Which way does car II have to travel to meet car I and how long does it take to
reach car I?
b) Find conditions for two vehicles to meet at H (Le, V. V, 2018)
Teacher: Please solve this problem.
Student: I've solved the problem as follows.
a) Time for two vehicles to meet is:

Suppose two vehicles meet at point E after time t.

49
v1 AE
We have: AE = v1t and CE = v2t. Inferred = (1)
v2 CE
Applying the law of Sines to the triangle ACE, we have:
sin(90 −  ) sin 
= (2)
CE AE
From (1) and (2) we have: v1 sin(90 −  ) = v2 sin   v1 cos  = v2 sin  (*)
So car II must go in the direction of CE and create with AC an angle  with

( v1 cos  )
sin  = .
v2
Condition: v1 cos   v2 .
The projections of v 1 and v2 down to AC are v1 sin  and v2 cos  .
L
Time t needed for vehicle II to meet vehicle I is: t = .
v1 sin  + v2 cos 
v1 cos  L sin 
From (*), we infer v2 = , we get t = .
v1 cos( −  ) v1 cos( −  )
b) For two cars to meet at H, we must have  =  , then from (*) we conclude
v1 L sin  L cos 
tan  = and t = = .
v2 v1 v2
Teacher: Please continue to come to the law of Sines through the following
practical problem:
Example 6
An object with mass m = 2kg is hung by two inelastic ropes that intersect with
the vertical direction at angles of 70 and 30 respectively (figure).
Determine the tension of each rope. Take g = 10 m / s 2 . (Bui, Q. H., et al. 2003)
Teacher: The object with mass m hanging at O is in equilibrium. The equilibrium
O point is affected by three forces: T1 , T2 tension forces and weight P of object m.
The forces of T1 , T2 and T are in balance with P. Can you use the law of Sines
to solve the problem?

50
Student: I have solved the problem as follows:

The object with mass m hangs at O in equilibrium. The equilibrium O point is
affected by 3 forces: T1 , T2 tension forces and weight P of object m. The
synergies T1 , T2 and T are in balance with P.
Applying the law of Sines the triangle, we have:

T T1 T2

= 
= ,
sin 80 sin 30 sin 70
here T = P , so:
sin 30 sin 30
T1 = P. = 2.10.  10 N .
sin 80 sin 80
sin 70 sin 70
T2 = P. = 2.10.  19 N .
sin 80 sin 80
Teacher: the law of Sines also has many applications in informatics. The
following example is an illustration of drawing shapes by the law of Sines on
GeoGebra software that helps accurately find the shape of the locus.
Example 7
An angle with two sides always passes through two fixed given points A and B
and has a size equal to a given-  , prove that the set of vertices is two arcs.
Teacher: Drawing shapes and finding the set of vertices for this problem is a
difficult problem of dynamic geometry software. Here we will use the law of
Sines. We draw shapes as follows:
Step 1. Drawing shapes
- Draw angle xIy with the magnitude  .
- Draw a circle- (O; a) , which a is the length of some line.
- Draw an M-point on (O).
- Draw the OM beam.
- Draw a line d passing through A and parallel to the OM beam.
- Draw Ot ray on d so that Ot has the same direction as OM ray.
AB
- Calculate .sin BAt = m.
sin 
- Draw a circle ( B; m) to cut Ot ray at a point P , we have APB =  .
- Hide unnecessary routes.
Step 2. The locus

- Trace point P, move point M, we obtain the set of points A, which are two
symmetrical arcs through AB. (Nguyen, N. G, 2010)

51
Comment
AB BP AB
We have = . Or BP = .sin BAP. From that, we have a way to draw
sin  sin BAP sin 
the shapes as above.
We prove it as follows
The compliance
We will show that the set of vertices is two symmetrical arcs through A, B and
remove two points A, B.
Indeed, draw AQB =  , so
AQB = ABC (or equal to ABC ') = APB (or equal to AP ' B) , so the four points
A, B, P (or P' ) and Q are on the same circle (the two triangles share the same
bottom and have the equal angles respectively) ).
So Q is on APB arc (or AP ' B arc), but cut off two points A and B.
The reciprocity
Teacher: Read and prove yourself as homework.
Teacher: Above is an application of the law of Sines in informatics. Come home
and find other applications of the law of Sines yourself.
4. Pedagogical experiments
4.1. Experimental purposes
Pedagogical experiments were performed to test the feasibility and effectiveness
of the teaching method of Sines function law according to the constructivist
theory by us.

52
4.2. Organization and experimental content

4.2.1. Experimental organization
Pedagogical experiments were performed at Phan Dang Luu High School, Binh
Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
+ Experimental class: 10C09.
+ Control class: 10C10
The Experimental period was performed from September to November 2018.
The teacher of the experimental class and control class: Do Thai Phuc.
With the consent of the Board of Directors of Phan Dang Luu High School, we
studied the results of the grade 10 classes of the school and found that the
general level of Math in both 10C09 and 10C10 classes are equivalent.
On that basis, we propose experiments in class 10C09 and take class 10C10 as a
control class.
School administrators, teachers of Mathematics team and 10C09 and 10C10
teachers accepted this proposal and facilitated us to conduct experiments.
4.2.2. Experimental content

The experiments were performed in the lessons on the scalar product of two
vectors. After the experiments, we have students take tests. The content of the
tests is as follows:
Test 1 (Time allotted: 15 minutes)
From the two positions A and B of a building, one observes mount C of the mountain
(figure).
Given that the height AB is 70m, the AC view intersects with the horizontal direction
of angle 30 , the BC view intersects with the horizontal direction of angle 15 30'. How
many meters high is the mountain above the ground?
The answer and the scale of the No. 1 test are as follows:
Answer Scale
From the hypothesis, we infer that the triangle ABC has: 2.5
 
CAB = 60 , ABC = 105 30', c = 70. points
C = 180 − ( A + B) = 180 − 165 30' = 14 30'.

b c 2.5
According to the law of Sines, we have: = , or points
sin B sin C
b 70
= .
sin 105 30' sin 14 30'

70 sin105 30'
So AC = b =  269, 4 ( m).
sin14 30'

53
2.5
Assume that CH is the distance from C to the ground. The right points
triangle ACH has the side CH opposite to the angle 30 , so
AC 269, 4
CH =  = 134,7 ( m).
2 2
So the mountain is about 135m high. 2.5

points
Test 2 (Time allotted: 20 minutes)

A person was standing at point M, a distance from straight road AB: h = 50 meters to
wait for a car. When he saw the car at point A, a distance from him: L = 200 meters, he
started running to the road to catch the vehicle as shown.
The velocity of the car is v1 = 10 m / s. The velocity of the person is v2 . Given that the
car and the person move straight and steadily.
a) If v2 = 5 m / s , which direction must the person run to catch the car (the person
comes to the road at the same time or before the vehicle gets there)?
b) In what direction do people have to run, so that v 2 is the smallest? What is the
minimum value v 2 ?
c) If the person wants to meet the car at H (MH perpendicular to AB), what speed of v 2
must that person have?
The answer and the scale of test 2 are as follows:
Answer Scale
a) The person's running direction when v = 5 m / s. 2 points
2
Call C the point where the person meets the car; t1 and t 2 are the
movement time of the vehicle and the person respectively.
Call  the angle by the direction of the person running with AM.
Applying the Law of Sines to the triangle AMC, we have:

54
sin  sin  AC
=  sin  = sin  with
AC MC MC
h h vt
AC = v1t1 ; MC = v2 t2 ; sin  =  sin  = . 1 1 (1)
L L v2 t 2
For the person to catch the car (the person arrives at C before or at the 2 points
same time as the vehicle):
t2  t1 (2).
h v1
From (1) and (2) we infer sin   . = 0, 5  30    150 .
l v2
b) The person's minimum running speed is 2 points
hv1t1
From (1), we conclude: v2 = (3)
Lt2 sin 
From (3) we conclude that v 2 is the smallest when t 2 is the largest 2 points
equal to t1 and sin  is the largest equal to 1.
hv1
Inferred v2 = = 2, 5 ( m / s); then  = 90 , i.e. MC is
min
L
perpendicular to AM.
c) The velocity of the person to meet the car at H. 2 points
MH v2t2 h v2 t 2
We have: tan  = =  = (4)
AH v1t1 L2 − h 2 v1t1
hv1
From (2) and (4), we have: v2 = 2, 58 ( m / s).
L2 − h 2
At that time, the person must run in the direction of MH.
4.3. The evaluation of experimental results

4.3.1. Qualitative evaluation
Before conducting the experiments:
- Students have difficulty in solving practical problems. The ability to associate
and connect knowledge is limited.
- Students do not know how to apply the law of Sines in solving physics
problems. The ability to integrate mathematics and physics is weak.
- The ability to incorporate mathematics and informatics is limited. Students
cannot find applications of the law of Sines in information technology.
After conducting the experiments:
- Students know how to apply the law of Sines in real math problems.
- Students know how to use the law of Sines in solving physics problems.
- Students are excited to find more examples of using the law of Sines in
predicting the shape of a set of points of locus problems.

55
4.3.2. Quantitative evaluation

The test results of experimental and control classes are shown through the
following two tables:
Table 1. The results of test 1
Score
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
Class
Experimental 1 3 8 8 5 6 4 2 37
Control 1 7 9 8 4 3 2 1 35
The experimental class has 91.89% of the students that score above average, of
which 45.95% of the students are quite good (points 7 or above) with two
students achieving perfect scores, four students scoring 9.
The control class has 77.14% of the students achieving an average score or above,
of which 28.57% of the students achieving a fairly good score (score of 7 or
above) 1 student with a perfect score, with two students achieving 9 points.
Table 2. The results of test 2

56
Score
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
Class
Experimental 1 1 7 6 5 7 6 4 37
Control 1 7 6 5 5 5 4 2 35
In the experimental class, 94.59% of the students score above average, and
59.46% of the students get good grades (7 or more), four students who get
perfect scores, six students who get 9 points.
The control class has 77.14% of the students achieving average scores or higher,
of which 45.71% of the students with good grades (7 or more), two students
achieving perfect scores, four students with 9 points.
Based on the test results, we can initially see the effectiveness of pedagogical
measures to train students the ability to learn the law of Sines according to the
constructivist theory that we have proposed and implemented in the experimental
process.

57
4.3.4. General conclusions about the experiments

The experimental process with the results obtained after the tests shows that the
experimental purpose has been made, the feasibility and effectiveness of the
measures have been confirmed. Implementing teaching methods of the law of Sines
in the constructivist theory, contributing to improving the efficiency of teaching
Maths for high school students.
5. Conclusion
Teaching the law of Sines according to the constructivist theory, helps promote
internal force of learners. Learners themselves take knowledge and deepen
knowledge development through two ways of assimilation and adaptation.
Adaptation helps learners gain new knowledge and assimilation helps learners
expand and develop new knowledge. The constructivist teaching method has
many outstanding advantages compared to the traditional teaching method.
That is the way to develop the learners' capacity. Learners are the center and
main subject of this teaching process. Teachers are just guides through suggested
questions to bring students to new knowledge. For the teaching process of
constructivist teaching to become vivid and attractive, in the step of designing
the situation, the teacher should choose a practical example to make students fall
in love with the lesson. The teacher then presents the obstacles that are teaching
phases. Each teaching phase has certain difficulties. Teachers absolutely should
not assign tasks that are too difficult for students, but rather moderate tasks in
the nearest developmental area of each student. If the task is too easy, the
student is not interested, but if the task is too high, the student wants to give up.
After bringing students to new knowledge, the teaching process there cannot be
stopped. Teachers need to dig deep, suggest analytic for them to expand the
problem, explore new developments from the initial problem. It is the process of
creativity and the highest thinking of all the thinking scales according to the new
Bloom rating scale.
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60

Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 60-73, January 2020
Empowering Learners with Role-Playing Game

for Vocabulary Mastery
Aam Ali Rahman

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Bandung, Indonesia
Anggi Angraeni
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Bandung, Indonesia
Abstract. The current issue of industrial revolution 4.0 in Indonesia

opens many opportunities for innovation in education. This
circumstance arouses researchers’ interest to create the most innovative
strategies and techniques in language learning, especially in teaching
vocabulary. It makes the use of computers as media inevitable. This
research dealt with the use of computer Role-Playing Game (RPG) as
vocabulary learning media. A quasi-experimental study was used to
analyse the effect of the media on students’ vocabulary mastery. This
research aimed to investigate the significant effect of RPG on students’
vocabulary mastery and also their responses toward the media.
Comparative analysis using t-test calculation was employed. It worked
with two groups: an experimental and a control group. The statistical
result was analysed, and supported by students’ responses toward the
game as a vocabulary learning tool, including its application in the
classroom activities. Based on the statistical result, the experimental and
control groups were significantly different. The experimental group
tended to have a better rating than the control group. It was supported
by the finding that students believed the media could force them to
implicitly learn vocabulary. To some extents, the RPG was sufficient to
develop students’ ability in mastering vocabulary.
Keywords: Language Learning; Role-Playing Game; Vocabulary

Mastery
1. Introduction
The common stereotype of people about vocabulary is a long list of words from
textbooks, spelling word lists, or even the multiple lists of terms to study for
examination only. This condition drives many researchers to innovate the
techniques to teach vocabulary. The most common way applied by teachers is
using flashcard, and it becomes an easy technique in mind. As a result, it may

61
create a common childhood experience of having to “go look up the words in the
dictionary, write the definition, and write a sentence using the terms,” but how
many of that words’ list remains.
More techniques come as alternatives to solve the issue. First is “Look and
Remember” technique. This technique asks students to typically stare to the
words and their definition, apparently trying to activate their super memory
they wish they had. Another technique is related to “word-rehearsing.” Students
are asked to say the terms over and over again in the exact language and format
with the original definition.
While both techniques are considerably effective to enhance students’
vocabulary mastery, compared to other considerably stronger techniques, “Look
and Remember,” and “Word-Rehearsing” seems seductive (Haycraft, 1993), it
works only for the short terms, and rarely results in sustained memory.
Nevertheless, related studies of vocabulary mastery (Bytheway, 2015; Diaz, 2015;
Naeimi & Foo, 2015; Teng, 2015) offer excellent ways to learn vocabulary. Those
studies promote that a meaningful context has to be applied to learn vocabulary,
and it stores to learners’ long-term memory using various methods of learning.
On the other words, vocabulary has to play as a set of meaningful experiences
for which students understand the new terms contextually and have an
opportunity to put them in different contexts. Hence, the stereotype definition of
vocabulary is gradually changing. It is not a series of words to learn but a series
of words used in contexts.
Therefore, an issue arises in applying the technique. Habitually, secondary
school teachers in Indonesia require their students to memorize the list of
vocabulary. It results to students who perform well in memorizing the list
consider having higher vocabulary mastery. It is believed that their scores in
vocabulary quizzes or unit tests are representing students’ vocabulary skills. Yet,
the actual test is whether they still remember the tested terms in a few months
later. If students cannot maintain and use those new terms, then the whole
teaching, learning, testing and exercising are critically a waste of time.
Even though specific and perfect techniques to teach vocabulary to students do
not exist, still, vocabulary is a basic communication and most likely plays as a
big problem for foreign language learners. In fact, more and more language
learners depend on dictionary and utilize it for further usage including
lexicographic quality (Lew & Szarowska, 2017). In consequence, considering
how important learning vocabulary for language learners, another technique to
learn new vocabulary terms is required.
Generally, every teaching and learning activity engages learning goals and
learning strategies for students and teachers (Suherdi, 2009). If learning goals
cannot be achieved, the analysis may only be referred to those elements. Either
the teachers apply unsuitable teaching technique or students who may lose
interest to learn.
In non-English spoken countries, like Indonesia, the chance of failure in
mastering vocabulary in higher, since learning vocabulary mostly takes place
only in class during English lessons. It results learners have a very limited time
to gain and to practice the new terms in the meaningful context. This condition

62
is quite impossible to eliminate, yet modifying the teaching techniques and

learning media may help them (Suherdi, 2009).
By combining meaningful teaching techniques and learning media, effective
learning can possibly dispel and reduce the failure of vocabulary learning. In
this case, creating well-made approaches, well-planned method and well-
applied techniques are required, so it can stimulate students to be active learners
in their own right (D. Brown, 2001; Cameron, 2010). Unfortunately, no single
formula exists to create meaningful and effective vocabulary teaching. The
instructional method has been researched to be an effective method to teach
vocabulary (McKeown, 2019), and the other promotes a novel method (He &
Godfroid, 2018).
Furthermore, besides learning media and teaching techniques, another factor
affecting successful vocabulary learning is students’ motivation. Learning
motivations along with learning strategies have a positive correlation with
grades (Zhang, 2018). It can be assumed that the more attractive and innovative
learning media is, the easier the students to learn vocabulary, and the more
interesting the media is the higher the motivation of students to learn it.
The use of technology in classroom activity changes students’ mind a lot. This
circumstance advance education application of the computer and phone that
provide rapid growing resources for language learning. Because of that, learning
language, especially learning vocabulary, has been developed to take advantage
of technology in the classroom. Hence, it promotes Computer-Assisted
Language Learning (CALL) (Beatty, 2003; Egbert, 2005). As learning media,
innovation in teaching techniques and students’ motivation are keys to
successful learning activities, a game is one way to work out the problems. The
game encourages, entertains, teaches and promotes fluency. It brings natural
native languages in a meaningful context.
Besides that, vocabulary mastery has been developed for a traditional classroom
type of learning using computers and phones. It offers the unique advantage of
learning, analysing and both the development of vocabulary knowledge and
usage. In particular, in Indonesia, a litter work has been carried out on
vocabulary mastery using a computer game which specifies for learning media
in the classroom. Some ethical restrictions to bring phones to the class avoid the
usage of media to the classroom activities. However, conducting teaching
activities in the computer laboratory offers an innovative and meaningful way of
teaching to students.
One appropriate computer game is applied for this study. The game has a visual
and verbal explanation of vocabulary. It offers examples that are comprehensive
enough for students to understand the term. The most important from all, the
game is Role-Playing typed Game (RPG) where the player roles as the main
character on the game. This RPG provides actual conversation and meaningful
action for the player. Thus, this computer RPG is chosen and utilized as a media
in the classroom vocabulary learning activities.
In sum, this study investigates the use of computer Role-Playing Game (RPG) to
enhance students’ ability in mastering vocabulary. By referring to the previous
research and theories, using computer Role-Playing Game in classroom learning

63
activities as a media can help students to develop their skill in mastering

vocabulary. Afterwards, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of
playing computer role-playing game to enhance students’ ability in mastering
vocabulary, and the response of participants toward the computer RPG as
vocabulary learning media.
2. Method
Research Design
This paper used quantitative analysis with a quasi-experimental design. The
design was chosen to test the hypothesis. In order to get the result, three groups
were involved. The first group was a try-out class. This try-out class was used to
test the instrument. The class was given 60 vocabulary questions in the form of
multiple choices. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Value was
used to find the instruments’ validity, and Kuder Richardson-20 to analyse the
reliability. The second group was a control group, and the last is an
experimental group. In addition, a questionnaire and interview were used to
triangulate the data.
Participants
The main prerequisite of population and sample for this study was participants
should know how to operate a computer, and to engage with it continually.
Furthermore, they should not have ever played the sample computer RPG
before. Thus, purposive sampling was chosen. The target population for this
study is homogeny population. Therefore, the same grade students in the same
school were gathered as participants.
Nevertheless, the number of participants in both the experimental and control
group were 20 students, two different tests were given; normal distribution and
homogeneity of variance. These tests aimed to identify the t-test suitability.
For further explanation, to test the validity and reliability of the instruments, a
try-out group which consists of 25 students were used. The experimental group
was given the chosen media and the control group learned vocabulary along
with normal classroom activities. Both the experimental and control groups were
treated in 10 class sessions.
Learning Media (The Computer RPG)

One of computer role-playing game was chosen as the vocabulary learning
media. The game was selected since it provides audio and visual aids for the
learners. This game was also produced and published in the English language.
Thus, the participants engage with the contextual English given by its native.
The game also provides subtitle for every utterance spoken by every character.
In this game, players control the main character and decide what the main
character will do. It makes players get a lot of opportunities to read. Reading

64
and comprehending the context and text are required to finish the game. The
example of the activities in the game can be seen on Picture 1.
Picture 1: The sample activities provided on the game (HeRInteractive, 2006)

Picture 1 shows how players engage with the selected game. This computer role-
playing game gives some tasks for the players to finish. Players cannot continue
the game if the tasks given cannot be fulfilled. All tasks require the players’
understanding of the context provided. Players may explore the environment
inside of the game to find the clues. Even, players may interact with other
characters in the game and ask questions by choosing the options provided.
Players may decide by their own to interact with any character in the game, and
choose their own preferred question to ask.
However, in this game, the questions have already prepared by the program, the
answers have also been programmed to repetitively give the same responses for
the same questions chosen by the players. Players cannot write their own
question, and cannot naturally interact with the characters in the game.
Generally, this computer role-playing game provides native English speakers to
dub the characters in the game. This game also gives the players to experience
more meaningful vocabulary terms applied in meaningful contexts. The
vocabulary terms provided in the game are considered a productive vocabulary
that can be used and reproduced in the daily conversation context. For those
reasons, this computer RPG was utilized as vocabulary learning media.
The Procedure of the Study

After three groups of the participants were chosen, a valid and reliable
vocabulary test was created. The test items were created by considering the
syllabus of targeted groups to create the learning goals, and eleven vocabulary
aspects: boundaries between conceptual meanings, polysemy, homophony,
homonymy, synonymy, affective meaning, style, register, dialect, translation,
chunks of language, the grammar of vocabulary and pronunciation (Lewis,
1993). Further, the targeted vocabulary terms were taken from part of the
conversations in the selected game.
The vocabulary test was given to both control and experiment groups as a pre-
test. This pre-test was used to check both class homogeneity. Afterwards, the

65
same vocabulary test item was tested to both control and experiment groups
after both groups treated in eight sessions of leaning. The result of the post-test
was analysed to check the effectiveness of the computer role-playing game to
enhance participants’ vocabulary mastery by comparing both control and
experiment groups using parametric t-test calculation.
Data Analysis
The concept of eleven vocabulary aspect from Lewis (1993), and high-school
English syllabus were used to comprehend the most suitable material for this
study, as the participants were high-school students. Those eleven vocabulary
aspects are boundaries between conceptual meaning, polysemy, homophony,
homonymy, synonymy, affective meaning, style, register, dialect, translation,
chunks of language, the grammar of vocabulary and pronunciation. Meanwhile,
the target words used as the instrument were taken from several conversations
existing in the computer role-playing game given. The chosen words are only
highlighted words requiring players to understand the meaning if not, they
cannot continue to play to the next scene.
To analyse the result, independent t-test was employed to see whether the mean
score of two independent groups differs to a statistically significant degree. The
result of the pre-test was used to test the normal distribution and homogeneity
of participants. The result of normal distribution data can be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The result of normal distribution test.
The vocabulary test using the developed instrument was applied to both control
and experiment groups to check whether both groups were normally distributed
in mastering vocabulary or not. Based on Figure 1, the result of pre-test analysis
using SPSS 18, both groups had a normal distribution range. The observed
values were forming in one straight diagonal line to expected normal value. In
other words, both control and experiment groups had normal distribution
participants. In addition, Barlet Formulae (Riduwan, 2004) was used to analyse
the groups’ homogeneity. The result can be seen in Table 1.

66
Table 1: The result of the homogeneity test for the pre-test.

Test
Group n
Chi-square t-test
Control 20
0.345575 0.688
Experiment 20
Significance level 0.05 0.05
Two different tests were used to check participant in both experiment and
control groups homogeneity. The score results of pre-test from both groups were
also used to analyse their homogeneity. Non-parametric calculation using chi-
square was used to check participants’ homogeneity, and it was supported by t-
test result. Table 1 shows that both control and experiment groups are
homogeneity.
The result of chi-square observed (0.345573) was lower compared to the chi-
square table (3.841) with the degree of freedom 1 and level of significance 0.05.
This result was similar when applying the t-test calculation. With the level of
significance 0.05 and degree of freedom 38, the result of the calculation was
0.688. The result felt below the t-table for those criteria (2.042).
On the other words, since both test result felt below the required, so it can be
said that statistically, there was no significant difference in term of mean scores
for both groups. It means the experiment group and the control group
considered had a similar level of vocabulary mastery before the treatments were
conducted to both groups. Further, the parametric calculation can be used to test
both experiment and control groups using non-directional t-test.
3. Finding and Discussion

The non-directional t-test was applied to the result of post-test. Since it
employed non-directional t-test, the hypothesis used was null-hypothesis: there
is no significant difference for both experiment and control groups after the
treatment. This null-hypothesis was used to overcome the expected research
outcome. It gave three option: to accept the result statistically; to negatively
reject the result; to positively reject the result. The result can be seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Curve of non-directional test for df=38≈30 and a=0.05

67
Based on Figure 2, it can be stated that with the level of significance 0.05, the t-
observed is 2.17864. This result falls positively above the t-critical for df=38≈30
(2.042). It means that the null-hypothesis is rejected. The t-observed felt positively
higher than t-critical. It means that the scores difference between the experiment
group and the control group is quite noticeable. The experiment group had
statistically higher scores compared to the control group after the eight sessions
with the different treatment applied. Thus, the computer role-playing game is
assumed successful to enhance students’ ability to master vocabulary. Further
discussion about the process and prejudices are provided in the following
discussion.
Improving New Vocabulary Terms Using Computer RPG

As it is shown in Figure 2, playing selected computer RPG is effective to develop
vocabulary mastery. The investigation of these improvements is related to
students’ tendency to implicitly learn without knowing it. It reduces students’
level of boredom. The degree of excitement is necessary for computer-based
learning material, particularly for young learners who have less motivation.
However, within the classroom environment, computers can help to motivate
through the organization of learning into game-like formats, or even the pure
game format.
10% 5%
35%
15% Very interesting
Interesting
35% Quite interesting
Boring
Very boring
Figure 3: Students’ opinion about playing computer RPG
The data in Figure 3 is taken from the questionnaire given to participants in the
experiment group. More than half of the group believe that playing computer
RPG is interesting, and they love to have the game as part of classroom activity.
Participants in the experiment group find it joyful to play compared to the usual
teaching and learning activity since there is no pressure to learn. Furthermore,
playing the game also offer amusement and different environment in the
classroom.

68
In contrast, students who found it boring argued that the game actually offered
great entertainment, but they believed it should be used in the classroom
activity. They assumed playing game may result in laziness, and affects their
motivation when the game is no longer played. Some believed that playing the
game should not be for learning, but it was only suitable for leisure time.
In learning vocabulary, phycological condition of learners affects the way the
terms stored in learners’ memory (Nation, 2012). The more students enjoy the
activity, the better understanding of new terms can achieve. The integrated
theory of computer-assisted language learning or CALL with games may result
in supportive learning factors and meaningful context, even it can provide an
actual context in the virtual world. Integrating game with computer-assisted
language learning provides fun learning, more attention span, more stimulated
and motivated, get to use language and involve a lot of repetitions. Those
advantages simultaneously result from process variable in the classroom and
learning activities that can create a long term effect on players in simple ways.
In non-CALL environment and teaching using multimedia, a teacher tends to be
the centre of information, so the learning result is too dependent on the teachers’
experiences; formative, training and teachers’ properties. However, in the
adapted model of integrating game to CALL environment, teachers are no
longer the centre of information, yet the collective experiences of material
developers become the source of information.
By having English native developers and producers for the media uses in
English language learning environment, it provides sources that are more
realistic to the context of English. The expression, the pronunciation and the
naturalness of the English language can be provided in the classroom by non-
native teachers of English. The role of teachers in this integrated CALL
environment is to creatively analyse the suitable type of game to apply.
Computer role-playing games as vocabulary learning media owns information
structured on a series of level encouraging readers to operate various levels, at
any point, to delve deeper into the explanation. Thus, the media should provide
the highest level of revised bloom taxonomy offered (Adesoji, 2018). For an
instant, when a program presents thematic vocabulary, the learners might be
allowed to follow more explanation to more complex expression uses in
vocabulary learning. Such programs might also ask students to recall
information and able to apply what they have learnt to the new meaningful
context.
Meanwhile, another significant point for students when learning vocabulary is
learners’ memory. Many types of games can help the teachers to put new terms
in learners’ memory easy and long-term (Marzano, 2005). In playing the game,
learners found some intricacies to do the next steps because of a lack of
vocabulary understanding. However, it becomes an effective strategy to activate
learners’ meta-learning skill. Learners force themselves to find the intended
vocabulary terms.
Several tendencies of self-learning within participants when playing the game
indicate that every participant actually is able to activate their meta-learning
skill if they want. From the questionnaire result, generally, there are three ways

69
to solve and to learn new vocabulary terms explicitly. On the other words, the
game gives them the motivation to open a dictionary, to ask their friends and to
guess the meaning based on the context. It can be seen in Figure 4.
55%
60%
40% 15% 20%
10%
20%
0%
Opeing Asking Guessing Asking
dictionary friends from the teacher
context
Figure 4: Students’ effort to understand new vocabulary terms

In Figure 4, most of the learners prefer opening the dictionary, in total, 90% of
participants chose their own ways to understand the new vocabulary terms.
Only 10% of participants asked the teachers. This circumstance indicates that
learners’ motivation during the application of playing computer RPG increases
as they enjoy the process of vocabulary learning through the media.
Those efforts are the main point of vocabulary self-learning, and by doing self-
learning. This self-learning can crate long-term memory (Cameron, 2010).
Furthermore, the main issue in teaching vocabulary is that learners only need to
know a few words and a small part of the word that can be dealt with at any one
time (Nation, 2012). In other words, if learners think that they need to learn the
new vocabulary terms, they will learn it, and vice versa. Because of that, teachers
should realize that learners will not learn unless they believe they need it.
In this case, a computer role-playing game offers a portrait of life where players
can experience themselves as they do conversation and adventures in the game.
Players also interact with other artificial characters and doing and acting the
natural conversation. Nation (2012) considers this circumstance as a productive
vocabulary. Implicitly, participants are experiencing not only new terms but also
how to use them; in what context and how to link them with other terms to
build meaningful contexts.
The Significance of the computer RPG effects on Students’ vocabulary

mastery
As it was stated in Figure 2, the level of significance used for this study is 0.05.
Factors affecting this result are assumed to be fun factors, exploratory learning
with large amounts of language data, individualization, various learning styles
and resources and real-life skill-building (H. D. Brown & Lee, 2015).
Meanwhile, the data gathered that 65% of students can still memorise the new
terms they got after finishing the game (8 sessions). Vocabulary learning using
diagrams, pictures or other various media can help learner memorising the new
terms better (Cameron, 2010). By having those various media, fun factors during

70
vocabulary learning help learners to memorise the new terms. In this case,
playing the computer role-playing game only has less possibility to effectively
enhance learners’ ability in mastering vocabulary. Teachers as facilitators have
to play their role by giving stipulation to retain the vocabulary mastery.
Teachers have to do recalling the new terms and use them in conversation.
Egbert (2005) defines computers in the Computer Assisted Language Learning
approach utilize only as media, so the aims of lesson are still language learning,
not the technology or giving excitement for the learners. Thus, comprehending
the media of learning computer RPG with teachers’ role as facilitators to retain
learners’ memory. This can activate the naturalistic setting of the verbal working
memory of learners when learning a second language in the classroom
(Verhagen & Leseman, 2016).
Students’ responses toward the computer RPG as vocabulary learning media

Based on the data collected from the experiment group, 70% of participants
found this interesting and offered great excitement. As learners are native to
computers these days, applying this media is not impossible. This stipulation
indicates that outside school hours, learners can also play other games and
learning more vocabulary terms by themselves. Thus, learners find computer-
assisted language learning or even phone-assisted language learning is a
combination of joy and effective vocabulary learning.
The fact that most popular games are published in English, it offers various
great learning aids to language learners. It provides abundant of English native
speakers with meaningful context as examples. The computer role-playing game
used for this study was developed by native speakers of English. The characters
on the game speak native-standardised English as they are dubbed by English
natives. In this case, it is like inviting some native speakers of English to the
classroom activities.
Furthermore, by the fact that participants found this media interesting,
participants can learn better (Cameron, 2010). Interesting learning material can
raise learners curiosity to do what they interested in. Self-motivation to learn
new terms can be activated automatically. Learners are no longer rely on to the
teachers. Finding a new thing without any help from others is parts of
acquisition, in which acquiring something is different than learning something.
When someones acquire, he/she memorises better than learning (Ellis, 1994;
Gass & Selinker, 2008).
Another advantage of using the computer RPG as a vocabulary learning media
is learning time span. This learning time span is very much depended on the
learning environment. When learners enjoy the environment, the learners’ time
span for learning is increasing (H. D. Brown & Lee, 2015). By using this
computer RPG, the learning environment is built not like a common learning
activity, yet it is just enjoying the game, not for learning. In addition, the
unfamiliar words occurred in the game give learners more opportunities to learn
new terms.

71
However, the actual and meaningful language offered is not that actual. The
game provides the answer for the questions given by the characters on the game.
Players are only required to choose the limited possible option. Players also
cannot interact with the characters in the game naturally, and the characters only
reply repetitively to the chosen answers. The complete vocabulary learning:
orthography, syntax, association, grammatical functions and meaning and form
(Webb, 2005) cannot be comprehended. The game can only cover association,
grammatical function and some part of meaning and form. Because of that, the
role of teachers is still required in classroom activities.
Some very unfamiliar words also create burdens for participants. These less
familiar words indicate the vocabulary mastery of participants. 85% of
participants in the experiment group reported many terms in the context are
unfamiliar for them. Meanwhile, reasonable vocabulary coverage to understand
the full text is estimated at 98% (Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011). In consequence,
the application of this computer role-playing game as a media to master
vocabulary should be accompanied by the teachers who are ready to utilize the
media, so learners get a continuous guide in applying it in the classroom.
The role of the teachers is also required to create the suitable lesson planning.
The clear objectives and teaching plans are the successful keys to achieve the
vocabulary mastery. Teachers decide and emphasize the objectives they want to
achieve. Although this computer role-playing game assumes has a large amount
of material from vocabulary to communication skill, still, focusing on the
objective is a must to limit the area of joy. Learners are not too overwhelmed
with joy, but they can keep focusing on language learning.
In general, this computer role-playing game can only be served as a language
learning media, not a full learning source. It still requires teachers to control the
learning activity, and it also needs suitable planning and focuses objectives
before applying as part of classroom learning activities.
4. Conclusion
The most important aim of this study was to see the effectiveness of using the
computer role-playing game to enhance learners’ vocabulary mastery. The
computer RPG was utilized as a learning media in classroom activities. The
findings of this study were indicative of the fact that the use of the selected
computer role-playing game had a positive significant effect on participants
vocabulary mastery. The data gathered and the analysis counted supported the
finding of this study. This successful media offers great excitement for learners
to learn and helps teachers to achieve the learning objectives.
Learners are encouraged to learn in the classroom, as the computer role-playing
game provides a joyful environment and a meaningful experience. It also brings
native English speakers to the classroom without actually inviting them.
Teachers also find this media helpful because the media can easily be applied
and effective, particularly to motivate learners and to keep the vocabulary terms
in a longer time span. In the same line, teachers role as a curriculum developer
and actual planner along with a facilitator in the classroom.

