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IJPPM
66,3
298
Received 26 June 2015
Revised 11 January 2016
Accepted 7 February 2016
International Journal of
Productivity and Performance
Management
Vol. 66 No. 3, 2017
pp. 298-319
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1741-0401
DOI 10.1108/IJPPM-06-2015-0094
Key performance indicators for
excellent teachers in Malaysia
A measurement model for excellent
teaching practices
Ismail Hussein Amzat
Department of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to create a key performance indicator (KPI) that can be used as the
benchmark tool for teaching performance and practices of both excellent teachers (ETs) and non-ETs and to
investigate the possible interrelationships between the five thinking domains (teachers’ teaching philosophy,
teaching objective, pedagogical content knowledge, teachers’ expectations and management style).
Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative approach with a sample of 306 ETs from
eight states including the Federal Territory. Exploratory factor analysis was used to validate the instrument
and confirmatory factor analysis for model fit.
Findings – The findings showed that an excellent classroom management style was the most significant
domain for KPI with the highest factor loading, followed by ETs’ teaching philosophy and objectives.
It revealed that there was no significant relationship between ETs’ expectations and their classroom
management style and that the relationships between the other domains were weak.
Originality/value – With this research creating a KPI model for excellent teaching practices, it is suggested
that an in-depth review should be conducted concerning the standardization of the classroom management
and the national teaching objectives in Malaysia. Perhaps representatives from the Ministry of Education and
the school principals could go into the field to determine whether the excellent and non-ETs are fulfilling the
national education objectives and meeting the expectations. This could lead to setting KPIs for achieving
teaching objectives among the ETs.
Keywords Continuous improvement, Education
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Education, both historically and contemporarily, is believed to be the key in improving the
lives and success of people. Speaking fairly, every student deserves to have a quality
education and they are entitled to have excellent teachers (ETs) in their classrooms. With this
belief, in Malaysia, investing in education has become the backbone for economic growth,
human capital development and nation building. In 2013, according to the World Bank,
Malaysia managed to increase its spending on education to 3.8 per cent of its gross domestic
product, which exceeded that of other Asian nations by 1.8 per cent. Malaysia’s dedication to
improve teaching and learning has currently ranked it among the top nations that have
invested significantly in education, thereby prioritizing teaching and learning. Furthermore,
the budget allocated to the Ministry of Education (MoE) has helped the Ministry to build many
more schools (primary and secondary) and higher institutions. Part of the budget allocation
was directed to improve the facilities, maintenance and teaching materials, while the rest of the
allocation was channelled to the training and development of teachers. The aim of this
approach is to achieve quality education that will pave the way for productivity and
competence among the new generation in leading the nation. In pursuit of the objective to
achieve excellence in teaching and learning, teacher professional development is both an
inevitable and necessary fundamental step. Accordingly, several programmes and schemes
related to teachers’ development have been launched to boost teacher morale, satisfaction and
motivation. The Excellent Teacher Scheme was one of the schemes to raise the standard of
teaching, improve the standard of living and increase the salary of the teachers.
 The Excellent Teacher Scheme was introduced in 1993 as a reward for teachers who KPIs for
became experts in their area of specialization. These ETs are given the title, “Guru Cemerlang”, excellent
in the Malay language (Hamzah et al., 2008). This award is conferred by the MoE in Malaysia to teachers in
promote excellence in teaching among teachers and to urge and encourage other teachers to
pursue this route. According to the MoE, ETs are those teachers who possess or should Malaysia
possess great knowledge, skill and character. Furthermore, they should show quality work in
their teaching and performance. Therefore, the purpose of developing the scheme is to 299
recognize those teachers who demonstrate excellence in their area of teaching; encourage other
teachers by example to raise the quality of their teaching; improve school standards by gearing
them towards excellence through the competence and experience of the ETs; promote the
quality of service in education, and restructure the role and job description of teachers without
overlapping with the administrative role; and, increase the teachers’ chances for promotion to a
higher grade (Hamzah et al., 2008).
Eligibility for this scheme, according to the Ministry of Education Malaysia (2007)
guidelines, requires the applicant to have a strong character; good knowledge and skills; the
ability to improve the learning outcomes of the students; be equipped with excellent
communication skills; be innovative and able to contribute to the field of education for the
development of the nation (Ibrahim et al., 2013). In addition, the applicant must be
considered to have a good past record in his or her teaching area according to their superiors
(Hapidah, 2001; Ibrahim et al., 2013). These requirements and expectations drive and
prepare ETs in Malaysia to be different in their teaching practices from non-ETs. In a
nutshell, the notion of excellent teaching or what constitutes good teaching in general is yet
to be precisely defined. Besides, the appointment or awarding of excellence status, which is
even broader in some countries, is subjected to a political appointment, connection and
culture dimensions. Many good initiatives have come from authors and researchers around
the world by forming an exact definition; and the effort and initiation have been fruitful
where the majority of their definitions tend to be similar and identical. With the global
definitions of excellent, good or effective teaching, the majority of the authors agreed that,
an excellent or good teacher is good or excellent in pedagogy, knowledgeable about the
content or subject matters, and uses multiple approaches to research students and
classroom management. These global definitions are paralleled with Malaysian definitions
of excellent teaching and teachers. As a result of these similar definitions, teacher’s thinking
domains that were initially created by Clark and Peterson (1986) were used to measure ETs
and non-ETs’ performances. Furthermore, the domains were later expanded in Malaysia by
Hamzah et al. (2008), followed by Pet and Sihes (2015).

Literature review and related works

Theoretical framework
This study relies on models of excellent teaching. The theoretical framework of this study
presents some requirements that are globally accepted and recommended for excellent
teaching or key performance indicators (KPIs) for becoming an ET. In this study, the
framework for excellent teaching for teachers and leaders in the USA designed by the
Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Association in 2012, is used to strengthen the research
argument. The KIPP model presents four elements of excellent teaching that are linked
through belief and character. Excellent KIPP teachers are expected to improve their
standards and be role models for their students as their beliefs and character affect their
students, their relationships with others, classroom management, methods of teaching and
personal knowledge. The four elements in the Figure 1 are explained below.
Self and others. For excellent teaching to occur, self and others argue with each teacher to
understand his or her individuality and ability to connect to other individuals. In addition,
it is about teachers taking credit for the growth and development of their students.
IJPPM
66,3 Self and
Others

300

Student
Classroom
Knowledge Growth and
Culture
Achievement

The
Teaching
Figure 1. Cycle
KIPP supported
Framework for
excellent teaching Source: KIPP Framework for excellent teaching

