KKP Leadership

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Malaysian government has created so many approaches to enhance the education
system in the country such as by creating Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) and
Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia (2013-2025). Therefore, it cannot be denied that
teaching profession also keeps evolving faster than ever throughout this 21st century era. As
transmitting knowledge to the new generation is still being the core purpose of teaching, the
other duties like assessing the students, handling administration jobs and attending courses
or seminar, have been parts of the profession. Thus, the reformation of education system has
actually affected the teachers’ profession a lot, especially in the aspect of professionalism, as
professionalism is the key to produce a good and quality teaching.
Since years, the argument whether teaching is a professional status or not, has been
a great controversial. According to Hoyle (1975), ‘Professionalism’, as cited in Evans (2008),
can be defined as ‘those strategies and rhetorics employed by members of an occupation in
seeking to improve status, salary and conditions’. Hoyle also added that professionalism is
more related to the improvement in the quality rather than the enhancement of status.
Therefore, teachers as professionals are obligated to do whatever is best to the students
(clients), on delivering knowledge and practicing quality skills, According to Barge (2013),
there are three essential elements in professionalism for teachers or educators, which are
continuous self-reflection for improvement of knowledge, professional standards and ethics
and teachers’ contributions to the profession itself.
According to Hoyle (1982), professionalism in teaching can be seen as ‘a process in
which a teacher continues to improve the knowledge and skills required for effective
professional practice’. As Malaysia has gone through fast changes in the education system, it
is a challenge and can be regarded as an issue for the teachers to also reform themselves to
keep on track with the evolved policies. The new policies that come thick and fast from
education authorities might have given quite a burden for teachers to equip themselves with
new knowledge and quality teaching skills, so that they could prove teaching as professional.
For example, the shift of curriculum from Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah (KBSR) to
KSSR, has given a huge impact to the teachers, especially for those who are using typical
rote-learning in their teaching method. This is because, in the content of KSSR, studentcentered learning is being emphasized a lot (Ministry of Education, 2013). Thus, teachers
have to make effort to gain knowledge and create creative teaching method in order to
enhance their performance, parallel to the current educational policy.
Other than that, based on the second element of professionalism in teaching, which is
personal standards and ethics, integrity among teachers is one of the issues that is being
concerned these days. Every professional teacher or educator has to be responsible towards

the teaching profession by showing the attitudes of being dignity, credibility and integrity
(Saedah Siraj & Mohammed Sani Ibrahim, 2012). If a teacher does not show any of these
attitudes, he or she will affect the good name of this profession. Teachers as public servants
have to be sincere and honest with the profession. Integrity in teaching profession is being
questioned nowadays because of lack of trust from the public, including parents and the
students themselves. According to Nooteboom (2006), trust in dedication of professional is
connected to empathy of professionals for their clients. This shows that when a teacher is
being trusted by clients, for the sincerity and honesty on the responsibilities given, that is how
teaching profession is professional in their eyes. The integrity is being questioned when there
is teacher who does not keep the good name of this profession. For example, in a
controversial issue in 2014, which was about the leakage of UPSR examination papers,
teaching profession somehow has shaken a little bit. Senior Assistant of Education Faculty in
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Dr Wan Marzuki Wan Jaafar commented on this issue, as
he said that the leakage of the papers had affected education system (Sinar Harian Online,
2014). The trust from public became lower. Therefore, teachers should always follow the
codes of ethics in order to keep the integrity in teaching profession.
An interview had been conducted with an experienced teacher in Sekolah
Kebangsaan Bukit Chempaka (SKBC), Mdm Zalati binti Abdullah, in order to see the
influences of the leadership, characteristics and professionalism on development of a quality
teacher.
From the interview, there are so many things that could be learnt, so that great
teachers could be produced in the future. Firstly, Mdm Zalati has developed various
characteristics which could prove that she is really a good teacher. The most special
character that she has developed since before is her passion towards teaching profession.
Being passionate towards teaching is not a characteristic that everyone could have. For Mdm
Zalati, she had started to fall in love with this profession since her school days. Inspiring from
her mother, who was also a teacher, she slowly felt interested to follow her mother’s steps.
As she had been posted to four schools throughout her 20 years of teaching profession, she
had experienced a lot of things. According to Mdm Zalati, dealing with pupils’ problems each
and every day sometimes make her feels tired, but she believes that those pupils actually
teach her the thing that money cannot buy, which is experience. That is the reason why she
really loves this teaching profession. Consequently, Mdm Zalati could build her characters as
a dedicated and responsible teacher. Her characters shown when she was willing to help the
pupils in Kuala Terengganu to be more outstanding in communication, especially while using
standard language, instead of the daily ‘Terengganu Slang’ that they are using.