72
Finally, the point should be underscored that this study had some limitations
which can be an option for future research. Firstly, the participants in this study
were limited to those who had difficulty in understanding the text coverage. A
different result might be produced if the study is conducted to more advanced
learners. Secondly, language learning using the computer RPG may be suitable
not only for vocabulary learning but may also be for other language learning
area. Finally, because of the time limit, caution should be made about
undertaking the result of participants’ performance of this study, or in other
words, some other factors might have affected the result of this study.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the game developer HeR Interactive for
the computer role-playing game (HeRInteractive, 2006). The game was used in
the classroom activities for high school students.
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 74-94, January 2020
The Effectiveness of a Training Program Based

on Frank Williams' Model in Developing the
Divergent Creative Feeling among Students in
Jordan
Fadi Soud Samawi

Department of Psychology and Special Education,
Princess Alia University College, Al-Balqa Applied University
Naifa Hamdan Hamad Alshoubaki

Hassan Rafi’ Ali Shaheen

Abstract. The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of

using a training program based on Frank Williams’ model of emotional
cognitive interaction in the development of divergent creative feelings
among tenth-grade students in King Abdullah II schools for excellence.
A semi-experimental curriculum was used on a sample of (40) male and
female students, the researchers distributed them randomly into two
groups consisted of (20) students each, and they used the Creative
Divergent Feeling Scale (LOLEMS), and they developed a program
based on the emotional cognitive model. Results indicated the existence
of the impact of the training program for the benefit of the experimental
group, it also showed no differences due to the gender variable, and the
results also showed that there are differences attributed to the parents'
educational level variable in favor of the bachelor's degree holders. The
study recommended the training of gifted students on the skills
involved in the curriculum and the behavior of students in the
emotional, cognitive interaction model, which helps them to develop a
creative divergence feeling.
Keywords: Emotional; cognitive interaction model; divergent creative

feeling; King Abdullah II Schools of Excellence
1. Introduction

75
Gifted people are considered a real asset for all societies in the world. So,
educators face significant challenges related to their numbers and their
upbringing to face the future and knowing their psychological, cognitive and
social needs, represented in the cognitive component and original features of the
original person, and to meet their needs adequately.
The development of thoughtful and creative mental capacities is the

responsibility of all state institutions and on top of their priorities educational
institutions, creative abilities exist for all individuals, still, they need
development and training, indeed, the situation in schools refers to the typical
instructional methods that hinder these capabilities and do not lead to the
preparation of individuals capable of diversified and new production, that the
overall development of our community's needs (Lowry, 2006).
The reality of what is going on in the classroom in schools confirms that

education is limited only to certain content without accompanied by growth in
thinking, therefore, the need for innovation in the educational system has
become urgent through building curricula that improve the thinking of students,
the outputs of these systems are of compelling specifications so that they possess
the characteristics of higher and creative thinking (Jamal, Huwaidi, and Ben
Dania, 2003).
(Jauk et al., 2015) in his study declared that the essence of creativity is divergent
thinking (DT), which means that the individual can produce as many answers to
the problem as possible. Therefore, tasks of DT were used for a long time to
evaluate the creativity of individuals (Sayed and Mohamed, 2013), and the most
popular psychometric assessment tools in the research fields of creativity were
DT tests (Acar and Runco, 2014).
The emotional, cognitive interaction model which was developed by Frank

Williams is a model based on several studies of the creative person and the
creative process; it seeks to develop eight abilities in mental, physical, and
emotional development. These abilities are General Intelligence, Academic Uses,
Leadership, Creative Thinking, Visual and Performing Arts, Physical and
Kinetic Development, Emotional development, self-concept, professional and
functional practice that is, and the development of total human capacity. The
model consists of three dimensions each one interacts with the other, it
demonstrates how content (first dimension) can be prepared and organized
through teaching methods and strategies in the classroom (second dimension),
to produce diverse thought-provoking behaviors and saturated productive
emotions (third dimension) (Talafha, 2009).
Frank Williams developed his model called emotional, cognitive interaction to

interpret creative thinking as an interaction of four cognitive components:
originality, flexibility, fluency, and detail with four sensitive elements:
imagination, risk, complexity, and curiosity to produce creative output (Katami,
2010).
Creativity includes convergent thinking in addition to divergent thinking. What

is meant by divergent thinking is to produce various answers or to think

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creatively as referred to by “think out of the box”. Among the regular

evaluations of divergent thinking is producing various ideas, as it is evaluated
by other users of the task. On the other hand, convergent thinking means that
when the individual has many answers, he can choose the most logical one. In
fact, “evaluation of the novelty” which is a knowledge dependent, interacts with
divergent thinking, and in situations where we have ready answers, it is very
effective and what the individual need is only to recall his stored information
(Ritter and Ferguson, 2017)
Through the CAI model, teachers can provide real opportunities for integrated
and meaningful learning and a combination of knowledge acquisition and how
to learn skills, students can be taught to focus on issues that need to be
investigated and developed, and to develop problem-solving skills to include
problem identification, research, and investigation, develop the necessary skills
to organize, manage and implement problem-solving information, and
ultimately learn to create and improve products that are qualitatively higher
than students' age and grade levels (Newman, 2005).
Scholars defined Williams' model as a three-dimensional cube, a non-taxonomic

structural model in which each dimension interacts with each other; each aspect
contains a set of elements and branching sections, a model of practical
development used by the teacher to develop cognitive and emotional processes
in students (Al-Farra, 2007).
Frank Williams's model aims to enhance the cognitive and emotional processes
necessary for creative production, feelings of poll, curiosity, risk, complexity,
and imagination were developed by the traditional content of the topic, it
resembles some extent the paradigm of the cultural structure of human
intelligence developed by Gilford, which consists of three parts that interact with
each other in any situation of the educational process, consequently, Frank
Williams's creative divergent feeling Package reveals the students’ inherent
creative abilities (Al-Enezi, 2011), creativity, cognitive content, and skill should
not be isolated variables, but it interact with each other, where creativity based
on knowledge and expertise (Begheto & plucker, 2006), consisting of the
following dimensions (Khairallah, 2008):
1. Curiosity. It is the ability to search to discover the mystery, play with

ideas, open to puzzling situations, and meditating on mysterious things, it is
also essential to have an incentive to search for knowledge, to ask what things
are and how they work, and to seek an in-depth understanding of the world
around them.
2. Imagination. A person can build mental images, think of things that have
not happened, and the use of sensual feeling to get meta-cognitive physical
and realistic limits.
3. Complexity. It is the ability to challenge to recover alternatives and see the
gap between reality and the imposed, and the ability to find systems and
meaning of chaos and search for problems and challenging ideas.
In this model, Williams (1993a) interprets creativity as behavior resulting from
eight components, and the cognitive part consists of the following skills:

77
flexibility, fluency, originality and details, and the emotional domain consists of
imagination, complexity, risk, and curiosity.
On the other hand, Harrison (1997) and Glynn (2007) claimed that there is a
correlation between the organization of knowledge and emotions and the
empowerment of the individual to be creative; the creative process is a specific
cognitive mental process that forms the traits of thinking and creativity, it also
enables the individual to organize his information, to build his perceptions, and
thus to make emotional, mental transformations to reach divergent creative
thinking.
Also, the emotional cognitive trend assumes that creativity is a cognitive process
that is developed through training, and learning according to controlled
conditions, and planned training situations in which the student uses cognitive
mental skills (such as cognition, organization, comparison, spiritual
transformations, analysis, synthesis, evaluation) to form, create something new,
new experience, or creative solution, these skills require in-depth thinking that
does not accept the processing of ideas, and information in a low level but it
requires that the mind works to its fullest potential for the student to remain
vigilant, attentive and sensitive to control these skills (Ghneim, 2005).
Gifted people are a human asset in any society, they are entitled to educational
care consistent with their abilities and preparations, because they are high
national energy and wealth that must be nurtured, to invest and direct this
wealth to serve and develop the community, therefore, taking care of them is an
indispensable cultural and educational necessity, especially in our Arab
countries whose educational institutions lack the programs and strategies for
gifted students. (Samadouni, 2014)
1.1 Study problem and its questions
Challenges that face our modern world need unconventional methods to cope
with the growing developments in all fields that results from the development of
information technology, to achieve the integrated development of the individual
and taking care of him, by focusing on the learner's personality and preparing
him for life, in addition to taking care of those talented and keeping school
programs in line with the mental needs of the learners.
Gifted students also have cognitive and emotional needs and characteristics that
distinguish them from other ordinary students which in turn affect their
adaptation to the reality they live in, therefore, these students face problems and
challenges, whether, at the level of personal life, or the level of family and
school, this requires a more significant effort on the part of educational
institutions to help them face these difficulties and challenges. The model of
emotional cognitive interaction focuses on the cognitive and emotional aspects
which are essential in the development of creative divergent feeling of students
because it focused on the emotional side and feelings without which there is no
meaning to creativity, which requires the development of special programs
aimed at developing the capabilities of divergent creative sense and cares for

78
creators early detection of them, in the light of the foregoing, the problem of the
current research focused in answering the following questions:
1.1.1 The first hypothesis: There are statistically significant differences at the
significance level (α=0.05) between the average performance of the experimental
group and the average performance of the control group in developing the
divergent creative feeling among gifted students in King Abdullah II schools of
excellence in Salt City due to the training program.
1.1.2 The second hypothesis: There are statistically significant differences at the
significance level (α=0.05) between the average performance of the experimental
creative divergent feeling among gifted students in the schools of King Abdullah
II for excellence in the city of Salt due to the gender variable and educational
level of the parents.
1.2 The Purpose of the study
The purpose of the current study is to reveal the effectiveness of the use of a
training program based on Frank Williams’ emotional, cognitive interaction
model in the development of divergent creative feeling of tenth- grade students
in King Abdullah II schools of excellence, the present study also seeks to clarify
the concept of both the model of emotional cognitive interaction and divergent
creative feeling, and to know whether the performance of both groups vary in
the development of divergent creative feeling among gifted students in schools
of King Abdullah II for excellence in the city of Salt due to the variables of
gender and educational level of parents.
1.3 The importance of the Study
The significance of the study in its theoretical and practical aspects:
Theoretical significance: The significance of the research stems from the

importance of the emotional, cognitive interaction model as a new instructional
strategy in line with the local and global strategies, and to highlight the
significance of Frank Williams’ emotional, cognitive interaction model as a
model with practical applications as a means of developing divergence creative
feeling, so that the researchers, educators, teachers, counselors, and workers in
the field of talent and creativity in all educational institutions benefit from it,
and to identify and develop creative energies in all aspects of life, researching
the various means to reveal the talented and creative people as the wealth of the
nation in light of the race towards production and development, and that the
teacher always needs to update his instructional information and skills, this
study is a scientific addition to the Arab library in general, and the Jordanian
library in particular.
Applied significance: to demonstrate the efficiency of using a training program

based on Frank Williams' emotional, cognitive interaction model in developing
divergence creative feeling among the students, and to draw the attention of
educators in the educational technology departments to the importance and role

79
of such models in achieving critical educational outcomes, it also seeks to reveal

the exact role played by teachers and specialists in a way that gives an accurate
picture highlighting the strengths and weaknesses in teaching, this study is a
starting point for experimental studies in different educational institutions. The
results of this study may benefit teachers, educational decision-makers and
curriculum developers.
1.4 Conventional and procedural definitions
This study included several terms that were conceptually and procedurally
defined as follows:
Cognitive Affective Interaction Model. A structural rather than a taxonomic model

based on several studies on the creative person and the creative process, it aims
to develop eight abilities looking at mental, emotional and physical
development. These abilities are general intelligence, exceptional academic and
leadership preparations, creative and complex thinking, physical and motor
development, emotional development and self-concept, professional, functional,
visual and performing arts, and these eight capacities contribute to the overall
development of human potential (Williams, 1993a).
Divergent Creative Feeling. It is the emotional state of the creative individual,

represented in four dimensions: Curiosity, imagination, complexity, and risk
tolerance (Williams, 1993a), it is procedurally defined as the scores that the
students get on the divergence creative feeling scale which was used in the
study.
1.5 The limits of the study and its limitations
The limitations of the present study are as follows:
1. Human, Spatial, and Temporal limitations. Tenth Grade Students at King

Abdullah II Schools of Excellence, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan / Balqa
Governorate, for the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019.
2. Objective limitations. It is the effectiveness of using a training program

based on Frank Williams’ emotional, cognitive interaction model in
developing divergent creative feelings among tenth- grade students in King
Abdullah II Schools of Excellence.
The results of the study are determined by the extent of psychometric

characteristics of the emotional cognitive program, the scale of divergent
creative feeling, the degree of cooperation of the study sample in the program,
and their seriousness in answering the scale items.
2. Literature Review
Within the limits of their knowledge, the researchers did not find studies related
to the variables of this study, but they found studies with individual variables,
such as Vally, Salloum, Al Qedra, El Shazly, Albloshi, Alsheraif and Alkaabi

80
(2019) a plethora of evidence suggests that creativity can be enhanced following

training. In the United Arab Emirates, where creativity and innovation are
overtly promoted, especially among young adults, university students complete
a semester-long course in creativity as part of their undergraduate degrees. The
effectiveness of this course, however, remains undetermined. Thus, they
examined, using a sample of 133 participants who completed the 13-week
program, whether improvements to creative production, creative self-efficacy
(CSE), and neuro-executive functioning would emerge. Pre to post-test
differences were assessed and substantial improvements to originality,
elaboration, and fluency were observed. CSE was enhanced. However, neuro-
executive functioning remained unchanged following the program. These results
contribute to the literature attesting to the efficacy of training in creative skills.
Fink, Reim, Benedek & Garbner (2019) studied the effects of different types of
creativity interventions on different facets of creative potential, also including
more school‐related creativity demands. In a sample of 77 fourth‐graders in the
age between 9 and 12 years, we administered verbal and figural creativity
training, realized in two school lessons over two consecutive days each. As
outcome measures, creative potential in both the verbal and the figural domain
using two well‐established divergent thinking tasks was assessed. As additional
measures of creative potential, a story completion task and a picture painting
task were administered to examine training effects on more school‐related types
of creative behavior. The verbal training was found to increase both verbal and
figural divergent thinking ability, but not creative potential in the story
completion and the picture painting task. The figural training yielded significant
training effects only regarding the picture painting task.
Saleh's study (2016), which measured the impact of a training program in

improving the communication skills of gifted students in King Abdullah II
schools of excellence, this program based on the emotional cognitive interaction
model. The study members consisted of all gifted female students in the ninth
grade at King Abdullah II School of Excellence in Salt city, they were 40 talented
students, chosen intentionally, and to achieve the study objectives, the
researchers used a quasi-experimental approach, the results of the study showed
that that the training program based on the emotional cognitive interaction
model has an impact on improving the communication skills of gifted students,
whether, on the total score, or sub-domains of communication skills of the
experimental group, significant differences appeared in the scores of talented
students in King Abdullah schools of excellence on the sub-domains of the
communication skills scale due to the impact of the group in all domains.
Talafah and Alhamran (2013) investigated the effect of developing an

educational unit according to the emotional, cognitive interaction model in
teaching geography on perceived self-efficacy among a sample of tenth- grade
students. The study sample was (112) 10th-grade students, distributed into four
sections randomly selected from two government schools at Al Taibeh in the
academic year 2010/2011, and the participants were randomly divided into two
experimental and control groups. The results showed that the students of the
experimental group (emotional, cognitive interaction model) were superior in

81
the perceived self-efficacy scale as a whole, and in its five domains, the study
found no statistically significant differences attributed to the gender variable.
Wang and Chen (2012) identified the impact of the emotional, cognitive
interaction model on the creative performance of a sample of game designers.
The study sample comprised of (198) 7th- grade students who designed a group
of games, and they were divided into two groups: experimental (45) students
used foresight, transparency and interaction strategies, while the rest formed a
control group. A pos/test was conducted to show that the strategy of the
emotional, cognitive interaction model made it easier for students to design
games creatively and enabled them to practice design flexibly and quickly.
Al-Enezi (2011) codified Frank Williams’ creativity assessment packet in a

sample of high school students in the State of Kuwait, the members of the study
were (277) high school students, the researcher used the Frank William Scale
(1993) to evaluate the creative feeling which included (50) items to measure the
behavioral characteristics of the creators so that the scale consists of four
dimensions: (Curiosity, imagination, complexity, risk tolerance), the study found
that there is an effect of the class variable on the scale of feeling in favor of the
eleventh grade, and no differences in the scale of feeling attributable to age
variable.
Talafah (2009) investigated the impact of the Infinite Talent Program and the
Emotional Cognitive Interaction Model in Teaching Geography on the creative
abilities and perceived self-efficacy of a sample of tenth- grade students. The
study sample comprised of (94) 10th- grade students distributed over three
sections selected randomly from three public schools at Al- Mazar District in the
academic year 2006/2007, where the researchers divided these three sections
into control and experimental groups, and the results revealed differences
between the averages of the first experimental group and the control group in
favor of the first experimental group, which confirms the effectiveness of the
infinite talent program, and the existence of differences between the mean of the
second experimental group and the control group in favor of the second
experimental group, which confirms the effectiveness of the emotional, cognitive
interaction program in the development of creative thinking and its three
elements (fluency, flexibility, and originality).
Karahan & Yalcin (2009) investigated the effect of a training program based on
emotional cognitive interaction on the development of emotional intelligence
among a sample of students of the Turkish University, and whether these
beneficial effects of the program persist over time, the participants of the study
were (40) students who had low scores on the self-assessment of emotional
intelligence and the researchers distributed them among two groups of (20)
students, and the same number for the control, the results indicated that there
were no significant differences on the pre-test between the two groups, but these
differences appeared for the experimental group who underwent the training
program on the posttest, the results also showed continued improvement in
showing emotional intelligence skills in favor of the experimental group after
the end of the program.

82
Khairallah (2008) conducted a study on the legalization of Frank Williams CAP

on (910) students from (3-6) primary grades to study the psychometric
properties of the components of the package, the results of the study showed
that feeling was characterized by high constructive validity, and the test phrases
obtained high coefficients of excellence, and high scores on the reliability of
internal consistency and split-half, and no differences in the degree of the
responses of the members to the creative divergence scale depending on the
interaction between gender and classroom variables.
Fraunberger (2004) conducted a qualitative study aimed at developing creative

writing based on the theory between Williams's emotional, cognitive interaction
model and Clark's model of distinctive characteristics of gifted students in
America. The sample consisted of (50) talented students; he employed four of
Williams' strategies: structured random research, intuitive expression, creative
writing skills, visual representation skills, through the methods of qualitative
analysis, he reached the effectiveness of these strategies in developing creative
writing.
3. The Study Methodology

The quasi-experimental method in the equivalent group method (control group,
experimental group, pre- and post-test) was used to determine the effectiveness
of the use of a training program based on the model of emotional cognitive
interaction of Frank Williams in the development of creative divergent feeling of
tenth-grade students in King Abdullah II schools of excellence.
3.1 Members of the study sample
The study members consisted of all the tenth-grade gifted students in King
Abdullah II School of Excellence in Salt City and their number (77) students for
the second semester of the academic year 2018/2019, they were selected in an
available way, for the school administration to cooperate with the researchers,
and the divergent thinking scale was applied to the study members. After
correcting the tool, it was found that there were (40) male and female students
whose responses on the divergent thinking scale were below average.
The students were consulted about the program and all students agreed, they
were divided into two groups equally in a simple random manner, the
experimental group consisted of (20) students who received a training program
based on Frank Williams' emotional, cognitive interaction model, and the control
group consisted of (20) male and female students who did not receive the
training program, the pre/ post scale measures were applied to both groups,
according to Table (1):

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Table 1: Distribution of Study Members
The educational level of parents Total

Study Gender
variables Diploma Bachelor Postgraduate
Males Females
Experimental 9 11 3 10 7 20
Group
Control 8 12 4 9 7 20
Total 17 23 7 19 14 40
3.2 The Scale of the Study
3.2.1 First: Creative Divergent Feeling Scale:
To achieve the study's objectives, the Frank Williams scale was used to measure
divergent emotional thinking, which was used in the study of Ghulam (2012),
where the researcher applied the scale to a sample of (910) students between the
ages of (9-12) years, the scale consists of 50 paragraphs that measure the
following dimensions (curiosity, imagination, complexity, risk tolerance), for
further verification, the validity of the test was confirmed by presenting it to a
group of arbitrators from the faculty of education specialized in counseling and
psychology, taking their views on the suitability of its domains and items, and
the soundness of its language, and asked them to judge each paragraph of the
test in terms of representation and adequacy for the category to which the study
sample belongs, besides, in terms of language appropriateness. Based on the
observations of the arbitrators, the wording of 4 items was amended and
finalized. Also, indications of the validity of the internal consistency of the scale
were extracted. The correlation coefficients of the paragraphs with the total score
and the dimension were obtained in a pilot study consisting of (30) students.
Table 2: Correlation coefficients between items, total score and domain of creative
divergence feeling scale
Correlation Correlation Correlation

Item Correlation Item Correlation Item Correlation
with with with
N with tool N with tool N with tool
dimension dimension dimension
1 .413**0 .444*0 18 .563**0 .370*0 35 .386**0 . 700**0
2 0.381** . 828**0 19 .557**0 .533**0 36 .535**0 .477*0
3 .592**0 .395*0 20 0.694** .456*0 37 .507**0 . 521**0
4 .477**0 .581**0 21 .507**0 . 419*0 38 .323**0 0.481*
5 .435**0 0.395* 22 .547**0 .423*0 39 .246**0 .549**0
6 .572**0 0.493** 23 .532**0 . 412*0 40 .553*0 . 651**0
7 .478**0 0.541** 24 .543**0 .453*0 41 .368**0 . 421*0
8 .359**0 0.692** 25 .557**0 .608**0 42 .401*0 . 812**0

84
Correlation Correlation Correlation

Item Correlation Item Correlation Item Correlation
with with with
N with tool N with tool N with tool
dimension dimension dimension
9 .563**0 .370*0 26 .386**0 . 700**0 43 .413**0 .444*0
10 .557**0 .533**0 27 .535**0 .477*0 44 0.381** . 828**0
11 0.694** .456*0 28 .507**0 . 521**0 45 .592**0 .395*0
12 .507**0 . 419*0 29 .323**0 0.481* 46 .477**0 .581**0
13 .547**0 .423*0 30 .246**0 .549**0 47 .435**0 0.395*
14 .532**0 . 412*0 31 .553*0 . 651**0 48 .572**0 0.493**
15 .543**0 .453*0 32 .368**0 . 421*0 49 .478**0 0.541**
16 .557**0 .608**0 33 .401*0 . 812**0 50 .359**0 0.692**
17 .386**0 . 700**0 34 0.694** .456*0
* Statistical significance at the level of significance (0.05). ** Statistical significance at

the level of importance (0.01).
It is clear from Table (2) that the correlation coefficients of the items with the
total degree and with the domain were statistically significant at significance
levels (α=0.05) and (0.01), therefore, none of them has been deleted, indicating
that the scale domains are suitable for measuring divergent creative feeling,
thus, indicating that the scale has a high level of validity and its relevance for the
current study.
The reliability of the instrument was also verified in two ways. First, the Alpha-
Cronbach method: The researchers calculated the coefficient of reliability Alpha-
Cronbach for the domains of the scale and ranged between (0.74-0.78). The
second split-half method: The reliability of the scale was calculated by the split-
half or division method of the four domains, ranging between (0.68-0.71) on a
pilot study of (30) students. Table 3 illustrates this:
Table 3: Alpha-Cronbach's reliability coefficients and Split-half reliability of the

scale domains and the total divergent feeling scale
Scale domains Alpha Cronbach split-half reliability

Curiosity 0.74 0.68
Imagination 0.76 0.69
Complexity 0.77 0.70
Risk tolerance 0.78 0.71
Overall scale 0.80 0.73

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The researchers also corrected the scale by placing in front of each item a five-
step ladder according to Likert's pentagonal method, where it shows the degree
of applicability of the content of the paragraph to the subject, it is as follows:
very large (5), large (4), medium (3), low (3), very low (1), thus, the total score of
the scale between (24-120), the higher the degree indicates a high level in the
divergence creative feeling and vice versa.
3.2.2 Second: The Training Program
First: Definition of the Program

The researchers reviewed the educational literature and related previous studies,
accordingly, a training program was built based on the emotional, cognitive
interaction model in developing the divergent creative feeling among the tenth-
grade gifted students, which includes training activities and skills that employ
the four skills: “curiosity, imagination, complexity, and risk tolerance”, where
the curriculum consists of all subjects from primary to tenth- grade and consists
of four courses: (Language, mathematics, science, social, science) where it
consists of (8) strategies that teachers can use them during their presentation of
content as a way of demonstrating four cross-sectional behaviors that can be
applied to develop creativity in any of the previous content topics, the most
important of which are: creative writing and creative reading, contradictions,
characteristics, symmetries, inequalities, provocative questions, examples of
change, tolerance of ambiguity, inclinations, and desires of creative people.
Second: The objectives of the training program:

*The overall aim of the program is to develop a divergent creative feeling of
gifted students through training on the emotional, cognitive interaction model
strategies of Frank Williams.
Special Program Objectives
1. To introduce the gifted tenth- grade students to the concept of divergent

creative feeling.
2. To train talented 10th- grade students on how to develop a creative
divergent feeling.
3. To enrich and refine the abilities and skills of the trainees to develop the
skills of divergent creative feeling.
4. To employ and use emotional, cognitive interaction model strategies to
become a key input in the education process.
Third: Target group: Tenth- grade gifted students at King Abdullah II School of
Excellence in Salt.

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Fourth: Program Design:

1. Review several training programs used in the theoretical literature and
previous studies that are related to the model of emotional, cognitive
interaction and divergent creative feeling.
2. Define the general framework of the training program within the
emotional, cognitive interaction model, and analyze the four areas:
"curiosity, imagination, complexity, risk tolerance".
3. Define all the domains of divergence creative feeling that the researchers
will train the students on it, and they collect a large number of activities and
training for the development of each domain, and some activities were
selected and modified, and they design new activities that suit the age, target
group, and educational environment.
4. Coordinate activities in the form of training sessions within a specified
period, including several objectives, actions, and strategies.
Fifth: The validity of the training program: After the completion of the training
program, the researchers presented to a group of arbitrators working in
Jordanian universities and workers in educational psychology, special
education, psychological counseling, measurement and evaluation to ensure the
appropriateness of the program activities for the target group, and the
effectiveness of the training program in achieving the objectives set, and the
extent to which the items are linguistically accurate, and the clarity of the
content, objectives, activities and procedures and their relevance to the target
group.
After the arbitration procedure, the researchers did the appropriate

modifications to the training program in the light of the opinions of the
arbitrators and they finalized in preparation for applying it to the study
members, a criterion (80%) was adopted to change, add or delete some activities,
so that the duration of the session was adjusted from (45) minutes to (60)
minutes.
Sixth: The content of the training program: The training program consisted of
ten training sessions including objectives, procedures, and activities for the areas
included in the four capacities in the emotional, cognitive interaction model, it
was implemented at the King Abdullah II School of Excellence in Salt city, the
duration of implementation of the program was approximately four weeks (one
month) to train gifted students to develop a divergence creative feeling through
the model of emotional cognitive interaction, it consisted of (10) training sessions
at the rate of two sessions per week, and each session lasts for (60) minutes.

87
Seventh: The Operational Plan of the Training Program:
Session Training skill Objectives of the session Session

duration
First session Introduction and Gifted students are introduced 60 minutes
definition to the goals of the program, to
the role assigned to it during the
training program, and to the
strategies of the emotional,
cognitive interaction model.
Second The idea of divergent Gifted students are introduced
session creative feeling, its to the idea of divergent creative
importance, and its feeling and the importance of
elements creativity in everyday life
Third Vision and Developing the ability to 60 minutes
session visualization visualize and imagination, the
ability to build mental fantasies,
the formation of integrated
mental images of the imagined
thing, the development of
pictures if invention to
accomplish and achieve
Fourth Listening Introduce students to listening 60 minutes
session skills, train them and strengthen
social relationships through
good listening
Fifth Speaking Introduce students to speaking 60 minutes

session skills, and train them in it
Sixth Complexity Students are introduced to the 60 minutes
session skill of complexity, and the
ability to search for several
alternatives to solve a particular
problem
Seventh Curiosity Introduce students to curiosity, 60 minutes
session train them to insist on things,
and follow what happens next
Eighth Risk tolerance Introduce students to the skill of 60 minutes
session risk tolerance, practice, and
experiment with difficult
situations.
Ninth Feedback Explain feedback and train 60 minutes
session students on feedback.
Tenth Evaluation Session Identify the advantages and 60 minutes
session disadvantages of the training
program, and learn about the
educational benefit of the
training program

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Eighth: study design and statistical treatment:

This study uses quasi-experimental design, to determine the effect of the
training program based on the emotional, cognitive interaction model in
developing the divergent creative feeling of the experimental group, where the
pre-application of the scale was to all the study members (experimental and
control groups), and then the researchers apply the training program which was
based on the Frank Williams emotional, cognitive interaction model in the
development of divergent creative feeling to the experimental group only and
not to the control group, after the completion of the training program, the post-
test was applied to all the study members again from the experimental and
control groups, the pre, post, and adjusted arithmetic averages and standard
deviations were extracted taking into account the pre- differences between the
two groups, and (ANCOVA) test was used to judge the significance of the
differences between the mean scores of gifted students between the
experimental and control groups, also, (MANCOVA) was extracted to extract
significance differences in the sub-skills of the creative divergence scale between
both groups.
The design of the present study is as follows:

- The experimental group (pretest - application of training program
- post-test) (OXO).
- The control group (pre-test - non-application of the training
program) (O O).
* Where (O) represents the pre and post creative divergent feeling, and (X)
training program.
4. The Study Results and its Discussion
Hypotheses of the Study

The first hypothesis There are statistically significant differences between the
average performance of the experimental and control
groups in developing the divergent creative feeling
among gifted students due to the training program.
The second hypothesis There are statistically significant differences between the
average performance of the experimental and control
groups in developing the creative divergent feeling
among gifted students due to the gender variable and
educational level of the parents.
The first hypothesis: There are no statistically significant differences at the

significance level (= α0.05) between the average performance of the experimental
divergent creative feeling among gifted students in the schools of King Abdullah
II for excellence in the city of Salt due to the training program?
To investigate this question, the mean and standard deviations of the pre and
post measurements and the adjusted arithmetic averages were extracted for the
grades of gifted students in the King Abdullah schools for Excellence on the
scale as a whole and on the sub-domains of the Creative Divergence Scale (for

89
the two experimental groups) that underwent the training program (and
control), that have not experienced the training program, the results are as
follows:
Table 4: means and the standard deviations of the pre/post scores of the gifted
students on the overall scale of the divergent creative feeling of the experimental and
control groups
Pre divergent creative feeling Post divergent creative feeling

Group
Standard Standard
N Mean N Mean
deviation deviation
Experimental 20 163.14 15.85 20 184.27 12.79
Control 20 171.49 17.36 20 162.97 19.67
Total 40 167.49 16.61 40 173.62 16.23
Table 4 shows the existence of apparent differences between the pre and post
arithmetic averages of the communication skills of gifted students of the
experimental and control groups, to illustrate the significance of the statistical
differences between the arithmetic averages of the scale as a whole, ANCOVA
was used and the results are presented below:
Table 5: Modified arithmetic averages and standard errors of students' scores on the
creative divergent feeling scale in the experimental and control groups
Group Mean Standard error
Experimental 188.74 3.01
Control 161.49 3.38
Total 175.12 2.19
Table 6: Results of the ANCOVA analysis of the effect of the group on the overall
scale of the divergent creative feeling of gifted students
Sum of Mean if
Source of variance Df F value Sig
squares squares
Pre/test
3249.76 1 3249.76 14.97 *0.000
(accompanying)
Group 7986.46 1 7986.46 35.69 *0.000
Error 8724.67 42 187.45
Modified overall total 17460.89 44
* Statistically significant at the significance level (α = 0.05)

90
Table (6) revealed significant differences in the divergent creative feeling scale of
gifted students due to the group variable with a value of F (35.69), these
differences were in favor of the experimental group, which had an adjusted
mean of (188.74). The program has contributed to the development of the sense
of divergent creative feeling of gifted students. The means and standard
deviations of the dimensions of the creative divergent feeling scale were also
extracted, as shown in Table 7:
Table 7: The means and standard deviations of the pre/post scores of the gifted
students on the dimensions of the divergent creative feeling of the experimental and
control groups
Experimental Control Total

Test Dimensions
Mean STD Mean STD Mean STD
Curiosity 23.47 3.24 23.68 3.41 23.58 3.33
Pre/test Imagination 31.04 3.75 32.89 4.38 31.97 4.07

Complexity 21.79 3.17 22.48 3.82 22.14 3.50
Risk tolerance 33.46 4.19 35.19 4.73 34.33 4.46
Curiosity 26.37 2.46 24.92 3.57 25.65 3.02
Post/test Imagination 45.72 3.27 30.64 4.23 38.18 3.75

Complexity 29.63 2.86 21.78 2.75 25.41 2.81
Risk tolerance 46.83 3.98 33.63 4.87 4.23 4.43
Table (7) shows the existence of apparent differences between the pre and post
arithmetic averages of both groups in the sub-fields of the creative divergent
feeling scale of gifted students; these results are presented below:
Table 8: Modified Computational Modifiers and Standard Errors for Students on

Dimensions of the creative divergent feeling scale in the experimental and control
groups
Dimensions Group Mean Standard error

Curiosity Experimental 26.79 0.49
Control 22.74 0.74
Imagination Experimental 34.02 0.41
Control 32.08 0.75
Complexity Experimental 26.21 0.51
Control 22.94 0.54
Risk tolerance Experimental 39.07 0.89
Control 33.38 0.79
Table (8) revealed significant differences in the creative divergent feeling scale of
gifted students due to the group variable in favor of the experimental group, this
is attributed to the activities and exercises involved in the program based on

91
Emotional Cognitive Interaction model, the training program enabled students

to interact with each other within a framework of respect and responsibility, this
helped them to express themselves, increasing their motivation for further
exploration, the practice of imagination, students also can interact with its
contents and thus had the motivation to continue learning, and that they can
learn, and that through the use of different strategies provided the students with
the technical expertise necessary for the process of learning, this is confirmed by
Newman (2005) that the model of cognitive interaction offers real opportunities
for an integrated and meaningful education and its synthesis that includes
acquiring knowledge and learning skills while ensuring that students can focus
on issues that need to be investigated and develop problem-solving skills to
identify the problem and the areas of research and inquiry, and to develop the
necessary skills to organize, manage and implement information that
investigates the issue.
This finding agreed with the results of the Talafah and Hamran (2013) study,
which demonstrated the superiority of the experimental group (the cognitive-
emotional interaction model) in the perceived self-efficacy scale as a whole, and
its five domains, the result was also agreed with the result of Wang and Chen
(2012) study, which showed that the strategies of the cognitive interaction model
made it easier for students to design games creatively and help them to practice
flexibly and quickly. Vally, Salloum, Al Qedra, El Shazly, Albloshi, Alsheraif and
Alkaabi (2019) concluded that the training program increased students'
creativity. The result goes with Fink, Reim, Benedek & Garbner's (2019) study
which concluded that. The verbal training was found to increase both verbal and
figural divergent thinking ability, but not creative potential in the story
completion and the picture painting task.
The second hypothesis: There are no statistically significant differences at the

mean level (α=0.05) between the average performance of the experimental group
and the average performance of the control group in the development of the
creative divergent feeling of the gifted students in the King Abdullah II School of
Excellence in Salt city due to gender variable and educational level for parents.
Means and standard deviations of the study sample were calculated according
to the variables of gender and the educational level of the parents. Table 9
illustrates this.
Table 9: Means and standard deviations of the study sample according to gender
variables and educational level of parents
Variables Mean Standard Rank

deviation
Gender Females 3.19 0.79 1
Males 3.21 0.85 2
Educational level of Diploma 2.74 0.86 3
parents 3.41 0.72 1
Bachelor
Postgraduate 2.92 0.85 2

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As noted from Table 9, there are differences in gender, where the female group
constituted the highest percentage of the study sample with a mean of (3.19),
while the mean of the male category reached (3.21), there are also slight
differences concerning the educational level of the parents, where students
whose parents’ educational level is bachelor's degree obtained the highest mean
of (3.41), followed by students whose parents’ educational level is postgraduate
with a mean of (2.92), and students whose parents’ educational level diploma
with a mean of (2.74).
To verify the differences between the arithmetic averages in the study sample
according to the gender variable and the educational level of the parents, Two-
Way analysis of variance between the means for each was performed, as shown
in Table 10 below:
Table 10: Two-Way analysis of variation of the study sample according to the
study variables
The level of Sum of Mean of

Source (F) value Sig
divergent feeling squares squares
Gender Divergent feeling .347 .519 1.239 .116
The educational
Divergent feeling . 2176 .2541 .6344 .009*
level of parents
Error Divergent feeling 38.239 .254
Total Divergent feeling 38.658

* Statistically significant at the level of (α = 0.05)
Where the calculated value of (F) was 1.239, the significance level (0.116) which
is higher than the statistical significance level (0.05), this is attributed to the
educational level of the parents and for the benefit of the bachelor's degree
holders, the value of calculated (F) was (4.634) and the significance level (0.009)
which is lower than the statistical significance level (0.05).
Results showed that the model was able to develop the divergent creative
feeling among male and female students alike, this is due to the nature of the
balanced activities included in the program, which unleashed the creative
potential of male and female students, helping them to express themselves
freely, and to solve problems, and to raise their learning level. This may be
because teaching of both sexes was done at the same level and within the same
activities and procedures, and thus the development of their divergent creative
abilities was similar in the context of parental educational level variable, this can
be attributed to the nature of individual differences between students
themselves, the quality of parents' education and follow-up to their children.
Therefore creative energies differ from student to student. In this context, Al-
Enezi (2019) noted that Frank Williams' divergent creative model is used to
reveal the creative potential of all students in the school, and creativity,
cognitive content, and skill should not be isolated variables, but interact with
each other so that creativity depends on knowledge and expertise.

93
4. Recommendations
1. To include extra-curricular activities that might develop creativity and

ability to think in creative ways in schools.
2. To train talented students on the skills involved in the curriculum and

the behavior of students in the emotional, cognitive interaction model, and
this helps them to develop a creative divergence feeling.
3. To develop different curricula in terms of content and objectives, and

their activities so that they are more appropriate to create the creative feeling
of students at different educational levels.
4. To conduct further studies dealing with the application of emotional,

cognitive interaction model strategies to gifted students at different ages and
comparing them with ordinary students.
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 95-117, January 2020
Development of Mathematics Teaching Device

Integrated with Quranic Values:
Issues, Challenges, and Implementation Model
Widodo Winarso1
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, Indonesia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8527-7660
Sirojudin Wahid
Institut Agama Islam Negeri Syekh Nurjati Cirebon, Indonesia
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0468-1574
Abstract. The purpose of this study was to develop an integrated

mathematics teaching device with Quranic values that meet valid,
practical, and effective criteria to meet good product standards. This
study includes a development study consisting of the design and
implementation phases. The analysis in this study used validity analysis
with Aiken's validity index, and the utility analysis performed by
transforming the results of the test data on five Widoyoko scales. The
analysis required to test the effectiveness of the integrated mathematics
teaching device with Quranic values uses a one-way ANOVA F test and
a follow-up test using Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons. The results of
verification by two experts stated that the Quranic values of the
integrated mathematics teaching device met valid criteria. In line with
the teacher's assessment that the four components evaluated, namely
syllabus, lesson plan, students worksheet, and test meet practical
standards. There is no difference based on the responses of students
from three schools with different accreditations/quality (P-value =
0.340, with significance level = 0.05). This response to mathematics
teaching device demonstrates that it has meet effective standards and
can be used in schools with different certification status. The
mathematics teaching device with Quranic values meets the criteria for
good teaching devices because it meets valid, practical, and effective
criteria.
Keywords: Development; Teaching device; Mathematics; Science

integrated; Quranic values
1
Corresponding author: Widodo Winarso, widodoiain@gmail.com

96
1. Introduction
Mathematics teaching device development is a series of processes or activities
that are performed to create math teaching materials based on existing
developmental theories. Huisman & Tight (2015) describes development
research based on two objectives: (1) development to acquire product
prototypes, and (2) formulation of methodological proposals for prototype
design and evaluation. Richey & Klein, (2014) define development research as a
systematic study of the design, development, and evaluation of programs,
processes, and learning products that need to meet validity, practicality, and
effectiveness criteria. Products are valid when they reflect the spirit of
knowledge (state of the art knowledge) (Boudreau, Gefen, & Straub, 2001). This
criterion is interpreted as content validity. Therefore, the components of the
product must be aligned with each other (structural validity) (Mueller, Lambert,
& Burlingame, 1998). Besides, if a product is considered usable, it is said to be
practical. It is said to be effective if productivity results follow the goals set by
the developer. Therefore, the development of a mathematics teaching device
must meet all three aspects.
To develop teaching devices, teachers need the ability to plan and manage to
learn effectively. Learning math can improve logical thinking skills, attitudes,
and mathematical skills (Sitopu, Saragih, & Hasratuddin, 2019). An effective
teacher criterion is a teacher who can systematically prepare teaching devices
(Moon, Mayes, & Hutchinson, 2002). Learning preparations can be designed and
organized as a teaching device. Teaching device is a key component of
successful learning (Beard & Wilson, 2014). Besides, teaching device can create
learning that is interactive, exciting, fun, challenging, efficient, motivating
students to actively participate (Gomez Martin, Gomez Martin, & Gonzalez
Calero, 2007), and has plenty of space for initiatives Provides (Myers & Adams-
Budde, 2016), creativity (Ubaidah & Aminudin, 2019), independence according
to talent, interest, student physical and psychological development
(Posamentier, Jaye, & Krulik, 2007; Permendikbud No 65, 2013). Other data
showing the importance of developing mathematics teaching device are the
results of a study by (Sitopu et al., 2019). The development of the mathematics
teaching device can increase students' willingness and attitude toward higher-
order thinking skills.
When implementing math learning in schools, some teachers have not yet
developed their mathematical teaching device. Preliminary data from junior
high schools in Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia indicate that teaching device
needs to be developed. Eight teachers (66.67%) take lesson plan online, and four
teachers (33.33%) create a lesson plan based on the results of questionnaire
surveys on lessons and discussions with math teachers. Many teachers do not
use learning models that can improve student attitudes and spirituality in their
lesson plan. Most learning orientations focus on improving students' cognitive
skills. The student worksheet used is a collection of exercises, usually purchased
from a publisher or downloaded from the Internet. This situation indicates that
teachers are not ready to develop a mathematics teaching device.

