scholarly journals Reflective practices for quality education in Malaysia: A mixed method approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 124 ◽  
pp. 07006
Author(s):  
S. Chee Choy ◽  
Joanne Sau-Ching Yim ◽  
Daljeet Singh Sedhu ◽  
Azlinda Boheran Nudin
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Reflective Thinking ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
Reflective Skills ◽  
Pragmatic Knowledge ◽  
Method Approach

Teachers in Malaysia are expected to possess the necessary reflective skills to help them analyse and think through classroom situations that require diplomacy and sound judgement. This study examined the contributions of lifelong learning skills, self-assessment ability, self-belief, teaching awareness and reflective thinking in explaining the differences in teaching practices among Malaysian pre service teachers (PSTs). A mixed-methods approach was used to provide pragmatic knowledge that can be applied to further develop reflective thinking practices among PSTs. The sample of this study were 387 PSTs enrolled in Bachelor level programmes from which 11 of them volunteered to participate in the interviews. The quantitative data showed lifelong learning skills, self-belief, and teaching awareness had a significant relationship with reflective thinking. From the qualitative data analysis, PSTs were generally focused on the immediate challenge of becoming better teachers and were open to further education in time. Similarly, the results of the qualitative thread showed the PSTs were able to manage their planning, monitoring of students and evaluation of themselves and their relation to students, suggesting metacognitive awareness, a good indicator of established reflective thinking processes. Future studies will need to consider how this will influence how reflective thinking is carried out when they are practicing teachers.

scholarly journals Reflective Thinking Practices Among Pre-Service Teachers: Comparison Between Malaysia and Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
S. Chee Choy ◽  
◽  
Judith Dinham ◽  
Joanne Sau-Ching Yim ◽  
Paul Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Reflective Thinking ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
Teacher Professional

Reflective practices are considered an important part of a pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) professional learning experiences. However, there has been much criticisms on its efficacy as a learning tool for teacher professional development. This paper will relate a study that was designed to compare reflective teaching practices in two culturally different countries, namely Malaysia and Australia. These two countries were chosen as they offered an opportunity to study differences in reflective thinking practices from an Asian and a Western cultural perspective among PSTs. The study used a framework using five constructs: lifelong learning skills, self-assessment, self-belief, teaching awareness, and reflective thinking. The sample consisted of 387 Malaysian PSTs and 378 Australian PSTs who are enrolled in Bachelor level programmes. The results clearly indicate that while reflective thinking is emphasised in the teacher education programmes, the conceptualisation of the process of reflective thinking between the two cohorts of PSTs are very different. Limitations and implications for practice are discussed.

scholarly journals Higher Education Students’ Reflective Journal Writing and Lifelong Learning Skills: Insights From an Exploratory Sequential Study

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorit Alt ◽  
Nirit Raichel ◽  
Lior Naamati-Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Reflective Writing ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Reflective Journal ◽  
Theoretical Scheme ◽  
Reflective Skills

Reflective journal (RJ) writing has been recognized as an effective pedagogical tool for nurturing students’ lifelong learning skills. With the paucity of empirical work on the dimensionality of reflective writing, this research sought to qualitatively analyze students’ RJ writing and design a generic reflection scheme for identifying dimensions of reflective thinking. Drawing on the theoretical scheme, another aim was to design and validate a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of their reflective writing experiences. The last aim was to quantitatively measure the link between perceived reflective writing and students’ tendency to use RJs in their future careers and personal lives. This exploratory sequential research included the following steps: First, experts’ review and analysis of 1312 RJ entries were attained. This step led to the design of a theoretical scheme of reflective writing and a 31-item questionnaire, used to gather data from 171 students (second-year pre-service teachers and third-year health managers). Partial Least Squares analysis corroborated the structure suggested by the theoretical scheme: two timelines–reflections regarding the current course assignments and those related to the student’s future development. Students’ tendency to use reflective skills in their future professional lives was highly connected to their long-term reflections, including learning experiences linked to academic, professional, personal, and multicultural development. The current study’s suggested validated generic scheme can be adapted and integrated into different curricula, thereby possibly increasing the potential of infusing RJ instructional strategies into higher education curricula, improving the quality of reflection in student journals, and promoting lifelong learning skills.

Theory and Practice of Quality Management in Lifelong Learning at a Public University

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-73
Author(s):  
Petr Adamec
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Public University ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
University Policy ◽  
Higher Education Act ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Education Act

The core issue of this paper is a quality in the lifelong learning. The aim of the contribution is to describe the area, level and dimensions of quality in a wide range of lifelong learning programs, respectively of further education, which are realized in the sense of § 60 and 60a of the Higher Education Act. The content of the paper also focuses on the theoretical and practical starting points of the quality phenomenon, both from the historical point of view and especially from the perspective of the current focus and concept of university policy in the European and Czech region. The paper also presents the results of a survey focusing on approaches to the quality assurance systems in the concept of components at selected public university.

scholarly journals Studying Level of Awareness of Teachers in Terms of their Lifelong Learning Skills

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 ◽  
pp. 2030-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurhayat Çelebi ◽  
Hatice Özdemir ◽  
Özge Eliçin
Keyword(s):  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Learning Skills

Leadership in a time of financial crisis: what do we want from our leaders?

