Roles of Teachers as Agent of Change in Designing and Implementing the Malaysian

English Language Teaching (ELT) Curriculum

In the view of the development at the national and global levels, many countries
including Malaysia have become concerned with updating the curriculum in order to equip
students with the basic knowledge and skills required in an increasingly globalized society.
New approaches such as Multiple Intelligences (MI), Contextualism, Constructivism,
Learning How to Learn, Futures Studies, and Thinking Skills have been incorporated in the
curriculum to enable the learners to equip them with the different demands of the globalized
workplace. In this respect, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in its efforts to improve the
standards of English is constantly introducing new innovations and teaching learning
strategies to meet these challenges. One of the latest innovations in ELT curriculum is the
implementation of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), an
international standard for describing language ability. All of the curriculum implementation is
aligned with the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025), an education policy made by
the Malaysian Ministry of Education to enhance the education system in Malaysia.

Curriculum implementation is to make a change. There are number of stakeholders

who are responsible in the success of a curriculum change. However, without any doubt,
one of the most important people in curriculum implementation is the teacher. As mentioned
by Taba (1962) in Pinar (2013), teachers are the agent of change. One of the roles of the
teachers as agent of change is being the captain of the ship and decision maker. As a
leader, the teacher should take the responsibility to make sure that all pupils are given equal
rights to participate and perform actively in the teaching and learning process (Issayan,
2011). One of the ways teacher could implement this change is by creating a learner-centred
environment. Rather than using the out-dated chalk and talk method in the classroom,
teacher uses communicative and collaborative approach such as group work where pupils
work together, ask questions, interact with each other and complete task independently. This
approach could break the silence of the classroom and pupils become more active in
learning. A two-way interaction between the teacher and learners in which pupils can ask
questions, give ideas and share their opinions can motivate the learners to reach their
potential to take on leadership roles. Thus, teacher as a leader should always ensure that
pupils acquire knowledge and grow their skills through learner-centred approach and
activity-oriented strategies.

Besides, teacher also plays the role as a researcher and lifelong learner in
enforcing the curriculum transformation. One of the important skills that the pupils need
to master in 21st century learning is technology. The new generation are tech-savvy and
advanced in using gadgets such as smartphones and laptops. Teacher as a researcher
needs to work more like a scientist where they research creative and engaging teaching
method incorporating technology to cater the students’ needs. Besides, being interesting and
fun, using technology in teaching is more efficient and time-saving than the traditional
classroom teaching method (Latchem and Hanna, 2013). For example, to test the pupils’
understanding at end of a topic, teacher can generate online quiz using “Kahoot” or
“SurveyMonkey” where the pupils answer the questions together at the same time within the
time limit given using Chromebook or laptops. Online quiz helps the teacher gets instant
result and save the time of teacher marking the quiz papers of the pupils one by one. For
more fun and engaging classroom activities and games, teachers can create online projects
such as interactive games using application like Scratch. Online games not only provide the
pupils to learn in a fun way but also enable the teacher to customize the games according to
the pupils’ ability and interest. By using technology in teaching and learning, teachers will be
exploring new knowledge each and every day to equip and update themselves to cope with
the digitalisation society. This will produce teachers who are proactive and innovative who
also encourage pupils to explore and experiment new things (Teh & Choy, 2017). Therefore,
teachers who research and update themselves with new knowledge will be ready to accept
change occurs in the education field.