97
Preparing a mathematics teaching device is part of the lesson plan (John, 2006).
The lesson plan is designed in the form of a syllabus, lesson plan, student
worksheet, and achievement test. There are several studies related to the
development of the teaching device. For example, Kong, Looi, Chan, & Huang
(2017) have been studying the development of teaching device in the form of e-
learning in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing, focusing on various
development trends. The development of the teaching device can be done using
Android software (Ahmar & Rahman, 2017). teaching device can improve
arithmetic and computational skills, graphical representation, construction of
geometric and algebraic objects, problem-solving, and mathematical
programming (Drigas & Pappas, 2015).
Other studies related to the development of teaching devices using a specific

learning model, such as the results of the study (Sitopu et al., 2019), have further
developed teaching devices based on the Guided Discovery Model. Teaching
device is used to improve students' understanding of concepts and mathematical
critical thinking skills. Developing a teaching device with problem-based
learning models based on cultural contexts can also improve students'
mathematical communication and social skills (Aufa, Saragih, Practice, & 2016,
2016). Developing problem-solving models using integrated patterns can
improve problem-solving skills in math learning (Nurdyansyah, Masitoh, &
Bachri, 2018). Lee, Lim, & Kim, (2017), on the other hand, prefer to develop
learning design models using inverse proofs in problem-solving. Therefore, this
research contributes to the planning of the teaching device, especially in the
syllabus and lesson plan.
The development of the teaching device involves at least some innovations in

learning assessment. For example, the study Park & Jo, (2015) describes the
development of a learning analytics dashboard to support student learning
performance. (Artzt, 2015) have developed a guide for observation and self-
assessment in reflex skill efforts. Additionally, (Winarso, 2018) has also
developed a teaching device in the form of a full-scale assessment of students'
mathematical attitudes, skills, and knowledge. These researchers have
contributed to the development of mathematics teaching devices, such as
syllabus, lesson plans, student worksheets, and achievement tests.
There seems to be no comprehensive development in the design of the teaching

device based on the research of many researchers and teachers' problems. In
particular, the development of a teaching device that provides an integrated
overall model with the development of the four elements of the teaching device:
syllabus, lesson plan, student worksheet, and achievement test. An alternative
solution that can be offered in this study is the further development of
integrated mathematics teaching device with Quranic values.
The integration of the Quranic values in mathematics learning is normatively

aimed at achieving Quranic values (Islamic education) in mathematics learning
activities that cover three aspects of student life (Kabir, 2013). First, the spiritual
dimensions include Faith, religion, noble personality (Kabir, 2013; Nasr, 2013;

98
Hixon & Hixon, 2003). Second, the sociocultural dimension is a stable and
independent personality, social, and national responsibility (Kabir, 2013; Laskier
& Lev, 2011) Third, the dimension of intelligence that leads to student progress:
intellectual, creative, skilled, disciplined, work ethic, professional, innovative,
productive (Mustaqimah, 2019; Kabir, 2013). When three-dimensional Quranic
values are applied to mathematics teaching device, they can have a positive
effect on students. It develops the student's potential to be a human who
believes and serves God, noble, healthy, knowledgeable, talented, creative,
independent, democratic and responsible citizen, Following the purpose of
national education (RI Law Number 20 the Year 2003). Therefore, the conduct of
learning activities must pay attention to the development of the student, that is,
the development of aspects of the student's emotions, cognition, and
psychomotor (Kasim & Yusoff, 2014).
Conducting learning activities requires continued attention to student

development, both in knowledge, personality, and spiritual development.
Reality is just different than expected. Based on data from the Central Bureau of
Statistics (BPS), Indonesia had 54,712 mischievous children or crimes in 2012
(51,400 in detention and 3,312 in prison). In 2012, there were 5,358 criminals
throughout Indonesia (2,063 were detained, and 3,295 were given prisoner
status). Similar issues were obtained from Indonesian Commission for the
Protection of Children (KPAI) data for 33 states between January and June 2008
and reached four conclusions. The first 97% of junior and senior high school
students watch pornography. Second, 93.7% of junior and senior high school
students engage in genital stimulation (touching genitals), kissing activities, and
oral sex. Third, 62.7% of junior high school students are no longer virgins. And
lastly, 21.2% of adolescents claimed abortion.
To overcome the problem of juvenile delinquency, the government, through the

Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud), aims to provide a
curriculum that can meet the aims of national education. Develop of 2013
Curriculum (Kurtilas) as a solution to address these issues (Rumahlatu,
Huliselan, & Takaria, 2016; Retnawati, Hadi, & Nugraha, 2016). Throughout
Kurtilas, the government will provide a learning system that is oriented in four
areas: spiritual, attitude, knowledge, and skills (Nur & Madkur, 2014; Wahyudin
& Sukyadi, 2015). Indeed, the implementation of Kurtilas was not as smooth as
expected, and many challenges and obstacles were facing educational
institutions (Retnawati, 2016). It starts with the obstacles to developing a school
curriculum, as well as implementing the curriculum.
Based on these criteria, it is important to provide examples of teaching devices

that are appropriate for developing students' religious attitudes and spirituality.
An integrated mathematics teaching device with Quranic values is an option
according to the desired learning goal. However, the phenomena that occur
indicate that learning mathematics in school needs to improve this ability
through the development of teaching devices. Besides, it is still very rare for
math learners to integrate Quranic values to find a specially designed teaching

99
device. This situation demonstrates the importance of developing a teaching

device integrated with the educational value contained in the Quran.
2. Methodology
Research Design
This research and development modify the Bennett, Borg, & Gall, (1984) and
Akker, Bannan, Kelly, Nieveen, & Plomp, (2007) models that consist of design
and implementation phases. The result of this research and development is an
integrated mathematics teaching device with the Quranic Values. The teaching
device includes syllabuses, lesson plans, student worksheets, and achievement
tests.
Research Procedure
This R & D procedure refers to the stage in the 4-D development model
developed by (Thiagarajan, SivasailamI, 1974). The four stages are definition,
design, development, and dissemination.
During the definition phase, several analysis activities are performed as a

reference for the initial product design. In other words, (1) basic problem
analysis of math learning in schools and determination of alternative solutions
to problem-solving, (2) student analysis on student characteristics and academic
achievement, and (3) material by choosing developed competencies. Analysis,
and (4) determination of selected basic competency indicators. The following is
an initial product design that references the results of the analysis performed.
The result of the initial design is called Draft 1. During the development phase
(development), there are three phases of testing: professional testing, limited
testing, and field testing. Perform specialized tests to determine the strength and
from the results of the initial design of the mathematics teaching device (Draft
1). Devices that meet the valid criteria (draft 2) are then subjected to limited
trials and field tests. Attempts were made to determine the practicality of the
teaching device. The result of the revised limited trial is called Draft 3, and a
field trial will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the device under
development. The final step is dissemination by submitting products to schools
where research and scientific publications are conducted.
Population and Sample

The population of this study is a student of middle school (SMP/MTs) from the
Cirebon District - Republic of Indonesia. Three middle schools (SMP/MTs) from
the Cirebon district were selected as samples using a stratified random
approach. The samples were selected based on the school's quality through the
accreditation level. There are three levels of school accreditation, respectively,
the best ones are A, B, and C. The samples consisted of experts, teachers, and
students representing each school based on their accreditation level. Table 1
shows the distribution of samples in this study.

100
Table 1. Distribution of Samples

Accreditation Level
Subject Total
A B C
Student 45 58 40 143
Teacher 2 2 2 6
Data Collection Technique

Data collection techniques for this study are using non-test techniques
(Lazaraton & Taylor, 2007). The non-test method is provided through the
provision of the expert evaluation form, teacher evaluation forms, and student
evaluation forms for the development of mathematics teaching device. The
Instrument used in this study was a validation form and a questionnaire.
Validation form is used to measure the validity of the device, which consists of
the syllabus, lesson plan, student worksheet, and achievement tests. Teacher and
student evaluation forms are used to measuring the practicality of teaching
devices. Besides, we measured student responses to pioneers in developing
mathematics teaching device at three schools with different levels of
accreditation. This activity was done as a next step, a key consideration for
product dissemination.
Data Analysis
Data analysis of this study was performed to determine the validity, practicality,
and effectiveness of teaching device development (MacLeod, Yang, Zhu, & Li,
2018). Expert judgment results were analyzed to determine the effectiveness
aspects of the device. A teaching device is said to be valid if the results of the
analysis performed on average fit into a valid category. Here, the validity
analysis uses Aiken's validity index with the following formula (Aiken, 1980).
Information :
V = item validity index
r = respondent choice category score
I0 = lowest score in the scoring category
c = categories that respondents can choose from
n = the number of respondents
The purpose of the usability analysis is to determine whether the developed

teaching device meets the practicality criteria. The usability of the device was
analyzed based on data obtained from the teacher and student evaluations in a
limited number of tests. A teaching device is said to be practical if the category
of analysis for each device is minimally practical (Widoyoko, 2000). Usability
analysis is performed by converting test data in five steps, as shown in Table 2.

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Table 2. Five-scale Actual Score Conversion

Interval Skor Category
Xi + 1,8 SBi < X Very good
Xi + 0,6 SBi < X ≤ Xi + 1,8 SBi Good
Xi – 0,6 SBi < X ≤ Xi + 0,6 SBi Enough
Xi – 1,8 SBi < X ≤ Xi – 0,6 SBi Less
X ≤ Xi – 1,8 SBi Very Less
Description:
X = Empirical Score
Xi = Average = ½ (maximum score + minimum score)
SBi = Standard Deviation = 1/6 (maximum score – minimum score)
During the field trial phase, students' responses to the application of the results
of the development of mathematics teaching device were analyzed. Different
tests are needed to use samples from three schools with different criteria. This
analysis is necessary to test the effectiveness of developing an integrated
teaching device with Quranic values using the one-way analysis of variance F-
test (Moder, 2010). For advanced testing, use Post Hoc Multiple Comparisons
(Kim, 2015).
3. Result and Discussion

Define
The definition phase focuses on analyzing needs and setting goals. Includes at
this stage; identifying learning objectives, conducting learning analysis,
analyzing student behavior and characteristics, and creating specific learning.
This phase is implemented through five information-gathering strategies related
to products developed to overcome the problems found in math learning at
SMP/MTs in the Cirebon district (Thiagarajan, SivasailamI, 1974).
Table 3. Analysis of needs and formulation objectives

Strategy Description of findings
Front-end  Based on interviews with middle school mathematics teachers

analysis in the Cirebon district, researchers were informed that the
curriculum used was Kurtilas. Exercises included in the
textbook. There are three groups with different characteristics
in learning absorption.
 That is the abilities of students in accredited grades A, B, and C
schools. The abilities of students at accredited C-level schools
are uneven. Schools with A-certified titles have an even
distribution of student abilities, and average performance is
better than the average for B and C-certified students. This
condition is almost the same as a student in a school that warns
of C certification, but below the average for students in a
predicate school with certification A.
Learner  Students are still ashamed to ask questions and hate if they
analysis come to the top of the class and are asked to explain the work
discussed.
 Students are not very active in learning.

102
 This condition can be seen in their activities while learning in

class. Some students are busy in the class and do not pay
attention when teachers explain in front of the class.
Some students are still unwilling to study math.
 This condition is evidenced by the fact that there are still
students who forget to do their homework and bring in other
tools such as books, stationery, and rulers.
 Some students have low, but not enough, math scores.
 When starting to study, especially when starting to study
mathematics, students rarely still pray or read Bismillah.
Task analysis  Students are more active in asking questions and
communicating their understanding with other students.
 Students are willing to complete a given task and pay attention
to all the explanations provided.
 Students are eager to learn math.
 Students get high or satisfactory grades.
 Students can understand the teaching materials well.
 Students are accustomed to praying before they start learning.
Concept  Schools need a curriculum and a variety of activities that can
analysis fulfill their vision and mission.
 Teachers need a mathematics teaching device that can improve
not only math learning outcomes but also shape students who
behave in an Islamic way.
 Students need math learning activities that can develop
understanding and spirituality.
Specifying By developing high-quality mathematics teaching device in terms of
instructional validity, practicality, and effectiveness based on scientific and Quran
objectives values, students excel in mathematical attitude and religious
spirituality.
Design
Indonesian government policy applies the 2013 curriculum (Kurtilas), which
must integrate information technology and scientific approaches to all subjects,
including mathematics (Purnamaningwulan, 2019; Mtebe & Kissaka, 2015).
Managing classroom learning requires the development and use of teaching
devices (Karakas, Manisaligil, & Sarigollu, 2015). Teaching device is devices
used in the teaching and learning process (Owen & Sweller, 1989). The teaching
device needed to manage teaching and learning will take the form of syllabuses,
lesson plans, student worksheets, and achievement tests (Washburn, 1992).
Figure 1. Mathematics Teaching Devices

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Based on Figure 1, four teaching devices have been developed with a scientific
learning approach. The scientific approach (Colburn, 2000; Hodson & Hodson,
1998) as one of the approaches that must be used for the application of Kurtilas,
which is a manifestation of the constructivist approach. In this approach,
students are given the most part to play a role in ongoing learning (Garrett, The,
Interaction, & Case, 2015; Catalano & Catalano, 1999). That part can be seen from
the following syntax (learning procedure). Observations, questions, trials,
associations, and communication (Sumarmo, Kusnadi, & Maya, 2018).
On that journey, Kurtilas experienced many developments and enhancements.

One is to implement strengthening character education (PPK) in Indonesia's
national education system (Aisyah, Samawi, & Untariana, 2018). Key values
expected through the PPK include religion, nationalism, independence,
cooperation, and honesty (Sulistyarini, Utami, & Hasmika, 2019). In addition to
enhancing character education, facing the challenges of the 21st century requires
students to strengthen their skills. Skills facing the challenges of the 21st century
are known as 4C, including communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and
creativity (Jefferson & Anderson, 2017). Besides, for students to have these skills,
they need to ask HOT questions and provide support to enhance student literacy
(Sulastri, Rintayati, & Sarwono, 2019). These are both prerequisites or support
for the development of future four skill (4C) students.
Curriculum development in Indonesia, which prioritizes the enhancement of

knowledge, skills, and personality education in learning, still suggests the
current lack of particular performance (Mohamad, Kulap, & Hamdiyah, 2018).
The flaws in the matter are juvenile delinquency and moral issues rampant
among students. Deteriorating morals has led to a controversy in the national
education system (Albantani & Madkur, 2016).
Given this situation, we need a catalyst that can accelerate the process of
absorbing information about Kurtilas and various enhancements. Catalyst
means increasing the value of the Quran in learning activities (Hudhana, 2015).
Of course, the Quran is very close to the lives of Indonesian people, especially
Muslim people. Many people read, memorize, and practice this holy scripture
book every day. Many formal and informal educational institutions, organized
by government or non-governmental organizations, study and learn this holy
scripture. Many Islamic boarding schools (Pesantren) and Islamic recitations
(Pengajian) scattered throughout the country are ready to discuss and study the
Quran, raise awareness about the values contained in the Quran, and provide
the public with material (Herdiansyah, Jokopitoyo, & Munir, 2016).
It is also known that the Quran's principles and values are consistent with
Indonesian education. Even the founder of this country used the Quran as a
reference in shaping the ideology of the state, as stated in Pancasila and the 1945
Constitution. In the Quran (Cahyaningtyas, 2018). That is, the value of the Quran
is packaged and widely accepted under other names so as not to compromise its
diversity.

104
Therefore, there is a need to enhance Kurtilas through the innovation of

mathematics teaching device integrated with the value of the Quran. The
simplicity of the goal can help us to absorb information about Kurtilas more
quickly. Indonesians who are mentally close to the Quran are certainly familiar
with the values contained in the Quran and apply it more easily in all their lives,
including education. With the Quran value as a catalyst, most educators are
expected to have a better understanding of Kurtilas. You can compare the values
included in the PPK and 4C skills with the values included in the Quran.
Besides, for a deeper understanding of Kurtilas, learning activities and
assessment of Kurtilas are easier to carry out. Figure 2 shows the hierarchical
structure of the developers.
Figure 2. SL-QVModel
Based on Figure 2, the Design phase, which takes place, looks for Quranic
Values related to learning activities. Next, extract the educational value
contained in it. Search results related to the Quranic values are mapped to
learning goals, learning methods, mathematics subjects, learning activities, dan
learning evaluation in Table 4.
Table 4. Al-Quran verses related to learning

Curriculum Letters dan Verses
Quranic Content
Structure From Al-Qur’an
Learning QS. Al-Hujurat, The purpose of learning is to be a person
Goals 49:13 dedicated to Allah
QS. Ali Imran, 3:190- The purpose of learning is to become a person
191 with faith and knowledge
QS. Al-Ahzab, 33:21 The purpose of learning is to become a noble
person
QS. At-Taubah, 9:122 The purpose of learning is to warn his people
and help them protect themselves
Learning QS. An-Nahl, 16:125 Wisdom method, good advice/coaching
Methods method, and Jidal method (discussion)
QS. Al-Maidah, 5:31 Imitation Method
QS. Al-Ahzab, 33:21
QS. Yusuf, 12:2-3 Story method
QS. Al-Ankabut, Method of practical experience (trial and error),
29:20 method of thinking

105
Curriculum Letters dan Verses

Quranic Content
Structure From Al-Qur’an
Mathemati QS. Al-Ikhlas, 112:1 Number
cs Subject QS. Al-Kahfi, 18:25
QS. Al-Ankabut,
29:14
QS. Al-Baqarah,
2:261
QS. Al-An’am, 6:78- Set
83
QS. At-Thalaq, 65:2-3 Algebraic Form
QS. Al-Anfal, 8:65- Linear equations and inequalities
66,
QS. Al-Jumuah, 62:9-
10
Learning QS. An-Nahl, 16:125 Wisdom method, good advice/coaching

Activities method, and Jidal method (discussion)
QS. Al-Maidah, 5:31 Imitation Method
QS. Al-Ahzab, 33:21
QS. Yusuf, 12:2-3 Story method
QS. Al-Ankabut, Method of practical experience (trial and error),
29:20 method of thinking
Learning QS. Al-Ankabut, Because all human beings test his faith, they are
Evaluation 29:2-3 not allowed to say, "We have faith" before
testing his faith.
QS. Al-Baqarah, The story in which Allah taught the prophet,
2:31-33 Adam, the name of the object, asked him to
name the object in front of the angel.
QS. Al-Baqarah, Humans will get some of what they are trying
2:202 to do; Allah is very fast in his calculations. Here
is how Allah counts (assesses) his servant
customs.
QS. An-Naml, 27:27 A story about the Prophet Solomon was testing
the honesty of hud-hud.
QS. As-Shaffat, A story when God tested the patience and
37:103, 106, 107 honesty of Abraham and his family through an
order to slaughter Ishmael.
Develop
Data from professional exams
During the development phase, the step of developing an integrated teaching
device for the Quranic value is first to perform an expert evaluation
(effectiveness test). The purpose is to check the quality of the product from a
content perspective. Two experts perform the effectiveness of the teaching
devices by assessing the syllabus, lesson plan, student worksheet, and
achievement test. The data relevant to the validity test results in Table 5 are as
follows.

106
Table 5. Syllabus validation results

Score Aiken
Rated aspect Criteria
1 2 Index
Syllabus Format 13 14 0,75 Valid
Syllabus Component 22 24 0,75 Valid
Subject Identity 25 26 0,67 Valid
Basic Competencies 13 12 0,68 Valid
Indicator 25 27 0,70 Valid
Learning Subject 13 15 0,78 Valid
Learning Activities 16 20 0,74 Valid
Assessment of Learning 16 20 0,74 Valid
Outcomes
Selection of learning resources 23 22 0,73 Valid
Time Allocation 22 24 0,75 Valid
Power of language 22 24 0,75 Valid
Total 210 228 0,73 Valid
Based on Table 5, verifier evaluation results relating to both the first and second
experts are included in both categories, as the syllabus is declared valid. Besides,
syllabus evaluation is performed by teachers, resulting in high-quality results,
and evaluation of student responses are categorized into appropriate categories.
The syllabus can now be declared practical — the effective results of the learning
plan in Table 6.
Table 6. Validation Results of Learning Implementation Plan

Score Aiken
1 2 Index
Learning Plan Format 16 20 0,74 Valid
Subject Identity 16 20 0,74 Valid
Formulation of learning 23 22 0,73 Valid
Objectives
Conformity of Learning Subject 25 26 0,67 Valid
Learning Model 22 24 0,75 Valid
Learning Activity 13 14 0,75 Valid
Selection of learning resources 25 27 0,70 Valid
Assessment of Learning 25 26 0,67 Valid
Outcomes
Power of language 23 22 0,73 Valid
Based on Table 6, the results of the verifier's evaluation of the lesson plan show
that each component of the lesson plan has a valid category and that the average
result of the total analysis has a valid category. Besides, teachers' assessments of
lesson plans are in a good category, and student responses are also in a good
category so that lesson plans can be declared practically. The results of the
evaluation and analysis of the Student Worksheet validation assessment data
show that all aspects have valid standards. The results of the LKS evaluation and
analysis are reviewed from all aspects, as shown in Table 7.

107
Table 7. Validation Result of student worksheets

Score Aiken
1 2 Index
Suitability of contents and subject 13 15 0,83 Valid
Layout Settings 22 24 0,82 Valid
Language Component 25 26 0,73 Valid
Presentation Component 13 12 0,68 Valid
Benefits/Uses 25 27 0,68 Valid
Conformity with the integration of 13 15 0,83 Valid
quranic values
The results of the verifier evaluation of the student achievement test meet valid
criteria. The assessment data is based on two aspects: metrics and the suitability
of the question editor, as shown in Table 8.
Table 8. Validation Result of Test

Max Score
Rated Aspect Score Criteria
1 2
Indicator Suitability 45 45 45 Valid
Content of question 45 45 45 Valid
Total 90 90 90 Valid
On the other hand, based on the evaluation of the content of the learning device,
Table 9 shows both the syllabus, the lesson plan, the worksheet, and the
professional pre-test test for the student.
Table 9. Content assessment based on expert opinion
Device Revision
Before Revision After Revision
Type Source
Syllabus Expert The indicator used does Indicators use operational
judgment not use operational verbs verbs
No information on Add/insert Quranic values
Quranic values in each at every stage of learning
learning activity
There are no Quranic Added Quranic values to the
values in the learning Learning Resources column
source
Lesson Expert The learning procedure is Stages that make learning
Plan judgment unknown steps more clear
The core activities of the Use the latest Kurtilas
learning step do not use formats, including 4C
the latest formats (2017 (creativity, collaboration,
revised curriculum), critical thinking, and
including 4C (creativity, communication) in core
collaboration, critical activities.
thinking, communication).
The learning procedure Learning steps with Quranic
involving the Quranic values are displayed because
values is not yet they are color-coded
clear/invisible.

108
Student Expert Student worksheet rating Added evaluation using the

Worksheet judgment not yet clear student worksheet point
system. All students earn
points for performing certain
activities listed on the
worksheet. Students will be
considered to meet the
minimum criteria if they
have earned a
predetermined number of
points.
Student worksheet does Added ability maps include
not display the ability of the student's abilities
students to achieve achievement. Interesting
pictures are also displayed
on the competency map.
The steps/sections of the Added ability maps include
worksheet are not well the abilities that students
organized to confuse achieve. Interesting photos
students and teachers. are also displayed on the
competency map.
Test Expert The rubric for multiple- Added numbers and color
judgment choice questions does not codes to distinguish each
yet show instructions (final activity on the worksheet.
answer only) Make Student worksheets
easier for teachers and
students to use. Added steps
to address multiple choice
rubric questions
Limited test data

Evaluation of learning tools performed on six teachers. Teachers' evaluations of
the developed syllabus, lesson plans, and learning outcome tests meet practical
standards. The results of the teacher evaluation of the developed worksheets
meet very practical criteria. Table 10 shows the results of the evaluation and
analysis of the lesson plan data by six teachers.
Table 10. Teacher Assessment on Teaching Devices

The total score for each aspect
Evaluator Student Achievement
Syllabus Lesson Plan
Worksheet Test
Teacher 1 38 32 37 30
Teacher 2 26 30 41 33
Teacher 3 30 30 32 30
Teacher 4 30 30 30 28
Teacher 5 34 32 40 30
Teacher 6 34 32 40 30
Average 32 31 36,67 30,17
Very
Criteria Practical Practical Practical
Practical

109
Besides, student worksheet student evaluation results were obtained, and the
developed achievement test meets very practical criteria. Table 11 shows the
results of the evaluation and analysis of the student worksheet evaluation data
and the results of the achievement test.
Table 11. Student Assessment on Teaching Devices

Evaluator Max Score Average Score Category
Student 45 39,25 Practical
Worksheet
Acivement 35 23,5 Practical
Test
Table 12 shows syllabuses, lesson plans, student worksheets, and both teacher
and student tests for assessing the content of the teaching device.
Table 12. Content assessment is based on the teacher's opinion and student response
Revision
Device Type Before Revision After Revision
Source
Syllabus Teacher The syllabus is good and -
Evaluation does not need to be revised.
Lesson Plan Teacher The index of the Quranic Added an index of Al
Evaluation values is missing, or the Quranic values related to
index used is incomplete learning activities,
and displays all poems although the Index limited
relevant to learning. to certain mathematics
subject materials.
Student Teacher A student worksheet is -
Worksheet and good and does not need to
Student be modified.
Evaluation
Achievement Teacher The tests are good and do -
Test and not need to be modified.
Student
Evaluation
Field test result data
Table 13. Test homogeneity of variances

Student Response
Levene Statistic df1 df2 Sig.
1.694 2 141 .187
Based on Table 13, the Anova test has Quranic values because the variance
uniformity test shows that the results of the field trial show that the three groups
have the same variant (P-value = 0.187> 0.05) Useful for testing student response
relationships to teaching device applications.

110
Table 14. Anova differences in student responses
Student Response
Sum of df Mean Square F Sig.
Squares
Between Groups 273.515 2 136.758 1.088 .340
Within Groups 17730.235 141 125.746
Total 18003.750 143
Also, the results of the Anova test confirm differences in student response to the
application of teaching device tools using the Quranic values of the three
accredited groups. From Sig Table 14. Obtained P-value (P-value) = 0.340.
Therefore, a significance level = 0.05 Ho is accepted, which translates into an
insignificant difference in the average score of student responses based on the
three accredited groups. Mathematics Teaching devices with Quranic values can
be developed at various types of schools, both accredited and non-accredited.
Besides, the test results show Ho (no difference), so no further tests (Post Hoc
Test) will be performed in the next analysis phase.
Product revision
The revision of the integrated mathematics teaching device, especially Quranic
values. First, complete the syllabus, lesson plan, student worksheet, and
achievement test according to the advice of the two validation expert. Second,
add an index of Quranic values and divide them into five types of Quranic
values related to learning goals, learning methods, mathematics subject material,
learning activities, and learning evaluations. Third, improve student worksheets
and achievement tests according to teacher and student suggestions.
Disseminate
Mathematics teaching devices integrated with Quranic values can improve
students' religious spirituality and mathematical attitudes. Religious spirituality
is shown in how a student is respectful, has faith in Allah, and performs the
worship he requires. This is in line with the research results of Hammawa &
Hashim (2016) that the values contained in the Quran affect a person's
spirituality. Other than that Impact of the Quran in the treatment of the
psychological disorder and spiritual illness (Saged et al., 2018), the Quran also
have an impact on student learning attitudes (Fathi, Ebrahimzadeh, Charati,
Rostamnezhad, & Shelimaki, 2017). The religious spiritualities of the students
discussed in this study are similar to the religious attitudes described in the
strengthening character education (PPK) in Kurtilas (Cahyaningtyas, 2018).
Besides, the mathematical attitude of the problem is the mathematical attitude
that the student gained when learning math. One mathematical attitude is that
students tend to be more thorough and solve problems. Mathematical attitudes
are also closely related to strengthening skills (4C) to address 21st-century
challenges (Falsetti & Rodríguez, 2005).
A mathematics teaching device integrating the Quranic values developed

regarding the background findings and the analysis results during the definition

111
phase. Media selection, format selection, and initial product design are
performed based on the results of the subsequent analysis. The initial product
design is then performed during the testing phase: expert, limited, and hands-on
testing. At each stage of the test, modifications or improvements are made to the
product under development to qualify. The device was evaluated for its
feasibility based on three aspects: (a) effectiveness, (b) practicality, and (c)
effectiveness. Form learning tools: lesson plan, student worksheet, and
developed achievement test meet valid criteria based on content validity by two
experts. This condition indicates that the components of the teaching device that
have been developed comply with the indicators set for the means of teaching
device effectiveness. The teaching devices developed also have a strong
theoretical relationship, and there is internal consistency between the
components of the device under development (Inglis & Alcock, 2012).
The usability of a teaching device is based on teacher ratings and student ratings
(readability). Based on data analysis, it shows that the teaching device
developed to fit into practical categories. This condition is shown from the
average score of student ratings in the practical category, but the average score
of teacher ratings for learning devices is a very practical category.
Teaching device products, lesson plan, and student worksheets meet effective
standards. This condition means that there is consistency between the
configured training set and the implemented training set, and the configured
training set and the goals to be achieved. The efficient criteria are met based on
an analysis of student response data from three different types of schools
(Accreditation A, B, and C) and show no significant differences. This condition
shows that schools with different quality schools can accept and use the teaching
device.
Based on a review of the above three aspects, the mathematics teaching device
integrates Quranic values to develop students' spirituality and mathematical
attitude and meets valid, practical, and effective standards Can be concluded.
This condition shows that the developed device is suitable for learning
mathematics. In line with the opinion of (Nieveen, 1999) that state quality
aspects of the key considerations of teaching device must pay attention to three
aspects of effectiveness, practicality, and effectiveness.
Research restrictions
As this study is still in its early stages of development, the materials used in the
teaching device are still limited to set materials. Besides, the SL-QV model used
as a concept in this study needs further refinement to make the output clearer.
This study is limited to SMP/MTs (middle schools) so that it can be developed
at other educational levels.
4. Conclusion
The research conducted, namely, the development of a mathematics teaching
device integrated with the Quranic values was stated to meet the criteria for
validity, practicality, and effectiveness. Therefore, specifically developed

112
teaching device is suitable for use in SMP/MTs (middle school) level learning
activities. In general, mathematics teaching device integrated into the values of
the Quran can be used as a reference for further development of teaching
materials and other levels of education. From two experts as verifiers, the
syllabus rating scores 210 and 228 met the valid criteria. The lesson plan
evaluation scores of 188 and 201 meet the valid criteria. Student worksheet
assessment scores of 93 and 103 meet valid criteria. Finally, an achievement test
score of 90 and 90 meets the valid criteria. Besides, from 6 teachers as teaching
device evaluators, 32 syllabus scores, 31 lesson plan scores, 36.67 student
worksheet scores, and 30.17 achievement test scores. Syllabus scores, lesson
plan, and achievement tests meet practical standards, and student worksheet
scores meet very practical standards. Finally, a P-value (P-value) = 0.340 was
obtained based on the results of the Anova one-way F-test. Therefore, accept Ho
at the actual level = 0.05. Therefore, the conclusion obtained is that there is no
significant difference in the average score of student responses based on the
three accredited groups. Based on these results, the teaching device can be
applied to schools that meet effective standards and have varying levels of
accreditation (quality).
5. Acknowledgments
Thanks to the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs. The study was funded
through DIPA IAIN Syeikh Nurjati Cirebon in 2019.
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Biographies
Widodo Winarso
Widodo Winarso is an assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics
Education, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Syekh Nurjati Cirebon-Indonesia. He is
a Ph.D Student in Islamic Education Psychology from Muhammadiyah
University of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. His research interests are in educational
psychology, mathematical psychology, cognitive psychology, organizational
behavior and interdisciplinary research.
Sirojudin Wahid
Sirojudin Wahid is a senior lecturer at the Department of Mathematics
Education, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Syekh Nurjati Cirebon-Indonesia. He
teaches mathematics learning media and Kapita Selekta [school mathematics].
His research interests are in mathematics education integrated science and
islamic mathematics.

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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 118-135, January 2020
The Impact of a Teacher Preparation Programs

on Professional Teaching Competencies –
Female Novice Teachers’ Perspectives
Saba Qadhi, Manal Hendawi, Elham Ghazi Mohammad, Intisar Ghazi,

Nasser Al-Dosari and Xiangyun Du
Qatar University
Doha, Qatar
Abstract. This study explored early career teachers’ perspectives on

their competencies in professional teaching in Qatar. Using a mixed-
method research design, this study drew on empirical data from ninetly-
five survey respondents and ten individual interviews with teachers
who were in their first four years of working in Qatari governmental
schools. The findings of this study indicate that professional teaching
competencies are strongly related to professional training through a
teacher preparation program. This study identified a few of the specific
challenges that novice teachers encounter and revealed a significant
need to address these challenges to maintain their competencies. The
study contributes to the literature by investigating novice teachers’
perspectives on their teaching competencies as supported by their
teacher preparation program. More efforts to bridge the gaps between
programs and schools are needed to prepare teachers in their early
careers better.
Keywords: novice teachers; professional competence; training

programs; preparation program; Qatar
1. Introduction
Student teachers are challenged to develop the professional teaching
competencies needed to demonstrate high-level skills while preparing to work in
schools. An alarming number of novice teachers do not fully make this transition
after they complete their training, but rather leave the teaching profession in
their first years of work. This can be explained by a lack of induction plans and
professional development designed for new teachers (Fantilli & McDougall,
2009). The study will be significant as it can be used to redesign the teaching
program at the university and implement an induction plan in the schools to
benefit the students more and, in return, improve the overall education quality
in the country. Novice teachers play a critical part in the country’s education
system, and their actions significantly influence the state of the education system

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in the country. Graduates from Qatar University’s teaching program are

expected to be ready to discharge their duties immediately.
This research described some of the specific challenges that novice teachers face
and showed a clear need to tackle these challenges to improve their skills and
competencies. The research adds to the literature by exploring the experiences of
novice teachers regarding their teaching skills as guided by their teacher training
program. Further efforts are needed to bridge the gaps between programs and
schools to better prepare teachers for early careers.
One of the most important reasons has been that novice teachers lack confidence
in their capabilities and competencies to manage teaching work in practice
(Baecher, 2012). Previous studies have identified a considerable lack of self-
efficacy and presence of anxiety among novice teachers, and their first years of
practice are regarded as a time of critical development (Faez & Valeo, 2012).
When novice teachers face the reality of the profession’s requirements, they
either strengthen their efficacy beliefs or leave the profession (Tschannen-Moran
& Hoy, 2007). This situation has led to the debate surrounding whether the
quality of pre-service programs, schools’ organizational cultures, and education
policies are truly enhancing teachers’ competencies and helping them to keep up
with the changes and workload (Cochran-Smith, 2013).
Facing global challenges, much of the recent literature has paid attention to the
reasons behind many novice teachers’ choice to leave their profession as well as
finding potential solutions to the shortage of qualified teachers (Sutcher,
Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016). Further, more recent attention has
focused on the provision of adequate teaching preparation plans to help new
teachers better prepare for their work (Ödalen, Brommesson, Erlingsson,
Schaffer, & Fogelgren, 2019).
While a growing body of studies emphasizes the importance of novice teachers’

self-efficacy, and job satisfaction (author, 2017, 2018; Canrinus, Helms-Lorenz,
Beijaard, Buitink, & Hofman, 2012), little is known about how novice teachers
perceive their competencies in managing their teaching work at an early stage in
their career. Therefore, it is essential to explore how novice teachers think they
have achieved the necessary skills for their teaching profession with the support
of teacher preparation plans. It is also required to discuss the challenges that
novice teachers have encountered in applying the skills gained through their
preparation programs to their teaching training in schools.
Nevertheless, society is still facing a severe challenge in that it lacks sufficient

teachers, particularly qualified teachers (Ahmed, 2018; Ellili-Cherif,
Romanowski, & Nasser, 2012). To prepare qualified teachers better, it is crucial
to know how novice teachers evaluate their competencies related to their
profession. Therefore, this study aims to explore how newly graduated teachers
perceive their success in achieving the expected skills during their teacher
preparation programs. Through a mixed-method study, we quantitatively
surveyed ninety-five early career teachers’ self-evaluations of their teaching

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proficiencies. Through interviews with ten teachers, we qualitatively explored

their insights about how they were prepared for working as a teacher and what
challenges they faced.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Research on novice teachers

According to (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2005), teachers have a significant
impact on student learning than any other factor related to the school system.
The criticality of teachers to student learning, therefore, demands that they are
well trained and adequately prepared to meet the objectives of their country’s
education sector (Bettini, Jones, Brownell, Conroy, & Leite, 2018; Glennie,
Mason, & Edmunds, 2016; Tait, 2008). It is, therefore, essential to understanding
the preparation and retention of novice teachers, defined as those who are new
entrants in the field or who have zero to three years of experience. Numerous
studies have examined novice teachers’ retention, retention problems, and the
need to address critical issues within teacher preparation programs (Gold, 1996;
Smith & Ingersoll, 2004; Veenman, 1984; Zeichner & Tabachnick, 1981).
However, novice teachers themselves have had limited input in determining
practical approaches (Bettini et al., 2018). In addition to changing policies and
reform models, novice teachers are likely to leave their jobs, mainly due to a lack
of administrative assistance (Holmes, Parker, & Gibson, 2019; McLean, Abry,
Taylor, Jimenez, & Granger, 2017).
Various studies have focused on the lack of competencies among novice teachers
and the challenges they face in the teaching field (Friedman & Kass, 2002;
Truchot & Deregard, 2001). Scholars have highlighted various aspects of teacher
development related to these challenges; for instance, some studies point out
that insufficient knowledge of school organization generates stress, which in
turn affects the performance quality of novice teachers (Brackett, Mayer, &
Warner, 2004; Lopes, Grewal, Kadis, Gall, & Salovey, 2006). On the other hand,
some researchers claim that the formation of stress that stimulates the
performance of teachers is backed up by the pressure that has been inducted in
them through their educational program (Gavish & Friedman, 2010; Levski,
2003). Novice teachers may also experience particular stress because, since they
are a part of an organization, they are assumed to work with the same efficiency
and provide quality teaching at the same level as their senior colleagues
(Brackett et al., 2004; Zins, 2004).
2.2 The role of teacher preparation programs

The crucial role of a preparation program is developing capabilities in novice
teachers and enhancing their teaching competency (Azhar & Kayani, 2017).
Another ongoing change in teacher preparation programs is an increased focus

on self-reflection. The majority of training workshops and professional
development opportunities for novice teachers now pay attention to preparation
done by the teacher through self-study (Goodwin et al., 2014). Similarly, teachers
are observed to pay keen attention to their routines and curriculum and

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maintain an individualistic focus to develop relative behavior (DeAngelis, Wall,

& Che, 2013; Kang & Zinger, 2019). This focus on self-reflection is based on the
idea that any teacher who lacks self-understanding cannot retrieve the behavior
of students (Kukla-Acevedo (2008). Likewise, according to a stage-based model
of teacher growth, novice teachers are not able to understand the thinking of
students until they can recognize themselves as teachers and understand the
classroom practices (DeAngelis, Wall, & Che, 2013). Many teachers work in
specialized professional contexts in which they struggle to focus their attention
on the classroom routines and curriculum and also struggle to focus on their
behavior concerning the thinking of the students. It is crucial to understand and
address this struggle because a teacher’s qualification and content exposure have
a remarkable effect on their students’ achievements (Kang & Zinger, 2019).
However, the practice of teacher training remains neglected due to a small
number of educational institutions (Celik, 2011) and to several other factors
(Youngs, Odden, & Porter, 2003). To address this lack of adequate teacher
training, researchers should investigate the gap between the stimulating
filaments of teacher preparation programs and their implementation in
education plans.
2.3 Teacher education in Qatar

Teacher education in Qatar, as in other Arab Gulf regions, is characterized by a
significant proportion of foreign teachers and by a majority female workforce.
The supremacy of women in education and their omission from specific fields
like administration and engineering is aligned with the conventional religious
limitations placed on females, and the conventionally acceptable part of females
as teachers in Islamic civilization was rapidly strengthened by various
influential societies in Qatar (Abu-Tineh & Sadiq, 2018).
However, changes are underway, both in the gender balance of the teaching
workforce and in the training of teaching. In 2001, the Qatari government raised
concerns about the outcomes of the education system of Qatar due to the low
scores obtained by secondary students in the Program for International
Assessment (PISA) study and the Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS). The administration encouraged to embark on initiatives
based on suggestions and recommendations for creating an educational system
that would fulfill the changing needs of Qatar (Romanowski, Ellili-Cherif, Al
Ammari, & Al Attiya, 2013).
Since then, studies have paralleled Qatar’s national focus on teacher training
plans (Romanowski et al., 2013). In their detailed description of the education
program and the aspects in which it lags, these studies have identified several
attributes. To begin with, Qatar is now clearly inclined towards a modern form
of training and development of teachers (Chaaban & Du, 2017). In 2001, a lack of
competency in teachers was found to create obstacles for the students. After the
reforms that began at the turn of the century, the development of teachers in
Qatar has been viewed as a useful measure in that it is assisting students to be
more expressive (Nasser, Cherif, & Romanowski, 2011). Currently, Qatar is still
making crucial efforts to improve teacher development, although the traditional

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training of a pressurized work culture persists in some regions (UNESCO, 2019).