Classroom culture. This concept concerns the classroom communication between the teacher
and the students; the teacher is required to set his or her learning expectation – what he or
she expects from the students. In addition, it is about creating a conducive classroom culture
in which students can learn by themselves and have the freedom of choice.
The teaching cycle. In terms of the teaching cycle, excellent teaching is carried out when
the learning or what is taught in the classroom or the objectives are related to the future of
the students. It is when a lesson plan is measurable, connects to the prior knowledge, and
applies rigorous teaching strategies and assessment.
Knowledge. Knowledge is about a teacher’s knowledge of pedagogical content, their deep
knowledge of teaching and their suitability to the learner’s level. It is knowing about a
child’s emotions, development, level of literacy and learning style and differences that call
for various teaching strategies.
In this study, the KIPP Framework for excellent teaching is used as a theoretical
framework to support the notion that teachers in general and ETs in particular should
possess knowledge about the subjects that they are teaching, pedagogical content and
classroom management for excellent teaching practices. This model is employed as it is
related to Malaysia thinking domains that are used in this study for KPIs for excellent
teaching and ETs.
Furthermore, other models are utilized in this study for quality and excellent teaching
criteria. In terms of good teaching, the models of McIlrath and Huitt (1995) and Carroll
(1963) emphasized the importance of the quality of instruction as a KPI for good teaching,
teacher classroom behaviour or classroom context (Cruickshank, 1985), connecting
instruction objectives and evaluations as well as classroom management for
students’ motivation (Gage and Berliner, 1992); while Huitt (1995) explained the
classroom processes and management. These models have helped to shed light on the
importance of a teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), methods of teaching, KPIs for
classroom management, teaching objectives and expectations in their quest for excellent excellent
teaching and becoming an ET. Furthermore, the models advocate the interconnectivity of teachers in
one requirement with another.
Since the evidence points to certain skills that ETs are supposed to have for excellent Malaysia
teaching practices; ETs in Malaysia should be evaluated based on these skills and the skills
should be used as indicators for reward and appraisal. In addition, the lesson to be learnt 301
from these models is, excellent teaching does not come in a vacuum; it is a process to follow
and skills to be acquired such as content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, classroom
management, connecting teaching with its objective and so on.

Research conceptual framework

In this study, the conceptual framework relies on the models in the theoretical
framework. Figure 2 shows that the KPIs are assessed and determined using the ET
thinking domains created by Hamzah et al. (2008). Since these domains are created for
ETs’ teaching performance in Malaysia, the research conceptual framework has put
these domains on trial to see which one would be ranked as the top KPI for excellent
teaching performance and practices. The figure also indicates the interrelationships
between the domains.

Excellent Teacher Scheme and standards across boards

To understand how ETs might be assigned in Malaysia and other emerging countries, this
study explores how ETs are appointed in developed countries. The exemplar in the UK is
the “excellent teacher” scheme that was introduced in 2008 as a sign of encouragement and
reward for teachers whose wish or aim was to further their careers in the field of teaching
without getting involved in school management. The Excellent Teacher Scheme was
designed according to the Oxford Reference (2014) in recognition and appreciation of the
achievements and skills of ETs as well as seeking their contribution to help other teachers to
improve and become effective. According to the Oxford Reference (2014), for the application
process in the UK teachers are urged to meet the ET standards and the Government
Teacher Professional Standard Framework. The quota of teachers meeting the requirements
of the framework and standards tends to be low inasmuch as less than 40 teachers in 2008
qualified for the scheme, which aimed for 5,000 teachers in the first year. It is envisaged that

