The Education Act 1996 provides that no person is to teach in an educational institution

unless he is registered as a teacher under the Act. Exempted from registration are those
who are members of the Education Service in Malaysia, teaching in a government or
government-aided educational institution.
A teacher registered under the Act may teach in any school or educational institution but
he is required to give notice to the Registrar General whenever he commences or ceases
teaching in a school.
The Registrar General may refuse to register a person as a teacher if he is satisfied that
the person—

a. is under the age of eighteen years;

b. has no qualifications to teach or has qualifications which in the opinion of the
Registrar General are inadequate for the purpose;
c. has made a statement which is false or misleading or which he knew is false or
misleading in, or in connection with his application for registration or has intentionally
suppressed any fact which is material to the application;
d. suffers from some physical or mental defect or disease rendering him, in the
opinion of the Registrar General, unsuitable to be a teacher;
e. has been convicted of an offence by a court of law and sentenced to
imprisonment for a term of not less than

one year or to a fine of not less than two thousand ringgit; or

f. is not a fit and proper person to be registered as a teacher. 108

Amendments introduced in 2008 made important changes to teacher education

colleges. Not only was their description changed to ‘institutes of teacher
training’ but their educational powers were also expanded to award teaching
degrees in addition to their existing powers to award certificates and diplomas
commitment to their profession work collaboratively with other teachers
 The ET agreed that a professional must have high degree of commitment in
their work. Mart (2013) supported this statement by saying that professional teachers
should teach with passion and show commitment as well as dedication to their
students. The ET stated that professional teachers must concern about their students
and place their students’ needs as the priority. Different teaching methods and
techniques should be employed to cater the needs of each students. They must also
identify their pupils’ strengths and weaknesses, then develop their potential
according to their abilities. Moreover, the ET mentioned that professional teachers
should engage students to participate in classroom activity and set high expectations
for them so that they feel motivated to learn.

Teachers are regarded as professionals and they should be empowered and

given the freedom or autonomy to determine the best possible treatment for their
students learning problems (Pearson and Moomaw, 2005; 2006).One of the
characteristics of teacher professionalism is autonomy over the work (Snoek, 2010).
Therefore, the ET shared her experiences related to teacher autonomy. Teacher
autonomy is defined as “teachers’ capacity to take control of their own teaching”
(Huang, 2005). The ET believed that she is autonomous over her own work when
she plans the lesson. She decides on what she wants to teach and what teaching
method she wants to use. Additionally, she selects suitable materials based on the
abilities of her students and assign appropriate amount of the homework for her
students. Teacher has Generally, teacher autonomy is important in order to be able
to respond to student needs, interests and motivation (Sehrawat, 2014).