Consequently, there is a need for a detailed analysis of the factors that limit the
implementation of teacher preparation programs.
Our review of the related literature has established that teacher preparation
programs are essential for the development of novice teachers. However, not all
the available educational institutions in Qatar are still implementing such
programs. The Supreme Education Council’s Schools and Schooling report,
which was issued in 2013, emphasized issues affecting performance in a
government school; some of this one-third of independent school-teachers did
not have a formal teaching qualification. Another critical point that has been
identified from the literature is that teacher preparation programs are essential
for the development of teachers as well as students. Also, this process yields
opportunities for expert teachers to enhance their capabilities and launch new
career opportunities. In response to the problems identified in the literature
review, we formulate the following research questions:
1) In which ways do novice teachers think they have achieved the needed
competencies for their teaching profession with the support of the teacher
preparation programs?
2) What challenges have novice teachers met in applying the competencies
gained through their preparation programs to their teaching practices in
schools?
3. Methods
3.1 Research context

Q University is one of the leading institutions in the country, and its college of
education is one of the essential institutions responsible for producing the
country’s teachers. It offers a total of four programs, including early childhood
education and primary, secondary, and diploma programs in Arabic, English as
a second language, mathematics, science, social studies, and Islamic studies. The
programs include four years period of study before the undergraduates can
obtain a bachelor of arts degree, and in the fourth year, students have 10-week-
long internships in schools. On average, 1,000 students (95% female and 5%
male) attend this college, and it graduates around 300 students each year. More
than half of these go on to work in governmental schools.
3.2 Participants
Study participants included early career teachers who completed the
undergraduate program study at Qatar University and worked as teachers in
governmental schools for less than four years. After receiving ethical approval
from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Ethical
Committee of Qatar University, the University does not keep official records of
the employment situation for each graduate program. Our message asked the
schools to forward the email to their newly employed teachers. Ninety-five
teachers responded to our survey, and of these, ten participated in the
interviews. All participants in this study were female. We divided the

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participants into two groups: teachers with one year’s teaching experience or
less and teachers with one to three (less than four) years’ teaching experience.
3.3 Research design and data generation

Explanatory mixed-method research was employed for data generation
(Creswell & Clark, 2017). Two phases and sources of data were included: first, a
questionnaire-based survey was used to invite the novice teachers to evaluate
their competencies for the teaching profession; second, individual interviews
were conducted with ten novice teachers.
3.3.1 Quantitative data sources – a questionnaire-based survey

A questionnaire-based survey method was used to gain an overview of the
opinions and standpoints of novice teachers. The questionnaire was developed
by the research team to align with the curriculum objectives of the teacher
preparation program and the national professional standards for teachers in
Qatar (Council, 2007). The questionnaire contained ten items inviting
participants to respond to the question, “Could you please reflect and report to
what levels you were prepared for your teaching job in the following aspects?”
using a four-point Likert-type scale.
1 = “Not prepared at all, and I am not competent in this aspect”
2 = “Reasonably prepared, and I am confident in demonstrating most of the
requested competencies in this aspect”
3 = “Well prepared, and I am highly confident in demonstrating all requested
competencies in this aspect”
4 = “Excellent, and I am highly confident in demonstrating excellence in this
aspect”
Following (Creswell & Clark, 2017), the questionnaire development procedure

was as follows: 1) interviews were conducted with four teacher preparation
program faculty members; 2) four programs coordinators reviewed an initial
draft of the survey; 3) expert validation was conducted by other, senior experts
with 10-20 years of experience in teacher preparation programs, followed by
minor revisions regarding the phrasing of items 1, 2, 6, 8 and 9; and 4) another
expert validation was conducted by statistical experts to review the rate and
scale of the questionnaire design. Three rounds of discussion led to the revision
of the scales before the research team, and experts reached a final agreement on
the current version. After the expert validation, a language professional first
performed translation into Arabic. Then back-translation was used to examine
the validity and linguistic parallelism of the questionnaire (Cohen, Manion, &
Morrison, 2013). A few rounds of translation back and forth between English
and Arabic were carried out before two other language experts reached a final
agreement on its validity. Then the survey was tested by five novice teachers.
3.3.2 Qualitative data sources – semi-structured interviews

The individual interviews were conducted to firstly triangulate the quantitative
data results and secondly to further explore these teachers’ experiences and
challenges. Ten teachers volunteered to participate in the semi-structured
interviews after they had participated in the survey. Among these, six were first-

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year teacher graduates, and four had worked for between one and three years.
All the volunteer teacher participants were female, with an age range of 24–30.
During the interviews, they were invited to reflect on their work performance
regarding their professional knowledge, overall teaching skills, and professional
disposition. They were also asked to provide examples demonstrating how their
teaching had led to students’ learning gains. Besides, they were invited to relate
their current performance at work to the teacher preparation program they had
attended and to identify challenges in applying what they had learned to their
work. Each interview lasted 30–60 minutes. The interviews were conducted in
Arabic and audio-recorded, then transcribed and translated to English for
content analysis (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009).
3.3.3 Data analysis

The quantitative data from Ninety-five surveys were analyzed based on
descriptive statistics to examine participants’ responses. We computed the
means and standard deviations for each item of the questionnaire.
To analyze the qualitative data from the ten interviews, we employed a thematic
analysis based on the interview questions and the commonalities in the
responses obtained from the interviewees that, helped us to infer meanings with
the help of linguistic features in the agreed settings (Cohen et al., 2013). Our
analysis also focused on strengthening the meanings expressed by the
interviewees, which were then coded for analysis, whereby the concepts
revealed through the responses were shortened (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009).
4. Results
4.1 Quantitative data results

Fundamental statistical analysis was conducted on the data collected using the
questionnaire. The Cronbach’s alpha of the survey is .946, indicating the right
scale of reliability of the measure. The means and standard deviations of each
item of the survey were calculated to identify the perspectives of novice
teachers. We also compared the two groups of teachers: those with one to three
years of experience and those who were first-year graduates (N=17). The
descriptive statistics for the participants’ responses are presented in Table 1,
providing an overview of the conclusion of the quantitative data source.
Table 1: Overview of the quantitative data analysis results

1-3 years’ First-year
experience graduates Total (N=95)
(N=78) (N=17)
Std. Std. Std.
Mean Mean Mean
Items Dev. Dev. Dev.
1. Providing a variety of
opportunities that support student 3.14 0.82 3.41 0.62 3.19 0.79
learning and development.
2. Accommodating students’
differences and cultural 3.04 0.89 3.18 0.73 3.06 0.86
backgrounds to provide them with

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learning opportunities for

improving their achievements.
3. Establishing a classroom
environment of respect and support 3.32 0.83 3.47 0.62 3.35 0.80
that provides a culture for learning.
4. Having sufficient content
3.08 0.92 3.35 0.61 3.13 0.88
knowledge in the professional field.
5. Motivating learners and engaging
them in critical thinking by teaching
3.13 0.94 2.94 0.83 3.09 0.92
a variety of perspectives and
concepts.
6. Engaging in assessment activities
and using the data for instructional
3.05 0.88 2.71 0.77 2.99 0.87
decision making and student
improvement.
7. Planning integrated and coherent
instruction to meet the learning 3.08 0.91 3.47 0.51 3.15 0.86
needs of all students.
8. Providing student-centered
instruction that is characterized by 3.10 0.86 3.12 0.70 3.11 0.83
clarity, variety, and flexibility.
9. Reflecting on and using multiple
resources, such as professional
literature and interacting with 3.17 0.86 2.94 0.56 3.13 0.82
colleagues, to aid growth as an
educator.
10. Collaborating to ensure learner
3.26 0.81 3.53 0.51 3.31 0.77
growth and advance the profession.
Total 3.14 0.74 3.21 0.39 3.15 0.69
Following the scale range of 1:00-1.75 for scale 1, 1.75-2.50 for scale 2, 2.50-3.25
for scale 3, and 3.25-4.00 for scale 4, the overall result of the novice teachers’ self-
evaluation of their performance at work is positive, with a total mean of 3.15 for
the whole survey. That means the participants believed they were prepared for
their teaching position. Comparing the two groups, teachers with one to three
years’ experience reported M=3.21 for all items, while teachers with less than
one year’s experience reported M=3.14 for seven out of the ten items. Although
there were three items with means of lower than three reported by teachers with
less than one year’s experience, they were still within the range of scale 2,
meaning they considered themselves generally prepared.
A t-test was conducted to compare the two groups (one to three years of
experience and first-year graduates), and no significant difference was identified
between them, either for any of the individual items or for the ten items in total
(t = -0.41).
4.2 Qualitative data results

The ten interviewees confidently self-evaluated their readiness for working as
teachers in the aspects of professional knowledge, teaching skills, and
professional dispositions. During the analysis, attention was paid to the
comparison between those teachers in their first year of teaching experience (T1-

126
6) and those with one to three years’ experience (T7-10). Similar to the
quantitative results, there was no apparent difference between the two groups of
participants. Nevertheless, more individualized opinions were observed
regarding different aspects of teacher readiness. Below, we report the interview
findings in the following structure: 1) teaching performance and its impacts on
student learning gains; 2) link between teaching performance and the teacher
preparation program; 3) points missing from the teacher preparation program,
and,; 4) teaching-learning through work.
4.2.1 Teaching performance and its impacts on student learning gains

All the teacher participants discussed how their teaching performance
contributed to student learning gains. Interestingly, the participants provided
contrary evidence in this matter. Four of them (T3, 5, 7, and 9) considered
helping students by using diverse teaching strategies to be one of their teaching
achievements. As one participant said:
I apply a lot of teaching strategies and methods. I also take into account
individual differences. I use different visualization strategies, some
students are visual, auditory, and some like hand-on experiences.
Therefore, I use all of that to deliver information and to improve the
students’ performances. (T5)
Some teachers (T4, 6, 8, 10) referenced increased scores as good evidence of their
performance and achievement:
I believe the best way to see my teaching outcomes are to prove that
students improve their scores. In the past three years, I think my
students have made excellent achievements in their grades. (T8)
The two teachers (T1 and 2) working in the area of early childhood education
observed student growth as an achievement in both their teaching and their
learning:
I have only been here for a month, and I have not managed a class yet.
However, I tried to help the shy students who never speak to participate,
and interact. A student never spoke when I first got here, but now she
does, and she is more social now. (T1)
4.2.2 The link between teaching performance and the teacher preparation program
The interviewed teachers were generally satisfied with what they learned from
the teacher preparation program. They could link the benefits; they gained from
the program to their daily exercise of teaching. The most cited benefits of the
program included theories that helped develop a conceptual understanding of
teaching and learning, a wide range of teaching strategies and skills for
classroom management, and opportunities for micro-teaching. As they
expressed:
I am glad I was in that program, and it made a significant influence on

me. It made me feel confident at work…. I am used to creating new

127
teaching strategies…. I can see I know quite a lot of strategies that even
qualified teachers do not know. (T3)
It (the university program) had a significant influence in the sense that I

proficient the situations that I now experience with my students. The
experience of managing a class during the internship was highly
beneficial, and the university instructors were role models for me at
work. (T4)
I have been teaching two and a half years now, and people in my school
always say that they chose me because I graduated from the Qatar
university program, meaning I am high-quality. Moreover, I have
proved this to them. This made me quite proud of my program of study.
(T9)
Nevertheless, T7 pointed out that the quality of teaching was also related to
individual factors, including attributes such as responsibility and passion. As
she said:
I think being a teacher is not about being a graduate from any college. It
has more to do with our passion and how we love the profession of
teaching. With passion, we can get more engaged in the job and with our
students. Without passion, even graduates of the best program may not
necessarily make a good teacher…. [It] depends on the individual. (T7)
4.2.3 Challenges - Points missing from the teacher preparation program

The interviewed teachers identified a few significant challenges, which were
described as points missing from their teacher preparation program. First, all the
teachers interviewed mentioned that, despite their confidence in their
professional knowledge and skills, during their first six months, they
experienced a gap between the program and their work-life, and sometimes they
felt insecure about how to handle specific real-life situations. As one of them
said:
I know the teaching strategies, and I know when to use each strategy.
However, my problem is that sometimes I do not know what to do in
specific situations. For example, I took the Child Development course,
but now I deal with children who are three years old. I cannot give them
academic stuff because they should only learn some letters and
pronunciation. The strategies that I learned are not very helpful in this
situation. (T2)
Besides, half of the interviewed teachers reported knowledge gaps regarding

assessment. The quantitative outcomes reflect where the survey question
regarding assessment yielded the lowest of all scores from first-year graduates
(2.71) during their teacher preparation.
In our program, we had a course on assessment, which gave us many

techniques for how to assess students; I even got a good grade in that

128
course. Nerveless, I never learned how to deal with all the issues around
assessment in real life. We are only testing students on memorization
because we only want good grades. Now I am learning how to use
assessment to provide feedback and consider this process qualitatively
rather than quantitatively. (T7)
Further, three teachers (T2, 5, 9) mentioned their lack of preparation for handling
students in a classroom setting. As one said:
I know a lot about the theories of classroom strategies, but I wish I had
known more how to deal with students; in particular, they are so
different from each other. I did not know until I was standing in the
classroom. It took me two years of struggling with this, and I may have
gotten more confident now, but I still have a lot more to learn. (T9)
4.2.4 Teacher learning

All the interviewed teachers expressed positive attitudes about their ongoing
learning while working as a teacher and in particular about applying what they
learned in their university programs to real-life training. As one teacher said:
We must continue to learn new things. Although we learned a lot from

the university program, it was not enough for me. I still have to learn
some things. (T1)
Also, three teachers (T4, 7, 9) reflected on the effect of real-world experience. As

one said:
What I learned from the program is meaningful now based on the work
experience. The teaching experience makes me learn more
comprehensively. (T4)
The interviews also identified one missing aspect of teacher preparation, which
is that some interviewees struggled with continuous learning in response to real-
life problems. As one said:
When I face situations where I do not know what to do, I am now

reading books to search for answers… (T6).
5. Discussion
This study aimed to explore novice teachers’ self-evaluation of their
competencies at work. A mixed-method design was used, including quantitative
data from the survey findings of ninety-five teachers and qualitative data from
interviews with 10 participants.
5.1 Novice teachers’ perception of their teaching competency

We attempted to evaluate the perceptions of teachers regarding their teaching
competencies with the support of teacher preparation programs. Based on the
quantitative assessment, we inferred that the teachers were generally confident
in their abilities to apply the professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions

129
targeted by their preparation programs during their work in Qatari

governmental schools. This is also consistent with the conclusion of the
qualitative analysis, in which all participants confidently evaluated themselves
as being ready to perform the part of a teacher in the areas of teaching skills,
professional knowledge, and professional disposition. It is noteworthy that these
results contradict the findings of (Goh, Yusuf, & Wong, 2017), who found that there
is significant variation among novice teachers regarding their perceptions of
their competencies and that these perceptions are subject to different situations
and the quality of teaching preparation program.
The researchers conducted a study on two groups of teachers by drawing a

comparison between teachers with less than one year of experience and teachers
with one to three years of experience. No differences were found between these
two groups in terms of their perception of their teaching skills following the
outcomes of the qualitative analysis. Similarly, the outcomes of the t-test in the
quantitative analysis also found no differences in the perceptions of the two
groups, as all participants were confident in their readiness to teach.
The results of this study also indicated that certain aspects of teacher preparation
programs need to be improved; for example, participants reported in the survey
that they had the least confidence in their preparation for student assessment,
which is in line with conclusion reported in previous studies (Alkharusi, 2011).
This result suggests a gap between the theories teachers learn in their teacher
preparation programs and the practice of teaching in schools, and it more
explicitly suggests explicitly that assessment theory is far from the real practice
of diverse assessment methods. This aspect deserves more attention in teacher
preparation programs in terms of providing student teachers with more chances
to understand the reality of work-life in schools regarding developing diverse
assessment techniques and, in particular, using assessment as a way to
encourage student learning. The results of the interview corroborated the
quantitative results, further revealed the concern of the participants about
developing evaluation methods that promote student learning, and highlighted
evaluation techniques as a critical issue among novice teachers, who consider
the grades and scores of the students to be the only way to assess their
performance. While the evaluation is already recognized as important teaching
ability, one suggestion for teacher training programs would be to further
improve the effectiveness of teachers in evaluating students in a manner that
helps them achieve their maximum potential.
Also, it is worth pointing out that the novice teachers in this study reported a
comparatively low level of reflection that drew on multiple resources, such as
literature or peer comments. In Qatar, although classroom study and
collaborative learning are encouraged, these practices remain limited (Al-Kaabi
& Hossain, 2018). Collaboration learning, peer review, and assessment are
approved in the classroom to increase the students’ reflections in the teaching
and learning process.
It suggests that teacher-training programs should further improve the skills of

classroom study and collaborative learning with colleagues. Furthermore, the

130
qualitative data revealed the impact of teaching performance on student

learning gains, with a variety of evidence provided by the participant teachers.
Some of the teachers in this context identified the positive impact of their
teaching on student performance based on the scores and grades of the students.
However, some of the teachers provided evidence of a positive teaching impact
on student performance based on students’ interpersonal skills development. In
this regard, one of the respondents found improvement in students’ speaking
skills after the end of the year. This is validated by the work of (Adnot, Dee,
Katz, & Wyckoff, 2017), who found that effective teaching performance tends to
have a significant impact on students’ interpersonal skills, as effective teachers
increase student confidence and enable them to develop these skills to their full
potential. It means that teacher-training services already provide student
teachers with specific opportunities to improve their communication skills for
student teachers to enhance their communication, interpersonal, and teamwork
skills so that they can better use those skills to facilitate learning for their
students. Moreover, the results of the interviews outline a visualized strategy as
an active technique through which teachers can influence the performance of
their students. The result is consistent with a study by (Kucher & Kerren, 2015),
who found that visual representation of information positively influences
students’ performance and helps increase their knowledge of a particular
subject.
5.2 Points missing from teacher preparation programs

This study also attempted to analyze the challenges that come across by novice
teachers while applying their knowledge and skills in their teaching profession.
The qualitative interview data reported a variety of opinions concerning the
problems they had met, and half the participants had experienced the challenge
of differentiation, or in other words, the ability of teachers to identify the
differences between the students and to fulfill the needs of each student
(Coubergs, Struyven, Vanthournout, & Engels, 2017). The responses also
indicated that this challenge is mainly due to a lack of focus on differentiation
techniques in teaching preparation programs. According to Coubergs, Struyven,
Vanthournout, & Engels (2017), the increasing diversity of the student body is
raising some severe difficulties for teachers, who often find it difficult
completely to understand a student’s attitude in terms of their concerns, needs,
and ways of thinking. Understanding a student’s position ultimately defines the
performance of the teacher. Therefore, the findings of this study and the findings
of the previous literature suggest that different approaches require more
attention in teacher preparation programs.
The responses of the interviewees also highlighted that a lack of experience and
ability to cope with different situations is another critical challenge faced by
most of the novice teachers. In this context, the outcomes highlighted an instance
in which a respondent faced difficulties in dealing with three-year-old children,
as they require a different style of teaching. Similarly, the style and approach of
teaching are highly subject to different situations and factors, which implies that
teachers are responsible for being adaptable for being able to change their
teaching styles as per the requirements (Collie & Martin, 2016). Based on our

131
findings, it can, therefore, be stated that teacher preparation programs must

place more emphasis on providing training on how to cope with a variety of
situations while maintaining the highest level of teaching.
Further, this study divided the novice teachers into two groups: very beginner
teachers with less than one year of experience and teachers with one to three
years of experience. Neither the quantitative nor the qualitative outcomes
revealed differences between these groups. Even the identified difficulties were
more individualized as opposed to being associated with a specific group.
Furthermore, the findings of this study on the challenges faced by teachers are
also consistent with the findings of the previous literature, implying there is a
significant need to address all of these problems to maintain the competencies of
teachers.
5.3 Contribution of the study

The results of this study have the following implications. First, the study
contributes to the literature by bringing in novice teachers’ perspectives on their
teaching competencies as supported by their teacher preparation program. The
study also identified a few of the problems that the novice teachers encounter
that deserve attention from both teacher preparation programs and schools.
Second, more efforts to bridge programs and schools are necessary to prepare
teachers in their early careers better.
Since this study highlighted the significance of training in the field of education
for both novice teachers and qualified teachers, it will help to enhance the
educational system in Qatar. Skilled teachers will be able to refine their skills,
while novice teachers will learn to implement many teaching practices.
Moreover, different schools and colleges can enhance their teacher development
practices by using the discussed teacher training in their institutional processes.
5.4 Limitations and future research directions of the study

Given the accessibility issues for the researcher, the study was limited to a
sample size of ninety-five participants. The study was also limited to the
geographical bounds of Qatar and Q University. The findings of the study,
therefore, remain provisional and have a few limitations. First, the findings are
mainly derived from teachers’ views, which could be further validated through
a comparison with other perspectives like mentors and colleagues from schools,
instructors from the training program, and students. Second, the current study
mainly focuses on novice teachers working in governmental schools in Qatar.
Therefore, further studies may include novice teachers working in international
schools, who usually graduated in other countries, and thus provide an
additional perspective to examine the effect of teacher preparation programs in
the current study. Third, the outcome of the study may be further enriched by
and compared with other sources of data, such as classroom observations and
narratives. For future studies, the sample size could be increased, while other
methodological techniques could be adopted.

132
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, this study provides conclusive evidence that teacher preparation
programs have a positive impact on the preparation of novice teachers in terms
of their acquisition of professional skills and their overall contribution towards
student development. Furthermore, the participant teachers were able to
develop students’ learning capability during their teaching practice. This
investigation also explores specific difficulties encountered by novice teachers in
Qatar. Consequently, the research has practical implications for and contributes
to Qatar’s educational mechanism.
The participants selected had given diverse opinions regarding the impact of the
development programs preparing them for the future. The novice teachers
found the programs significantly growing them in their confidence and self-
sufficiency to become strong teachers in practice. Moreover, the teachers were
able to develop innovative skills to build the learning capability of the students
in the future. The overall analysis confirms that teacher preparation programs
are necessary to help novice teachers place firm grounds in the educational
career. To formulate a strong study in the future, it is suggested the research be
backed with valid methods to be used to analyze the impacts. The impact
analysis was focused mainly on using the academic administrations and the
teachers as participants to assess the worth of the preparation programs.
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 136-158, January 2020
The Discursive Governing of Elementary School

Student Identity in Norwegian Educational
Policy 2000–2015
Fred Rune Bjordal1

Østfold University College
Halden, Norway
Gunn Elisabeth Søreide

University of Bergen
Bergen, Norway
Abstract. Drawing on a study of five Norwegian white papers from the

period 2003–2013, this article illuminates how student identity is
discursively negotiated and constructed in educational policy
documents in a period of transformation in Norwegian education. By
employing discourse analysis using ‘the student’ as a nodal point, the
white papers are analysed in four phases: (1) identify identity resources,
(2) construct subject positions, (3) cluster subject positions into student
identities, and (4) identify the discursive governing of student identities.
Our analysis of the documents shows how the policy documents draw
on traditional and well-known educational discourses, but also how a
new discourse, ‘The discourse of compliance’, emerges in this period. In
particular, the article discusses possible challenges and dilemmas that
might arise, such as the challenge of ‘metonymic transfer’ and ‘the
temporal dilemma’, when student identity is negotiated and constructed
in the intersection of different educational ideologies and discourses.
The article also elucidates how ‘The discourse of compliance’ is relevant
for the development of the new Norwegian educational reform of 2020.
Our findings are of interest for all actors within the educational context
and underscore the importance of investigating student identity in
policy research. The article also lays the groundwork for several
suggested approaches for further research on the topic.
Keywords: Student Identity; Educational Policy; Bildung; Competence;

Compliance
1 Corresponding author: Fred Rune Bjordal, fred.r.bjordal@hiof.no

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Introduction and background

This article illuminates and discusses how Norwegian educational policy
documents discursively negotiate and construct elementary school student
identity in a period of transformation in Norwegian educational policy. The aim
of this article is to demonstrate how policy documents construct ‘the student’
and to discuss the possible consequences and dilemmas this construction might
cause for schools and students. This article will also show how global, neo-
liberal educational ideas are incorporated and negotiated in national educational
policy (Dale, 1999) where social-democratic values, the Bildung-tradition, and
progressive pedagogy have previously held a strong position.
From the late 1980s elements of neo-liberal educational and governing ideas
have been gradually introduced in Norwegian education (Hansen, 2011; Helgøy
& Homme, 2016; Hovdenak & Stray, 2015). However, both educational policy
and curriculum in Norway has mainly been influenced by a combination of
ideas originating from social-democratic values, the Bildung-tradition, and
progressive pedagogy. This strong influence, as well as a cross-political
consensus in Norway’s parliament on the “public provision of education,
organized along comprehensive lines”, (Wiborg, 2013, p. 420) made Norwegian
education relatively resistant to neo-liberal policies throughout the 1980s and
1990s (Wiborg, 2013). This changed at the beginning of the new millennium,
with what has been characterised as ‘the PISA-shock’ (Prøitz & Aasen, 2017).
The fact that Norwegian pupils performed worse than expected on the first
PISA–test, combined with a conservative government from 2001 to 2005, paved
the way for the 2006 ‘knowledge promotion’ (K06) educational reform (Prøitz &
Aasen, 2017; Skarpenes, 2014; Wiborg, 2013), a reform that marks a significant
change toward an emphasis on more neo-liberal educational ideas in Norway.
The increased emphasis on neo-liberal ideas in the K06 reform resulted in

explicit and tangible changes in the Norwegian educational sector, such as an
increased focus on the relationship between education and employability and
the transition from a curriculum with content specifications to a curriculum
stating measurable learning outcomes. The curricular change was also
accompanied by an increased focus on outcomes and evidence in the governing
of schools, resulting in the implementation of accountability systems and a
national framework for quality control (Prøitz & Aasen, 2017). The introduction
of educational ideas steaming from neo-liberalism in Norwegian educational
policy has continued throughout the first decades of the millennium (Hilt, Riese,
& Søreide, 2019; Prøitz & Aasen, 2017; Skarpenes, 2014; Wiborg, 2013).
However, a recent study investigating the initiating document of an ongoing

educational reform (Reform 2020) in Norway illuminates how neo-liberal
educational ideas and traditional ideas and values from social-democratic,
Bildung, and progressive traditions intertwine in Norwegian educational policy
(Hilt et al., 2019). Additionally, Skarpenes (2014), Prøitz and Aasen (2017),
Helgøy and Homme (2016), and Vislie (2008) show how these traditional values
and neo-liberal educational ideals intertwine, merge and/or support each other,
both in the period before, during and after the development and implementation

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of the K06 reform in 2006. Apparently, instead of replacing central, traditional

educational values, such as a unified educational system, solidarity and
inclusion, neo-liberal educational ideology seems to be adapted and adjusted in
dialogue with traditions in the Norwegian context (Hilt et al., 2019; Prøitz &
Aasen, 2017).
This adoption might also be why Norway’s educational policy framework has
been relatively consistent throughout the first decade of the new millennium. In
2005 a centre-socialist government (Stoltenberg II) replaced the conservative
government (Bondevik II). The Stoltenberg II government mainly continued the
conservative government’s educational policy trajectory and implemented K06
with only minor adjustments (Telhaug, 2011; Tolo, 2011; Wiborg, 2013).
Although brief, this introduction shows how the development of Norwegian

educational policy, in the period 2000–2015, is simultaneously characterised by
change of, merging with and stability in educational ideas. As different policy
ideas and discourses grant access to different student identities, it is especially
interesting to investigate the discursive negotiation of student identities in these
periods of transformation. Nevertheless, few studies have explicitly focused on
how policy discursively constructs student identity in this period in Norway,
although there are a few studies that discuss the relationship between policy and
how groups of students are categorised. Skarpenes and Nilsen (2014) discuss
how assessment policies might classify and categorise groups of Norwegian
students as deviant and in need of special attention and special needs education.
Skarpenes (2014) also uses Norway as an example to discuss how the merge of
ideas from progressive education and neoliberalism construct a specific form of
individuality that underwrites educational policy and practice. This, he claims,
has resulted in a focus on self-regulation and adaptive education that might
alienate and exclude groups of students.
In our research we build on the above-mentioned research on Norwegian

educational policy (2000 – 2013) and the discussions on how this policy “make
up” categories of students. By using a discourse analytical approach our article
contributes with more detailed insights into how educational policy documents,
in this first decade of the new millennium, draw on both neo-liberal and more
traditional Norwegian educational discourses in the construction of student
identities. However, our analyses also show how a new ‘discourse of
compliance’, often associated with neo-liberal identity, is introduced in this
period.
Theoretical framework
In this article, we draw on Foucault’s understanding of power as a nonessential,
relational phenomenon that regulates meaning and identity (Alvesson &
Sköldberg, 1994, p. 303). Based on this understanding of power, we consider
white papers to be an institutional act and part of a complex discursive system
which controls subjects (Andreasson, 2007) through the construction and
governance of identity. Further, our understanding of the construction and
governing of identity is framed by discourse theory (Laclau & Mouffe, 2014;

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Torfing, 2003). Discourse theory emphasises discourses’ significance in the

construction of identity, as discourses regulate the way we think, speak and act
in/about life (Bjordal, 2016). One of the ways discourses construct and regulate
identity is by offering identity resources or subject positions. Subject positions
are patterns of thought, speech and act. Identity is constructed by the way
individuals and groups of people are assigned and/or consciously and
unconsciously choose from the accessible palette of discursively constructed
subject positions. When subject positions cluster or they are combined in certain
ways, they form identities (Søreide, 2007). White papers can, in other words, be
understood as a circulating power which implicitly and/or explicitly constitutes
discursive patterns of thought, speech and action (Schei, 2007), or student
identities.
In periods of transition and change, several discourses will have access to, and
attempt to regulate, the field of education, and educational policy can, in such
periods, be defined as a “field of discursivity” (Torfing, 2003). The field of
discursivity can be described as a space where different discourses meet and
negotiate definitions of elements. This space is neither completely outside nor
inside a discourse, but an area that is “… discursively constructed within a
terrain of unfixity” (Torfing, 2003, p. 92), leaving a number of discursively
constructed elements, such as student identity, open for negotiation. This
negotiation between discourses is not to be understood as a fight for existence,
but more as a game of domination (Torfing, 2003). The metaphor ‘playing field’
is therefore deliberately preferred in favour of ‘battlefield’ when the ‘field of
discursivity’ is described.
In this playing field, the discursive negotiation over meaning and identity can
play out in different ways. If a discourse, or a bundle of discourses, becomes
dominant in the definition of student identity, the result is hegemony. However,
it is also in the field of discursivity where antagonisms are revealed and most
visible. Antagonisms, or conflicts, are necessary for discursive negotiations to
exist, and arise when two or more discourses block each other’s definition of
elements (Jørgensen & Phillips, 1999; Torfing, 2003). In a later section of this
article, we will show precisely how three different discourses negotiate over
meaning and identity in the policy documents. First, we will describe the
material and the analytical approach.
Method
The analysis of the empirical material is inspired by approaches to discourse
analysis (Alvesson & Willmott, 2002; Andreasson, 2007; Jørgensen, 2002; Krüger,
2000; Schei, 2007; Søreide, 2007) that are compatible with the theoretical
framework described above. In the following sections, we will firstly give a brief
introduction of the five white papers that constitute the empirical material
before we describe the more specific analytical phases.
Material
As described in the introduction, the first 15 years of the new millennium (2000–
2015) comprised an especially interesting period when it comes to the discursive

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negotiation over educational policy ideas and student identities in a Norwegian

context. We have therefore selected white papers for analysis that are published
in this period. A white paper is a document that reports the Norwegian
government’s ideas and policies within a particular field to the Parliament
(Norwegian Government Security and Service Organisation, 2016). White papers
from the Ministry of Education will consequently represent the current
government’s future policy ideas and initiatives for the educational sector. The
selected white papers include descriptions of general expectations and goals for
all pupils in all elementary and lower secondary schools in Norway. White
papers that, for instance, exclusively focus on special needs education or
inclusion of pupils from minority language groups were excluded. Based on the
above criteria, we selected the following five white papers for analysis:
1) Report No. 30 to the Parliament (2003-2004) “A Culture for Learning”

[Kultur for læring]: As an element of the introduction of a (low stakes)
accountability system in the governing of schools, this white paper replaced
a content-based curriculum with descriptions of learning
outcomes/expected competencies for students. The report also introduced
five basic skills: 1) oral and 2) written communication, 3) reading, 4)
numeracy and 5) digital competencies.
2) Report No. 16 to the Parliament (2006-2007) “Early Intervention for Lifelong

Learning” [Tidlig innsats for livslang læring]: This white paper is a part of
the government’s pursuit to reduce social and economic differences in
society. Through early intervention and support for students that struggle
with their learning, kindergartens and schools must ensure the opportunity
for a high-quality learning outcome and the completion of basic and upper
secondary education for all students. According to the report, these
educational measures will enhance opportunities for social mobility and
participation in society, working life and lifelong learning.
3) Report No. 14 to the Parliament (2008-2009) “Internationalisation of

Education in Norway” [Internasjonalisering av utdanninga]: This white
paper proposes a series of measures with the intention to ensure that
students on all levels develop the necessary skills to act and interact in what
is described as an increasingly globalised world.
4) Report No. 22 to the Parliament (2010-2011) “Motivation – Ability –

Possibilities” [Motivasjon – Mestring – Muligheter]: This white paper
specifically focusses on lower secondary education and how schools and
teachers must work to stimulate and uphold a feeling of mastery and
motivation for learning in students grade 8–10. Such motivation is presented
as vital for the students’ learning and thereby for their future possibilities in
education, society and working life.
5) Report No. 20 to the Parliament (2012-2013) “On the right path” [På rett vei]:
The purpose of this white paper is to introduce measures so that
comprehensive education in Norway can be better equipped to face pupil’s

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needs and abilities, as well as the expected future demands of society and
working life.
Analysis
Due to its capacity to investigate text, language and communication processes
(Jørgensen & Phillips, 1999) we use discourse analysis as an analytical approach,
to analyse the text in the policy documents. Discourse analysis also has the
capacity to identify how student identity is communicated and discursively
constructed in the policy documents. As underscored in the theoretical
framework, different discourses use different semantics to conceptualise ‘the
student’ in different ways. These conceptions give students access to a variety of
identity resources, or subject positions, which again cluster and construct
identities. In the analysis, ‘the student’ is therefore perceived as a “nodal point”
(Laclau & Mouffe, 2014) that several discourses aim to fill with meaning. The
analytical aim is thus first to identify what identity resources, or subject
positions, the documents offer students, second to identify how these resources
construct student identity and third how student identity is discursively
governed and negotiated.
The analytical procedures of the documents consist of four main phases, which
we describe in the following. The first author conducted the analyses. However,
all categories, codes and findings were discussed with the second author, who
has extended experience with the analytical approaches and procedures and is
familiar with the selected documents. First, expectations and descriptions in the
documents of what pupils should know, do, feel, learn, and perform were
identified and excerpted. The excerpts were then thematically categorised. These
categories constituted the base for the construction of 23 subject positions that
were listed, numbered and described (see appendix 1). The numbers
representing each subject position were then used to code the policy documents.
This second phase of the analytical process illuminated the distribution of
accessible subject positions within and across the five documents. The third
phase of the analysis identified how subject positions cluster and construct
student identities. In total, 10 student identities were constructed and described
in this phase (appendix 2). In qualitative analyses transparency in the analytical
process is vital, as it enables readers to assess if findings are reasonable given the
theoretical framework, the material and the analytical process. To ensure such
transparency and reader validity, appendix 3 exemplifies how findings from
phase three build on findings from phase two, which in turn are built on the
findings from the first phase of the analytical process. Finally, we identified how
three discourses govern the 10 student identities in the policy documents. This
analytical phase had two theory-informed discourses, namely ‘The Bildung
discourse’ and ‘The competence discourse’ as a point of departure. Throughout
the analysis, it became evident, however, that a third discourse, termed ‘The
discourse of compliance’, was also active in the construction and negotiation of
identity resources and student identities.
In the following, we will first give a brief description of the three discourses
before we show how they govern and negotiate hegemony over the student
identities identified in the documents.