Teacher
Teaching
Philosophy

Key
Teaching Teacher’s
Objective Performance Expectation
Indicators

Figure 2.
The research
conceptual framework
Pedagogical Classroom for excellent teachers
Content Management thinking domains
Knowledge Style and their KPI
IJPPM the fixed salary offered by the UK government deters the teachers from aspiring to attain
66,3 the ET status and acquiring advanced skills. Furthermore, teachers are restricted from
applying for this recognition until they have fulfilled the criteria for the ET standards. Upon
completion of the ET standards, the applicant is advised to submit the application form to
their school principal.
Furthermore, in the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, different standards
302 are stipulated for ETs and awards, which are becoming requirements for the professional
development of ETs, especially in the UK. According to the UK Training and Development
Agency (2007), in terms of professional attributes, ETs are expected to:
(1) participate as a leader in developing school policies and practice; and
(2) promote joint responsibility in implementing those policies.
For professional development, ETs should take an active role in:
(1) undertaking research and evaluation of innovative curricular practices and
determining the research outcomes; and
(2) identifying other external evidence to help in improving their practices and emulate
those of other teachers.
In relation to professional knowledge and understanding, ETs are expected to have:
(1) critical understanding when it comes to teaching and learning;
(2) knowledge of teaching and learning effectiveness;
(3) knowledge of behaviour management strategies; and
(4) understanding in selecting learning approaches and methods that can be used to
provide better opportunities for learners to tap their potential.
With respect to assessment and monitoring to determine a learner’s performance and
learning outcomes, ETs should:
(1) have the ability to improve the assessment practices and evaluate their effectiveness
in their school; and
(2) have the ability to analyse statistical information to examine if teaching and
learning are taking place in their respective schools or others.
For subjects and curriculum matters, ETs are expected to:
(1) possess deep knowledge of their subjects and awareness of issues related to their
curriculum as well as their pedagogical content; and
(2) possess deep knowledge on issues related to equality, awareness of students with
special needs and diversity in teaching.
Concerning professional skills, ETs are assumed in respect of planning, teaching, feedback
and teamwork to:
(1) work together with their colleagues in planning by taking a leading role to promote
effective teaching practices;
(2) equip themselves with teaching skills that pave the way for excellent results and
outcomes;
(3) be a role model in excellence and innovation in their pedagogical practice;
(4) be excellent in providing feedback in a timely manner to learners; colleagues, after
observation, and parents;
 (5) have the ability to improve learners’ performance through constructive and accurate KPIs for
feedback as well as by highlighting the areas that need to be improved for the excellent
progress of the students; teachers in
(6) demonstrate strong leadership practices and encourage teamwork to improve the Malaysia
school’s policies, their implementation and evaluation for school improvement;
(7) participate in professional development training for teachers and share knowledge 303
on skills and techniques to improve teaching practices; and
(8) participate in classroom observation, using high-level skills, make general appraisal
for good teaching, advise colleagues concerning their work and provide strategies to
improve learning for children and in meeting their needs to increase their outcomes.
In Scotland, the Excellent Teacher Scheme was created in 2001 in collaboration with the
government, local employees, authorities and the teachers’ organizations to recognize and
compensate teachers who achieve high standards in their teaching practices. The policy is
especially aimed at the Chartered Teacher Scheme to increase student’s performance by
retaining and maintaining effective teachers and encouraging them to join the league.
This is to instil a spirit of continuous learning among teachers and to create a learning
environment for professional development (Ingvarson, 2009). In New Zealand, the ET status
is motivated by the aim of rewarding the good work performed by a teacher and
appreciating their significant efforts to influence learning. It is an achievement based on
effective teaching that yields positive learning outcomes.
In the US, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has taken the step of ensuring that
all schools are equipped with ETs with the belief that all children deserve ETs who are
qualified in their area of specialization, possess content knowledge, skills and uplift the
performance of learners through teaching instruction and creativity. In addition, the AFT has
ensured that all teaching staff are provided with good working conditions in a conducive
environment, which prioritizes the welfare and safety of the teachers for the betterment of
the teaching and learning process. Teacher quality is believed to be an integral part of the
development of a school and achievement of the students (National Commission on Teaching
and America’s Future, 1996; AFT Teachers, 2007).
In Malaysia, despite the huge efforts by the Malaysian Government and their
consistency in investing in education year-on-year to elevate the standard of education, and
instil excellence in teaching and learning, some parents, as reported by the Star Online, are
deeply concerned and lament the declining standards of teaching. In addition, employers are
complaining about the low proficiency of the new graduates in English (Azizan and Chew,
2009). As per the World Bank report on standardized international tests to measure the
cognitive skills by Malay Mail Online, Malaysian students have been reported to be “not on
par with the country’s aspirations to become a high-income economy” (Su-Lyn, 2014, p. 1).
Additionally, the report states that the Programme for International Student Assessment
survey results released in 2013 indicated that Malaysian students “lagged far behind their
peers in Singapore, who are placed second behind top-scorers in Shanghai, China, as well as
15-year-olds in Thailand” (p. 1).
This problem was acknowledged by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin
Tun Hussein, in his keynote speech reported by Azizan and Chew (2009) in which he
commented that, “teachers are the backbone of the nation’s move to develop human capital
for a knowledge-based economy” (p. 1). This view was supported by Professor Ibrahim
Bajunid in his reported comments “How can we foster intellectual capabilities in students if
we do not foster it in our teachers? Teachers need to have an intellectual character; as long
as the teacher is not an intellectual, then we are on losing ground” (p. 1). In its quest to
achieve a knowledge-based economy in 2020, the Malaysian MoE has spontaneously
IJPPM responded to the problems, and, currently, different measures are being implemented, such
66,3 as nurturing quality teachers within the system, managing the supply of teachers,
overcoming mediocrity in the profession, and providing continuous opportunities for
improvement. In addition, Teacher Education and Development has taken the initiative of
formulating the Malaysian Teaching Standards (MTS) to ensure that the quality of teacher
education is both maintained and improved. This approach by MTS is expected to be a
304 comprehensive guide for quality teacher education in Malaysia to equip all new teachers
with the subject knowledge and pedagogical skills that they need (Azizan and Chew, 2009).
Furthermore, Malaysia, as the regional education hub, which captures 2 per cent of the
world’s population of international students, has taken on board the concept of best practice,
both near and far, through benchmarking. Various best practices around the world were
researched by MTS, such as in the UK, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, with particular
reference to Singapore in 1965 and its remarkable achievement today. Remarkably,
Singapore has transformed itself, as reported by Stewart (2013), from being a country with
high illiteracy in Southeast Asia to emerge as a country with high literacy and a first class
education system, and, thereby, one of the Asian tigers, and a global hub for business and
trade. This achievement was possible because of the implementation of a coherent and
cohesive national education curriculum in all schools and the provision of high quality
teachers. The Singapore Government’s investment in human capital, a strong educational
policy and effective school leadership are reported to be the other factors contributing to its
success. A careful and thorough selection of teachers is undertaken with drilling and
rigorous training for the teachers and principals.

Teaching practices among ETs in Malaysia

The Excellent Teacher Scheme in Malaysia was created to pave a better career path for
classroom teachers. This scheme also paves the way for a teacher’s promotion to earn a
better salary. As the salary increases, task and responsibility increases as well. Therefore,
with the increment of salary with this scheme, ETs are expected to do extra jobs, go beyond
their classroom routine and contribute to the development curriculum and policy as they are
considered as experts in the field of teaching. Unfortunately, despite an increase in the ETs
quota in Malaysia with the promise of higher salary and promotion, the number of ETs
constitutes less than 4 per cent of the entire teacher population in Malaysia (Awang, 2014).
Perhaps this is due to the higher salary attached and budget allocated for Excellent Teacher
Scheme that is hard to maintain.
Furthermore, in Malaysia, according to Ming-ming (2007), students expect ETs to:
(1) inculcate motivation in their teaching;
(2) consider the learning environment;
(3) facilitate learning;
(4) use an instructional approach;
(5) enhance students’ learning with technology; and
(6) be supported by a good leader.
However, there are some concerns on how teaching is performed by some ETs. This paper
identifies some interesting stories and scenarios from the literature and findings about the
different styles of teaching among ETs with different specializations. A mixed-methods
research conducted by Ng (2009) concerning how ETs in science manage and engage their
students into thinking in the classrooms shows that science teachers differ in their teaching
practices. It was found that they use different and unstandardized approaches in their
thinking despite being expected to have unified, standardized and similar approaches,
and methods and teaching practices. These differences occur as every ET teaching science KPIs for
has reservations or different views, beliefs about their subjects, and preferences in using excellent
their own individual teaching methods and approaches (Ibrahim et al., 2013). teachers in
A qualitative study by Lyla (as cited in Ibrahim et al., 2013), concerning the pedagogical
practices of ETs teaching English as a second language supported the findings of Ng (2009). Malaysia
Lyla reported a contradiction in the views of ETs about their subjects and classroom teaching
practices with learners as well as of having different views about their role as ETs. In addition, 305
teaching context, school location and education system as well as parental involvement are
reported to influence the teaching practices and thinking models of ETs, while, unexpectedly,
the teaching experiences and specialization of ETs failed to have an impact on or predict their
teaching practices (Ibrahim et al., 2013). These are serious issues that need to be considered
when asking or pondering why the classroom management styles, teaching objectives and
expectations of ETs are varied and unstandardized. In addition, an investigation needs to be
conducted to determine whether these variances occur in all subjects.

