PRIME MINISTER Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has announced that there will be no promotions for problematic teachers.
He added that 90% of our teachers are problem-free and will be entitled to time-based promotions.
The remaining 10% have discipline problems, they do not show up for classes and fail to perform their duties.
How do we assess and evaluate the 90% of our problem-free teachers?
How do we measure the competency of teachers who form the largest group in the civil service?
How do we identify effective teachers and distinguish them from the incompetent ones?
Teacher appraisals have always been a contentious and sensitive issue among educators.
However, it is necessary to determine their competency for promotions and salary upgrades.
It serves as an incentive and reward for hardworking teachers who display excellence and dedication to their job.
Evaluating the effectiveness of a teacher is challenging.
More often than not, the evaluation process brings about dissatisfaction, frustration and rivalry among colleagues when only a few teachers receive excellent evaluation grades.
Assessing them based on their students’ academic results is unfair, especially for those who have academically weak students.
Teachers in premier and residential schools benefit greatly from student evaluations because their students are more academically inclined to succeed in examinations.
However, a student’s academic success cannot be solely attributed to a particular teacher.
Requiring teachers to sit for competency examinations, as done in the past, results in teachers becoming bookworms.
Those proficient in writing skills excel in written examinations, but memorising facts and regurgitating them does not make a good teacher.
Today, many teachers spend much time and effort filing papers, keeping records and writing reports.
However, well-written record books and files are not indicators of good teaching qualities.
The core business of a teacher is teaching. Therefore, the evaluation and assessment of teachers must focus on their teaching and learning performance.
Assessments should consider how a teacher interacts in the classroom, transforms the teaching and learning situation into an enriching experience, and translates the curriculum into engaging learning experiences.
Teachers should be assessed solely based on their classroom performance.
Headteachers, senior assistants and subject panel heads can observe teachers randomly without prior notice to assess the effectiveness of the teaching and learning experience.
Teachers should always be prepared for unannounced observations and plan their lessons accordingly. A teacher who fails to plan plans to fail.
Student assessment of teachers should also be considered, as students are the primary recipients of the services rendered by them.
Teachers who head co-curricular activities, clubs, societies and uniform bodies, and those who hold extra responsibilities inside and outside school, can be given bonus marks.
Those who present papers at local and international educational conferences should also receive good grades.
Most importantly, the evaluation system should be transparent, fair and merit-based, ensuring that only the most deserving teachers with the highest ideals, skills, and knowledge receive good appraisals.
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