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The discourses
As mentioned above, the final part of the analysis considers two theory-
informed discourses, ‘The Bildung discourse’ and ‘The competence discourse’, as
a point of departure. These two discourses were initially selected based on our
historical knowledge of the development and changes in Norwegian educational
policy. As described in the introduction, Bildung is a phenomenon which has
deep roots in Norwegian education, and the focus on competence and
employability are increasingly emphasised in educational policy from the turn
of the millennium. In the process of categorising identity resources and
identifying student identities, a third discourse, ‘The discourse of compliance’,
emerged from the material. In the following paragraphs, we will provide an
account of the three discourses along with some examples of semantic
indications of their presence in the documents.
The Bildung discourse

In our definition of the ‘The Bildung discourse’, the critical and non-instrumental
aspects of human existence are underscored. The latter draws on the idea that
knowledge, relationships and things we do as humans have an intrinsic value.
For instance, learning and knowing are considered important and valuable in its
own right, regardless of whether what is learned will eventually result in better
grades or better jobs. The critical aspect of Bildung entails the idea that, although
it is important to learn as well as adjust to the norms and rules of the society,
both learning and adjustments should be done in a critical and reflective way.
This definition builds on the concept of paideia (Doseth, 2011; Myhre, 2009;
Solerød, 2014), which takes its meaning from the ancient Greeks and refers to an
individual’s active and conscious enculturation into society (Doseth, 2011).
Adjusting to society requires comprehension and acceptance of the present
social structures, but also an awareness of opportunities for evaluating and
altering these existing structures (Torjussen, 2011). Consequently, individuals
can contribute to both the upholding and the change and development of social
rules and structures.
Semantic indications of the presence of ‘The Bildung discourse’ in the empirical

material are words such as ‘democracy’, ‘democratic understanding’,
‘cooperative learning’, ‘student participation’, ‘student council’, ‘class council’
and ‘student influence’. These words are connected to qualities of Bildung that
encourage a critical approach to and understanding and development of the
society. These words are central in the descriptions of the subject positions that
construct, for example, the student identity of ‘the democratic student’.
The competence discourse

The more instrumental and performative aspects of education are core to the
way we define ‘The competence discourse’. This definition is based on the Latin
origin of competence, competentia, which refers to having enough knowledge,
sound judgment, skills or strength to perform satisfactorily and attain a requisite
outcome (Lai, 1995, p. 17). To perform adequately means to use the things you
know in a way that meets the demands of the situation you are in (Gullichsen,
1992, p. 7), whether these demands are explicated as expected educational

143
learning outcomes or tasks to be handled in a workplace. In this discourse, it is

consequently not so much the things learners know that are important, but how
they now and (in the future, will) transform their knowledge into competencies
that enable them to perform adequately. In ‘The competence discourse’,
knowledge and competence are therefore valued by their utility to society as a
whole, but more importantly to businesses, professions and workplaces
(Gullichsen, 1992, p. 7; Nordhaug, 1990, p. 19). Hence, an instrumental or
functionalistic understanding of knowledge and education is a crucial feature of
the way we define this discourse.
‘The competence discourse’ is also very much future-oriented. First, because the
skills, knowledge and competences students learn and develop in school should
be relevant for their future life as students and employees. Second, and in slight
contrast to the former, this future-orientation positions the student as a lifelong
learner. To be a lifelong learner means to face the demands from an increasingly
uncertain future society and working life and to acknowledge the need for
continuous learning and development to be employable and able to perform
adequately.
Semantic indications of the presence of ‘the competence discourse’ in the

empirical material are words such as ‘continuing education’, ‘competence’,
‘competence goals’, ‘career’, ‘labour’ ‘labour market’, ‘entrepreneurship’ and
‘mapping tools’. These words are examples retrieved from subject positions
constructing, for example, the student identity of ‘The goal-oriented student’.
The discourse of compliance

In the analytical process, we identified how words, text segments, codes and
thematic categories drew on ‘The Bildung discourse’ or ‘The competence
discourse’. However, some words, text segments, codes and thematic categories
were not completely aligned with either of these two discourses. For instance,
some text segments describing students overlapped to a large degree with our
definition of ‘The Bildung discourse’, but with a significant lack of key semantic
indications such as ‘reflection’ and ‘critical thinking’. In other words, there
seemed to be an analytical gap between ‘The Bildung discourse’ and ‘The
competence discourse’.
In our attempts to understand and frame these semantic indications more

theoretically, we turned to the Norwegian philosopher Hellesnes’ (1999)
discussions on socialisation. In these discussions, Bildung and a more compliant
attitude are characterised separately. In contrast to socialisation as Bildung,
socialisation as compliance indicates a non-reflective and non-critical acceptance
of the social conditions of which the individual is a part (Hellesnes, 1999, p. 25).
With the above as a backdrop, our definition of ‘The discourse of compliance’

positions the individual as somebody who accept, internalise and submit to the
available social frameworks, norms and rules. Education and socialisation are
consequently perceived as unilateral enterprises, where the society is active, and
the individual is positioned as a far more passive spectator of its socialisation

144
process. This discourse does not emphasise insight into how power relations
govern and control the existence of the individual as a part of education and
socialisation. Consequently, students might interpret all difficulties as personal
and self-inflicted (Hellesnes, 1999, p. 25), as the ulterior and societal causes to the
difficulties they encounter are under-communicated (Torjussen, 2011).
Student identities
In this section, we will present the ten student identities we identified in the
analysis. Further, we will show (see Figure 1 below) and explicate how these
identities are governed by the three discourses presented above. These
descriptions are complemented by appendix 1 – 3.
Figure 1: Visualisation of identities and their governing discourses
Student identity 1: The knowledge-oriented student

Lifelong learning and subject-specific knowledge are the core elements of this
student identity. The basic skills and subject-specific knowledge the student
learn, are used as a foundation for the desire to constantly acquire more
knowledge. This identity consequently positions the student in a constant and
lifelong search for more knowledge.
The significance of knowledge and lifelong learning to this student identity can
be interpreted as a will to attain enlightenment and a recognition of the intrinsic
value of learning and knowledge. It is, therefore, possible to argue that this
identity is regulated by ‘The Bildung discourse’. However, lifelong learning is
currently closely associated with employability and the ability to adjust to a
flexible and changing working life, and thereby also incorporates the
instrumental aspects of ‘The competence discourse’. There are few explicit
descriptions in the material of precisely what knowledge students should
acquire and how this knowledge should be learned. It is therefore unclear
whether this identity promotes an unreflective reproduction of existing

145
knowledge, drawing on ‘The discourse of compliance’, or the more reflective

construction of knowledge associated with ‘The Bildung discourse’.
Student identity 2: The motivated student

This student identity positions the student as highly motivated, not only to learn
but also to educate herself. She is interested and eager to learn in all situations
and highly values all opportunities to access new knowledge. This student is
therefore thankful for all learning opportunities and explicitly appreciates the
opportunities to learn and access knowledge that education offers.
This student identity is firmly grounded in a positive attitude towards learning

and knowledge, which is an indication that the identity draws on ‘the Bildung
discourse’ in its will to attain enlightenment. Importantly, this positive attitude
is also clearly directed toward education. This direction, in turn, can be
understood not so much as a will to achieve enlightenment, but rather an
intention to educate oneself, which is a slightly different undertaking, as it very
well might imply a more instrumental attitude towards future employability.
Thus, it can be argued, this student identity might also draw on central elements
of ‘The competence discourse’. Finally, in the description of the motivated
student, a certain submissiveness can be found in the use of words such as
‘appreciate’, ‘thankful’ and ‘opportunities’. This can imply an expectation that
students should accept and be grateful for the opportunity to be educated, rather
than to critically reflect on their educational opportunities. This final point
illustrates how this student identity also might draw on elements from ‘The
discourse of compliance’, as well as ‘The competence discourse’ and ‘The
Bildung discourse’.
In other words, there is room for all three discourses to actively negotiate the
more precise meaning of significant elements in both of these first identities.
Likewise, the third identity presented below is governed by all three discourses.
In this third identity, the dominant position of two of the discourses is more
easily identified.
Student identity 3: The global student

The global student is positioned as someone who is eager to learn about
Norwegian culture and heritage as well as other cultures. She is also focused on
learning multiple languages. This student will actively use her language and
cultural knowledge as a tool to build friendships and collaboration, bridge
different cultures both nationally and internationally, and to ensure that she is
well prepared to function optimally in a multicultural and global future society.
Although globally oriented, she will also use this knowledge to preserve
Norwegian culture, heritage and identity in this future society.
The process of socialising young people for the world as global citizens with
knowledge about languages, cultures and the benefits and challenges of a
multicultural and global world, is traditionally closely connected to ‘The Bildung
discourse’. However, the significance of language and national and global
cultural knowledge in this identity is not framed as important due to its intrinsic
value or to stimulate reflection. These competencies are underscored because

146
they equip the student with useful tools to cope with, function in, and adapt to a
future society. Consequently, this identity predominantly draws on the
instrumental aspects of ‘The competence discourse’, as well as the significant
adaptive element of ‘The discourse of compliance’.
The following four student identities are all governed by two of the discourses,
in different combinations. Here it varies to what degree it is possible to identify
the dominant discourse in the hegemonic struggle over the identities.
Student identity 4: The reflective and responsible learner

This student is conscious and constantly aware of her learning processes and
which study techniques that enable her to learn the best. Consequently, she
reflects on and takes responsibility for her learning processes. This makes her an
efficient learner, as it enables her to keep the right focus on learning, to utilise all
learning opportunities and to maximise her learning outcome throughout her
educational career.
At first glance, this student identity’s explicit focus on reflection and

responsibility seem to draw on central characteristics of ‘The Bildung discourse’.
Yet, the equally explicit focus on effective learning situates the reflection and
responsibility within a more instrumental frame associated with ‘The
competence discourse’. Still, one might argue that ‘effective learning’ can also be
conceptualised in line with ‘The Bildung discourse’, if effectiveness is understood
as a drive and will to be enlightened and educated. Although this identity draws
on both discourses, the way ‘effective learning’ is connected to utilisation of
learning opportunities and maximisation of learning outcomes indicates the
dominant position of ‘The competence discourse’ over ‘The Bildung discourse’ in
the discursive negotiation of this identity.
Student identity 5: The confident and content student

This identity positions the student as someone who thrives at school and
considers school to be a secure place to be and to learn. This student flourishes
academically and socially. Her academic accomplishments and confidence, as
well as her social surplus, enable her to contribute to an inclusive, positive and
safe learning environment, where her fellow students also can thrive.
Consequently, she has good relations with other students as well as teachers.
This identity is governed by both ‘The Bildung discourse’ and ‘The discourse of
compliance’. The former is visible in the central position wellbeing, inclusion,
accomplishment, socialisation and good social relationships take up in this
identity. To be academically and socially confident and competent is valued as
important in themselves. However, there are no semantic indications of critical
reflection about how students are socialised into school or the way schooling is
done, connected to this student identity. This identity positions the student as
someone who thrives under the current circumstances. Students are
consequently also expected to acknowledge and adapt to school’s academic and
social expectations, traditions and context, rather than to challenge them. In
sum, this indicates a dominant governing function of ‘The discourse of
compliance’.

147
Student identity 6: The democratic student

The democratic student values cooperation and working in groups. However,
she underscores that cooperation and collective processes, both in the classroom
and in the society at large, must be framed by democratic principles that ensure
participation and enable everybody involved to contribute to the process.
The collaborative and participative attitude and democratic thinking that

characterises this student identity are easily associated with values that are
central to ‘The Bildung discourse’. This will, however, presuppose critical
reflection as a significant part of the democratic, participatory and cooperative
attitude that is so central to this identity. There are no explicit semantic
indications of such reflection and critical thinking when it comes to ‘The
democratic student’. As already underscored, the lack of reflection and critical
thinking will be at odds with ‘The Bildung discourse’. In sum, this might be an
indication that ‘The democratic student’ identity is governed in the overlap
between ‘The Bildung discourse’ and ‘The discourse of compliance’. Neither of
the discourses are dominant.
Student identity 7: The competing student

This identity positions the student as someone who strives to perform and
deliver results at her best ability. This student is therefore always, implicitly or
explicitly, competing against her own and others’ accomplishments to ensure
that results and performances are in accordance with expected learning
outcomes. For the same reason, she is always eager to have her academic
accomplishments assessed and compared to fellow students’ and her previous
work.
The focus on performance, learning outcomes and comparison underscored in

this identity is in line with neo-liberal educational policy ideas that advocate the
comparison of individuals’, schools’ and national states’ abilities to perform in
accordance with pre-defined quality indicators. These educational ideas are also
central to ‘The competence discourse’. ‘The competing student’ is, in other
words, an identity that draws heavily on the performative elements of ‘The
competence discourse’.
In the material that constitutes this student identity, the student is positioned as
well-adjusted and well-functioning in a competitive and performative
educational context. This indicates that ‘The discourse of compliance’ is also
significant in the governing of this student identity.
These seven first identities are subject to discursive negotiation over significant
elements of the identities. This means that there is a hegemonic struggle between
two or all three discourses over these identities. The final three identities
presented below are, on the other hand, more clearly governed by one dominant
discourse.
Student identity 8: The socially well-functioning student

The socially well-functioning student is positioned as law-abiding and socially
competent. She is concerned with norms, laws and regulations, and considers it

148
vital for a well-functioning society that people know and act in accordance with
social and juridical laws and norms. The student is thus interested in learning
the social codes that regulate different social situations and relationships.
Compliance with the society’s social and juridical laws and rules as well as social
competence are vital skills for ‘The socially well-functioning student’. The focus
is on socialisation and incorporation into society. Although the focus on
socialisation might indicate the presence of ‘The Bildung discourse’, the
identity’s dominant focus on learning established social frameworks does not
really open the opportunity for (re)construction of social, ethical or normative
frameworks. Thus, this student identity constructs students who rather adapt to,
than critically reflect over, the established norms, laws and rules. Consequently,
we can argue for the dominant position of ‘The discourse of compliance’ in the
governing of this identity.
Student identity 9: The goal-oriented student

This identity positions the student as confident about her future professional
career. She consequently uses her education to consciously and systematically
discover, develop and improve her talents in accordance with these career plans.
For the same reason, she also makes school activities as relevant and useful as
possible for her perceived future career.
Within this student identity, talent development and school activities are valued
due to their relevance and significance for the student’s future professional
career. The instrumental, functionalistic and future-oriented aspects are so
strong that it is difficult not to conclude that ‘The competence discourse’ has a
hegemonic position in the governing of this identity.
Student identity 10: The socio-economically conscious student

This student does her best not to become a socio-economic burden, both as a
student and as a future citizen. She aims to be an active and economically
profitable contributor to society throughout her life. As a student, she therefore
consciously makes sound and appropriate educational choices and avoid
selecting the ‘wrong’ educational trajectories that might be at odds with future
career goals. In addition to being conscious about her educational and
professional choices, this student also focuses on living as healthy as possible,
both physically and mentally, to avoid being a burden to the welfare state
system.
This student identity is based on the idea that in and through their educational
efforts, all citizens should ensure that they are useful to society, employable and
as light a burden as possible. The explicit instrumental, economic and future-
oriented features of this student identity make it rather apparent that this
identity is dominated by ‘The competence discourse’.

149
The discursive governing of student identity: some issues and

dilemmas
As Figure 1 (page 144) and the above presentation of identities and discourses
show, all three discourses are involved in an ongoing, discursive game of
hegemony. In the following sections, we will discuss some issues and dilemmas
this regulative game over hegemony has evoked.
Antagonistic, dominant or hegemonic discourses?

The theoretical framework and the empirical findings presented above, creates a
backdrop for a discussion about the relationships between the three discourses:
are the relationships of an antagonistic nature, are one of the discourses
dominant, or do the discourses support and strengthen each other, creating a
cooperative hegemony of values, meanings and identities?
To identify and assess the strength of the three discourses in the regulation of
student identities is not a straightforward matter. In our analyses, the strength
and dominance of a discourse were identified by scrutinising the way values,
goals, outcomes, knowledge and competencies, are legitimated in the policy
documents. Based on this, we will argue that the governing of the student
identities is slightly dominated by ‘The competence discourse’. The instrumental
aspects of ‘The competence discourse’ are central in the legitimation of outcomes
and competencies in the documents. This situates ‘The competence discourse’ in
a dominant position when student identities are governed by this discourse in
combination with one or both of the two other discourses. ‘The competence
discourse’, either alone or alongside one of the other two discourses, is also
involved in the regulation of the majority of the student identities we identified.
The analyses also show how ‘The discourse of compliance’ gains a significant
position in Norwegian educational policy in the first decade of the new
millennium. Also, this discourse is involved in the governing of a majority of
student identities, although its presence is not so explicitly linguistically
identifiable as the ‘The competence discourse’. The introduction of ‘The
discourse of compliance’ is nevertheless an important element in the policy
changes experienced in Norway over the last two decades. The features of ‘The
discourse of compliance’ are highly associated with neo-liberal educational ideas
(Hodgson, 2019). It could, therefore, be argued that the introduction of ‘The
discourse of compliance’ and the student identities it regulates, facilitates the
emphasis on neoliberal ideas such as self-regulation and responsibilism
(Hodgson, 2019), that characterises student identity in the current ongoing
Norwegian educational “Reform 2020” (Hilt et al., 2019; Riese, Hilt, & Søreide, in
press).
When ‘The discourse of compliance’ regulate identities in tandem with ‘The

competence discourse’ the two discourses strengthen each other. As identities
that draw on ‘The discourse of compliance’ more easily accept, internalise and
submit to available social and normative frameworks, these identities will be
more open to the core values of ‘The competence discourse’. It can be argued
that the two discourses exist in a complementary, rather than an excluding

150
relationship where the two make up a hegemonic unity that has paved the way
for other neoliberal values, such as the abovementioned emphasis on
responsibilism and self-regulation.
Based on our understanding of how the discourses construct ‘the student’, the
discursive relationship between ‘The Bildung discourse’ and the two other
discourses is much more conflicting and even somewhat diametric. When
student identities are governed by ‘The Bildung discourse’ in combination with
the other discourses, the struggle over meaning are more a question of either –
or: Are students expected to critically reflect over knowledge (‘The Bildung
discourse’) or are they expected to accept and reproduce what they learn (‘The
discourse of compliance’)? The relationships between the ‘The Bildung discourse’
and the two other discourses are, in other words, antagonistic. This antagonism
can create tensions, but also opens the opportunity for students to identify with
different variations of policy-constructed identities.
Metonymic transfer
As underscored in the introductory section of this article, Bildung has had a
strong – at least symbolically – position in Norwegian education. Bildung is
affiliated with the early stages of institutionalised education and the conception
of ‘the student’ is closely linked to this institution. This indicates a hegemonic
and robust relationship between ‘The Bildung discourse’ and the Norwegian
conception of what a student is.
However, as ‘The competence discourse’ arguably expands and is joined by ‘The

discourse of compliance’, the game of defining and controlling how ‘the student’
should be understood is changing. In the analysed documents ‘The competence
discourse’, accompanied by ‘The discourse of compliance’, clearly dominates the
triadic game of definition. This weakens the governing power ‘The Bildung
discourse’ traditionally had over student identity, which again, as we will argue,
is an indication of metonymic transfer. Metonymic transfer can be identified when
one discourse takes control of a concept previously strongly connected to
another discourse, initiating a new and competing definition of the concept
(Torfing, 2003). Through this action, the ‘new’ discourse(s) strengthen their
antagonistic position.
Metonymic transfer is sometimes difficult to identify, as it might be the meaning

of the words, and not necessarily the words themselves, that are changed. An
example from our analysis where metonymic transfer is visible is in ‘The
reflective and responsible learner’. As previously described, this identity draws
on central characteristics of ‘The Bildung discourse’, with its explicit focus on
reflection and responsibility. Framed by ‘The Bildung discourse’ a reflective and
responsible learner reflects on the knowledge she is engaged with and on how
this knowledge can make her a responsible person. However, when reflection
and responsibility are framed by ‘The competence discourse’ and efficiency,
utilisation of learning opportunities and maximising of learning outcomes, the
meaning of the words change. To be reflective is to be conscious of your learning
process, and to be responsible is to utilise this consciousness to maximise your

151
learning opportunities. In other words, although the words might be unchanged,

the focus has shifted from what the students learn and how this can enlighten
young people, to how efficient students learn. This example also shows how the
policy documents intertwine neoliberal educational values, such as student
efficiency and self-regulation, with what we can call more traditional values,
such as reflection, in the Norwegian educational system.
The temporal dilemma

Finally, we will discuss a dilemma that is temporal, as it is related to the tension
between the present and the future in the policy documents we have
investigated. In the documents, the student is partly situated as a child or
teenager currently attending elementary school (grade 1–10). Simultaneously,
many of the descriptions of expected skills, competencies, behaviours and values
concern the students’ future adult identity. The temporal dilemma is especially
evident in the many policy statements that describe what the student must learn
in school to be prepared for upper-secondary school, college and university,
employment, or citizenship. There is a tension between a ‘here-and-now-
presence’ and an ‘in-the-future-presence’, which indicates that the student must
simultaneously concentrate on both states of presence.
A dual focus on the present and the future is not unusual in educational policy
and curricular texts. It is not controversial to argue that education is intended as
preparation for something, implying that school is based on some kind of
futurity. Although framed differently, a dual present/future perspective is also
not exclusive to either of the three identified discourses. Nevertheless, we will
argue that the dominant position of ‘The competence discourse’ and its strong
instrumental features that value education in accordance with its usefulness
amplify the temporal dilemma in the material we analysed. School becomes a
time of transition focusing on the after-education life rather than the present and
on developing rather than being. Consequently, the student becomes more a
“work in progress” (Daniels & Brooker, 2014) and less an elementary school
student in his or her own right.
Concluding comment
The construction and governing of identities are essential in all public policy
initiatives (Béland, 2017; Hodgson, 2019; Mulderrig, 2019). The above
presentation of student identities and their regulatory discourses shows how the
logic surrounding the K06 reform not only resulted in explicit changes in
curriculum and governing practices, but also in specific descriptions of what a
student is, what a student should know and how a student should act and
perform. Although often idealised, descriptions of and expectations for ‘the
student’ in educational policy send very real messages to teachers, school
leaders, school owners, parents, and most importantly, the students themselves
about how to be a student. As student identities and the discourses that regulate
them define normality and deviance, it is crucial to include analyses of identity
in research investigating public policy.

152
Although we have discussed some issues and dilemmas that our analyses have
evoked, what concrete, everyday consequences these policy-constructed
identities have for students and their teachers lies beyond the scope of this
article. However, by this article we encourage further research on this topic.
Further research might also explore the interface between policy and practice
concerning the dilemmas reported in this study. Another interesting approach
should be a comparative analysis of two or more countries’ educational policy
documents and their construction and governing of student identities.
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the reviewers for their constructive comments
and suggestions for improvement. No grants or funding has financed the
research.
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Appendix 1: Identified subject positions

Subject position Description
1 The student is oriented towards The student learns to master several foreign
globalisation languages, oriented towards utilising this
knowledge in adult life.
2 The student prepares for a multi- The student learns to use knowledge about
cultural society different cultures to show tolerance and to
build ‘cultural bridges’.
3 The student enjoys school The student thrives and feels secure at
school.
4 The student is motivated for The student is motivated to learn and learns
learning to become motivated to learn. The student is
engaged in his/her own learning process
5 The student experiences school as The student learns to notice how schoolwork
meaningful is related to his/her other significant
discourses.
6 The student is responsible for The student learns to perform and to be
his/her own learning focused, persistent and hardworking.
7 The student realises and The student learns to utilise latent and/or
develop/enhance his/her talent(s) undeveloped abilities and/or talents.
8 The student reflects on his/her own The student learns to know his/her
learning limitations and potentials for development.
9 The student is oriented towards The student learns how to contribute for the
becoming a benefit to the society benefit of the society.
10 The student is confident about The student learns which field of
future career choices work/study is right for him/her, and thus
avoids reselecting work/study.
11 The student acquires specialised The student learns basic skills as well as
knowledge specialised knowledge in every school
subject.
12 The student is focused on becoming The student scores high on international
among the best in the world tests, and thus demonstrates that Norway is
a “knowledge nation”.
13 The student is law-abiding The student learns norms and laws that
regulate the members of society
14 The student is tolerant and The student learns to be tolerant in relation
inclusive to others’ prerequisites for learning
15 The student accomplishes and The student learns to be goal-oriented,
shows results deliver results and to be judged by the
accomplished results
16 The student is positive about The student learns to see the usefulness of
education education and knowledge
17 The student is an efficient learner The student learns how to maximise his/her
educational outcome, and thus avoids
individual learning resources going to waste.

156
18 The student is focused on The student learns to work with others to

collaboration and teamwork achieve goals and learns that collaboration is
an important key to success
19 The student is financially profitable The student learns to not waste society’s
for society investments in knowledge and to be an
efficient student.
20 The student is oriented and positive The student learns that democracy is an
towards democracy. important advantage in Norwegian society
and learns how democracy is to be used.
21 The student is focused on The student learns how Norwegian culture is
preserving and developing created and why it is important to
Norwegian cultural heritage continue/develop this culture
22 The student is oriented towards The student learns to learn, and learns that
lifelong learning learning can/should continue throughout
life
23 The student is socially competent The student learns different social codes and
learns to become a socially well-functioning
individual.

157
Appendix 2: Examples of subject positions that cluster and construct

student identities
Subject positions Student Identity
 The student enjoys school The confident and
 The student is tolerant and inclusive content student
 The student is motivated for learning The motivated student

 The student is positive about education
 The student is responsible for his/her learning The reflective and

 The student reflects on his/her learning responsible student
 The student is an efficient learner
 The student experiences school as meaningful
 The student realises and develops/enhances his/her The goal-oriented
talent(s) student
 The student is confident about future career choices
 The student is focused on becoming among the best in
the world
The competing student
 The student accomplishes and shows results
 The student is oriented towards globalisation
 The student prepares for a multi-cultural society
The global student
 The student is focused on preserving and developing
Norwegian cultural heritage
 The student is oriented towards becoming a benefit for
The socio-economic
the society
student
 The student is financially profitable for society
 The student is focused on collaboration and teamwork
The democratic student
 The student is oriented and positive towards democracy
The socially well-
 The student is law-abiding
functioning student
 The student is socially competent
 The student acquires specialised knowledge The knowledge-oriented

 The student is oriented towards lifelong learning student

158
Appendix 3: Examples of text excerpts, subject positions and student

identities: phase 1, 2 and 3 in the analytical process.
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Source
Text excerpt Subject position Student
(no.) identity
Meld.St.20 “In a positive learning

2012-2013, environment, the students
s.10 contribute and support each other's
work and learning” The student enjoys
Meld.st.16 “The school should be a place school (3)
2006-2007, where everyone thrives, feels
s.80-81 belonging, and where everyone
feels valued as individuals, The
regardless of family background, confident
faith, ethnicity or cultural and content
background” student
Meld.st.30 “An inclusive education requires
2003-2004, that students with special needs
s.86 also belong in an inclusive school The student is
community, and that they face tolerant and
challenges adapted to their needs inclusive (14)
and prerequisites”
Meld.st.20 “In an inclusive comprehensive
2012-2013, school, students with different
s.91 backgrounds and different
prerequisites meet and receive
teaching in a school community”
Meld.St.20 “Society and working life are more

2012-2013, diverse, and the labour market is The student is
s.67 increasingly characterised by focused on
international competition and becoming among
cooperation” the best in the
Meld.St. “Norway is well placed to create world (12) The
30 2003- the world's best school” competing
2004, s.7 student
Meld.st.16 “In primary and secondary
2006-2007, education, there are both
s.11 compulsory tests and other The student
artefacts teachers can use to map accomplishes and
students' competence and skills” shows results (15)
Meld.st.22 “Students learn best when they
2010-2011, understand how work tasks are
s.17 related to learning outcomes”

159

Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 159-171, January 2020
Paradigms to Drive Higher Education 4.0
Pauline Swee-Choo Goh

Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia
Perak, Malaysia
Norwaliza Abdul-Wahab
Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia
Perak, Malaysia
Abstract. This paper discusses two important paradigms that should to

be present to fuel the needs of today’s technology driven environment -
roles of teacher education that must be changed and the eco-system of
the learning institutions itself. Access to education has moved away
from the traditional campus environment to a technology driven
platform. New tools and technologies have provided borderless and
flexible learning. Change in education is undergoing at an
unprecedented speed never experienced before. Teachers are the front-
liners towards helping children reach their potential, however this paper
argues that current teaching staff may lack the pedagogy to teach in this
‘digitised’ world and to be competent to lead their ward into the new
era of technology driven experiences. Therefore, reforms in the content
and teaching of student teachers become imperative. The second
paradigm looks at the institutions of higher learning itself. The paper
asserts that these institutions need to move away from the traditional
way of imparting knowledge and conducting research to a new way of
doing which provides autonomy to educators and learners through
technology. Teaching and learning approaches, innovation, and value-
added student experiences which use technology are all part of the
concept of Higher Education 4.0.
Keywords: Higher education 4.0; concept of ‘readiness’; technology

driven environment; higher education reforms; student learning
1. Introduction
The prospect for higher education to lead and transform teaching and learning
in the era of higher education 4.0 (H.E 4.0) in readiness for the evolutionary
Industrial 4.0 (I.R 4.0) has been a topic of discussion not only in developed
countries, but in all emerging economies of the world (Salmon, 2019). The
difference between a developed economy and an emerging economy is that the
former may be more ready to adopt processes of H.E 4.0 readiness if compared
to other emerging economies (Dadios et al., 2018). These emerging economies

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may face substantial challenges with evolving technology such as artificial

intelligence, Massive Open Online Courses (MOCC), virtual reality (VR) and
'The Internet of Things' - all part of the delivery of H.E 4.0, but important
concepts to get equipped for the I.R 4.0. For many emerging economies, as it
competes in the world arena, the adoption of H.E 4.0 may be lagging and therein
arise a ‘digital-divide’ between these economies (Prensky, 2001; Shenglin et al.,
2017).
Malaysia, as an emerging economy, intends to be prepared and equipped for the

I.R 4.0 through a quality H.E 4.0. The drive towards this aim has been part of the
country’s Education Blueprint 2015-2025 and the 2050 National Transformation
(TN50) aspiration and the Higher Education 4.0 (H.E 4.0) policies (Rozana, 2017).
To achieve the goals of reforming teaching and learning within the Malaysian
higher education institutions, there is a need to reach a minimum level of
readiness. Readiness is judged by the institutions’ potential to contribute and be
involved in new opportunities or directions of learning and teaching in an
increasingly networked world (“Readiness for the Networked World”, n.d).
However, complexity and confusion arise within all levels of higher education,
thus creating uncertainty about respective institutional capabilities, and
adequate strategies to assess the success and readiness of H.E 4.0. These
technological advances in H.E 4.0 takes place within individual institutions
rather than consistently implemented throughout the higher education
institutions in Malaysia. The smaller or newer higher education institutions may
be uncertain about their readiness required for implementing new technological
advances and the overall impact on their educational objectives. On the other
hand, the newer or smaller institutions may experience doubts in transforming
their own educational efforts with regards to the I.R 4.0 vision and therefore
miss opportunities towards improving or refit curriculum, programs, academic
training, projects and technologies (Gaertner et al., 2016). To overcome the
growing complexity and uncertainty, new strategies and paradigms are needed
to provide guidance and support to help determine H.E 4.0 readiness (and
success) (Gaertner et al., 2016). Therefore, this article would like to take a ‘first
step’ and look at some of the new perspectives or new ideas that is necessary to
meet the changing higher education landscape of today. In addition, the article
hopes to provide some suggestions as to how higher education institutions of
today can prepare themselves and for their students in readiness for Industrial
Revolution 4.0. This paper sets out to discuss some of the paradigms that are
needed for higher education institutions to be ready and to remain relevant in
the era of rapid changes.
2. Concept of ‘readiness’
The concept of ‘Readiness’ is not new and has been identified as an emerging
trend that education needs to address to be relevant and maybe, even to survive
(Ruban, 2017). In “On Track: Redefining Readiness in Education and the
Workplace” (Gaertner et al., 2016), describes three approaches to promoting
readiness. The three approaches focus on different aspects of readiness - careful
assessment, actionable interventions, and access. An example of the first
approach is the college readiness index which measures both academic

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competencies like GPAs and test scores and “environmental factors” like family
circumstances and school characteristics. It gives a big picture of the students’
readiness for higher education.
On the other hand, “The Conley Readiness Index” (example of an actionable

interventions), evaluates students’ meta-cognitive abilities like “Learning Skills”
and “Career Transition Skills”, reporting on students’ academic strengths and
weaknesses. These profiles enable students to better understand their strengths
and to correct weaknesses. To enable students (and potential employees) to
understand the strength of their maturity and adaptability when faced with
difficulties, the “GRIT Mindset” readiness index was developed (example of
access). This index provides access to students and employees to gauge their
own adaptability and change accordingly. Nevertheless, it can be argued that
there is an oversight towards career success in the new Fourth Industrial
Revolution (I.R 4.0). It is transforming human activities: the way things are
made; the way resources are used; the way of communicating and interacting as
humans; the way a country is governed - its speed and scope is something many
have not predicted would happen so soon and so fast. Many educational
institutions are left unprepared (“The world is changing”, 2018). All through the
decades, the industry has somewhat shaped the direction of education.
Institutions of learning need to mount greater initiatives to respond to this new

era (satiated with artificial intelligence, Massive Open Online Courses, virtual
reality and 'The Internet of Things') and to more efficiently utilize their
educational resources and strategies to produce future students who are ready
to embrace and to enter the realms of I.R 4.0, that goes beyond CGPA, test
scores, and the number of A’s (Rozana, 2017). Machado (2007) argues that higher
education institutions could lack the ability to create and develop specialists
(administrators, students, preservice teachers, educators) for opportunities in the
realm of e-readiness and information technologies. E-readiness is the use of
information and knowledge (Machado, 2007).
The measurement of e-readiness is generally judged by how advance an

institution adopted the use of technology together with its applications
(“Readiness for the Networked World”, n.d). E-readiness can also be described
as an institution that has the necessary physical infrastructure (high bandwidth,
reliability, and affordable prices). The school or institution has integrated current
technology throughout for student to use in their everyday life and is also a
subject taught in schools (“Readiness for the Networked World”, n.d). Preparing
students for the information and knowledge society becomes very urgent.
Therefore, this paper asserts that higher education must aim towards enriching
student experience and support each student’s needs. In this revolutionary era,
higher education must strive to align its learning and teaching environment to
enrich students’ experiences. This can be done from the day students enter the
institutions, providing a conducive learning and teaching environment (no less
through technology) and seeing them until their completion. Higher education
has two roads to take – embrace new technological opportunities and succeed or
be complacent, remain status quo and perish. The next section looks at some

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suggestions a higher learning institution might need to consider to keep pace

with the changing times and the arrival of H.E 4.0.
3. Paradigm shifts in higher education in the era of H.E 4.0

Any transformation towards a shift in paradigm or doing something differently
is never easy and often uneven. Nevertheless, institutions of higher learning in
Malaysia must act swiftly and adapt to changes to remain relevant for its own
future. The suggestions for this paradigm shift revolves around two elements: a)
teacher education; and b) the eco-system of the institutions itself. It starts off
with the role of teacher education. The authors feel that teachers are at the
forefront of education, they are responsible for bringing to the fore the success of
every students in school, right to tertiary education. This paper argues that it is
these two elements that lay the foundation for the institutions of higher learning
in the era of H.E.4.0.
3.1 The important role of teacher education institutions

Malaysia has its education following closely to the British system of education.
The administrators from Britain took over the then named Federation of Malaya
which consisted of 11 peninsular states. In around 1956, the leaders from the
Federation of Malaya and the United Kingdom came to an agreement that
Malaya should be granted independence by August 1957 headed by the late
Tengku Abdul Rahman. Malaysia gained independence on 31 August 1957
through peaceful negotiations and talks. Nevertheless, the legacy of the rules
from United Kingdom remained till today and has permeated in every area of
government, and especially, education.
Education starts from the preschool at ages 4 – 6, and then at age 7, children
commence their primary school education. Primary school education runs for six
years. Secondary school education has two levels – the three years lower
secondary education and two years upper secondary level. At the end of five
years of secondary education, a common national examination is held. After
completion of the secondary school education, students can either take one or
two years of post-secondary education. These are courses to prepare these
students for the university. Some students can also choose the pathway to
teacher education either in the teacher education institutions or in the
universities which offer the Bachelor of Education.
Teacher education in Malaysia had its humble beginning in 1922 and was the
first teacher education recorded to prepare teachers in Malaysia. Since then,
teacher education has evolved to meet the needs of the country and has made
many transformations through numerous policies and strategies. To help in the
reforms of teacher education, the National Philosophy of Education was
formulated to drive new institutions that formed after 1922. Although, initially,
the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE) had full control of all the teacher
education institutions, when new universities (both public and private
universities) began to form, these universities also had their own faculty of
education to train new teachers.

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Two different pathways of teacher training exist to this day - the MoE, has sole
control of the teacher education institutions through its Teacher Education
Division (TED), while the universities are given autonomy to develop their own
teacher training curriculum, but following closely to the visions and aims of the
National Philosophy of Education. The universities confer the Bachelor of
Education after four years. These universities also conduct postgraduate studies
for those who wish to pursue higher degrees (Goh & Blake, 2015).
According to Goh and Wong (2015), teacher education has been slow to embrace
and adapt to the rate of change towards learning and teaching. Teachers have
increasingly been let down by the preparation they received and thus failed to
meet the expectation of various educational stakeholders (Goh & Blake, 2015).
Efforts towards improving teacher education have been rather silent although
the Malaysian Education Blueprint clearly states the need to advance teacher
quality in schools. Concerted effort should also aim to elevate the standard of
teacher education. New teacher education curricula which should emphasize the
thrusts envisaged in the Malaysian National Philosophy of Education, selection
procedure through a common admission test, and evaluation practices have not
been upgraded. The baby-boomers and Gen Xers who are world leaders now
may not be savvy in the use of technology. Instead they are the end users from
the creative development of their successive generation – the Gen Y, Z and the
millennials. Government, through the Ministry of Education, must be aware that
the current teaching staff may lack the pedagogy to teach in this ‘digitised’
world and to be competent to lead future teachers into the new era of technology
driven environment. Authorities and institutions should prioritize flexible
approaches that allow context and discipline-specific responses rather than one-
size-fits-all solutions (Goh & Blake, 2015; Goh & Wong, 2015).
Although research have shown that teacher education provides the avenue for
teachers to learn teaching pedagogies, understanding, awareness of student
learning and the readiness to be effective teachers in the classrooms,
improvements in teacher education need to happen (Goh, 2019a). A qualitative
study by Goh and Wong (2014) of novice teachers in their first three years of
teaching find them dissatisfied about the over emphasis on theory of education
during their campus learning. These novice teachers have voiced that there
should be greater importance in the practical interaction between theory and
practice. Student teachers in practicum felt that they were somewhat unprepared
to help student learn. Some new teachers are not able to move beyond
superficial teaching towards using more sophisticated skills to promote effective
learning within the learning environment (Goh & Matthews, 2011).
Student teachers need a wide range of knowledge and experiences and at the
same time the ability to incorporate them into their practices in a meaningful
way (Goh, 2019b), something not typically found in teacher preparation
programs. Students of the classroom today are multi-racial and multi diverse in
their learning abilities (Arend, 2014). As such, the approaches to learning and
teaching require new skills and pedagogical know-how. Handbooks on teacher
education reflect the magnitude of that knowledge.