ET thinking domain and teaching effectiveness

The thinking domains used in this study were derived from three sources: a thinking and
action process model by Clark and Peterson (1986), teachers’ decisions planning model by
Myers and Myers (1995) and the symbolic interaction theory by Mead (1894-1931) according
to Ritzer (1996) cited by Hamzah et al. (2008). These models have been used to improve
teaching, making teaching a professional career and teacher professional about career
thinking. Thus, such models are used in Malaysia by researchers to measure ETs
performance and are utilized as indications of an excellent teaching process and of practices.
Clark and Peterson, as well as the Myers and Myers (1995), believed in their models that for
excellent teaching to take place, teachers should have the knowledge of what they are
teaching, knowledge of pedagogy, content, skills to manage their classroom, students’
expectation and consideration as well as external factors.
With the adopted models, in normal circumstances, teachers’ expectations are believed to
reflect their classroom management style. Hence, learning success is inevitably influenced by
the teachers’ actions in their classrooms and the way the classrooms are managed. Many
studies have indicated that teachers’ expectations, their actions in their classrooms, and the
way the classroom is managed and conducted play huge roles in the learners’ learning
outcomes. In addition, school policies, curriculum, assessment, staff collegiality and
community participation also dictate the students’ achievement (Marzano and Marzano, 2003).
Although other factors are reported to influencing learning, classroom management tends to
be the leading factor concerning learners’ learning success. This indicates that proper learning
cannot occur in a classroom that is poorly managed. Therefore, it is important for teachers to
set their own expectations and rules, such as classroom discipline and procedure, what
students should know and learn, learning objectives, outcomes, and what is expected from the
teacher and students. An experiment conducted by Robert Rosenthal cited by Spiegel (2012)
at an elementary school, south of San Francisco, showed that teachers’ expectations have a
great influence on the performance of students, especially their IQs. Setting rules and
expectations should help in managing the classroom; teachers’ expectations and classroom
management should be regulated and linked. A study by Hamzah et al. (2008) on the ETs’
model for effective teaching confirmed the statement that teachers’ expectations was found to
have the highest contribution to ET teaching performance.
Relatedly, if teachers’ expectations and rules are set, it reduces violence and discipline
problems in the classroom, and, eventually, leads to a proper classroom management that
will positively influence the learning outcomes. Moreover, it paves the way for a conducive
classroom environment, and strong rapport between the teachers and students. Research
has shown that when there is a good relationship between the teachers and students,
IJPPM it curbs discipline problems in the classroom (Marzano and Marzano, 2003). In addition,
66,3 another study has shown that to achieve effective teaching, teachers must set high
expectations and practice excellent classroom management skills (Curry, 2000). Hence,
classroom management and positive expectations are considered to be among the
prerequisites of becoming an effective teacher. A positive expectation is that a teacher
believes that every student has the potential to learn by his or her own self. In alignment
306 with the definition, research has shown the correlation between the teachers’ positive
expectations and students’ believing in themselves (self-concept) as well as learning
achievement. As matter of fact, in today’s learning, expectations are not only set by
teachers, they include the students’ input as well. Students in the twenty-first century are
different from those of the 1980s and 1990s. Millennium students are amazingly conscious,
smart, active, fast learners and current about the latest issues and developments around the
world. They expect to have teachers in their classrooms who are well-prepared, with
extensive knowledge about the subjects being taught, well-equipped with pedagogical skills,
who go beyond the curriculum and syllabus, as well as good classroom managers.
Furthermore, it is through classroom management that the teaching effectiveness of
teachers is tested and an ET is determined.
According to Baumrind (1971), the teacher style of classroom management can be
divided into two types: control and involvement. The control type includes teachers who lay
down the rules and expect all the students to adhere strictly to the rules. The involvement
type comprises teachers who promote a good relationship between themselves and their
students. However, teachers who lack either type of teacher style have no rules and
expectations for their students, and do not encourage a relationship between themselves and
their students. In sum, a teacher’s personality or style could influence or impact on
classroom management. Research has found a causal-relationship between the type of
management style and the teacher’s characteristic behaviour (Wenning, 1998). Furthermore,
the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (2008) reported that teacher culture influences
teachers’ expectations, their style of managing their classrooms, their interaction with the
students and the way they perceive learning.
Additionally, to become an effective teacher, teacher knowledge, which includes disciplinary
content, subject knowledge, pedagogical content and teaching methods, is necessary for quality
teaching practice. This constitutes the knowledge that a teacher must have to become an
effective teacher. In addition, PCK is about what a teacher knows and about what he or she
teaches. Thus, PCK is considered to be the subject matter in relation to what a teacher knows
about teaching, as well as his or her knowledge concerning how learners learn and their
conceptions (Sibuyi, 2012). PCK is a teacher’s professional understanding about topic
organization, presentation and problems as well as issues related to teaching or instruction
according to the students’ background and school’s goals ( Juang et al., 2008).
According to Jadama (2014), the underlying power and strength of teachers as pedagogues
is their knowledge of the subject matter. In his study on the impact of teacher subject matter
knowledge on teaching and learning process, he concluded that, teachers can only know or
teach the subject matter to students and have an impact on learning, when they have full
comprehension of the subject matter and ability to explain misconceptions of knowledge.
In addition, an effective teacher, according to the US National Council for Accreditation of
Teacher Education (NCATE) findings, is a teacher that has high quality preparation to help
students develop their essential knowledge and pedagogical skill ( Jadama, 2014). Therefore,
PCK is needed for effective teaching (Gerges, 2001), and, in Singapore, teacher content
knowledge is found among pre-service teachers to lead to good teaching, as good teaching is
the ability to transmit knowledge to others (Wilke, 2004; Chong et al., 2005).
In sum, this study makes a great contribution to the body of knowledge in terms of
bridging the gap between theories, models and literature. With the models adapted in this
study and support of relevant literature cited, it shows that, to be an ET is not just a KPIs for
“day job”. To appoint an ET should not be political or just for promotion and increment in excellent
incentives as evidence in the literature has shown that to have excellent teaching is to have teachers in
ETs. Hence, to have excellent teaching according to the KIPP framework and supporting
literature means teachers should possess knowledge of content, subject matter, pedagogical Malaysia
knowledge, classroom management, ability to link teaching with its objectives and consider
student’s expectations as well as external factors. 307
In Malaysia, since excellent teaching is very concerning for the Malaysian Government,
this research will play a big role for the government in changing the policy related to the
appointment of ETs. Again, in respect to high incentives attached to the Excellent
Teachers’ Scheme, the appointment of ETs in Malaysia requires that the reward and
appraisal should be robust and rigorous. Hence, government should look critically into the
candidate skills and knowledge, perhaps using this research model and others before
appointment and after. As a matter of fact, this research model could be used as
benchmark, rubric and indicator for key performance indices as well as to encourage best
practices among ETs.
Although, there are a number of studies in Malaysia on ETs such as Hamzah, Mohamad,
Ghorbani’s study on excellent thinking model which mainly focussed on challenges faced
based on ET in their classrooms, Hoque et al. (2012) on ET’s job satisfaction, Ibrahim et al.
(2013) on what master teachers do and expertise in the classroom, Hussin et al. (2014) on the
religious practices teaching pedagogical of Islamic education ETs, looking at PCK of ET in
Malaysia, Cheah (2007) on student perception of ET, Awang (2014) on policy ecology of ETs,
Jasmi et al. (2014) on classroom management practice by excellent Islamic education teachers
at secondary school in Malaysia. All these studies indeed contributed to the development of
ETs in Malaysia and the researchers have done remarkable jobs but yet, there is no study on
what should be considered before appointment of ETs in Malaysia and after.
As a contribution again, based on researchers best knowledge, there is no model or
rubrics to measure ET performance or indicator(s) put forward by any researcher for ETs’
key performance and practices. Therefore, with the issue of excellence in teaching and
learning for nation development topping the government agenda in Malaysia, this research
in terms of objective aims to examine which among teachers’ domains that predicts ETs’
teaching performance, leads best practices or used as a performance indicator or indices.
In achieving this objective, this study strives to answer the following questions:
RQ1. Which factor(s) among ETs’ thinking domains highly predicts teaching performance
or can be used as indicators for best practices among ETs in Malaysia?
RQ2. Which among the thinking domains is found to be the most challenging or highly
ranked amongst ETs in Malaysia for KPI?
RQ3. Is there any interrelationship between the five thinking domains (teachers’
teaching philosophy, teaching objective, PCK, teachers’ expectations and
management style)?
RQ4. What are the reliability and psychometric properties of the thinking model
instrument created by the researcher?