Apart from that, Mdm Zalati, who is a Senior Assistant Teacher of Co-curricular (GPK
KOKO) in SKBC, shows her leadership attributes by performing her duties very well. She had
been assigned as a Senior Assistant Teacher of Students’ Welfare (GPK HEM) from the very
first school that she had been posted to, which was Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu 41, Jalan
Ipoh. This could be seen that her leadership value is shown from the beginning of her career.
She is really being loved by her colleagues and staffs due to her outgoing and friendly
attitude. As one of the administrators in school, Mdm Zalati is holding a really big
responsibility to be the leader of the other teachers. Since the teachers in SKBC are really
comfortable with her, there is no huge conflicts occur. She is being respected by her
colleagues, parents and also pupils, as she could build really good relationships with them.
She is being a good leader when there is problem in school. For example, she usually does
not like to make her own decision to solve certain problem involving other teachers, but she
chooses to understand for every concern that they are in. She will ask them to think of the
best solution together. Therefore, her professionalism could be seen from her great
leadership in school. Furthermore, she is really an ambitious woman as she always tries so
hard to become a better teacher each and every day. She really wants to be a headmaster
one fine day, so that she could assist many teachers in producing great human capitals in the
future.
Besides, Mdm Zalati also develops her career in terms of professionalism, based on
her characters that she shows throughout her teaching years. She always put the ethical
standards as her guidelines to do every duty as an educator or as an administrator. She
believes that the moment a person steps in this education field, he or she has to make sure
the name of this profession is being protected. Therefore, for Mdm Zalati, she always tries to
build rapport with clients (students) and the public (parents and community). She is the one
who will never give up on solving the students’ problems, either discipline or personal ones.
However, she always looks for the solution in professional ways, as she believes that as a
teacher, she has to follow the codes of ethical. That is the key of professionalism in teaching.
For example, when she was teaching in SK Batu 41, the students were mostly very
aggressive and discipline problems occurred almost every day. However, she had never
blamed the students and she tried to solve each one of them. By asking the parents to
discuss about their children, Mdm Zalati professionally wanted the parents to cooperate with
the teachers to change the students’ behaviours. She would never punish the students
without knowing the real reasons for them committing the problems. This is the way she
develops her professionalism, by following the codes of ethical in teaching.
As we all know, education is always moving forward. The changes made in curriculum
became a challenge to the teaching profession. Based on the concept of professionalism,

teachers should always try to improve on the skill efficiency in order to keep being
professional. Therefore, for me, I plan to further my studies in this education field and do
action researches.
Excellence in school requires the very best skills, knowledge, pedagogy and training.
In order for me to improve on professionalism in teaching, I need continuously improve my
skills that are in line with current demands. Therefore, furthering my studies in Master or
maybe Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the future will help me learn new skills and become
better in the teaching profession. According to Nobel-Rogers (2011), the skills and knowledge
from master’s degree, for example, encourage teachers to follow critical, reflective,
inspirational and innovative approaches to education and to take risks. This statement shows
that by furthering my studies in the same field, which is education, I will have better
qualification. This can prove that I have improved on my professionalism, based on my
qualification. Nobel-Rogers (2011) added that, having higher qualifications in certain field, like
education, will make teachers have better understanding of pedagogy, allowing them to
continually improve their own teaching techniques. Therefore, I have set a goal for me to get
better qualifications in education, so that I can be more effective and professional teacher.
Other than that, conducting action research is ‘a practical way of looking at our own
practice to reflect on its effectiveness’ (Whanga Wakapakari Ako, 2011). It is a form of self
reflection on our own teaching. Johnson (2012) asserts that action research bridges the gap
between practice and research. Therefore, in order to develop myself to become a
professional teacher, I plan to do more action researches in the future. Professionalism
actually could be enhanced through action research as it leads a teacher to be more
confident and knowledgeable, to learn our own practice. For example, in my classroom, I
found that some of my students are having problem in constructing simple sentences.
Therefore, it is my responsibility to help them to improve on the problem. By conducting
action research, I could reflect on my own teaching, so that I will have the best solution to be
used for the students’ improvement in that area. I agree with Hine (2013), where action
research could provide teachers with necessary skills, knowledge, and meaningful inquiry
about our own professional practice, so that this practice will affect positive changes
concerning the educative goals of the learning community.
In a conclusion, to build well-rounded nation which is capable and educated in many
different aspects, teachers hold the great responsibility in ensuring that their students can
achieve the goal in life. The responsibility of teaching is not just to teach but to educate the
students to become responsible human with good moral values and capable in facing

challenges throughout this 21st century era. Thus, teachers should always bear in mind the
importance of professionalism in this education field.

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