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From a sociological point of view, student teachers need experiences that can
deepen and broaden their understanding of cultures and the social problems
that invade a classroom (Arends, 2014). Beyond cultural and social issues, there
is also the need to be aware of the ethical responsibilities of teaching. From the
perspective of educational psychology, student teachers must ensure they have
the ability to reflect on new research about learning and teaching. New
developments in educational psychology offer valuable insights into the
conceptions of teaching that are consistent with the more complex view of a
learner. No more are learners restrictively viewed from the perspective of their
intelligence which has limited the expansion of the learner’s potential and
motivation (Gardner, 2011). To ensure that student teachers develop the
knowledge that will enable them to represent subject matter in meaningful and
powerful ways that challenge their learners, teacher education curriculum must
be constructed to integrate content with practice (Goh, Canrinus & Wong, 2019).
Student teachers must graduate with the ability to act on their knowledge and
evaluate their experiences in terms of their developing visions of their role and
responsibilities as teachers (Goh & Canrinus, 2019). It is easier written than
done. Although efforts to change and improve teacher education will pose
significant challenges for teacher educators, not to do so would be akin to
leaving teacher education at the periphery of the Education Blueprint instead of
moving it the centre where it should be. For the sakes of future teachers, teacher
educators need to explore the many facets of teaching and derive new
approaches for learning and teaching. There is a need to embrace innovation in
teaching and provide flexibility to allow new approaches to be experimented
and formed. The wave of education reforms after the 14th general election in
Malaysia and with the re-enactment of the Education Blueprint after the 18th
general election provide the opportunity to part with the past and begin new
chapters in teacher education. However, for the Education Blueprint or any
reforms to work – the eco-system of the institutions of higher learning must be
ready.
3.2 Eco-system of the learning institutions
3.2.1 The learning environment

Learning institutions of the future must move away from a learning
environment which provides students with a predictable time frame of
completion. Most universities now, including teacher preparation institutions,
have a four year duration. Instead, there must be flexibility in the time frame for
students, for example, students should be ‘life-long’ learners. There exist
flexibility for the student to come back and to take courses over many years
instead of just the conventional four years. These same students are also sharing
their life experiences when they attend classes. There is a symbiotic learning
environment among new and returning students in perpetuity. As Prof. Asma,
the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains succinctly stated, “There is a rise in “non-
traditional” students in the workforce who now want to learn … they have
varying levels of education and experience, they cannot afford four years to
complete a university degree, want to learn at their own time and pace, and it
has to be personalised to their needs” (Menon, 2019).

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Malaysia has touted life-long learning to allow continuous learning and re-
learning (Menon, 2015). However, this aim can only be met if institutions of
higher learning allow these students multiple entry and exit points in their lives.
Words such as re-skill and upskill will not happen if the doors of the universities
are not flexible or the admission/enrolment procedures are rigid and static. New
ways of learning, through blended learning, flip-classroom must also be made
accessible to allow distant learning and interaction among students. Institutions
of higher learning must evolve to cater to the needs the students’ learning
process through technology. The benefits to the institutions are high – not only
will cost be brought down, the learning institutions can now encompass a wider
group of people not restricted to only Malaysia. There is an element of ‘space’
and ‘time’ and a spread of multiple sharing among students of the world.
More often than note, the traditional way of learning is slowing losing its lustre.
There is an advent towards online distance learning or ODL (Phelps &
Vlachopoulos, 2019) and modular learning (Karal & Cebi, 2012; Thompson et al.,
2010). ODL enables a student to access resources through a synchronous
learning with web video conferencing. A note of caution though, universities
must be ready with a robust framework for either an ODL environment or
modular learning. There must be stringent but impartial and independent
assessment of a student’s work. Nevertheless, both ODL and modular learning
provides the opportunity for universities to look beyond a traditional classroom
and not to be bordered by fixed curriculum (Thompson et al., 2010). Rather,
ODL and modular learning provides the avenue for students to select from a
basket of programs more suited to their needs and pace.
Yet, with this advent of ODL and modular format of learning, educators need to
be maintaining the quality of education through this mode. It is very easy to
forget that although students are at a distant, their achievement through
thorough assessments is still very important. Industry players must feel the
confidence that as universities move away from the traditional face-to-face
monitoring system, the platform for ODL or modular learning remains robust
and of high standards (Latchem, 2017). In other words, accreditation bodies (an
example in Malaysia is the Malaysian Qualifications Agency) must be even more
diligent at ensuring universities do no ‘take a short cut’ but that universities
continuously ensure the high standards of learning, teaching and assessment
they have always set out to be.
3.2.2 Employability
There appears to be a mismatch between what the industry or the outside world
needs versus what the learning institution are teaching in Malaysia. This is not a
phenomenon that is distinct to Malaysia but to the world (Abdul Hamid, Islam
& Noor Hazilah, 2014). Challenges abound for the students who will leave the
universities today. According to Altbach, Reisberg and Rumbley (2019), as soon
as the students leave the university, the skills that are taught would have
changed. Employability or rather germane employability is key for today’s
graduates. The University of today must address this crucial challenge.

166
Graduates upon leaving universities suddenly find themselves unable to obtain

employment or many have found that the rapid rise and changes in technology
have made them obsolete as soon as they leave the universities. Universities are
not keeping pace with what is happening with the fast evolving technology
(Altbach, Reisberg & Rumbley, 2019). Could universities have failed to seize the
opportunities to prepare their students for the changing working arena?
Universities need to have a mind-set revolution - no more are the static in-
campus education enough. There must a focus on skills to prepare their students
to be solvers, decision makers and analytical thinkers – all skills which are
necessary to ‘survive’ in the industrial revolution dynamics (Altbach, Reisberg
& Rumbley, 2019). Students must be made confident that they are not obsolete
or redundant with universities courses more suited for a forgotten era.
In an article in The New Straits Times of Malaysia (Mustafa, 2019), Dr Ahmad

Shuhaimi Abu Bakar, an academic at the University of Malaya, acknowledges
that industry partnership would assist students and even new graduates to
develop their competency ‘in-situ’. Benefits of industry engagement would also
be the sharing of what is actually needed out there versus what in-campus
learning are offering. Curriculum can be designed and developed together with
the institutions of higher learning for programs more specific to the current
needs. Students are provided the platform to learn from industry players,
assessed by ‘bosses’ of these industries and at the same time get merits for work
done in the real world but yet enrolled as university students. The added
advantage of two worlds - campus learning and corporate learning provide
more agility for the students and academics with a rapidly changing technology
base, the ‘hunger’ for everything IT, and staying more connected. However, a
note of caution. With the excitement of being connected and things IT, there is
also the need to be mindful of pitfalls especially with proper monitoring and
control over learning. There is a fear that education can get waylaid over IT and
how new learning is being conducted that quality of education gets diluted.
Proper assessment and outcomes that can impact society must be part of any
new way of learning. Although, some may argue against standardization of
assessment, teaching and learning, educators still need to be mindful of
maintaining education and not at the expense of monetary gains only (Anane,
2014).
3.2.3 Technology’s role

With the rapid advancement in technology, government finds themselves
grappling with graduates who, upon, completion are unable to find employment
(Altbach, Reisberg & Rumbley, 2019). The burden falls upon education of higher
learning which have failed to keep pace with the ever evolving technology.
Institutions of higher learning are either in denial about the rapid changes
happening around them or lack the capability to transform or the will-power to
reform to current situation. It is not enough for institutions of higher learning to
merely provide basic skills for their students but to better prepare their students
to be ready for the technology race by being problem-solvers, being critical and
analytical thinkers. The rate of ‘obsolete-ness’ rises with every year an institution

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delays to equip their students with the complex skills needed for the rising
industrial revolution.
Undoubtedly, technology is here to stay with it playing a very important role in

the quick rise towards industrial revolution. Schwab (2015) aptly warns that:
“The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent. When
compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an
exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every
industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald
the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and
governance.” (Schwab, 2015). Nevertheless, universities should also seize upon
the opportunity to harness its use to drive innovation in learning and teaching.
As Schwab rightly comments, the aspirations of students and teaching staff can
be met through integrating activities run by technology. A ‘digital framework’
that can facilitate learning and teaching activities from new enrolment,
maintaining records, facilitation assessments, right through issuance of students’
certificate - all with ease.
With the popularity of ‘personalized learning’, it is here that technology can play
its most important role (Darling-Hammond, Flook, Cook-Harvey, Barron &
Osher, 2019). One, the traditional learning environment are being overtaken
with new program offerings through blended learning, self-driven MOOCs and
other online courses. These new approaches to learning accord flexible learning
time to students. Two, technology allows universities to offer courses that are
more varied and are able to enrol students ‘without borders’. There are no
constrains to where students come from. The advent of complex, yet easy to use,
learning tools has enabled universities to overcome the burden of providing
physical classrooms. However, it must be noted that MOOCs and online courses
are not competing with campus learning. Rather, MOOCs offer multiple avenues
for the universities to plan, complement and supplement what is already there.
Three, once, where higher learning have been the privilege of the rich and elite,
students are now given better choices to obtain higher degree. There are better
equity of access to higher education (McCowan, 2016). Lastly, in addition, not
only are students accorded more flexibility in time and cost through MOOCs
and online learning, they emerge more ready and confident with the real world
situation. Knowledge obtained would contain skills that are looked for by
employers. Technology has enabled universities to impact learning and teachers
and at the same time provide the life skills needed for application in life’s reality
(Jackman, 2018).
3.2.4 Research and innovation

For universities to be ready to prepare their students for the future environment,
these institutions themselves must be equipped for new knowledge and
learning. Universities are the ‘incubation’ centres for innovation and creation of
future intelligence. In addition, it is the universities who will be tasked by the
government of the country to be the leaders of research and innovation.
Malaysia has put in place every avenue to encourage the universities to be
competitive in the world arena to take the country into greater heights towards

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development, innovation and being less reliant on low skilled labour and labour
intensive employments (Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, 2018).
However, Malaysia universities are still falling behind in research and
innovative outputs when compared to other developed nations, despite the
millions in research grants being given to the universities (Cornell University,
INSEAD, & WIPO, 2015). Research must be focused to produce outcomes that
can be applied or able to solve challenges related to real problems within the
country. It is not to say that theoretical research are unimportant, but such
research must have a place in real world settings as universities no longer have
the luxury of lounging in slow developmental studies while the world races
towards a demanding and exacting environment. It is also no longer a luxury for
a university to be isolated and to bask in its own laurel but must work towards
networking with other reputable universities. Integrating knowledge and
sharing new technological know-how is now mandatory for a university to
advance and evolve - and should be made a mantra for any research being
carried out.
4. Conclusion
Students today have veered far from the days of television and analogue radio.
‘Streaming’ is a word quite alien to their grandparents and even their parents.
This generation of ‘digital connoisseurs’ has gone beyond looking at physical
books for information. Instead they are almost perpetually on the internet. They
are totally at ease with everything that is digital. With this new generation of
‘digital connoisseurs’ – learning must also change. At almost the same time,
these ‘digital connoisseurs’ have rapidly changed the educational landscape
with their prowess with Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Analytics.
Therefore, no more can higher education take a complacent stance and be left
behind in educating this new generation. Because learning is now borderless,
institutions of higher learning must also be as quick to transform and move
away from more conservative learning models. Instead these institutions must
be quick to embrace and work towards a paradigm shift that allows learners the
flexibility of gaining knowledge. Higher Education 4.0 is all about preparing
these new generation of ‘digital connoisseurs’ the skills, methods, learning and
knowledge for the fast paced future they will live in.
In summary, the new Higher Education 4.0 is all about the students and these
students’ future teachers (the student teachers). These students now have the
autonomy to charter their own course of study, they want new experiences to be
ready for their future, but more importantly, education to them must be flexible
enough to give them room for different learning approaches and to achieve their
goals of choice. Technology plays an important role in all this - for the educators
and those to be educated. The shift in learning is no more what was experienced
by their parents and grandparents. These new generation of students must be
ready to adapt to the ever changing work landscape. Technology is part of their
everyday lives. However, in any attempt to be ready for H E 4.0, the
perspectives of these students and those affected by it must also be sought. They
must be involved and have the liberty to voice how they want their learning

169
experiences to look like. However, in the end - universities must be ready - to

adapt, to transform, to reform, and to embrace everything technology.
5. Acknowledgement
The paper presented here is a part of a larger research activity looking at the
readiness of higher education towards H.E. 4.0, which is supported by the
Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) from the Ministry of Higher
Education Malaysia [grant number: FRGS/1/2018/SSI09/UPSI/02/21]. Special
thanks go to the Editors of this journal and the Reviewers of this paper who
have unselfishly expanded their time to provide helpful comments and
suggestions.
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 172-187, January 2020
The Impact of Using Storyboards on Improving

Reading skills of Third-Grade Students with
Reading Disabilities in Jordanian Context
Haitham Abuzaid
Al Balqa Applied University
Ajloun, Jordan
Murad Al Kayed
Al Balqa Applied University
Ajloun, Jordan
Abstract. This study aimed to identify the effect of using the storyboard
method on improving the reading skill of third-grade students with
reading disabilities in Jordan. Many Arabic language learners with
reading disabilities cannot distinguish between Arabic letters that look
similar in the graph but have different pronunciations. The present
study investigated the impact of the storyboard method on learning the
skill of distinguishing between Arabic letters that look similar in form
but those pronounced differently. The sample of the study consisted of
(40) students with reading difficulties assigned equally into an
experimental and control group. The experimental group consisted of 20
male and female students taught using the storyboard method, and the
control group consisted of 20 male and female students taught using the
traditional method. The findings of the study showed that the
storyboard method improves the ability of students to distinguish
between Arabic letters that look similar in written form but pronounced
differently better than those involved in the traditional way of teaching.
The study also found out that gender did not affect learning reading
skills. The researchers recommend the use of the storyboard method in
teaching different language skills.
Keywords: Storyboard; reading disabilities; reading skill; teaching,

Arabic
1. Introduction
1.1. Overview
Learning disability is a global educational problem that is not related to a
specific society or language. Hallahan & Kouffman (2012) defined learning
disability as a term used to refer to a group of heterogeneous disorders that

173
appear in the form of disabilities in the acquisition and production of many

skills, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, thinking, etc. These disorders
are caused by dysfunction of the central nervous system that occurs during
different periods of life. They also may be accompanied by problems in the
behaviors of organization, perception and social interaction. Learning disabilities
may coincide with other disabilities (sensory, mental or serious emotional
disorders) or with certain external influences (cultural disparities or inadequate
teaching).
Reading skill is considered one of the difficult skill to acquire or learn. Reading
is defined as an emotional and mental process that includes the recognition of
symbols, words, and drawings received by the reader. Reading requires the
reader to link between sounds and letters (Al-Batayneh, Al-Rashdan, Al-
Sabailah& Abdul Majeed, 2018; Al-Dahini, 2017; Al-Salama, 2017; Al-Alwan &
Al-Tal, 2013; Talafha, 2010; Saidi, 2009). Reading skill consists of several basic
components that students need to master. The first one is phonemic awareness
which is the ability to know the sounds of letters. The second one is phonetics
which is learning the association of sounds to written letters. The third one is
fluency which refers to the ability to read a text coherently and quickly. The
fourth one is the recognition of the meaning of words and their use in the
context. The fifth one is comprehension which refers to the ability to understand
texts (Dweikat, 2017; Al-Salama, 2017; Lerner & Jones, 2014).
Scholars proposed different methods to assess the reading capacities of students
using formal and informal tests, such as observation, child profile assessment,
tests of silent reading and re-narration. After the assessment, students are
categorized according to their reading level into three levels. The first one is the
Independent Level in which students recognize 95% of the words and answer
90% of comprehension questions correctly. The second level is the Instructional
Level in which the students master reading skills up to 75%, which means that
they need help. The third level is Frustration Level in which the student reads
with obvious difficulties (Al-Batayneh et al., 2018; Karima, 2016; Lerner & Jones,
2014; Ghoneim, 2012).
Based on the previous classification it is clear that the students who belong to
the third level are classified as having a reading disability (Dyslexia) which was
coined by German neuroscientist Berlin (1872). It refers to a phenomenon in
which students cannot read at a level of their classmates, cannot learn reading
through normal teaching methods, and cannot read letters, words or sentences
correctly (Abu Daqqa, 2012; Talafha, 2010; Abu Tammam, 2004). Reading
disability is the most common type of academic learning disability. Eighty
percent of students with learning disabilities have reading difficulties. (Al-
Salama, 2017; Al-Dahini, 2017; Abdullah, 2013; Jabayib, 2011, Al-Kahali, 2010;
Saidi, 2009; Ali, 2005).
There are many reasons for the occurrence of reading difficulties. Physical
factors include neurological functional dysfunctions, problems in audio or visual
processing, and genetic characteristics. Psychological factors include linguistic
disorders, attention disorders, and cognitive disorders. The socio-economic
factors include the economic and social level of the student and the relations
within the family members. The educational factors include the teacher, teaching

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methods, school, curriculum, and problems related to phonological awareness,

fluency, and comprehension. There are also reasons related to linguistic
structures such as syntactic, semantic and morphological problems (Dweikat,
2017; Al-Dahini, 2017; Al-Abdallat & Al-Smadi, 2016; Talafha, 2010; Lerner &
Kline, 2006).
1.2. The problem of the study
Jordanian students at the first three stages lack competence in reading skills as it
is confirmed by the survey conducted by the Ministry of Education in the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 2012. This study found out that only 17% of
students can read and solve arithmetic problems. Al-Dahini (2017) also found
out that (83%) of the second-grade students with learning disabilities have a
deficiency in identifying letters and relating letters to sounds. These results raise
alarm to the fact that much effort should be done to enhance learning skills
including reading skills of students especially those who are in the first grades.
Any difficulty in acquiring/learning the reading skill is considered a major
obstacle for students to succeed in school. It is worth noting that individuals
with reading difficulties need special programs because traditional programs are
not always effective. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the
effect of using the storyboard method in improving the reading skill of
Jordanian third-grade students with reading disabilities by focusing on Arabic
letters that looks similar in written form but pronounced differently, as this skill
is crucial in improving reading skill in general.
1.3. Aim of the study
The present study aimed at investigating the effect of the storyboard method on
improving reading skills among third-grade students with reading disabilities in
Jordanian schools. The study concentrates mainly on the abilities of students to
distinguish between Arabic letters that look similar in written form but
pronounced differently, such as ‫[خ‬x], ‫[ح‬7], ‫[ج‬j], ‫[ث‬th], ‫[ت‬t], and ‫[ب‬b]. The
study also design stories for the Arabic letters in question and adopt them in
teaching reading skills to third-grade students with reading disabilities. It also
examined whether gender affected the achievements of students with reading
disabilities in reading skills.
1.4. Questions of the study
The study aimed at answering the following questions: What is the effect of the
storyboard method on acquiring the skill of distinguishing between Arabic
letters that look similar in the written form but pronounced differently?, What is
the effect of the storyboard method on acquiring the skill of distinguishing
between letters that look similar in the written form but pronounced differently
in the verbal/oral test?, What is the effect of the storyboard method on
acquiring the skill of distinguishing between letters that look similar in the
written form but pronounced differently in the written test? And what is the
impact of gender on the acquisition of reading skills among students with
reading disabilities?

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1.5. Importance of the study

The present study is very important for many reasons. First of all, students with
learning disabilities need educational programs to develop their reading skills to
raise their academic achievement. Secondly, it enables teachers in schools to use
a new teaching method for third-grade students. Thirdly, this study targets a
group that constitutes a large part of the students with learning disabilities.
2. Theoretical background and previous studies

2.1. Theoretical background
Reading disability is the most common type of learning disabilities among
school students in general and students with learning disabilities in particular.
Scholars distinguished between two types of reading difficulties (dyslexia):
auditory dyslexia and visual dyslexia. People with auditory dyslexia have
difficulty in remembering and sequencing auditory symbols, whereas people
with visual dyslexia have difficulty in distinguishing between letters that look
similar in the written form (Kamhi & Katz, 1998). The difficulty of distinguishing
between letters that look similar in spelling but pronounced differently, such as
‫[خ‬x], ‫[ح‬7], ‫[ج‬j], or ‫[ث‬th], ‫[ت‬t], ‫[ب‬b] caused by cognitive dysfunction which
causes reading words incorrectly (Al-Smadi & Al-Shamali, 2017; Rabah, 2017;
Kanaanah, 2013; Al-Khatib, 2009; Lerner, 2000).
The scholars suggested several methods to enhance reading skills which were
divided into two parts: the first group focused on decoding and reading
symbols, while the second focuses on the perception of meaning (Mercer &
Pullen, 2008). Besides, many reading educational programs address three levels
of reading. The first level is development reading which focused on the
development and sequence of reading. The second level is corrective reading
which focuses on correcting errors that may appear in the level of
developmental reading. The third level is remedial reading which is based on
teaching directly and individually those whose reading level is undeveloped
after being subjected to developmental and corrective reading. This level
involves therapeutic reading programs to accelerate the student’s reading level
(Dweikat, 2017; Al-Abdallat & Al-Smadi, 2016).
One of the therapeutic reading programs used in this study is the storyboard
method. Varvel & Lindeman (2005) states that “storyboards are a means to
graphically represent layout, organization, content, and linkages of information
to create a conceptual idea of the information, location, meaning, and
appearance” (p. 1). Storyboard makes use of words and images to convey the
meaning of a story in chronological order (Essley & Rocci, 2008; Doherty &
Coggeshall, 2005). This method is based on the multisensory approach which
presents the content of storyboard via multiple sensory channels (sight, hearing,
touch, and kinesthetic sense). Phonological Awareness is also used in this
method to train students on using the phonetic system of letters and syllables.
Abraham (2008) proposed that the storyboard method is very beneficial because
students learn their lessons in linguistic and visual representations of data.

176
The storyboard is a kind of audio and reading literature and one of the most
valuable methods in teaching students because the student listens and reads
with enthusiasm and pleasure. Zabel, 1991 states that “Storytelling … is
enjoyable, and can be used anywhere and at any time”. Storyboards support
reading skills since they motivate students to group words with each other to
create a meaningful story. Additionally, stories develop students’ mental
abilities such as remembering, imagining and thinking, and language skills (Al-
Shablawi, 2017; Ghanayem, 2016; Kanaanah, 2013; Al-Khatib, 2009; Lerner,
2000).
The storyboarding method as a teaching method is very important since it
focuses on audiovisual perception and requires the use of more than one sense
in the learning process which in turn makes students learn more easily. It also
improves verbal abilities and thinking skills and provides a great opportunity
for creativity and imagination of students. It also reduces boredom in students'
learning situations and improves students’ fluency through re-narrating the
storyboard (Al-Shablawi, 2017; Atili & Nasr, 2015; Mansi, 2015; Lerner & Jones,
2014; Carbo, 2013; Yang, 2011).
For the success of the storyboard method in the teaching of students, it must be
taken into account several things, such as the mental and linguistic level of the
student. The content of storyboards must be taken the real situations and they
must be formulated in a simple language and presented interestingly. The use of
images, sound effects, and body language in an effective way were also taken
into consideration in preparing these storyboards (Al-Shablawi, 2017; Atili &
Nasr, 2015; Al-Khatib, 2009).
2.2. Previous studies
When reviewing the previous studies in the use of the storyboard method in
teaching language skills, the researchers found some studies that showed
positive effects of reading storyboards on developing phonological awareness
among kindergarten and second and fourth-grade students (Rabahah, 2017; Al-
Juhani, 2015; Bably & Awwad, 2010). Other studies demonstrated a positive
impact of using storyboards in developing reading comprehension skills (Tetri,
2016; Morris, 2005), while others demonstrated the effectiveness of the
storyboards method in developing some literary skills among fourth-grade
students (Jaber, 2015). Other studies found out that the storyboard was an
effective instrument used in improving the oral competencies of students (Isbell,
Sobol, Lindauer & Lowrance, 2004). This method was very beneficial in
improving reading and communications skills as it linked meanings and
emotions with words (Mokhtar, Abdul Halim & Kamarulzaman, 2010)
Other studies also confirmed the positive impact of the truncated storyboard
method on the academic achievement of sixth and fourth-grade students in
writing skills (Muhy, 2015; Khalaf, 2004). Mohammed (2015) found out that the
storyboard method enhanced the development of artistic expression skills of
kindergarten children. Al-Shablawi (2017) also showed that using storyboards
has a positive effect on the linguistic fluency of first-grade students.
Additionally, Atili & Nasr (2015) found out that teaching narratives in stories
improved the imagination skill of fifth-grade students. El Zemiti (2013) also

177
found out that storyboards improved the grammatical competence of students.

His study showed that the students who studied grammar using the storyboard
method performed better in the post-test/grammar test than those who taught
traditionally. Maulida, Eliwati & Sumbayak (2017) found a positive impact of
storyboard on the ability to read narrative texts.
Bruce (2011) found out that storyboards helped students in enhancing
their brainstorming skills because it makes think about how they wanted to
frame their images. In another study, Naar (2013) used storyboards to help six
limited- proficient students of English to enhance their reading comprehension
of English novels. The findings showed that storyboards affected positively the
reading skills of English language learners with limited language proficiency.
Husnin, Din, Karim, Norman & Hamdan (2013) Found out that storyboards are
considered authentic and natural data that had a positive impact on student’s
creativity and learning.
Based on the previous studies, it is clear that a limited number of studies focused
on the use of storyboards on enhancing different language skills. Moreover, the
researchers did not find any study that investigated the role of storyboard in
enhancing the reading abilities of students with reading disabilities in the
Jordanian context. Thus, the present study aims to fill this gap by investigating
the impact of storyboards which make use of pictures and simple narrations to
enhance the skill of distinguishing between Arabic letters that look similar in the
written form among students with reading disabilities. Mastering this skill will
eventually improve the reading skill of these students.
3. Methods
Sample of the study
The sample of the study consisted of 40 male and female third-grade students
with reading disabilities in the schools of the Directorate of Education in the
Ajloun Governorate in Jordan. They were divided equally into the experimental
group and the control group. Table 1 shows the distribution of individuals
according to their gender and school.
Table 1: Distribution of participants based on School and gender
Group School Gender Total

Experimental - AMERIA SECONDARY --SCHOOL Female 5
- Hashemite Elementary Girls Female 5
- Ezzedine Osama Elementary Boys Male 5
- Ain Janna Secondary Boys Male 5
Control -Khawla Bent Al Azwar Elementary Female 5
- Alkarama elementary school Female 5
- King Nasser elementary school for Male 5
Boys
- Khalid Bin Al Waleed Elementary Boys Male 5
School

178
Instruments:
The following tools were used in this study:
Achievement test: The test was designed to measure the ability of students to
distinguish between letters that look similar in the written form and pronounced
differently to diagnose the weaknesses in this skill. Both the control and
experimental group sat for a pretest and post-test to measure whether the new
method affected positively learning reading skills among students with reading
disabilities. The test consisted of (8) activities divided into two sections: the oral
one consisted of (6) activities marked two points for each, and a written section
consists of two activities marked 6 points for each. Anyone who got a score
lower than (12) points were considered having difficulty in the skill of
distinguishing between letters that look similar in the written form and
pronounced differently
The validity of the test: The test was verified by a jury composed of (10)
university professors specialized in special education, Arabic language,
curricula, teaching methods, measurement and evaluation, educational
supervisors of learning difficulties, and Arabic teachers. The final version of the
test was prepared after taking into consideration the comments of the jury.
Correction of the test: The time of performing the test was 30 minutes. In the
first section (the verbal section), the examiner was given one point if he/she
circled the desired letter, and thus the highest point was 12 and the lowest was
zero. In the written section, the examiner was given two points if the letter heard
from the teacher was written. Thus, the highest mark was (12) and the lowest
was zero. The total mark of the two sections was 24 points.
Training Program: The program aims to improve the skill of distinguishing
between letters that look similar in the written form and pronounced differently
among third-grade students who are enrolled in the learning resource rooms in
the Ajloun governorate. The program, which is based on a multisensory strategy
and the use of the storyboard style, consisted of activities that help students to
acquire the skill in question.
The justification of the program: The review of previous studies in the field of
improving the reading skill of students with learning disabilities emphasized the
importance of using the storyboard method in addressing learning disabilities.
The current program meets the needs of students by training them on the skill of
pronounced differently ( ‫[خ‬x], ‫[ح‬7], ‫[ج‬j], ‫[ث‬th], ‫[ت‬t], and ‫[ب‬b] ) by using the
storyboard and suitable teaching activities (worksheets). This program helped
them to distinguish between the letters effectively and write them and
pronounce them correctly.
Content of the program: The program included 30 Training sessions in which
the experimental group got involved, five sessions per week. The duration of the
session was one class. The training program lasted (6) weeks. Table 2 shows the
mechanism of implementation of the program each week in terms of activities
and skills. This training program is repeated for six weeks.

179
Table 2: The implementation of the training program per week

Number Skill Activities carried out in the session Number
of of
sessions
classes
1 Distinguishing Narrating the story of a certain letter, 1
between letters with showing pictures, conversing with the
similar auditory students, and re-narrating the story.
features.
2 Distinguishing Presenting a box containing objects that 1
between letters that begin with the required letter, making
look similar in the student guess these objects, and
pronunciation presenting these objects a reward if they
know them.
3 Distinguishing letters Worksheet 1 for the required letter was 1

that look similar done in the first week by the student.
visually
4 Distinguish between Activities were given to students to 1
letters using touch distinguish the required letter by forming
the letter using the sand table, wool
threads, shearing, and pasting.
5 Distinguish similarly- Students did worksheet 2 for the 1
written letters required letter.
Validity of the content of the training program: The content of the program
was verified by a jury composed of (10) professors who made sure of the
relevance of the picture to the subject of the story, simplicity of vocabulary used
in the body of the story, the integrity of sentences and linguistic structures, and
the suitability of activities, methods, teaching methods and worksheets. Some
paragraphs had been amended and deleted in the light of the observations
received from the professors.
Study Procedures:
To collect and analyze the data, the following steps were followed:
1. The approval of conducting the study at the schools was obtained.
2. The researchers trained the teachers to implement the study by
participating in three sessions for three days. In the first session, the
storyboard method was introduced. In the second session, the application of
the method was explained by presenting a training sample. In the third
session, teachers were trained on how to supervise the students and to
provide feedback to the students.
3. The experimental and control group sat for the pretest.
4. The training program was implemented for (6) weeks during the second
semester of 2018/2019.

180
5. After the end of the training program, both groups (the experimental and
control groups) sat for the post-test.
6. The post-test was corrected and the total marks were extracted for each
student. The results of pre and posttests were calculated to extract the
results.
4. Results and discussion

To verify the equivalence of the experimental and the control groups before
conducting the study, the Independent Sample T-Test was used. Consider the
following Table:
Table3: Results of the experimental and control group in the pre-test
Total
mark Standard Statistical
Group Mean T
deviation significance
Control 7.55 1.05

Pre-test 24 1.42 0.16
Table 3 indicated that there are no statistically significant differences between

the experimental and control group since the p-value is more than 0.05. Thus,
the two groups had the same linguistic knowledge before conducting the study.
Results related to the questions of the study:

4.1. Results related to the first question: what is the effect of the storyboard
method on acquiring the skill of distinguishing between Arabic letters
that look similar in written form but pronounced differently?
To answer the previous question, Independent Sample T-Test was used to find
out whether there were statistically significant differences between experimental
and control groups, as shown in Table 4:
Table 4: Results of the experimental and control group in the post-test
Teaching Standard Statistical

Group Mean T
method deviation significance
Traditional
Control 9.15 1.27
method
20.43 0.00
Experimental Story method 9.75 1.94

181
The data in Table 4 revealed a statistically significant difference between control

and experimental groups (P-value= .00) in favor of the experimental group since
the mean of the experimental group is higher than the mean of the control
group. These results suggested a positive impact of using the storyboard method
on improving the skill of distinguishing between letters that look similar in
written form but pronounced differently by students with reading disabilities.
4.2. Results related to the second question: what is the effect of the
storyboard method on acquiring the skill of distinguishing between
letters that look similar in written form but pronounced differently in
the verbal/oral section of the posttest?
To answer this question, an independent test T-Test was used to investigate
whether there were significant differences between the experimental and control
groups. Consider Table 5:
Table 5: Results of experimental and control groups in the post-test (verbal/oral part)
Group Mean T
Traditional
Control 5.25 0.55
method
24.28 0.00
Storyboard
method
Table 5 showed a statistically significant difference between control and

experimental groups in favor of the experimental group and the difference was
less than 0.05. This indicated that students with reading disabilities who taught
using the storyboard method showed improvement in the verbal/oral aspect
better than the control group who are exposed to the traditional method. These
results are expected because of the advantages of the storyboard method in
satisfying the needs of students’ imagination and curiosity (Al-Shablawi, 2017),
and their needs of guidance, love, success, independence and social
appreciation. Meeting these different needs contributes to the development of
the cognitive abilities of students, and the improvement of their verbal/oral
abilities because the storyboard method attracts the attention of students to the
correct pronunciation of sounds. The results were in line with other studies, such
as Rabahah (2017), Al-Shablawi (2017), Al-Juhani (2015), and Bably & Awwad
(2010). All of the studies showed a positive impact of the storyboard method on
the development of phonological awareness and language fluency of students in
the first grades.

182
4.3. Results related to the third question: what is the effect of the
storyboard method on acquiring the skill of distinguishing between
letters that look similar in the written form but pronounced differently
in the written section of the post-test?
To investigate the impact of the storyboard method on acquiring the skill of
pronounced differently in the written part of the post-test, a t-test was used to
find whether there are statistically significant differences between control and
experimental groups in the post-test. Consider the following Table:
Table 6: Results of the experimental and control group in the post-test/ the written
part
Group Mean T
Traditional
Control 3.90 1.21
method
11.73 0.00
Storyboard
method
The data in Table 6 indicated a statistically significant difference between the

control and the experimental groups in the post-test in favor of the experimental
group since the difference was less than 0.05. This indicates that there is a
positive impact of using the storyboard method in improving the skill of
distinguishing between letters that look similar but pronounced differently
among the students with reading difficulties in the written part of the test. These
results are expected because of the advantages of storyboards which help
students to remember the letter very easily. These results were consistent with
the results of other studies, such as Muhy (2015), Mohammed (2015) and Khalaf
(2004). All of these studies traced a positive impact of using storyboards on the
development of the performance aspect (written) of the students in the
elementary stage.
4.4. Results related to the fourth question: what is the impact of gender on
acquiring the reading skill of students with reading disabilities?
To answer this question, Independent Sample T-Test was used to find out
whether there were statistically significant differences between males and
females of the experimental group in their performance in the post-test.
Consider the following Table:

183
Table 7: Results of the experimental group in the post-test based on gender variable
Standard Statistical
Gender Mean T
deviation significance
Male 10.80 0.92

Verbal part 0.26 0.80
Female 10.70 0.82
Male 8.20 1.48

Written part
Female 9.80 1.14 0.99 0.06
The test in Male 19.00 2.00

1.83 0.08
general Female 20.50 1.65
The data in Table 7 revealed that there were no statistically significant

differences in the post-test in the verbal and written sections between males and
females in acquiring the skill of distinguishing between letters that look similar
in the written form and pronounced differently. This means that gender did not
affect learning reading skills. The researchers attribute this result to the fact that
the storyboard method draws the attention of all students regardless of gender
and motivates them to learn in a healthy and friendly environment.
5. Conclusion
The current study explored the impact of the storyboard method in improving
the reading skill among third-grade students with reading disabilities in
Jordanian schools. The study focused on the skill of distinguishing in writing
and speaking between Arabic letters that look similar in the written form but
pronounced differently, such as ‫[خ‬x], ‫[ح‬7], ‫[ج‬j], ‫[ث‬th], ‫[ت‬t], and ‫[ب‬b]. The
study found out that the storyboard method improved the reading abilities of
students by developing the skill of distinguishing between Arabic letters that
look similar in written form and pronounced differently. The experimental
group who taught using the storyboard method performed better than the
control group in the oral and written test. The study also found out that gender
did not affect the learning of reading skills of students with reading disabilities.
The study came up with many recommendations. Firstly, there is a need to
implement the storyboard method to improve the reading skill of students with
reading disabilities in Jordan. Secondly, there is a need to reduplicate this study
by investigating the impact of storyboards on other language skills, such as
writing and speaking. Thirdly, training courses and workshops should be held
to train teachers to design and use storyboards in their classes.