Methodology
This research used a quantitative design through the survey method to reach the participants.
The population consisted of ETs in Malaysia. Malaysia has 15 states among which is Putra
Jaya, the Federal Territory. The sample for this study comprised ETs taken from eight states
(Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak and Putra Jaya, the
Federal Territory). Permission was sought from the Malaysian Educational Planning and
IJPPM Research Division (EPRD), and from each state educational department, which in Malay is
66,3 called Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri. The state education departments provided the necessary
assistance in furnishing the research with the list of ETs in their states.
In terms of data collection, this study used face-to-face data collection by going from one
school to another, especially in the states that lacked data or records of ETs. This was very
tedious, daunting and really challenging. Some data were collected through e-mails, posting
308 and SurveyMonkey which has contributed to the increased response of ET.
The researcher was not able to include the remaining states due to the unavailability of
an ETs list in those states. In terms of instrumentation, a self-developed five point
Likert-scale instrument was used by the researcher, ranging from strongly disagree to
strongly agree. The instrument was developed based on the literature by referring to what
the literature says on each domain (teacher teaching philosophy, teaching objective,
pedagogical content knowledge, classroom management style and teachers’ expectation)
and how they were defined by authors as well as researchers in their studies. Questionnaires
were distributed to ETs using stratified sampling, dividing them into stratum based on their
locations, regions and states. Eventually, 306 questionnaires were returned while the belief
that representativeness was observed. For the data analysis, this study employed
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine and confirm the factor or domain that has a
high factor loading. CFA is designed to test the multi-dimensionality of a theoretical
construct and helps to postulate relationship between the observed variables and
underlying latent variable (Byrne, 2001).
Additionally, CFA, according to Williams, Eaves, Cox cited by Kline (2005) can help to
measure or provide distinct factor(s) that may correspond highly to the observed variable.
CFA does not provide causality and the factor loading are usually interpreted as regression
coefficients or estimated as Pearson correlations between an indicator and a factor
(Kline, 2005). In light of this, this study uses CFA to indicate distinct factor(s) among ET
domains by looking at highest factor loading that could be used as an indicator for KPI and
practices among ETs in Malaysia.

Findings
Demographic information
Table I shows the respondents’ demographic information and the table indicates that
62.7 per cent (n ¼ 192) of the respondents were female while 37.3 per cent (n ¼ 114) were
males. It also shows that the majority of the ETs that participated in this study were
secondary schoolteachers (80.7 per cent, n ¼ 247), while only 19.3 per cent (n ¼ 59)
were primary schoolteachers.
Table I shows that the majority, 78.4 per cent (n ¼ 240), of the ETs that participated in
this study had less than 10 years working experience while only 21.6 per cent (n ¼ 66) had
more than 10 years working experience. For salary grade, 56.2 per cent (n ¼ 172) of the ETs
were DG44 salary grade, 17.3 per cent (n ¼ 53) were DG48, while the lowest with 0.3 per cent
(n ¼ 1) was special grade C.

Reliability and validity of the results

Answering RQ4. Since a self-developed instrument is used in this study to determine ET
performance indicators, this study ensured that different measurements were used to
determine the instrument reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was
used since the instrument was self-developed and CFA for the construct validity and model-
fit as well as convergence and divergence. Convergent validity shows “items indication of a
specific construct that are expected to converge or share a high proportion of variance in
common” (Hair et al., 2010, p. 709). According to Hair et al. (2010), items are converged when
Demographic variable Frequency Per cent
KPIs for
excellent
Gender teachers in
Male 114 37.3
Female 192 62.7 Malaysia
School
Primary 59 19.3 309
Secondary 247 80.7
Working experience
10 years below 240 78.4
10 years above 66 21.6
Salary grade
DG34 41 13.4
DG44 172 56.2
DG48 53 17.3 Table I.
DG52 23 7.5 Respondents’
DG54 16 5.2 demographic
Special Grade C 1 0.3 information

there are high loadings on a factor, the loading should be 0.5 or higher and statistically
significant. Divergent validity or perceived as discriminant validity “is extent to which a
construct is truly distinct from other construct” (p. 710). Divergent validity is where there is
no relationship between construct and each construct is distinctly different from one and
another. Therefore, looking at Figure 3, it shows that, the correlations and high loading of