Moreover, teachers also play the role of a parent and caretaker of the pupils in the
learning environment. Every teacher has the equal responsibility to nurture and raise the
pupils with knowledge and good values as their biological parents do (Piccoli, 2019).
Teachers should demonstrate good values, behaviours and positive thinking inside and also
outside the classroom to provide a positive nurturing environment. Pupils at younger age
tend to easily get influenced by their surrounding as they imitate what they see (Ward,
2016). Thus, it is always important for teachers to behave well in front of the pupils to
become a good role model for the pupils to take as an example. According to the Malaysian
Education Blueprint (2013-2025), moral values are one of the elements that need to infuse in
daily teaching and learning process. Besides, there are also civic lessons infused into the
teaching of English where a moral value should be taught to the pupils as a topic every four
weeks once. So, it is also teacher’s responsibility to demonstrate good values to the pupils to
cater the need of the national education policy. For example, teachers could follow simple
rituals everyday such as clean the class before and after the lesson, talk in a positive and
polite manner, greet each other and work in a group without any partiality. These simple
everyday rituals could influence pupils and the rituals will eventually change as their habit
(Piccoli, 2019). Therefore, teacher as a ‘substitute’ parent could develop the pupils
holistically in terms of spiritual, intellectual, emotional and physical dimensions, as reflected
in the National Education Policy.

Teaching is also a form of engaging learning. Teachers also play the role of learner
in the curriculum transformation. Teachers are made to learn material and prepare lessons
to teach it to the other students (Carroll & McCulloch, 2014). For instance, before preparing
learning materials for the pupils, teachers need to do research on the material on their
suitability and alter the material to suit the pupils’ need and ability. While studying the
materials, teacher indirectly learns to be more creative in thinking of ways to make the
material more efficient. Besides, teachers also add their knowledge on using different kind of
materials such as digital materials and 3D materials. In the classroom, teachers could also
generate new ideas by hearing to the pupils. Thus, teachers also play the role of learner
where they indirectly learn an upgrade their knowledge in order to fulfil the change in the
education.

Last but not least, teachers should play the role of a development analyst who
examine and find the pupils’ learning problem and come up with an intervention to solve it.
There are no teachers who did not face any problems with their pupils’ learning and
behaviour (Tilstone, 2018). It’s always the main scope of the job of teacher to study the
pupils’ background and identify their problem. For example, if the pupils in the classroom are
not being able to speak in English fluently, the teacher should examine the background of
the pupils and determine how much they use English in daily basis. By this, teacher will be
able to find the cause of the problem and think of a solution to overcome it. Teachers who
frequently collect the data of the pupils’ performance such as quiz and test and analyse the
data will be having good grip on their pupils’ progress and will be able to design the learning
materials to cater the pupils’ needs more effectively. Thus, teacher as an analyst could have
a proper guidance on what the pupils really need to learn effectively.

In conclusion, teachers as the agent of change should play the role of decision
maker, researcher, caretaker, learner and development analyst to implement the change in
the Malaysian ELT curriculum in teaching and learning process. By playing these roles,
teachers could push forward the wave of transformation without leaving the pupils behind.
But most importantly, teachers should always be aware of the change in the curriculum and
be fragile to accept and prepare for it. Teachers who know the role that they need to play to
travel along the transformation of the curriculum will always be progressive and ahead, so
does their pupils.
References

Adrian Piccoli. (2019) 12 Ways Your Child Can Get The Best Out Of School. Australia:
HarperCollins.

Christina Tiltstone. (2018) Teaching Pupils with Severe Learning Difficulties: Practical
Approaches. Routledge Library Editions: Special Educational Needs, 54, 51-65.

Colin Latchem & Donald E, Hanna. (2013) Leadership for 21st Century Learning: Global
Perspectives from International Experts. New York: Routledge.

Geok Bee Teh, Siew Chee Choy. (2017) Empowering 21st Century Learners Through
Holistic and Enterprising Learning. New York: Springer.

Lusine Nuryan Issayan. (2011) Teacher-Centered Vs Learner-Centered Approach: Teacher

Behavior. New York: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.

Mike Carroll, Margaret McCulloch. (2014) Understanding Teaching and Learning in Primary
Education. Louisville: SAGE.

Robert Ward. (2016) A Teacher's Inside Advice to Parents: How Children Thrive with
Leadership, Love, Laughter, and Learning. Virginnia: Rowman & Littlefield.

Taba, H. (1962) in William F. Pinar. (2013) International Handbook of Curriculum Research:

Studies in Curriculum Theory Series. New York: Routledge.