184
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187
Appendix 1
Transliteration symbols for Arabic vowels and consonants
Arabic alphabet Symbol Example Meaning
‫ء‬ 2 2amal hope
‫ث‬ th Tha3lab fox
‫ج‬ j Jamal camel
‫ح‬ 7 7 ub love
‫خ‬ x Xubz bread
‫ذ‬ dh Dhahab gold
‫ز‬ z zi:t oil
‫ش‬ sh Shams sun
‫ص‬ S s ayf summer
‫ض‬ d d ayf guest
‫ط‬ t t i:n mud
‫ظ‬ TH THuhr noon
‫ع‬ 3 3abd slave
‫غ‬ gh gharb west
‫ق‬ q qalam pencil
‫و‬ w ward rose
‫ي‬ y yawm day
َ )‫(فتحة‬ a kataba he wrote
َ )‫(ضمة‬ u kutub books
َ )‫(كسرة‬ i sin tooth
‫ى‬/‫مد طويل ا‬ a: ka:tib writer
‫ضمة طويلة و‬ u: fu:l beans
‫كسرة طويلة ي‬ i: fi:l elephant
Diphthongs aw mawt death
)‫)أصوات علة مركبة‬ ay bayt house

188

Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 188-205, January 2020
Relationship between Academic Procrastination

and Attributions of Achievement Motivation
Luis Enrique Quispe-Bendezú, Rey Luis Araujo-Castillo,

José Enrique García-Tejada, Yuri García-Tejada
Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Perú
Antonio Silva Sprock

Universidad Central de Venezuela
Klinge Orlando Villalba-Condori

Universidad Continental, Arequipa, Perú
Abstract. The research aims to determine the relationship between the

tendency to academic procrastination and the motivational attributions
of achievement in students of the seventh cycle of the EBR of the
province of Arequipa. The research is divided into two, first the
adaptation and validation of the General Achievement Attribution
Motivation Scale (EAML-G) of Durán-Aponte and Pujol (2013) to a
secondary level student population, for this, the data are collected from
a sample of 72 students, of which 35 were women and 37 men between
15 and 17 years old; the items for the new population were modified;
The results show that the adapted General Achievement Motivation
Scale (EAML-G) is valid and reliable to identify the causal attributions
of general performance in secondary level students. The second research
was focused on determining the relationship itself, for this the analysis
was made in a representative sample of 677 students, aged between 14
and 19 years, with an average of 15.78 years, of which 476 were male
and 201 women, it was found that procrastination is inversely related to
the attributions to the interest, capacity, characteristics of the task and
teacher evaluation, likewise, the relationship between Academic
Procrastination and age is fragile.
Keywords: Academic Procrastination; Attribution of Achievement

Motivation; Sociodemo-graphic variable
1. Introduction
Procrastination is a phenomenon that affects people, not recently, as there is
evidence that the consequences of procrastination have been known since, even
before Christ, but that it has recently begun to be studied with significant
momentum and dedication, since this phenomenon causes in the subject, a
voluntary delay of the tasks, of any type, to do other trivial activities without

189
any objective, this is harmful to the mental health of the individuals because it
brings with it stress and the feeling of guilt for not doing things in time. This in
an academic field is better known, since all students go through a similar
situation. In the case of teenagers, it is a very recognizable phenomenon.
Various studies emphasize the discomfort it causes and the negative

consequences it brings, as well as the negative factors associated with
procrastination.
The research conducted by Hen and Goroshit (2018) aimed to examine the
effects of academic and decisional procrastination on student discomfort related
to academic procrastination and the desire to change their procrastination
habits, in a total of 373 university students of social sciences in northern Israel.
The result was that procrastination is associated with feelings of discomfort.
However, academic procrastinators, have desires to change their procrastinating
habits, but do not feel uncomfortable having them, this supports the idea that
procrastination can serve as immediate emotional relief, even though it is
immediately followed by negative academic results, which causes these students
to change their practices.
Constantin, English and Mazmanian (2018) sought to clarify the role of repetitive
negative thinking (i.e., rumination and worry) in links between anxiety and
procrastination, and depression and procrastination in a sample of 90
undergraduate students. After the research was carried out it was found that
procrastination correlates directly with the other variables, more significantly
with rumination, concluding, then, that students with higher levels of anxiety
and depression participate in more negative repetitive thinking, which may
contribute to procrastinating behavior as a result of a concern for depressing or
painful thoughts about the past.
Goroshit, Hen and Ferrari (2018) found in their research that there are strong
associations between repentance regarding procrastination and that the
Repentance of vital dominance about to procrastination is multidimensional and
that is why cultural differences can be found.
Wang et al. (2019) determined the predictive role of sensation seeking in

smartphone addiction in adolescents was examined and also investigated
whether the fear of getting lost (FoMO) and procrastination sequentially
mediated the relationship between sensation seeking and smartphone addiction
in adolescents, in a sample of 794 adolescents, finding that the partial
procrastination partially and sequentially the relationship between the search for
feelings and addiction to smartphones in teenagers.
Similarly, procrastination is investigated with goals and objectives, indirect

relationships that are discovered with research in various samples.
Chen (2017) in his research seeked to examine the relationship between

academic procrastination and bedtime and the indirect and moderating effects of

190
Sensation search and disconnection of objectives in that relationship in one

hundred ninety-nine undergraduate chinese students (Average = 19.3 years).
The research found that the relationship is stronger for those students with
higher levels of goal disconnection than for those students with lower levels of
goal disconnection.
The research prepared by Liu and Feng (2019) proved that the perspective of
future time is significantly correlated with procrastination.
Focusing more information on what merits research, procrastination is also

associated with the locus of control, that is, the belief that power to change or
influence something is internally or externally of each one.
Zarzycka, Liszewski and Marzel (2019), in their research sought to examine the
relationship between religiosity and procrastination, with the locus of control
and prayer styles playing mediation roles in 196 students, determining at the
end of their investigation that religious people can give up internal control,
believing that their affairs are in the hands of God. Being subject to the power of
God provides them with a form of replacement control, which reduces the
problems of self-regulation.
Other research, developed by Kurtovic, Vrdoljak and Idzanovic (2019) aimed to

examine the relationships of academic achievement, self-efficacy and
perfectionism with procrastination in university students, using a sample of 277
university students, demonstrating that there are negative correlations between
academic performance, self-efficacy and adaptive perfectionism with
procrastination, and a positive relationship between maladaptive perfectionism
and procrastination.
Also, Vicent et al. (2019) seeks to identify the relationship between child
perfectionism and causal academic self-attributions using a dual approach:
variable-oriented and oriented to the person in a sample of 431 spanish students
(49.42% girls) between the ages of eight and 11, the results indicate that non-
perfectionism scores tend to involve their learning to external causes and not so
much to lack of effort.
Conceming sociodemographic variables, and there is no consensus, as several

investigations find some significant with age and sex, but others do not find
such a relationship.
Otherwise, Zhou (2018) examined active and passive procrastination to identify

personality traits that affect procrastination and to compare and contrast this
relationship between men and women. In this investigation it was found that
personality traits play different roles in these two forms of procrastination in
different gender groups.
Dominguez, Prada and Moreta (2019) in their research seek to determine the
existence of differences between men and women regarding the influence of the

191
dimensions of personality on academic procrastination in 986 students between

16 and 40 years of undergraduate of two universities in Lima, determines that
character explains a significant percentage of the variability of the dimensions of
academic procrastination, and that the influence of the dimensions of
responsibility and Neuroticism was higher in women.
In the research by Ferrari and Roster (2018) was explored how two types of
procrastination (indecision and behavior) contribute to disorder problems in
three adult US samples. UU, the three adult samples are made up of three
groups, whose average age is 21, 31 and 54 years, finding that general
procrastination trends can allow a pattern of lifelong responses to the
environment that becomes increasingly misfit throughout the life cycle, which
simultaneously delays elimination decisions.
In the research conducted by Díaz (2018) provide an overview of the research

conducted on procrastination in the spanish population organized in the
following sections: conceptual framework of procrastination, instruments of
measurement, prevalence and differences according to age, sex and occupation,
structural models, types of procrastination and correlates (personality styles,
temporal perspective, maturity, and mortality). They not concluded nothing
about gender and age, because is no consensus in the research.
It is therefore worthwhile to make an intervention with the students who

procrastinate in their studies. In the face of this problem, research has also been
done to determine the most effective ways to approach the phenomenon.
In the research by Celik and Odacı (2017), they analized effectiveness of a

psychoeducational group intervention based on reality therapy to treat young
people with academic procrastination, in university students of a state university
in the eastern Black Sea region in Turkey. It was 10 sessions and affected the
decrease of academic postponement behavior of university students.
Sirois, Nauts and Molnar (2019) in their research sought to expand previous
research on self-pity and health behaviors by examining associations of self-pity
with procrastination before bedtime. This was done in 2 studies, the first with
134 individuals and the second with 646, finding at the end of the investigation
that self-compassionate people are less likely to participate in the postponement
of bedtime, due in part to the use of healthy strategies of emotional regulation
that negatively regulate the negative mood.
In the research conducted by Zhao et al. (2019), it was sought to determine the
influence and mechanism of the management disposition of time and self-
control about procrastination in a sample of 503 Chinese university students.
They finding that procrastination is negatively correlated with the distribution
of time management and restraint, while self-control moderated the effect of
management disposition of time on procrastination. The research concluded that
restraint is a variable of capital importance in the research of procrastination and
time management.

192
Katz, Eilot and Nevo (2014) in their research explored the role of motivation in
the relationships between self-efficacy and procrastination in 171 Fifth grade
students. Their results indicate that the average autonomous motivation and
moderates the relationships between self-efficacy and procrastination, this
suggests that procrastination is not reduced by directly addressing self-efficacy.
Also they should be supported so that they find a more autonomous type of
motivation.
In the research prepared by Goroshit and Hen (2019), the relationship between
academic procrastination and academic performance, and the moderating role of
learning disabilities in this relationship, concluding that a high level of
procrastination could be more detrimental to the academic performance of these
students.
The research conducted by Balkis and Duru (2019) focuses on the integrated
effect of doubt, rational and irrational beliefs and fear of failure in
procrastination in a sample of Turkish undergraduate students (N=293). They
determined that doubt, fear of failure and rational/irrational beliefs were
essential predictors of procrastination and secondly, doubt as Irrational
expectations have direct and interactive effects on fear of failure, concluding
then that intervention attempts should focus on modifying irrational beliefs and
improving rational beliefs to deal with procrastination.
Cerezo et al. (2018) analyzed how training in self-regulated learning strategies is

related to improvements in the knowledge of those strategies, the self-efficacy in
the use of these strategies, their perceived usefulness and their effective use in
academic learning tasks. For this purpose they used a control group made up of
206 university students and an experimental group made up of 167. They
determined that the training in said strategies produced a statistically significant
improvement in the knowledge of self-regulated learning strategies, which was
associated with a significant increase in self-efficacy in the use of those
strategies.
1.1 Academic procrastination

Procrastination is a phenomenon present in several aspects of human life, one of
them is in the academic field, this type of procrastination is understood as “an
unnecessary and unjustified delay of the tasks related to studies” (Rodríguez &
Clariana, 2016). Academic procrastination is maintained in the subject because
they prefer to do other more pleasant activities that will cause more momentary
satisfaction (Tarazona, et. al., 2016).
Summarizing the above, it can be affirmed that academic procrastination (PA) is

the act of dilating time before starting an educational activity, voluntarily, but
that brings subjective unrest. This delay may be due to external factors such as
the difficulty of the task or internal factors such as the lack of pleasure that it has
for the procrastinating subject (Dominguez, Villegas & Centeno, 2014). That is, in

193
the personal affectation of procrastination there is still much to research to have

a homogeneous idea of what produces academic procrastination in students.
For the PA to be understood in a more structural way, it is necessary to know

that this phenomenon has two distinct components, the first is the core of the
procrastination itself, the delay of activities, the second does instead, reference to
self-regulation, because there are no behaviors that are oriented towards the
goals of the procrastinators. There is no capacity to plan those (Steel, 2007).
In this sense, we can find two types of scholarly procrastinators, the sporadic,
which refers to some punctual behavior in which some academic activity is
delayed in some specific situation and the chronic procrastinator, which is a
habit of procrastinating in the educational field (Schouwenburg, 2004).
Besides another classification was proposed, that of the passive procrastinator,

which is the one that delays the academic activities, which expands the time
before starting the task and that this is due to a functional and active mismatch,
which in the same way, delays the beginning of the job, but that does so
voluntarily, because it prefers to work under pressure (Chun & Choi, 2005).
1.2 Attribution of achievement motivation
People tend to look for the causes of our actions and that way we will try to
determine if we will succeed or fail when we insist on solving a problem.
This is reflected very clearly in the cases that take place in school contexts, as
students wonder about their failures and their successes, why they obtained a
good or bad result, to find an answer they will try many possibilities, among
them, internal factors, such as their capacity or effort and external factors, such
as teacher or luck, that is the foundation of attribution theory (Gonzales, 1999).
This model aims to determine the dependence between motivation and the
causes of the results that have been obtained after carrying out a task (Álvarez,
2012).
This model indicates that the student attributes his successes or failures to
internal or external factors, either one or the other, these factors have
dimensions, these are, locus, stability, controllable character and attributional
patterns (Durán-Aponte & Pujol, 2013).
2. Method
2.1 Population and Sample
In this investigation the Proportional Stratified Probabilistic Design was used.

For the validation of the General Attribution Motivation Scale of Achievement
(EAML-G), 72 students were taken as a sample for the pilot test, of which 35
were women and 37 men between 15 and 17 years researching in fourth and fifth

194
High school. To determine the relationship, the population corresponds to

fourth and fifth-year high school students in the city of Arequipa, obtaining a
representative sample of 677 students, aged between 14 and 19 years, with an
average of 15.78 years, of which 476 were men and 201 women. Also, 339
correspond to the fourth grade of secondary school, while 338 to the fifth grade
of six conventions, national and private schools in the city.
2.2 Instruments
2.2.1 Academic Procrastination Scale (EPA)
For the measurement of the tendency towards procrastination, the Academic

Procrastination Scale (EPA) was used, consisting of 16 closed items that are
answered on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (Always) to 5 (Never). Specifically,
the adapted version of Álvarez (2010) was used. This adaptation has 16 closed
items, “the items are statistically significant, with an internal consistency
coefficient Cronbach's alpha that amounts to 0.80, which allows concluding that
the EPA presents reliability. The measure of adequacy of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
sampling reaches a value of 0.80, which indicates that the variables have an
adequate explanatory potential. Bartlett's sphericity test reaches a value that is
significant (Chi-square = 701.95 p <.05), which indicates that the correlations
between the items of the instrument are high enough to continue with the factor
analysis” (Álvarez, 2010).
The scale has a one-dimensional structure, that is, a single factor that explains
23.89% of the total variance of the instrument (Dominguez & Campos, 2017).
2.2.2 Attribution of Motivation to General Achievement Scale (EAML-G)
It was developed by Manassero and Vásquez (1998), the original scale consists of
22 items that are answered on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 6, but for the
research the adaptation of Durán-Aponte and Pujol (2013) was taken. It assesses
the expectations of success and failure of a student in their overall performance,
has a “KMO index (.864) which is close to the unit. Therefore indicates excellent
adequacy of the data to a factorial analysis model. Bartlett's contrast, meanwhile,
showed a p-value of 0.00 which means the existence of a significant correlation
between the variables. In the initial solution, the varimax rotation method
reaches convergence after eight iterations, resulting in a factorial structure that
explains 47.34% of the total variance and allows four factors to be extracted”
(Durán-Aponte & Pujol, 2013). It was determined that the scale has the
appropriate psychometric properties for its application.
2.2.3 Data collection and analysis procedure
Authorization was requested from the authors of the adaptation of the EAML-G
size to adapt it to the secondary school student population. The help of two
psychologists and a secondary level teacher was also requested to modify the
wording of the items and subsequently the new scale was applied in a pilot test,
the appropriate psychometric properties for the investigation was determined.

195
Some educational institutions that provide education at the secondary level of

the city of Arequipa were chosen, to which an interview with the Director was
requested to deliver the letter of presentation of the Faculty of Education
Sciences of the UNSA, explain the purpose of the investigation and request
access to the classrooms to apply the levels. Once our request was accepted, the
schedules for the application of the scales in the school were coordinated with
the prior consent of the teachers and the students. Subsequently we proceeded
to the qualification, analysis and interpretation of the data obtained.
The data are presented in the form of tables and for the processing of the
information and the statistical program SPSS in its version 23.0 was used.
3. Results
The EAML-G instrument was reviewed and modified with the help of two
educational psychologists and a secondary level teacher. They made some
observations in the writing of some reagents, once corrected no difficulties were
found for the application in the required sample.
The construct validity of the adaptation of the EAML-G was analyzed by

analyzing the factor structure using the principal component analysis. For this
the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin index (KMO) was obtained, obtaining a result of 0.771,
being close to the unit indicates an adequacy of the data to a factor analysis
model; Bartlett's contrast showed a p-value of 0.00 which means that there is a
significant correlation between the variables, these results are shown in Table 1.
However, the Anti-Image Correlation indicated that one of the items should be
eliminated because it had the lowest correlation, in the same way the table of
commonalities recommended the elimination of another of the details. After all,
it had an extraction value less than 0.4, of which so that the scale was no longer
with 18, but with 16 questions.
Therefore, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index was obtained again, obtaining a

result of 0.816, which, being close to the unit, indicates an excellent adaptation of
the data to a factorial analysis model. Bartlett's contrast showed a p-value of 0.00
which means that there is a significant correlation between the variables, these
results are shown in Table 2.
Table 1: Kaiser Meyer Olkin's test of the original EAML-G
KMO and Bartlett test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measurement of sampling adequacy ,771
Bartlett's sphericity test Chi-square approach 577,032
Gl 153
Sig. ,000

196
Table 2: Kaiser Meyer Olkin test of the adapted EAML-G
KMO and Bartlett test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measurement of sampling adequacy ,816
Bartlett's sphericity test Chi-square approach 510,758
gl 120
Sig. ,000
In this new version, the varimax rotation method was used that reaches
convergence after seven interactions, resulting in a factorial structure that
explains 65.37% of the total variance and allows four factors to be extracted.
With this new version they were grouped into four components that can be seen
in Table 3, for this the Anti-image Correlation and the table of commonality
were verified, determining that all the values are adequate, the new
classification is separate from that of the instrument of Durán-Aponte and Pujol
(2013).
One of the deleted items is “How fair are your notes from the previous two-
month period about what you deserved?” For having the lowest value (0.283),
said reagent was part of the “Attribution to teacher evaluation” factor of the
original scale of Durán-Aponte and Pujol (2013), it refers to all the curricular
areas of the previous two-month period. In the adaptation the same is sought.
Still, it is not applicable to all curricular areas because in some you can have a
better recognition of truth and in others not, that is to say that the appreciation
of justice varies according to the courses, which prevents the assessment of the
whole set of curricular areas of a bimester.
The other item deleted is “How do you describe your persistence because you
have not been able to do a task this two-month period?” which only obtained a
score of 0.357, for that reason, that item must be deleted. Said reagent belongs to
the Durán-Aponte and Pujol (2013) original scale to the “Attribution to the
characteristic of the task” factor, its low factor load can be explained as the scale
values the attribution to a set of curricular areas and the tasks between these can
vary, in some they strive to complete the job and in others they leave quickly.
The minimum value is .357 and the maximum is .790.
Table 3. Rotated component matrix of the modified version of the adapted EML-G
Components
Item
1 2 3 4
9 ,778
12 ,761
16 ,755
8 ,711
4 ,599
6 ,883
17 ,672

197
5 ,671
7 ,564
15 ,504
18 ,820
11 ,699
14 ,608
1 ,511
2 ,826
10 ,544
From the resulting factor structure the reliability of the adapted EAML-G is
calculated, this with the internal consistency index Alpha of Cronbach, gave a
value of, 890 for the instrument in general, in such a way it is determined that
the device is reliable. In the same way the internal consistency of each factor was
calculated, proving to be satisfactory in all cases, for Factor I the coefficient of,
846 was obtained, for Factor II it was, 822, for Factor II it was, 706 and finally for
Factor IV it was 616, as shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Cronbach's alpha for the total scale and the factors of the instrument
Cronbach's Alpha for the Allocational Motivation Scale for General

Achievement Adapted
Total scale ,890
Factor I ,846
Factor II ,822
Factor III ,706
Factor IV ,616
In this way the instrument is constituted by 16 reagents, the total difference

explained indicates that the reagents are grouped into four factors, the factor
structure explains 65.37% of the total difference with 16 reagents; where factor I
explains 39.24% of the difference, factor II explains 10.20% of the difference,
factor III explains 8.56% of the difference and factor IV explains 7.37% of the
difference.
It is then as shown in Table 5, likewise also shows the commonalities of the 16

resulting reagents, with a minimum of, 543 and a maximum of, 801.
Table 5. Factorial Structure of the adapted EAML-G
Factors Commonalities Items

How much interest do you have in researching this
,663
bimester?
,709 How much interest do you have to get good grades?
Factor I
,613 How much desire do you have to learn this bimester?
How important are good grades for you in this two-month
,746
period?

198
How much effort are you currently making to get good

,586
grades in this two-month period?
How much chance of passing the curricular areas do you
,801
think you have this bimester?
,603 How often do you complete a task you have started?
How much confidence do you have to pass all curricular
,689
Factor II areas in this bimester?
How do you value your ability to research curricular
,681
areas?
How do you describe your behavior when you make a
,625
severe problem in any of your curricular areas?
How often do you get bored in the classes of the curricular
,694
areas of this bimester?
To what degree do evaluations influence the increase or
,585
Factor decrease of the grades you deserve this two-month period?
III How do you rate the demands that you impose on
,571
yourself in the research?
What is the degree of satisfaction you have about your
,543
previous two-month grades?
How do you assess the relationship between the grade you
,735 obtained from the previous aimentre and the degree you
Factor
expected to get?
IV
How much satisfaction does it give you to research the
,618
curricular areas of this bimester?
From the analysis of the instrument four scales arise, as is the case of Durán-
Aponte and Pujol (2013). However the distribution of the items is different, since
two reagents were eliminated and the delivery of the remaining 16 items
changed factor. This is understandable, since in this investigation it was adapted
in a different sample to the original. For this reason the four factors of the
original scale are maintained. However, some items were changed factor, the
four elements make the same reference as in the initial investigation; being these
the Attribution to the characteristic of the task, the Attribution to the Effort, the
Attribution to the Capacity and the Attribution to the evaluation of the
professors.
To support the construct validity of the Adapted EAML-G, a correlational

analysis was carried out between the four resulting dimensions, as seen in Table
6. In terms of Attribution to interest/effort and Attribution to capacity, there is a
relationship moderate positive (.549). This correlation is significant (p <, .001).
This means that the more academic achievements are attributed to interest and
effort, the more they are also attributed, those achievements, to the ability of the
same student. The same happens with the Attribution to interest/effort and the
attribution to the characteristic of the task, since the correlation is also positive
and moderate (.465) and significant (p <, .001), that is, the more it is attributed
academic achievements to interest and effort, but is also attributed these
achievements to the characteristics of the task.

199
The result is similar with regard to the Attribution to the capacity and the
Attribution to the characteristic of the task, the relationship between both factors
is positive and moderate (, 455) and significant (p <, .001), which indicates that
while the more academic achievements are attributed to the ability, the more
these attributes are also attributed to the characteristics of the task; About the
relationship between the Attribution to capacity factor and the Attribution to
Teacher evaluation factor, there is a weak (, 240) and significant (p <, 05) positive
relationship, which indicates that although the more the achievements are
attributed Academic ability, more is also attributed, such achievements, teacher
evaluation, there are other variables involved.
Finally, the relationship between the Attribution to the characteristic of the task
factor and the Attribution to the Teacher evaluation factor is positive moderate
(,404) and significant (p <, 001). This is because both factors are variables
external to the student, over which he has no control, this means that the more
academic achievements are attributed to the characteristics of the task, the more
these attributes are also attributed to teacher evaluation.
Table 6. Proof of correlations between factors
Correlations
Attribution
Attribution Attribution
Attribution to the
to interest / to teacher
to capacity characteristic
Effort evaluation
of the task
Attribution to
1,000 ,549** ,465** ,227
interest / Effort
Attribution to
1,000 ,455** ,240*
capacity
Attribution to
the
1,000 ,404**
characteristic of
the task
Attribution to
teacher 1,000
evaluation
**. The correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tails).
*. The correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2 tails).
Based on the analysis, it is concluded that the adapted instrument is valid and
reliable, which is why the correlations that exist in the variables studied were
continued, because the variables did not have a normal distribution, it was used
for the analysis Spearman's statistic, showing the results shown in Table 7.
Regarding the relationship between the tendency to academic procrastination
and Attribution to interest/Effort shows that the correlation coefficient indicates
that the value of Sperman's Rho is - .522, which establishes a moderate negative
correlation, which means that both variables have a moderate and inverse

200
correlation, that is, the more success or failure is attributed to interest or effort,
the less tendency to procrastination exists.
However, because the correlation is only moderate, there are other variables that
influence the trend towards academic procrastination. On the other hand, the p-
value is .000 which indicates that the correlation is significant, since it does not
exceed .05.
On the other hand, regarding the relationship between the tendency to academic
procrastination and Attribution to capacity, the correlation coefficient indicates
that the value of Sperman's Rho is -.457, which establishes a moderate negative
correlation, which means that both variables have a reasonable and inverse
relationship, that is, the more success or failure is attributed to the capacity, the
less tendency to procrastination exists.
However because the correlation is only modest, there are other variables that
influence in the tendency to academic procrastination. On the other hand, the p-
value is .000 which indicates that the relationship is significant, since it does not
exceed .05.
Similarly, the correlation between the tendency to academic procrastination and

attribution to the characteristic of the task was analyzed, the correlation
coefficient indicates that the value of Sperman's Rho is -.528, which establishes a
moderate negative correlation, which indicates that both variables have a
moderate and inverse correlation, that is, the more success or failure is attributed
to the characteristic of the task, the less tendency to procrastination exists.
However, because the correlation is only moderate, there are other variables that
influence the propensity to academic procrastination. On the other hand, the p-
value is .000 which indicates that the correlation is significant, since it does not
exceed .05.
Regarding the relationship between the tendency to academic procrastination

and Attribution to the evaluation of the Teacher, the correlation coefficient
indicates that the value of Sperman's Rho is -.262, which establishes a weak
negative correlation, meaning that both variables have a soft and inverse
correlation. That is to say, the more the success or failure is attributed to the
evaluation of the Teacher, the less tendency to procrastination exists. However,
because the correlation is weak, there are other variables that influence the
propensity to academic procrastination. On the other hand, the p-value is .000
which means that the correlation is significant, since it does not exceed .05.
Finally, between the trend towards academic procrastination and Age, the
correlation coefficient indicates that the value of Sperman's Rho is .155, which
establishes a very weak positive correlation, indicating that both variables have
a very weak relationship and direct, that is, the older the person evaluated, the
more procrastination tendency exists. However because the correlation is very
weak, there are other variables that influence the propensity to academic

201
procrastination. On the other hand, the p-value is .000 which indicates that the
correlation is significant, since it does not exceed .05.
Table 7. Correlations between EPA and attributions and age
Correlations by Rho de Spearman

Variables Attribution Attribution Attribution Attribution Age
to interest / to capacity to the to teacher
Effort characteristic evaluation
of the task
Spearman's -,522 -,457 -,528 -,262 ,155
EPA Rho
Sig. ,000 ,000 ,000 ,000 ,000
Regarding the correlation between the tendency to academic procrastination and

sex, the Mann Whitney U test was used because the sex variable is a categorical
variable, as recorded in Table 8 since the p-value is .678. It is concluded that,
although there are differences, these are not significant, that is, there is no
correlation between the age of the students and the tendency towards academic
Procrastination.
Table 8: Correlation between EPA and Sex
Test Statistics
Academic Procrastination
Level
U from Mann-Whitney 46942,000
Wilcoxon W 67243,000
Z -,416
Sig. asymptotic ,678
(bilateral)
a. Grouping variable: Sex
4. Discussion and Conclusions
There is an inverse relationship between the tendency to academic

procrastination and the motivational attributions of achievement in students of
the seventh cycle of the EBR of the province of Arequipa. This correlation is -
0.595, which is equivalent to a moderate level. Likewise established a Simple
Linear Regression model. There is also a direct relationship between the
procrastination and the age of the students, but it is 0.155, which indicates that it
is fragile and there is no significant correlation between the levels of
procrastination and the sex of those evaluated.
Considering the research in 6 national, private and agreement schools of the city
of Arequipa, it is determined that 179 students obtained scores that are located
under the first quartile, considering them at a low level of academic

202
procrastination, 317, between the first and third quartile, placing them at a
medium level of educational procrastination trend and 181 obtained scores that
are above the third quartile, which puts them at a high level of aducational
procrastination trend.
Specifically, the results were 188, 323 and 166 students located in the low,
medium and high levels, respectively, in terms of attribution to academic
achievements of interest or effort. 173, 310 and 194 students are found in the low,
medium and high levels, respectively, in terms of attribution to academic
performance; 199, 316 and 162 are located in the low, medium and high levels
respectively in terms of attribution to the characteristics of the task, their
academic achievements and 218, 282 and 177 students are located in the low,
medium and high levels respectively in the attribution to the evaluation of the
teacher of his academic achievements. The levels were located according to the
score obtained by the students evaluated.
The results are consistent with those found by Durán & Pujol (2013) the
validated scale has the necessary validity to be applied to the population in
which it was adapted with statistical values similar to those found by the
aforementioned authors.
The results obtained, finally, are verified with those that Howell and Watson
(2007) affirm, within the personal characteristics that favor the postponement of
tasks are those linked with a low motivation to the achievement, declaring that
both variables are negatively related. This is reinforced by García and Silvia
(2019), where they indicate the same, that procrastination is associated with low
levels of motivation for achievement. Also to them, Wolters, Pintrich, and
Karabenick (2003) affirm that academic procrastination is linked to the use of
motivational regulation, this, emphasizing academic procrastination. Along the
same lines, Matalinares Calvet et al.. (2017) indicates that procrastination is
related to low motivation. This is ratified with Steel (2007) when it states that
procrastinating behavior is linked to the degree of active commitment to a
specific task, this within a motivational process.
About the differences of the relationships between internal and external factors
with procrastination, since in the investigation, the “teacher evaluation” factor
obtained a weaker connection it is ratified by what Klassen, Krawchuk, Lldynch,
& Rajani point out (2007), because they suggest that procrastination is explained
less and to a lesser extent by intrinsic motivational variables. This is also found
by Lee (2005) who indicates that students who are moved more for internal
reasons than for external ones are less likely to procrastinate.
Regarding the relationship between age and sex and procrastination, studies
such as Pardo, Perilla and Salinas (2014) indicate the same thing that was found
in the present investigation, that these sociodemographic variables are not
predictors of procrastination in the academic field. The same happens in the
study of Álvarez (2010) in which the difference that exists between the levels of
procrastination by sex or age is not significant.

203
Finally Dominguez, Villegas and Centeno (2014) in their research indicate that
there are no significant differences about to sex. Similarly Cerniglia (2019)
suggests that there are no significant differences between the levels of
procrastination between men and women or in terms of the age of both. Diaz
(2018) indicates that the gap between gender and age groups they are not
predictors and they are not determined concerning procrastination, but this is
because the ages that are generally taken are those of university students. These
ages do not oscillate much and that restriction demonstrates a real trend.
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Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 206-230, January 2020
Educative Curriculum Material and Its Impact

on the Teachers’ Instructional Performance and
Learners’Achievement
Momo Rosbiono Kartamiharja and Wahyu Sopandi

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia,
Indonesia
Abstract. This research aim is to reveal the components of Educative

Curriculum Material (ECM) and its impacts on the chemistry teachers’
instructional performance and learners’ achievement. This study applied
the experimental method with matching only pretest-posttest control
group design. A total of 36 junior chemistry teachers as the experiment
group, and 36 senior chemistry teachers as the control group, and were
selected by purposive-sampling. The sample of learners is chosen
randomly. They consisted of 64 people as an experimental group and 64
people as a control group from different High School. The research
instruments were a questionnaire, form of the analysis lesson plan and
observation instructional performance, the items of teacher knowledge
and learners' achievement. Data were analyzed qualitatively and
quantitatively through t-tests and Normalization-Gain. The research
findings indicate that (1) ECM components that effectively enhance
knowledge of chemistry teachers are curriculum, chemistry content,
instructional strategies, professional development, and academic skills.
(2) Understanding pedagogical and professional knowledge of junior
chemistry teachers as ECM users and trained better than senior
chemistry teachers who do not use ECM. (3) The instructional
performance of junior chemistry teachers who use ECM is better than
senior chemistry teachers both in their planning and implementation. (4)
The learner’s achievement that learns from teacher used ECM increased
higher significantly than those who did not. Based on these findings, it
can be concluded that the ECM effectively improves on chemistry
teachers’ instructional performance and learners’ achievement.
Therefore it is recommended that Chemistry Teacher Group Discussion
use the ECM.
Keywords: education; educative; curriculum material; chemistry

teacher; learner

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INTRODUCTION
Background
The main factors that influence the quality of the success of the education
system are teachers, learners, curriculum, management of instruction, facilities,
and infrastructure. Among these factors, the teacher is the most crucial element
because the teacher can act as the planner, executor, controller, manager, and
developer of the educational system. Many experts stated that there would be
no change or development in the educational system without any change and
improvement in the quality of teachers. Therefore the teacher is a determinant
and dominant factor that plays a role in the learning process, where the learning
process is at the core of the overall education process (Dharma, 2008; Yusof,
Yaakob, Othman, 2019).
The Indonesian National Education System section, 1 and subsection 1 of Law

No. 14 of 2005 stated that teachers are professional educators with the main task
of educating, teaching, guiding, directing, training, and evaluating students on
all levels and types of education (Depdiknas, 2005b). The teacher profession
requires certain skills. This job cannot be done by a person who does not have
these skills. Based on Academic Qualification Standards and Teacher
Competence, professional teachers are teachers who can integrate critical
competencies, namely: (1) pedagogical, (2) subject matter, (3) personality, and
(4) social, and (5) professionals manifested by their performance (Depdiknas,
2005a). To conduct qualified education, teachers must demonstrate convincing
competence in terms of knowledge, skills, mastery of the curriculum, subject
matter, teaching methods, evaluation techniques, and commitment to tasks and
high discipline. According to the Regulation of the Minister of National
Education of the Republic of Indonesia Number 16 of 2007, teacher
competencies need to be continuously maintained programmatically and
continually through a system of guidance that can improve the quality of
professionalism (Depdiknas, 2007).
Teacher professionality in Indonesia is currently considered low. The data states

that the national average test scores of teacher candidates for elementary, junior
high school, high school, and vocational schools for mathematics studies only
(27.67), physics (27.35), biology (44.96), chemistry (43.55), and English (37.57),
while mastery of minimum expertise in the field of study of a teacher could
teach well is 75 (Sudarman, 2007). Another finding from the Educational
Sciences Consortium 2000 states that 40 scores junior high school teachers and
33 of high school teachers teach fields of study outside their areas of expertise
(Mustofa, 2007). In terms of performance, it was found that in preparing the
instructional program, most teachers did not compile themselves but only used
the work product of the Chemistry Teacher Group Discussion (CTGD) The
competence of teachers to comprehend the subject matter and classroom
management is still low. Teacher reading interest has not been facilitated by
resource books as teacher guides, journals, and bulletins. The culture of
conducting Classroom Action Research (CAR) is also still low (Ma'ruf, 2009).
The teacher professionalization determined through portfolio assessment and

208
Teacher Professional Education and Training (TPET). The percentage of

graduates from the portfolio and TPET graduation only reached 49.60 and 42.89
in 2006 out of 200,000 participants. Thus in 2007, only reached graduation of
40.95 and 50.02 of the total participants of 180,450 people. In 2008 only reached
38.22 and 33.20 of the 200,000 participants. The low competency of the teacher
lies in the pedagogical, subject matter, and the process of self-development
especially writing scientific papers (Dasuki, 2009).
Moreover, it was found that novice teachers who taught at various levels of
education and fields of study faced difficulties in finding curriculum material
resources that helped them to prepare and carry out their instructional
assignments (Kauffman et al. in Grossman & Thompson, 2004). Likewise, the
sourcebooks for chemistry teacher guides in Indonesia are still scarce, only in
the 1994 curriculum era. Chemistry teacher sourcebooks are available through
Open Universities such as the module "Development of Curriculum and
Chemistry Learning" (Arifin et al., 2007), the "Renewal in Chemistry Learning"
module (Karyadi et al., 2007), and the module "Chemistry Learning Strategies"
(Wiryawan et al., 2007). Even though the existence of the sourcebook and
teacher's guide is very essential as one of the supporters of improving the
quality of teacher professionality.
Literature Review
Based on its function, educative curriculum material can facilitate the
willingness and learning abilities of teachers in improving their instructional
practices, especially more effectively by presenting studies of pedagogical
content knowledge (PCK) aspects that combine instructional content and
pedagogy (Scheneider, Krajcik & Marx, 2000). Educative curriculum material
designed by applying a heuristic approach is more effective in improving
teacher learning. Teachers are ready to follow curriculum changes when they
have competence in the curriculum, instructional, content subject matter,
curriculum management and teaching, curriculum and instructional evaluation,
as well as student understanding. Educative curriculum material is also very
supportive for improving the ability of teachers to practice learning, facilitating
teachers always to continue learning, so that they have the readiness to carry
out their roles as agents for converting and constructing curricula and
instruction (Davis & Krajcik, 2005, Krajcik & Delen, 2017).
The knowledge that must be possessed by teachers in educative curriculum

materials are knowledge of (1) the subject matter, (2) general pedagogy such as
classroom management, (3) pedagogical subject matter, (4) curriculum, (5)
learners and their characteristics, (6) the context of the school and society, and
(7) the goals and value of education. These seven kinds of knowledge are
combined integratively to form the Subject Material Pedagogical (SMP)
knowledge. By adapting Shulman's view, the integration of all teacher's
knowledge components can be called as "Amalgamation Teacher Knowledge"
(ATK). Each component that forms the SMP is curriculum knowledge, subject
matter, and others must first be found"essential concepts" through the process
of analyzing or making concept maps. The integration between essence concepts

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and knowledge curriculum with other knowledge is carried out through a link
named "key formula." For example "syllabus component = curriculum
component + curriculum design model." (Shulman in Julie, 2008; Rosbiono,
2020a, 2010b).
The educative curriculum material design can also be compiled based on a

heuristic approach consisting of Design-1 until Design-9. Design-1 (assisting
teachers to educate learners with phenomena). Design-2 (assisting teachers in
using representations of scientific instructional). Design-3 (assisting teachers to
anticipate, understanding, and responding to learners’ about science). Design-4
(assisting teachers to educate learners through questions). Design-5 (assisting
teachers to activate learners by collecting and analyzing data). Design-6
(assisting teachers to activate learners by designing investigations). Design-7
(supporting teachers to activate learners by making explanations based on
evidence). Design-8 (helping teachers to activate learners by improving
scientific communication), and Design-9 (supporting teachers to activate
learners by developing subject matter) (Davis & Krajcik, 2005).
The educative curriculum material should be compiled by applying the

principle of deepening the understanding of concepts (science), instructional
strategies, and conformity to the needs of various educational participants.
Some types of knowledge that teachers urgently need improvement include
techniques to improve instructional such as training or modeling, specific
instructional strategies such as prediction-explanations, class management,
content presentation technology, and inquiry support, and non-traditional
assessments (Krajcik, Marx & Soloway in Schneider & Krajcik, 2000). Other
views suggest that educative curriculum material should teach teachers to think
about: (1) enrichment content from concepts accepted by educators, (2)
pedagogical foundation, (3) content development and community dynamics
into the future, (4) needs of educators, and ( 5) broader community needs (Ball
and Cohen in Schneider & Krajcik, 2000).
Educative curriculum material in the form of resources and teacher guidance

should cover the study component of instructions for use, practical curriculum
variety, the content of the field of study for teachers and educators (enrichment),
general pedagogic, and specialized pedagogical fields of study known as
pedagogical-content-chemistry (PCC). The process of preparing resources and
guiding teachers should be based on the principles of usability and adaptability
that encourage teachers to be willing and able to learn. It is important to provide
teachers about the development of the society in the future and the role of
education as the center for character building through the fields of study
“education through subject matter,” which is a new paradigm as a modifier of
the old model of “subject matter through education.” Thus the interests of
society are far more preferred than the benefits of the field of study; in other
words, the socio-scientific approach is more prominent than the scientific
method. The sources and guidelines of the teacher need to be structured in such
a way that they have a role in arousing curiosity and want to train themselves.
Therefore, on the content side of the field of study, it is necessary to develop