0.27

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5

0.33 0.33 0.61 0.56 0.53

PCK2 PCK6 PCK8 PCK9 PCK11
0.78
0.58 0.57 0.75 0.73

Pedegogical
Content 0.55
Knowledge
0.50 0.56

0.49
0.64
e9 TTP6
TO4 e16
0.80
0.70
0.53 0.67
Teaching 0.82
e8 TTP7 0.73 TO5 e17
Teacher Objective
Teaching 0.49
0.80 0.24
0.64 Philosophy
e7 TTP8 TO7 e18
0.72
0.35 0.62
0.52 0.14
e6 TTP9 0.50

0.26

Teacher’s Classroom
Expectation 0.35 Management
0.36
Style
0.85 0.58
0.42 0.77 0.89
0.96
Figure 3.
TE7 TE8 TE9
MS1 MS2 MS3 Excellent teacher
0.72 0.17 0.34
0.59 0.93 0.79 teaching performance
e12 e11 e10
indicator model
e15 e14 e13
IJPPM each item under each construct provides evidence that the items all converge on the same
66,3 construct as all exceeded 0.5 except for TO7 and TE8. Hence, we can conclude that the
convergence is valid and divergence is supported as a result of high loading of each
construct which indicates a distinct discrimination between constructs.
In addition, this study checked the composite reliability (CR), as shown in Table II,
to measure the reliability construct of the thinking domains of each ET. Generally, CR is
310 used to measure the overall reliability of heterogeneous variables with the similarity of
items. It involves examining the internal consistency of the items (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).
CR is calculated as follows:
CR ¼ ðSum of standardized loadingÞ2=ðSum of standardized loadingÞ2
þSum of indicator measurement errorÞ

CR should be greater than 0.7 and the variance extracted W0.5 to indicate the reliable
factors (Hair et al., 1995; Holmes-Smith 2001). As suggested by Joreskog (1971), a cut-off
value of 0.6 for loading is considered to be reliable according to Nunnally and Bernstein
(as cited in Blanco et al., 2010).

Measurement model
The measurement model is designed to investigate relationships between latent variables
and what they measure. The model investigates if there are correlations between latent or
unobserved variables and checks for the goodness-fit of the model. Thus, it is through CFA
that the items are determined that do not fit the measurement model (Awang, 2012).
Therefore, this study produces a measurement model to examine the relationship between
latent variables, determine item goodness-of-fit and highly loading domain through factor
loading for the KPI.

Goodness-of-fit
Table III presents the fit indices and their threshold values for the ET teaching performance
indicator. This table shows that all the indices fit the model; thus, we can conclude that the
results of the analysis on the overall fit of the model were very encouraging.

Dominant factor
Answering RQ1. This study explores the dominant item and construct or factor that can be
considered as an indicator for ETs’ KPI for better teaching practices in Malaysia. Figure 3
shows that ET classroom management style item 2 “As an excellent teacher, I encourage
students’ discussion among themselves in the classroom” has the highest standardized
factor loading squared (R²) and reliability (R² ¼ 0.96, y ¼ 0.94), and item 3 from the same
construct “As an excellent teacher, I engage my students in classroom discussion”
(R² ¼ 0.89, y ¼ 0.79) and items are the best indicators for teacher classroom management
style. Item 7 under teachers’ expectations construct “Teacher division under MOE provides

Variable name Composite reliability (CR)

Pedagogical content knowledge 0.81

Teacher teaching philosophy 0.82
Table II. Teachers’ expectations 0.66
Composite Classroom management style 0.90
reliability (CR) Teaching objective 0.75
Fit indices Threshold value
KPIs for
excellent
CMINdf 1.70 teachers in
χ2 211.03
df 124 Malaysia
GFI 0.92
AGFI 0.90
CFI 0.96 311
TLI 0.95
IFI 0.96 Table III.
NFI 0.91 Goodness-of-fit indices
RMR 0.037 for excellent teacher
RMSEA 0.048 thinking domains

training for the primary and secondary school excellent teachers” was the best indicator for its
construct with higher factor loading (R² ¼ 0.85, y ¼ 0.72) while the lowest factor loading in the
entire model is item 8 under teachers’ expectation “As an excellent teacher, I was placed on a
special grade without having to fill up the post of promotion” (R² ¼ 0.42, y ¼ 0.17). In terms of
high factor prediction, Figure 3 also presents the factor or predictor that can be considered for
ETs’ KPI by looking generally at the construct that has the highest item loading and through
summing up all items under each construct and multiple by the number of items. From this
figure and as a result of summing up, we found interesting findings as ETs’ classroom
management style was found to be the overall predictor for ET thinking domains and an
indicator for ETs’ KPI in Malaysia, followed by teacher teaching philosophy, teaching
objective, pedagogical content and teachers’ expectations.
However, we should not forget some items that had low factor loadings as these items are
indication of areas to improve for best performances. These areas include that ETs found it
difficult to meet their teaching objectives with parents and community needs. Hence,
attention should be paid by the school principals and MoE to this area because failing to
meet community expectations about teaching is an indication of teaching failure to meet
future needs. In addition, the same issue relates to item 2 and 6 under PCK. There ETs
responded low on training how to relate content knowledge with their students’ ability and
lack of training on how to transform their teaching philosophy in the classroom into
instructional strategies.

Relationship between domains

Answering RQ3. This study examines whether there are interrelationships between ETs
thinking domains. Considering the correlation among the exogenous variables in Figure 3,
it is hard to believe that there is no significant relationship between teachers’ expectations and
their classroom management styles, while previous research and findings have indicated as
such. This means that, the teacher style of classroom management could sometimes or always
in Malaysia context not be influenced by teachers’ expectations. Thus, this is not a good
indication as literature has found a correlation between teacher’s expectation and student’s
performance in terms of IQ. Literature also showed that teacher’s expectation helps classroom
management especially in setting rules to curb indiscipline in the classroom and, again
according to literature, it leads to effective teaching as well as becoming an effective teacher.
Ironically, if this part is missing or there is no influence of Malaysia ETs’ classroom
expectations on their classroom management styles, it is alarming and seriously needs to be
addressed by the government, and teaching and learning institutes in Malaysia.
Further, this study also found an insignificant relationship between teacher teaching
philosophy and teacher expectation. This is not a good indication as both variables should
IJPPM be correlated according to the literature. Teaching philosophy talks about knowledge of
66,3 teaching and learning, teacher methods and reasons behind teaching that way. When there
is no correlation between both, it means that, there is somehow a lack of knowledge
about teaching and learning among ET. As was reported before, since there is no training
on matching teaching objectives with community demand, then the lack of training on
application content knowledge with students’ ability and training on transforming teaching
312 philosophy into classroom instruction will definitely prevent them from setting teacher
expectation in the first place.
Indeed, if teachers know their expectations and are conscious of what they are expecting
from students after taking their classes, it helps to apply the content knowledge and teaching
philosophy in the classroom which as a result will be in line with the community needs. In this
scenarios, school principals and MoE have to look into this to align with the literature saying
excellent teaching occurs when teacher has the pedagogical skills, content knowledge,
expectations and enable to achieve the teaching objectives from the outcomes. In addition, the
findings of this study also illustrate surprising results inasmuch as weak and very weak
relationships were found between teachers’ expectations and teachers’ teaching philosophy,
teachers’ expectations and teaching objective, between PCK and teachers’ classroom
management style, between teachers’ teaching philosophy and classroom management style,
while previous research and findings have shown strong correlations between these variables.
Theoretically, strong connections are expected to exist between these domains, as each
domain compensates each other and cannot work in isolation (Tables IV and V).