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 612-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Haddon ◽  
Catherine Loughlin ◽  
Corinne McNally
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Mixed Method ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Crisis Leadership ◽  
Organizational Crisis ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mixed Methods Approach ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
Method Approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gain a nuanced understanding of what employees want from leaders in an organizational crisis context. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a mixed methods approach to explore employee leadership preferences during organizational crisis and non-crisis times using the Multi Factor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio and Bass, 2004), and qualitative interviews. The authors also investigate sex roles using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1981). Findings – The mixed method approach reveals some potential limitations in how leadership is typically measured. The qualitative findings highlight employees’ expectations of leaders to take action quickly while simultaneously engaging in continuous communication with employees during crisis. None of the components of transformational leadership encapsulate this notion. Originality/value – The mixed methods approach is novel in the crisis leadership literature. Had the authors relied solely on the quantitative measures, the importance of continuous communication during crisis would not have been apparent. As a result of this approach, the findings suggest that widely used and accepted measures of leadership may not adequately capture leadership in a crisis context. This is timely as it aligns with current literature which questions the way this construct is operationalized (Van Knippenberg and Sitkin, 2013).

scholarly journals Personal and social training as a part of class teachers’ lifelong learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Geršicová ◽  
Silvia Barnová
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Family Background ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Pedagogical Training ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Post Test ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Introduction: The presented paper deals with the issues of the work of class teachers and their further education in the field of personal and social training. The main goal of the research was to find out about changes in personal and social development after the realization of social-pedagogical training. Methods: On the level of personal development, the authors were interested in the field of values and attitudes. On the level of social development, they focused on the changes in communication and opinion scales. The changes in the above fields were measured by means of a pre-test and a post-test which were administered before and after the realization of the training. Results: In the participants of the realized research, the research team, to a certain extent, succeeded in reducing prejudice and beliefs and the participants learnt about the necessity of considering students’ individual abilities and specific environmental influences on their behavior and manifestations at school. On the level of opinions, there was a shift towards a stronger belief in the significance of the impact of the environment and the family background on students’ behaviour and their personality traits. Discussion: The presented data are the results of a pilot probe and have brought initial insights related to the presented issues for the purposes of a longer and deeper research, which is in the phase of its realization. Limitations: As the project was realized with ten groups of teachers showing a deep interest in participating in it, it is not our ambition to generalize the obtained results; nevertheless, we find them interesting and inspiring. Conclusions: Along with knowledge from pedagogy and psychology, class teachers need a huge amount of creativity, ideas, techniques and methods, which can promote the development of students’ value orientation. The authors can see a clear perspective for teachers’ lifelong learning here

scholarly journals How Kindergarten Teachers Assess Their Own Professional Competencies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 769
Author(s):  
Eva Pupíková ◽  
Dalibor Gonda ◽  
Kitti Páleníková ◽  
Janka Medová ◽  
Dana Kolárová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classroom Management ◽  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Educational Needs ◽  
Kindergarten Teachers ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Teaching Competencies ◽  
Four Dimensions

One of the requirements of Education 4.0 is that students and practitioners should be involved in the creation of the content of study plans. Therefore, in the present research we focused on identifying the further educational needs of kindergarten teachers. Teachers’ educational needs were divided into four dimensions: ‘content knowledge’, ‘diagnostic knowledge’, ‘didactical knowledge’, and ‘classroom management knowledge’. In parallel, we discovered how teachers assess the level of their own teaching competencies. Based on the obtained data, we identified that teachers have the greatest need for further education in the dimension of ‘diagnostic knowledge’ and that the need for their further education in this dimension did not depend on the length of practice. In the other three dimensions, a declining trend in teachers’ educational needs has been recorded with an increasing length of practice, declining significantly in three of the four dimensions examined. The study points to the need to create in-service courses for kindergarten teachers to deepen their ‘diagnostic knowledge’ and thus ensure the sustainability of the quality of pre-school education for children. Teachers‘ self-assessment of their own teaching competencies corresponds to their educational needs, which supports the relevance of the findings on the further educational needs of kindergarten teachers. This study aimed to obtain relevant data on which the improvement of the higher education of future kindergarten teachers might be based. At the same time, this would allow the analysis and tailoring of the content of professional development courses to the needs of in-service kindergarten teachers.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document