GENERAL OVER VIEW OF THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IN THE COUNTRY AND TEACHER’S CAREER PATH

AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONSDemographics of the teaching force

1. How many teachers are there in this country?

2. What is the teachers-to-students ratio in this country?

3. How do you forecast the demand for teachers in:(a) Country(b) States(c) Municipal(d) School

4. When you forecast demand for teachers, do you forecast for:

(a) Yearly(b) Five-years period(c) Decade(d) Other time period(s), if any.

Teacher Career 1. What is the career path available for a :a. Full time teacherb. A teacher who holds an administrative positionc. A teacher who is an expert in a particular subject

matter.

2. What are the basis for promotion? a. Seniorityb. Meritc. Skilld. Academic qualification

3. Can a teacher who would like to change to a management position do so? If so,

a. What are the criteria?b. How is the mobility? i.e. the teacher able to move

from a teaching position to a management position and then move back to a teaching position

c. How is competency assessment for administrative roles like department officer, principal and school administrator conducted?

School Leadership 1. How is the school leadership’ succession planning being implemented in this country?

a. Open-market, i.e. anyone who is interested may

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AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONSapply

b. Upon recommendation from upper management, i.e. school board

c. Through a centralised system, i.e. the successor is chosen from a pool of candidates available in the region

2. What is the median age for principals / headmasters in this country?

3. What remuneration package does a school principal / headmaster enjoy? What determines this?

Performance Management

1. Is there an institution that acts as an inspectorate that is responsible for inspecting and reporting on schools or the institutions of learning? If so, what is its jurisdiction? (i.e. country, states or municipal level)

2. How Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is carried out to further a teacher’s and / school leader’s career? i.e. assessment and appraisal, etc.?

a. How do you develop the modules for teachers’ CPD?

b. Are there any guidelines that CPD providers need to abide to in teacher training?

c. Is there a minimum number of hours / days that have to be allocated for teachers CPD? How often teachers attend CPD in a year?

d. How are the modules in CPD being evaluated? i.e. questionnaires, post-training interview, group discussion involving participant, etc.

e. What happen if a teacher refuses to attend CPD?f. How important is the application of cognitive

diagnostic framework (theories) as teacher competencies?

3. What are the criteria used to determine teaching performance?

a. Who carries out the appraisal exercise? Centralised or decentralised? Is there a specific agency that carries out the

appraisal exercise?

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AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONSb. How often the appraisal system is revised?c. What measures are being used to ensure that

grading remains consistent, especially in large organisation / district? For example, the management of a particular school may grade its teachers more strictly compared to management in another school which is more lenient.

d. Is ‘force ranking’used in performance appraisal? e. Is it possible for us to obtain copies / samples of

employee / teacher appraisal forms?f. How do you ensure the quality of teachers is

maintained? g. Is the teacher’s performance linked to student’s

achievements? In what way?h. How does MOE manage the assessment data?

Models used Applications used

4. How do you categorise the following teachers in this country:

a. High performing teachersb. Middle performing teachersc. Low performing teachers

Please elaborate.

5. Is there a 360-degree evaluation for performance rating? If so, what is the assigned weightage?

6. Does the teacher’s performance appraisal include the teacher’s involvement in the community, i.e. as a member of a society, NGOs, charity organisation ,etc.

Exit Policy 1. How do you manage a low-performing teacher in this country?

a. Is there any governing body / special board established to monitor the low-performing teacher

b. Actions taken against low-performing teacher

Counselling Redeployment No salary increment Corrective action Time / chance given for the teacher to

improve himself

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AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONS2. Is there an explicit Exit Policy for low-performing teachers

a. What are procedures used?b. Is there any governing body / special board

established to carry out the action?

3. How a teacher commiting a misconduct is dealt with?a. Type of actions that can be taken against the

errant teacherb. Is there any disciplinary body / committee / special

board established to carry out the punitive action?c. Whether there’s an appeal / special board

established to review the punisment meted out by the disciplinary body

4. A teacher is afflicted with a critical illness, i.e. cancer. How will his case be managed?

a. Whether there’s any special body / committee / special board set up to manage such case?

b. What action will be taken if the afflicted teacher can no longer do his work

5. How a teacher that is diagnosed with mental illness / mental disorder, i.e. schizophrenia dealt with?

Remuneration / Service Matter

1. What remuneration does a teacher enjoy in this country?a. Salary scaleb. Salary Incrementc. How increment is determinedd. Is it flexible / different from a teacher to anothere. Bonusf. Medical benefitsg. Paid leavesh. Insurancei. Scholarship / bursary rewards

2. How are the factors that determine the remuneration package for a teacher? (i.e. experience, academic qualification, skills, placement, special requirements)

3. Is there any other reward / incentive / recognition programme for a teacher?

4. Retirement

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AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONSa. Age for teachers b. Whether it’s similar to:

private sector or government sector

c. Is there any other types of retirement? if any, what are they and what are the

conditions required for such retirements How gratuity is determined(if any)

5. Can a teacher who had reached the retirement age apply to extendhis service? If so,

a. What are the criterias for a decision to be made to retain the teacher beyond the retirement age?

b. What is the maximum age?

6. What is the turnover rate for teaching profession in this country? What are the reasons that cause someone to leave the teaching profession before retirement age?

Selection 1. How do you make teaching profession attractive to professionals?

2. Is a professional teaching license needed to teach? If so, a. Which body accredits the teacher?b. Is the license transferable throughout the country

or it is only valid for the state where it is issued?c. Will the license need to be renewed? If so, how

often and what are the requirements?

3. What are the qualifications needed for an aspiring teacher? (i.e. education level, professional qualification, skill)

4. Will an aspiring teacher required to specialise in a specific academic subject or will he be expected to teach multiple subjects?

5. Is there any special / specific scouting system to identify the best candidates in the market to be a teacher?

Pre-service training and ongoing professional development

1. Which institutions provide teacher training in this country? Are there designated institutions for that purpose or any institution of higher learning may offer teacher training?

Working Conditions 1. Apart from teaching, what are the responsibilities for teachers outside the classroom? Do the teachers

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AREA OF INTEREST QUESTIONSroutinely undertake tasks of a clerical and administrative nature?

2. How many hours per week a teacher is required to teach?

3. On average, how many hours a week does a teacher spend for planning, preparing and assessing for his lesson plan?

4. In Malaysia, efforts made to grant more autonomy to the teacher as a professional to make discretionary judgments about which teaching methods used. How about the implementation of teacher autonomy in this country?

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