Ranking domain for KPI

Answering RQ2. Table VI confirms the top domain(s) that can be used as an indicator(s) for
teaching key performance and practices among ET in Malaysia. From this table, ETs’
classroom management style should be seriously considered when it comes to ETs’ KPI for
having the highest standardized factor loading of (0.965) according to standardized
regression weight, followed by teachers’ expectations (0.850). There should be a thorough
examination across all schools in Malaysia concerning how ETs manage their classes,
lessons, module, mode of delivery and their views towards their learners. Furthermore, ETs’

Estimate

PCK2 ← Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.577

PCK6 ← Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.572
PCK8 ← Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.781
PCK9 ← Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.748
PCK11 ← Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.726
TTP9 ← Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.719
TTP8 ← Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.800
TTP7 ← Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.728
TTP6 ← Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.697
TE9 ← Teachers’_Expectations 0.582
TE8 ← Teachers’_Expectations 0.418
TE7 ← Teachers’_Expectations 0.850
Table IV. MS3 ← Classroom_Management_Style 0.891
Standardized MS2 ← Classroom_Management_Style 0.965
regression weights of MS1 ← Classroom_Management_Style 0.765
excellent teacher TO4 ← Teaching_Objective 0.803
thinking domains TO5 ← Teaching_Objective 0.819
based on item TO7 ← Teaching_Objective 0.487
expectations about their students, their expectations of the government, and the KPIs for
government’s expectations of them need to the examined as it appears that there are excellent
conflicting expectations. Hence, clarity is needed concerning the government’s expectations teachers in
of ETs as well as ETs’ expectations of the government.
Malaysia
Implications and recommendations
Since quality teaching is always the top priority of the Malaysian MoE to improve the 313
learning and performance of students, and since the creation of the ETs’ scheme two
decades ago to improve the standard of teaching, upgrade the salaries as a mechanism for
motivation and to encourage the non-ETs to emulate the excellent ones, then rigorous
evaluation and assessment of this scheme should be conducted for effectiveness.
Furthermore, as the salary scale of the ETs is considered to be among the higher scales for
teachers, serious attention should be given to determine whether the ETs are really working
on their thinking domains and whether this scheme is relevant and contributing to the
excellent teaching process in Malaysia or just a belief. Since the aims of this scheme include
achieving quality education, improving the standard of schools and inculcating excellence
in learning, research should be conducted to examine whether these aims are being
achieved. In addition, it may be beneficial to invite international examiners to report on the
role of ETs with respect to quality education and uplifting the standard of schools in
Malaysia. Furthermore, it would be helpful to prepare statistical reports to indicate whether
the performance of students in schools that have ETs has improved. A transparent policy
and unified rubrics in awarding the status in Malaysia is needed to avoid bias and
anomalies that could lead to malpractice in the selection process.
Since the purpose of the Excellent Teachers’ Scheme is to influence ordinary teachers to
improve their standard of teaching and help with the development of other schools by
training their teachers, further studies need to be conducted to determine the impact of the
ETs on the non-ETs. This is because ETs are expected to be role models and exemplars to
other teachers in infusing excellence in teaching, and yet some of the ETs revealed, during
data collection, that they were not aware of what was required of them. Therefore,

Estimate

Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔ Teachers’ teaching philosophy 0.504

Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔ Teaching objective 0.552
Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔ Teachers’ expectations 0.619
Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔ Classroom management style 0.351
Teachers’ teaching Philosophy ↔ Teaching objective 0.564
Teachers’ expectations ↔ Classroom management style 0.142
Teachers’ expectations ↔ Teaching objective 0.350 Table V.
Classroom Management Style ↔ Teaching objective 0.496 Correlations between
Teachers’ teaching Philosophy ↔ Teachers’ expectations 0.257 thinking domain
Teachers’ teaching philosophy ↔ Classroom management style 0.363 constructs

Rank Domain Action

1 Classroom management style Very highly recommended

2 Teachers’ expectations Highly recommended Table VI.
3 Teachers’ objective Highly recommended Top domain for
4 Teachers’ teaching philosophy Highly Recommended teaching performance
5 Pedagogical content knowledge Recommended and practice
IJPPM an assessment should be made concerning the involvement of ETs in training teachers and
66,3 their pro-activeness in school to achieve such a vision. Finally, as the quality of teaching
and education is emphasized in the current Malaysian Blueprint 2013-2025, the following
questions must be addressed. What is the role of ETs? Where do they fit in this major plan
and strategy for the future? Are they expected to play a vital role in the realization of the
objectives stated in the Blueprint? To answer these questions, the restoration of the
314 Excellent Teachers’ Scheme and the evaluation of its effectiveness is required. This award
calls for the display of very stringent requirements, skills and knowledge. It requires
strong evaluation and continuous KPI for teaching performance, as ETs wherever
located, as was explained earlier, shoulder huge responsibilities and perform a major role
for the future development of education and schools. The same quality is expected of the
ETs in Malaysia to help the MoE, particularly in achieving quality teaching and learning,
as stated in the Blueprint, as well as to assist Malaysia generally in maintaining its status
as an education hub and achieving its dream of 2020 through quality education.