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content mapping based on the structure of science, problem-solving, and socio-

scientific, which is also called the model of making decisions (Holbrook, 2005).
Some previous studies suggested that (1) the preparation of educative

curriculum materials paid more attention to pedagogical content chemistry
(PCC) because this knowledge was more effectively used by teachers than
separate aspects of content and pedagogy, also could facilitate teacher
willingness and learning ability in improving learning practices (Scheneider &
Karjcik, & Marx, 2000). (2) The design of educative curriculum material should
apply a heuristic approach because it is more effective in improving teacher
learning (Davis, & Krajcik, 2005). (3) Educative curriculum material should
prioritize an assessment-driven process approach and a pedagogical project-
based science approach (Reiser et al., 2003). (4) Preparation of educative
curriculum material should be carried out concerning learning objectives,
principles of adaptability and usability so that it can act as a vehicle for reform,
effectively used in large classes, and used by teachers in different situations
(Schneider & Rivet, 2000). (5) Curriculum material should reveal operational
matters accompanied by detailed descriptions because such presentation is felt
by many teachers; increasing the quality of the instruction process is very
dependent on increasing the knowledge and skills of teachers, school leaders,
and educators obtained through the use of sourcebooks (Scheneider & Krajcik &
Blummenfeld, 2005). (6) Educative curriculum material should provide training
in making teaching plans for beginner teachers, provide opportunities for
teachers to develop their ideas and strategies, make new teachers more confident
in teaching, laying out basic ideas that can build the ability of teachers to adapt
in creating new ways because comprehensive designs (involving content,
instructional approaches, valuations, etc.) provide learning opportunities that
are strong enough for novice teachers (Groosman & Thompson, 2004). (7) The
chemistry education curriculum has tended to focus on the subject by raising
internal concepts of the subject's interests so that chemistry learning is
unpopular and irrelevant in the views of educators, therefore educative
curriculum material should train teacher learning oriented towards the needs of
educators (Holbrook, 2005). (8) Educative curriculum materials should be
prepared about concerning reform standards, scientific content, teaching
strategies, and having content that can develop teacher skills, reviewed by
professional staff, and tested in the field (Flores et al., 2004).
In addition to the andragogy model, educative curriculum material is also

carried out by applying the ADDIE model (Analysis, Design, Develop,
Implement, Evaluation). This model is part of Instructional System Design
(ISD), which emphasizes when implementation is carried out through ADIR
(Absorbing, Doing, Interacting, and Reflecting) mechanisms. After being given
the conditions by providing Educative Curriculum Materials (ECM), the first
step for the teachers to do the Absorbing process is to absorb the information or
knowledge contained in the ECM by reading, analyzing, summarizing, or
making concept maps for each topic so that they find the concept of essence of
reading. The second stage of the teachers performs the Doing process, which is
to work on completing the work being trained in ECM in the form of

211
answering questions, compiling syllabus, preparing lesson plans, or conducting

optimization experiments on chemistry experiment procedures. The third stage
is the Interacting process, which is to do interpersonal relationships with fellow
teachers or with educators. Interaction with peer teachers is done through
discussion or brainstorming so that the work completed produces a better
product. The interaction with participants is carried out through the
appearance of learning based on the lesson plan improvement. The fourth stage
is doing the Reflecting process, which is analyzing the advantages and
disadvantages of the product and work processes that have been produced or
displayed. To determine the level of success of the process that has been carried
out, then at the reflection stage an internal evaluation or self-evaluation or
external evaluation is carried out. The weaknesses that have been identified,
become a reference for the improvement process in the future (Clark, 2000).
Educative Curriculum Material (ECM) model "Amalgamation Teacher

Knowledge" (ATK) as an alternative to improve understanding of pedagogical
competencies and teacher professional competence because this model
emphasizes the integration of various intact knowledge that must be possessed
by the teacher. Even this ATK model encourages an increase in teacher
academic performance through the mechanism of "Absorbing, Doing,
Interacting, and Reflecting" (ADIR), as an educational process that opens
opportunities for the growth of learning independence, so that the increase in
professionality of chemistry teachers can run continuously. Because of that, a
program to improve the professional competence of teachers is vital to be
conducted (Hamdu, Sopandi, & Nahadi, 2018). Teachers' and learners'
empowerment also can be improved through connecting the Use of Educative
Curriculum Materials to Students’ Engagement in Science Argumentation (Arias, Smith,
Davis, Marino, Palincsar, 2017) or use of multimedia (Loper, Katherine, McNeill,
González-Howard, 2017).
Research Problems
Based on the background of the problem that has been raised, the general
problem of this research is "What components and impact of educative
curriculum material (ECM) on improving high school chemistry teachers’
performance and learner’s achievement?". In particular, the formulation of the
problem of this research are:
1. What the components pedagogical and professional knowledge to build an
ECM that can empower the potential of chemistry teachers?
2. What the impact of using ECM on teachers' understanding of pedagogical
and professional competencies?
3. What the impact of using ECM on the ability of chemistry teachers on
planning and implementing chemistry instructional?
4. What the impact of chemistry instructional by teachers who use ECM on
learners' achievement?
Research Purposes
The main objective of this study is to produce an "Educational Curriculum
Material (ECM)” that effectively improves the understanding and performance

212
of chemistry teachers on pedagogical and professional knowledge and their

impact on learners' achievement. Specifically this research aims:
1. Determine the component's pedagogical and professional knowledge to build
an ECM that can empower the potential of chemistry teachers.
2. Determine the impact of using ECM on teachers' understanding of
pedagogical and professional competencies.
3. Determine the impact of using ECM on the ability of chemistry teachers on
planning and implementing chemistry instructional.
4. Determine the impact of chemistry instructional by teachers who use ECM on
learners' achievement.
METHOD
Research Design
This study was a type of Research & Development (R & D) Model by
Sukmadinata (2007) which consisted of preliminary studies, development
studies, and testing studies. The preliminary and development studies have
been carried out by Rosbiono (2010a) with the product obtained as an
Educational Curriculum Material (ECM). ECM is a chemistry teacher resource
book that contains aspects of pedagogy and fields of study (Chemistry) and
provides educational aspects to motivate teachers to learn and practice
continuously. In this study, analyzed again about the characteristics of the ECM,
then continued to the testing phase that uses ECM in the chemistry instruction
with acid-base material.
Acid-base chemistry material proposed in this study is based on reasons,

namely: (1) this topic is commonly found in natural phenomena so it must be
recognized by humans at various levels of education; (2) the material as a
prerequisite to other essential concepts in chemistry; (3) the material that is
directly related to syllabus of school chemistry; and (4) the material is
instructional content which has a wide enough opportunity to build thinking
skills and practice skills.
The testing phase is carried out through experimental studies “The Matching
Only Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design” with the following pattern:
M (EG) O1 X O2
M (CG) O1 O2
M(EG) = Matching of Experimental Group

M(CG) = Matching of Control Group
O1 = Pretest
O2 = Posttest
X = Chemistry Teaching with ECM
Research Subjects
The subject of this study consisted of chemistry teachers and high school
learners in XI grade. A total of 36 junior chemistry teachers (have teaching
experience 1-5 years) were selected by purposive sampling from the Chemistry

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Teacher Group Discussion (CTGD) in Karawang City, Indonesia. Senior

chemistry teachers (have teaching experience 6-20 years) as many as 36 people
were selected by purposive sampling from the CTGD of Bandung City,
Indonesia. Junior chemistry teachers are used as an experimental group that
receives training using ECM by researchers for one semester, while senior
chemistry teachers are used as a control group, where teaching uses non-ECM
learning resources. The sample of students was 2 classes (64 people) from
Karawang High School, as a group of experiments. Whereas 2 classes (64
people) came from Cimahi High School, Indonesia as a control group. The
sample of students is chosen randomly.
Instruments
The relationship between the problem and the instruments used and validation
techniques in this study are presented in Table 1 below:
Table 1: Research Instrument and Validity Technique
Number of
Problems Instruments Validation
questions
Content validity by
Chemistry Education
Questionnaire
ECM components 210 Expert, Chemistry Expert
and interview
and Chemistry Curriculum
Expert
Pedagogical knowledge Item test
Reliability Coefficient
and subject matter multiple choice 100
KR-20 = 0.8383 (Very high)
chemistry teacher reason
Content validity by
Chemistry Education
Form analysis
Teaching Plan 21 Expert, Chemistry Expert
lesson plan
Expert
Content validity by
Chemistry Education
Teaching Form teaching
17 Expert, Chemistry Expert
Implementation observation
Expert
Item test Reliability Coefficient
Student achievement 50
multiple choice KR-20 = 0.6935 (High)
KR-20 = Kuder Richardson-20
Data Analysis
Data analysis of the pretest and posttest values was performed with
Normalization Gain (N-Gain). N-Gain is used to determine the quality of
student learning outcomes improvement before and after learning. N-Gain can
be calculated using the formula:
N-Gain =

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The criteria for classifying N-gain results can be seen in the following table 2
(Meltzer, 2002).
Table 2: N-Gain Value Classification Criteria
Achievement of N-Gain Criteria

Height (N-gain) ≥ 0,7
Medium 0,7 > (N-gain) ≥ 0,3
Low (N-gain) < 0,3
The significance of the means difference between the pretest and posttest
scores was done by t-test. If the value of the t-count is greater than the t-table,
the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. This means that there is a significant
difference between the understanding of teachers who use ECM or students
who learn from ECM users teachers than those who do not. If the t-count is
smaller than the t-table, the H0 is accepted. This means that there is no
significant between the understanding of teachers who use ECM or students
who learn from ECM users teachers than those who do not. T-dependent tests
were performed to determine the difference between the pretest and posttest
scores in each of the experimental and control groups, t-pre(E)-post(E) and t-
pre(C)-post(C). While the t-independent test was conducted to determine the
difference between the experimental-control group pretest scores, and the
experimental-control group post-test scores (t-pre(E)-pre(C) and t-post(E)-
post(C). Thus t-independent determines differences in achievement between
the experimental group and the control group.
Research Findings and Discussion

Components of Educative Curriculum Material (ECM) for Chemistry
Teacher
The components educative curriculum material for Chemistry Teacher shown

in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Components of educative curriculum material
Response
Respondents
Components Total
Sub Components ECM (n = 72)
ECM
(%)
Agree Strongly
(%) Agree
(%)
Curriculum Level and Curriculum Components
Knowledge
Curriculum Design
Curriculum Development 34 66 100
National Education Standards
Scope of Chemistry Content
Syllabus and Chemistry Lesson
Plan

215
Response
Respondents
Components
Sub Components ECM (n = 72) Total
ECM (%)
Agree Strongly
(%) Agree
(%)
Chemistry Chemistry Knowledge Dimension
Subjects Concept Map of Chemistry Content
Knowledge Description of Main Concept of
Chemistry Content
24.8 74 98.8
Description of Prerequisite,
Enrichment, and Applied
Chemistry Concepts
Description of Misconceptions
Reading Resources for Learners
Chemistry Model, Approach, and Chemistry
Instructional Instruction Methods
Knowledge Instructional Assessments
Determining of Minimum Mastery
Criterion
Test Question Validation 31.7 67.4 99.1
Preparation of Learners and
Teachers Worksheet
Instructional Media Development
Classroom and Laboratory
Management
Professional Development of Teacher Education
Development Rights and Obligations of
Knowledge Chemistry Teacher’s
Social Interaction of Chemistry 20.8 68.4 89.2
Teacher’s
Self Development of Chemistry
Teacher
Classroom Action Research
Academic Training about Compiling and
Skills Analyzing Syllabus
Development Training about Compiling and
Analyzing Lesson Plans
Training about Drafting and
Analyzing Learners and Teachers
Worksheets
Training about Making and 34.2 59.7 93.9
Analyzing Instructional Media
Training about Developing and
Analyzing of Learners Book
Training about Compiling and
Analyzing Items Test
Training about Composing
Minimum Mastering Criterion

216
Response
Respondents
Components
Sub Components ECM (n = 72) Total
ECM (%)
Agree Strongly
(%) Agree
(%)
Training about Validation of Test
Question
Training about Instructional
Simulation dan Reflection
Training about Developing A
Laboratory Experiment
Training about Implementing
Classroom Action Research
Based on Table 3 above to build professional chemistry teachers, it is essential

to understand the curriculum, school chemistry contents, chemistry
instructional strategies, professional development, and academic skills to carry
out chemistry learning well. As a practitioner and curriculum developer,
chemistry teachers should know curriculum levels, so that the job descriptions
as curriculum developers at the national, institutional (school) to class level are
apparent. Based on the laws of the Indonesian national education system, in
essence, the curriculum is interpreted as planning and managing for the
provision of educational and instruction components. The simplest that the
curriculum encompasses the components of the objectives, content, methods,
and evaluation. Its component focus is carried out at the class level, while the
teacher and education component, facilities and infrastructure, management,
and budget are components of the curriculum that are run at the school level.
Knowledge of curriculum design and development also really needs to be
mastered by chemistry teachers. Since the proclamation of the Republic of
Indonesia in 1945, the Ministry of Education and Culture has launched several
curriculum reforms, ranging from the subject-based curriculum design, turned
into a goal-based curriculum, student active learning-based curriculum, and
recently in 2013 changed to the competency-based and integration-based
curriculum (Arifin et al., 2007).
In 2003 the National Education System Law was launched. The regulation
contains eight educational standards namely, Graduates Competency
Standards, Content Standards, Process Standards, and Assessment Standards,
Educators and Education Personnel Standards, Facilities and Infrastructure
Standards, Management Standards, and Budget Standards. The first four
standards are related to the learning process in the classroom, while the other
four rules are related to the management of school-level education. Of course,
to increase the insight of chemistry teachers, the essential concepts of all
education standards must be contained in an educative curriculum material
document. The scope of the material and theories of chemistry essence that
must be taught in schools are included in the content standard document,
while the syllabus guidelines and unit lesson plans are included in the

217
conventional processes. With the detailed information contained in national

education standards, it is conducive for the developers of learner’s books,
instructional media, and instructional assessments (Depdiknas, 2007)
The knowledge taxonomy that has been carried out in Indonesia lately is
applying Anderson's view, which is to develop thought processes ranging
from remembering to creating, in addition to that, the taxonomy reveals the
dimensions of factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge.
By mapping chemistry content into the knowledge dimension, it becomes more
apparent the knowledge that chemistry teachers must provide to their learners.
Following the characteristics of chemistry, in addition to mapping the aspects
of learning according to Anderson, chemistry teachers must also think of the
macroscopic, sub-microscopic, and symbolic aspects of the chemistry content
they taught. Chemistry teachers also need knowledge in making concept maps
of hierarchical forms. This knowledge is essential because it can be trained and
used as an assessment tool to explore learners' comprehensive understanding
of the chemistry concepts they learn (Arifin et al., 2007; Karyadi et.al, 2007).
Description of the main concepts, prerequisites, enrichment, applied, and

misconceptions of school chemistry content is very necessary for chemistry
teachers because it provides a comprehensive understanding, so it is conducive
to making regular instructional plans, remediation or enrichment. Explanation
of enrichment chemistry content is not widely revealed in most high school
chemistry books, even though it is very much needed by teachers to provide
answers to critical student questions. Chemistry lessons that do not reveal
applied concepts in real life will reduce the attractiveness and motivation of
learners. Through Vygotsky's social constructivist approach, contextual (real-
life) instruction of chemistry is essential and is an obligation of the chemistry
teacher (Arifin et al., 2007).
To increase learners learning motivation and strengthen positive perceptions of

chemistry lessons, the chemistry content presented not only reveals the
essential concepts but also has to touch the needs of daily life. In this regard,
the school chemistry curriculum provided in the Netherlands is implemented
in the form of themes such as themes related to fire prevention, marine
chemistry, food quality and water quality (De Vos et al., 2003; Gilbert et al.,
2003). Likewise, in Western Australia, the school's chemistry content provided
is focused on the study of household chemicals, environmental and industrial
chemical processes, chemical production, forensic chemistry, and
environmental chemistry.
Thus the chemistry curriculum provides opportunities for learners to complete

their vocational competencies by working in a laboratory. This new proposal is
consistent with the educational tendency towards more relevant content,
contextual learning, understanding of scientific methodologies, and the
development of chemistry literacy for learners. Another thing that is not less
important that chemistry teachers still need about Reading Resources for
Learners (RRL). Learners can use many chemistry instructional materials but

218
professional teachers should to identify and even create RRL that better suits
the needs of learners. Thus the important thing that can be taken based on the
data above is that the curriculum material that must be developed can describe
"holistically" chemistry materials that will be presented to learners.
An understanding of the Model, Approach, and Chemistry Instructional

Method and practice skills is one of the characteristics of a professional
chemistry teacher. The learning process that applies multi-methods will
maximize the learning experience gained by learners. The preparation of the
Instructional Assessment Tool that is in line with the learning objectives will
provide objective information about the learning outcomes achieved by
learners. Thus the teacher can determine the Minimum Criteria for Mastery
Learning from the material being taught, so the teacher can identify which
learners need to be enriched or remediated. Conducting Test Question
Validation activities both in determining the validity of the content, the
analysis of the severity, the level of difficulty, and the distinguishing power of
test questions are essential parts that the teacher should master so that from
time to time the teacher can develop and obtain a reliable assessment tool
(Karyadi et al., 2007).
To correct student worksheets, the teacher must have data generated from
laboratory optimization tests. Instructional Media Development activities,
either searching through electronic media or developed by the teacher is a
crucial part of clarifying learner’s understanding of microscopic concepts.
Likewise, a good knowledge of Classroom and Laboratory Management
activities can facilitate learners in getting used to being involved in problem-
solving as one of the primary missions of instructional chemistry.
The data above shows that the chemistry teacher who is a research respondent
needs information related to professional development, as indicated by the
high percentage of responses that agree and strongly agree with the
questionnaire statement submitted. Very extreme is the need for Classroom
Action Research and Self Development of Chemistry Teacher. Information
related to the Development of Teacher Education in Indonesia wants to know
as a basis to get a more practical orientation of their self-development.
Information associated with Social Interaction of Chemistry Teachers, both
with fellow teachers, learners, school leaders, parents, professional institutions,
and the government is also needed. It seems that respondents want
information about the substance that must be raised in conducting excellent
professional communication, so that social interaction takes place more
effectively not only lived naturally, as it is.
The National Board of Professional Teacher Standards have developed

assessment standards and procedures based on five basic principles
(Depdiknas, 2005; Dharma, 2008), namely: teachers are committed to learners
and their learning; the teacher knows the teaching material they teach and how
to interpret the content to learners; the teacher is responsible for managing and
monitoring learners learning; teachers think systematically about what they do

219
and learn from experience; the teacher is a member of the learning community.
The last two items are not optimal parts that occur in the field, as indicated by
respondents in this study. The culture of recording or documenting work done
or called reflection is an effort that must be encouraged. With the
internalization of Classroom Action Research knowledge, it is expected that
instruction will continue to improve. The teaching profession is a position that
requires specialized training for a long time. Itis having a code of ethics to
explain things that are doubtful or doubtful relating to the services provided.
Specific training will also be effective, if supported by information sources, in
this case, curriculum material that accommodates teacher needs.
Every teacher, including the respondents in this study, is a person who is

developing and has a high enough potential to be creative to improve his
performance. If this development is given more directed guidance, it will show
optimal performance. The development of the teaching profession must also be
balanced with other efforts such as establishing a unique library for teachers so
that teachers, are not too difficult to find materials and references for teaching
in class. Other developments can be done by providing opportunities for
teachers to compose their learning materials as additional books for learners,
both individually or in groups. This effort can motivate teachers to innovate
and develop creativity, which means providing opportunities for teachers to
improve their performance. The thing that needs to be addressed and reaped
its benefits based on this research data is that essential information relating to
the professional development aspects of the chemistry teacher above must
become a substance or an integral part of the curriculum material to be
developed. This indicates that the curriculum material developed must build
"Amalgamation Teacher Knowledge" as required in professional teacher
competency standards. Another thing that curriculum material must have the
character of "flexibility" is that it can accommodate pre-service education needs
and in positions. It is no less important that curriculum materials should guide
chemistry teachers towards "self-reliance" in reflecting on their performance.
There are eleven academic skills in chemistry teachers proposed by

respondents to be accommodated in curriculum materials. Researchers
observed that the intensity of the prospective chemistry teacher's academic
skills training held in the Professional Skills Course and the Professional
Course when pre-service education was still not enough to build professional
chemistry teachers. Therefore, these skills need to be trained intensively and
continuously in a variety of teacher coaching activities such as in Teacher
Professional Education for pre-service education, and Chemistry Teacher
Group Discussion activities for in-service education. It should be noted that a
teacher's academic skills cannot be transferred from a trainer to a participant
teacher, so training is a non-negotiable requirement, without training yourself,
the achievement of becoming a professional teacher is not possible. For training
to be more targeted, effective, and efficient, each academic instruction skill that
will be trained, teachers must first know and even find a "key formula" that
acts as a guide that they can adapt to new conditions. For example, in
compiling syllabus components, the teacher obtains a critical formula that

220
"syllabus component = curriculum component + curriculum design model

adopted." The curriculum component consists of (1) objectives, (2) content, (3)
learning experiences, (4) methods, (5) time allocation, (6) tools, materials, and
instruction resources, (7) instructional process, and (8) assessment.
If the curriculum design model adopted or implemented is Competency-Based

Curriculum (CBC), then the characteristics of the curriculum design model are
the targets in the form of Competency Standards (CS), EssentialCompetencies
(EC), and Indicators of Competency Achievement (ICA). By substituting the
CBC curriculum design model characteristics namely CS, EC, and ICA into
number (1) the objectives of the curriculum component, the syllabus
component in the CBC must be composed of CS, EC, and ICA components,
followed by number (2) to number (8) of the curriculum component. Another
thing that might be considered new for chemistry teachers is the need to
develop Teacher Worksheets (TW). LW contents are similar to the Learners
Worksheet (LW). In TW, data must be filled (answer key) as a reference that
must be found by learners in their LW (Arifin et al., 2007).
In this way, teachers can provide a relatively regular assessment of the

performance of learners. If the TW requires laboratory experiment data, the
teacher first performs an optimization test of the experimental procedure that
will be carried out by the learners. In other words, the teacher is ready to check
the data that the learners will lookfor. Based on the needs of the respondents in
this study, the educative curriculum material developed must provide a "key
formula" as a guide for teachers. Thus educational curriculum material must be
"adaptable" to curriculum changes.
The Impact of using ECM on Understanding Pedagogical and Professional

Knowledge of Chemistry Teachers
Understanding Pedagogical and Professional Knowledge of Chemistry

Teachers were shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Competencies Chemistry Teacher
Group Pretest value Posttest value

Subject NG
(n) a b c d a b c d
value
Junior 39 40 33 31 72 66 70 78
Chemistry Experiment
Teacher (36) 35.61 71.60 0.56
(1-5 years)
Senior 49 47 39 37 55 50 51 57
Chemistry Control
0.19
Teacher (36) 42.78 53.46
(6-20 years)
(a) understanding of the chemistry teacher professionalism

(b) understanding the high school chemistry curriculum
(c) understanding of acid-base chemistry in High School
(d) understanding of chemistry instructional acid-base in High School

221
The data in Table 4 shows that in the initial state (pretest), senior chemistry
teachers' understanding of teacher professionalism (score 49 out of 100),
curriculum (score 47), acid-base chemical content (score 39), and teaching
strategies (score 37) higher than junior chemistry teachers. Thus the teaching
experience factor contributes to the teacher's pedagogical and professional
competencies (Vaudroz, Berger, Girardet, 2015). The senior chemistry teacher
shows the perspective that teaching chemistry is a task to empower students'
self abilities in addition to equipping their chemistry. Junior chemistry teacher
still views teaching as a technical work for transferring chemistry (Edge, 2015).
But when we look at the post-test scores, it turns out that junior chemistry
teachers' understanding in all aspects of teacher professionalism is higher than
senior chemistry teachers. It is suspected that Junior teachers have used ECM
and received incentive training by the research team for one semester in the
2018/2019 academic year. By paying attention to the NG value of 0.56 (medium
category), it can be said that the use of ECM and its training is effective in
increasing the ability of chemistry teachers because ECM is designed to educate
teachers to want to learning (Anthopoulou, Valkanos, Fragkoulis, 201; Ibrahim,
Yusof, Yaakob, Othman, 2019).
In other words, that the increase in learner’s achievement from the

experimental group (receiving instruction from teachers using ECM) on acid-
base chemistry is higher than control group learners (receiving education from
teachers who do not use ECM) because these learners get psychological effects
from ECM teachers in the form of achievement motives. Because ECM teachers
have relatively superior pedagogical and chemical knowledge through
intensive training. The excellence that exists in the teacher's persona is an
example that is used as an example for learners so that learners are inspired to
excel. This phenomenon is in accordance with studies developed by Bobrakov
(2014); Magwilang (2016); Krajcik & Delen (2017).
The results of statistical testing hypotheses about Teachers' understanding of

pedagogical knowledge and professional knowledge are shown in Table 5
below.
Table 5: Statistical hypothesis test results of chemistry teachers understanding of

pedagogical dan chemistry subject knowledge
Statistical T test dependent T test Independent

Parameters Pre Post Pre Post Pre Pre Post Post
(E) (E) (C) (C) (E) (C) (E) (C)
n 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36
df 70 70
t-cal +50.68 +22.45 +0.595 +6.63
t-table +1.994 +1.994 +1.994 +1.994
H0 rejected rejected accepted rejected
E= Experiment group; C = Control group
The data in Table 5 shows that increase teacher understanding in both groups
was significant (Ho rejected). Both teachers who use ECM or not. However, if

222
we analyze based on an independent t-test shows that the Ho pretest in both

groups was accepted, it implies that the initial ability of teachers from both
groups about similar. In contrast to the posttest value, that the Ho was rejected,
meaning that the final ability of the Junior chemistry teacher significantly
different than the Senior chemistry teacher. (Arias, Smith, Davis, Marino &
Palincsar (2017); Barron, Rupley, Paige, Nichols, Nichols, JrLumbreras (2018); Jusuf et
al., 2019)
Chemistry Teacher Performance in Planning and Implementing Acid-Based

Chemistry Instruction
The performance of chemistry teachers in planning acid-base instruction is

shown in Table 6 below.
Table 6: Chemistry teacher performance in planning for instruction acid-base

materials
Experiment Control
Lesson N Lesson N
Group Cat. Group Cat.
Plan G Plan G
Initial Final Initial Final
LP-1 34 57 0.8 high LP-1 28 38 0.3 med.
LP-2 34 56 0.8 high LP-2 30 38 0.2 low
LP-3 35 57 0.8 high LP-3 25 35 0.3 med.
LP-4 33 56 0.8 high LP-4 27 37 0.3 med.
LP-5 41 60 0.9 high LP-5 25 36 0.3 med.
LP-6 38 59 0.8 high LP-6 26 36 0.3 med.
NG = Normalization Gain; Cat. = Category; med. = medium
The data in Table 6 above shows an increase in the performance of the

experimental group chemistry teachers in making lesson plans (LP) after they
use ECM. The performance improvement is categorized high, as stated by the
Gain-normalization value. The performance improvement is mainly in
overcoming the weaknesses done previously in terms of (1) formulating
competency achievement indicators, (2) formulating learning objectives, (3)
formulating teaching materials, (4) writing laboratory equipment and chemicals,
(5) include learning resources, (6) write and choose learning media, (7)
formulate learning assessments, (8) the existence of instructional media, (9)
optimization of experimental procedures, and (10) preparation of learners'
reading.
It should be noted, that the form of the unit lesson plan used by chemistry
teachers is based on the Process Standards document. In the document, the
components of the unit lesson plan consist of identity, core competencies,
essential competencies, competency achievement indicators, instructional
objectives, instructional chemistry content, instructional strategies, instructional
media-equipments-resources, instructional steps, and instructional assessment.
The identity of the unit lesson plan contains information about the school
name, name of the subject, semester, subject matter, sub-subject matter, and
time allocation. Core and essential competencies are sourced from school

223
chemistry syllabus documents that are determined nationally by the education

and culture department. Chemistry teachers are obliged to develop indicators
of competency achievement that refer to the formulation of essential
competencies. To reflect on the instructional strategies to be carried out, the
teacher is obliged to develop operational instructional objectives that involve
the ABCCD component (Audience, Behavior, Content, Condition, and Degree).
Learning content expresses the label and description of essential concepts.
Content knowledge is broken down into factual, conceptual, procedural, and
metacognitive knowledge, according to Anderson's taxonomy. As the
completeness, a map concept, macrostructure and instructional material of the
learners is attached.
Instructional strategies are expressed from the level of models, approaches,

methods, techniques to tactics. The policy required by the curriculum is
learning that is inspiring, innovative, and empowers learners' potential. This
type of instruction is Problem-based Learning, Discovery Learning, Project-
Based Learning, Guided Inquiry, Science Process Skills, instructional 5E
(Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, Evaluation), and others
that are collected in scientific learning. Instruction media that are highly
recommended in instructional chemistry are experiment-based or
demonstration-packed in the form of learner worksheets. Chemistry teachers
are required to optimize laboratory work, so teachers have data that is useful for
correcting the work of learners.
Learning resources included in the unit lesson plan document are teaching
materials developed by the teacher or from other relevant authors. Instructional
resources must be written based on standard procedures. The instructional
steps are written in three phases, namely the opening stage, the core, and
closing activities. All aspects are colored by the model, approach, and learning
method chosen. The final component in the unit lesson plan is assessment. The
assessment revealed the types of instruments used to measure knowledge
competencies, skills, and attitudes. Likewise, the overall learning planning
document consists of the main document and attachments, which are concept
maps, macrostructure, teaching materials, learner worksheets, instructional
media, assessment grids, items and answer keys, observation skills, and attitude
sheets.
Chemistry teacher performance in implementing acid-base instruction is shown

in Table 7 below. The data in Table-7 shows an increase in the performance of
chemistry teachers in presenting acid-base instruction when they have used
ECM as a source to improve their instruction plans. Thus an excellent
instruction performance depends very much on proper planning. Reflecting on
what is shown, also observing and giving an assessment of the appearance of
peers turned out to have a positive impact on improving performance.

224
Table 7: Chemistry teacher performance in implement instruction acid-base material
Experiment Control
N N
Teacher Group Cat. Teacher Group Cat.
G G
Initial Final Initial Final
T-1 19 48 0.9 high T-1 22 34 0.4 med.
T-2 29 51 1.0 High T-2 31 45 0.7 high
T-3 28 50 1.0 High T-3 28 44 0.7 high
T-4 17 47 0.9 High T-4 20 34 0.5 med.
T-5 19 43 0.8 High T-5 18 29 0.3 med.
T-6 29 50 1.0 High T-6 29 46 0.6 med.
NG = Normalization Gain; Cat. = Category; med. = medium
The findings show that chemistry teacher skills in displaying instruction models
require sufficient time allocation so that the frequency of peer teaching needs to
be increased. The experience of viewing an instructional model well apparently
has a significant impact on the ease of viewing other types of instructional
models. Critical feedback from peers and examples of ways of presenting
instruction by the mentor, an enormous influence on teacher teaching changes.
Therefore, empowering activities in the focus group discussion of chemistry
teachers becomes essential. Thus an effort to increase the chemistry teacher's
acceleration skills in presenting innovative learning is to restructure the focus of
Focus Group Discussion activities towards a more productive direction by
producing better curriculum material. Chemistry teachers need to identify their
strengths as the basis for developing their expertise so that some focus on
fostering expertise in the field of learning innovation, teaching material
development, instructional IT media, and evaluation of learning chemistry.
Impact of Instruction with ECM on Learner Achievement on Acid-Base

Material
Learner achievement on acid-base material is shown in the following Table 8.
The superiority of learners in answering chemistry questions lies in convergent
questions that demand one answer and algorithmic questions. Understanding
the factual, and conceptual knowledge of chemistry lessons is relatively better
than procedural and metacognitive knowledge. For example learners answers to
topic questions (h), (j), and (m) relatively better. Instead of the answers of
learners who are still low lie in questions that require explanations, alternative
thinking, critical and creative thinking, analyzing or higher-order thinking
skills, procedural and metacognitive knowledge such as the topic of questions
(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (i), (k) and (l). Therefore in the future learners must be
trained to intensively build metacognitive strategy. This phenomenon is in line
with studies conducted by Espinosa (2014), and Talin (2016).

225
Table 8: High School Learners Competencies to Content of Acids-Bases Chemistry
Group Pretest Posttest NG

Subject
(n) value value value
HS Student Experiment
32.03 69.13 0.55
Karawang (64)
HS Student
Control
Cimahi 30.72 42.78 0.17
(64)
Bandung
Based on the NG values it can be stated that the increase in learners'

achievement in the experimental group is in the medium category, while the
control group learners are in a low category. In other words, that the increase in
learner’s achievement from the experimental group (receiving instruction from
teachers using ECM) on acid-base chemistry is higher than control group
learners (receiving education from teachers who do not use ECM) because these
learners get psychological effects from ECM teachers in the form of achievement
motives. Because ECM teachers have relatively superior pedagogical and
chemical knowledge through intensive training. The excellence that exists in
the teacher's persona is an example that is used as an example for learners so
that learners are inspired to excel. This phenomenon is in accordance with
studies developed by Bobrakov (2014); Edge 2015); Magwilang (2016); Krajcik &
Delen (2017); Bernard (2017).
The results of statistical testing hypotheses about learner achievement in acid-

base chemistry are shown in Table 9 below.
Table 9: Statistical hypothesis test results of learner understanding about

the concept of acid-base
Statistical T test dependent T test Independent

Parameters Pre Post Pre Post Pre Pre Post Post
(E) (E) (C) (C) (E) (C) (E) (C)
n 64 64 64 64 64 64 64 64
df 126 126
t-cal +38.11 +11.64 +0.446 +13.25
t-table +1.979 +1.979 +1.979 +1.979
H0 rejected rejected accepted rejected
E= Experiment group; C = Control group
To confirm the level of significance between the different means between

pretest and posttest, a t-test was performed. The t-dependent test was
conducted to determine the significance of the difference means between pretest
and post for each experimental group t-(pretest-E & posttest-E), and the control
group t-(pretest-C & posttest-C). The data in Table 9 shows that increase
learners' achievement in both groups was significant (Ho rejected). Both
learners learn from teachers who use ECM learning-resources and other
learning resources.

226
However, if we analyze based on an independent t-test, namely the t-(pretest-E

& pretest-C) the data in table 4 shows that the Ho pretest in both groups was
accepted, it implies that the initial ability of learners from both groups about
similar. In contrast to the t-(posttest-E & posttest-C), the data in table 4 shows
that the Ho posttest in both groups was rejected, meaning that the final ability
of the experimental learners significantly different than the control group
learners. Reinforced by the data NG (0:55) that learners achievement
experimental group is higher than NG (0.16) control group, so it can be stated
that the learning achievement of learners learns from teachers who use ECM
higher than the learners learn from teachers who do not use ECM. Thus the
achievement reached by learners is related to the ability of the teacher's
performance (Arias, Smith, Davis, Marino & Palincsar (2017); Barron, Rupley, Paige,
Nichols, Nichols, JrLumbreras (2018); Jusuf et al., 2019)
CONCLUSION
This study shows: (1) Educative curriculum materials that are effective in
improving the performance of chemistry teachers must contain about the
chemistry curriculum, chemistry instructional strategies, school chemistry
content, professional development, and academic skills; (2) Junior chemistry
teachers' understanding of pedagogical and professional knowledge using ECM and
trained better than senior chemistry teachers who do not use ECM; (3) Based on NG
value, the teachers’ performance of experimental group shows in drawing up a
lesson plan is much higher than that of the control group. The performance of
the teachers who became the experimental group showed the ability to
demonstrate the instructional of acid-base chemistry was far higher than that of
the control group teachers; (4) The achievement of learners who receive acid-
base instruction from teachers who use educative curriculum material is far
higher than that of learners who receive acid-base instruction from teachers
who do not use educative curriculum material and differ significantly. Given
these above, it can be concluded that the development and implementation of
the Educative Material Curriculum Material (ECM) are optimally successful in
increasing pedagogical and subject matter knowledge as well as the academic
skills of chemistry teachers as well as learners’ achievement.
RECOMMENDATION
Since the Educative Curriculum Material (ECM) is effective in increasing
understanding of pedagogical and subject matter competencies as well as the
academic skills of chemistry teachers, a Teacher Education Program, both pre-
service and in-service Teacher Training Program, should use the ECM. This
ECM can be used as one of the substances of Professional Expertise Courses
(PEC) or in entering the Teaching Practice Program (TPP). Because the ECM
requires the integration of several disciplines, the coach of the PEC course is
expected to have technical and practical experience in schools. Likewise, in-
service teacher institution’s primarily Chemistry Teacher Group Discussion
(CTGD), can adopt and adapt ECM as a filler for their activities so that CTGD
activities run continuously and produce products as a professional teacher of
chemistry.

227
Since the ECM raises generic aspects of the curriculum, instruction, and
professional development of teachers, then there are opportunities for different
researchers to try the ECM model on other subjects with adjustments to the
content of their issues. For researchers in the field of chemistry education, such
models can be developed in other teaching materials besides acid-base that was
tried in this study. With the research of high school chemistry teaching
materials, it is hoped that one day, the ECM model will be intact. Likewise, in
terms of practical training on the academic skills of chemistry teachers, there are
still wide open opportunities to hold exercises outside the preparation of lesson
plans and instructional performance. One of the needs that are considered
urgent by chemistry teachers is the practice of preparing Classroom Action
Research (CAR) proposals and implementation as well as scientific publications.
Eleven skills that must be trained and possessed by chemistry teachers, three of
which are skills in making assessment tools, making learning media, and
optimizing laboratory experimental procedures.
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IJLTER.

Society for Research and Knowledge Management

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational

Aims and Objectives

The main objective of this journal is to provide a platform for educators,

Indexing and Abstracting

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational

We are very happy to publish this issue of the International Journal of

The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational

We are grateful to the editor-in-chief, members of the Editorial Board

The Editorial Board is composed of renowned people from across the

We will endeavour to ensure the reputation and quality of this journal

Editors of the January 2020 Issue

Empowering Learners with Role-Playing Game for Vocabulary Mastery.................................................................... 60

Paradigms to Drive Higher Education 4.0 ....................................................................................................................... 159

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

Transition to a Learning Organization within a

Abstract. This research examined Greek elementary school teachers’

Keywords: teachers’ views; centralized context; learning

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

2. Educational Organization Principles

Contemporary schools are expected to follow the learning organization model,

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

develop patterns to meet, exchange ideas, respect, observe, advise, and

As Kalantzis and Cope (2012) claim, education cannot be treated as an

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

3. The teachers’ board as a decision-making group

The development of schools as learning organizations highly depends on

Therefore, teachers’ board is useful for normal and effective functioning of a

According to Somech (2010), decision-making in schools is a complex and

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

Bush (2011) described ‘certain categories of the nature of educational decision-

In the case of collegial managerial models, in which administration is dispersed

Another practice is the nominal group technique, which is believed to prevent

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In order to deal with any possible challenges or disadvantages, effective

4. The teachers’ board within the Greek Education Context

In Greece, the teachers’ board is considered by law as a collective body of the

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

and the nominal decision-making technique by enjoying greater satisfaction and

The present study aims to answer whether there is a correlation between

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

These statements and comments demonstrate the teachers’ understanding of

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Statement Perception Implementation

7. Findings and discussion

Based on the teachers’ responses, the principles embedded in these statements

With regards to statistical importance, as seen in Table 2, there was a correlation

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©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

involved in the organizational duties or functions of their schools by expanding

Bearing these values in mind, it can be concluded that as regards the

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Thanks to the teachers’ perceptions regarding their contribution in decision-

The findings demonstrated that teachers had developed the appropriate

©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

However, before generalizing these conclusions, it is necessary to stress on the

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©2020 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.

International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research

‘Driven in a Cart Pulled by Elephant and Horse

Abstact. The purpose of this study is to identify the relevance and