Discussion and conclusion

This study investigated the dominant domain relating to thinking domains of the ETs
through their factor loadings. It explored the possibility of using these domains as KPIs for
teaching practices among the ETs in Malaysia. In addition, this study identified the most
challenging thinking domain amongst the ETs in Malaysia for further action and
examined the interrelationship between the five thinking domains (teachers’ teaching
philosophy, teaching objective, PCK, teachers’ expectations and management style).
Moreover, this study has determined the reliability and psychometric properties of the
model instrument created by the researcher. To achieve all the research objectives, since
the scale was self-developed, this study first validated the instrument by applying
different techniques of advanced statistics, such as EFA, to investigate the underlying
relationships among the measured variables and whether the items loaded on their
respective measured variables. For further confirmation, CFA was used to determine the
item and data fitness. Finally, five factors emerged; the observed variables loaded onto
their intended latent or unobserved variable after some deletion, and the goodness-of-fit
was achieved through indices.
This study has determined the KPIs for the ETs though CFA by looking at the high
loading factor or ET thinking domains. The findings of this study have shown some
interesting findings as well as some unexpected findings. This study has generally
confirmed that all the excellent thinking domains should be used as the ETs KPI in
Malaysia for the performance and teaching practices of the ETs as all these domains show
strong indicators with high factor loadings. However, when it comes to an exact point or
critical area that needs serious attention and emphasis, this study has confirmed that the
classroom management style of the ETs is the dominant domain and should be used as the
top KPI for ETs in Malaysia followed by ET expectation. This supported the findings of
Hamzah et al. (2008) in that teachers’ expectations showed the highest contribution to the
teaching performance of the ETs.
In addition, for excellent teaching and practice to take place, ETs among themselves
should create a peer review system where other teachers are allowed to come in for peer
evaluation. Besides, MOE could create a unit for ET classroom evaluation where inspectors
or officers could have a spot check in ET classrooms, even their school principals could do
so to investigate the types of teaching method being used in the classroom and whether the
students’ level of engagement in learning and discussion meets the required standards.
In doing this, constructive comments are expected from the inspectors and principals to
improve ET teachers and excellent teaching practices. As there should be serious concerns
about the varying classroom management styles and teaching objectives of the ETs not
meeting the parents and community needs. It is proposed that the management of the KPIs for
classroom style, objectives and methods are unified, as the teaching and learning excellent
objectives are expected to be the same. ETs should have the same expectations of their teachers in
learners, which should be reflected in their classroom management. It is rather worrisome
when each ET practices his or her own classroom management style, preference or Malaysia
reservation. It is also alarming when each ET personalizes his or her own teaching
objectives and expectation. 315
Therefore, it is suggested that an in-depth review should be conducted concerning the
standardization of the classroom management and the national teaching objectives in
Malaysia. Perhaps representatives from the MoE and the school principals could go into the
field to determine whether the excellent and non-ETs are fulfilling the national education
objectives and meeting expectations. This could lead to setting KPIs for achieving teaching
objectives among the ETs. Furthermore, alignment of their expectations with their
classroom management as ETs is expected based on their position to produce students with
high creative thinking. This can be achieved through their students’ outcomes and an
international assessment to test whether the teaching objectives are being achieved.
For the ETs to shoulder these responsibilities, the Malaysian MoE, especially the
Department of Teacher Training and Development, should provide the necessary training
and motivation to support the ETs in performing well in their teaching and fulfilling what
is expected of them.
In sum, this study can confirm, based on the ETs who participated in this study, that
ETs manage their classrooms in a similar way as they agreed in their responses to
encourage students’ discussion and allow communication exchange while they tend to have
different expectations. Thus, their expectations of their learners, classroom management
and the teaching objectives, which should be standardized, tend to vary according to the
personality of each teacher. With these findings, there is no unified or standard rubric
concerning their expectations of their classroom and students. In addition, there is no
unified method or approach in their teaching practices or performance. These findings
correspond with those of Ng (2009), cited in Ibrahim et al. (2013) concerning how
ETs in science manage and engage students into thinking in their classrooms.
As Ng reported, ETs in science differ in their teaching practices by using varying and
unstandardized approaches in their subjects related to thinking in classrooms. But in this
study, the findings contradicted one part of the Ng study as ETs tend to be similar in
the way they conduct their classes by allowing discussion, participation and
communication among their students although, they have different expectations of the
subjects and students.
However, in a situation where ETs are not trained to transmit their lesson’s content
knowledge to suit the student’s ability, apply teaching philosophy in their classrooms and
their teaching objectives does not somehow meet parents as well as community needs,
definite action should be taken as there might be implications or setbacks on providing
quality teaching and learning. This is in line with Jadama (2014) and NCATE claims where
they emphasized that teachers can only understand students and have an impact on them
when the particular teacher has full comprehension of the subject matter. In addition,
according to NCATE, a quality or ET is a teacher that has high quality preparation. So as a
simple remedy, as suggested before by this research, there should be a major review of ET
work, teaching, methods and syllabuses as ET in Malaysia, based on their scheme and their
status which play big roles in infusing quality and excellence in teaching as well as setting
examples for other to emulate.
Additionally, this study also found that there was a weak relationship between the ET
PCK and the classroom management style. This implies that the knowledge of how to teach
does not have much influence or relate to how ETs manage their classes. In fact, research
IJPPM has indicated that teacher PCK, which is about the knowledge of teaching or skill of how to
66,3 teach, reflects the teaching practices in the classroom and methods of teaching.
This supported the argument of Wilke (2004), as reported by Chong et al. (2005),
concerning teacher content knowledge among the pre-service teachers in Singapore where
it was found that teacher content knowledge leads to good teaching, in which good
teaching is believed to be the ability to transmit knowledge to others. However, in the case
316 of Malaysia, based on the sample, PCK has a different impact according to the
participants’ understanding, as the teachers’ PCK is unconnected to the classroom
management style. This result is consistent with the studies by Lyla (1997) and by
Ng (2009) concerning the pedagogical practices of ETs in English, as reported by Ibrahim
et al. (2013). Lyla also reported a contradiction in the views of the ETs with respect to their
subjects and classroom teaching practices with learners as well as to having different
opinions about their role as ETs.
In this study, another unexpected weak correlation was found between teachers’
expectations and teaching objectives, which implies that ETs’ expectations do not correlate
with their teaching objectives, while it is expected that effective teaching should correspond
to teaching, learning objectives and instructional activities. In addition, when teachers are
clear about their expectations, it articulates students’ learning and what is expected from
them through the outcomes. However in the Malaysian context, it might be the other way
around, perhaps the expectations are shaped by the culture or personality of the teachers,
which could influence their classroom management and teaching style as well as their
learning objectives. This might be corroborated by Wanning (1998), as reported by the
Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (2008), in which a causal-relationship was found
between the type of management style and teacher characteristic behaviours (Wanning,
1998). It also supported an experiment conducted by Robert Rosenthal in 1964, as reported
by Spiegel (2012), in which he found that teachers’ expectations influence the performance of
students, especially their IQs.

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Corresponding author
Ismail Hussein Amzat can be contacted at: ihussein@uum.edu.my

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