International Journal of Productivity and Performance ManagementKey performance indicators for excellent teachers in Malaysia: A measurementmodel for excellent teaching practicesIsmail Hussein Amzat,

Article information:To cite this document:Ismail Hussein Amzat, (2017) "Key performance indicators for excellent teachers in Malaysia:A measurement model for excellent teaching practices", International Journal of Productivityand Performance Management, Vol. 66 Issue: 3, pp.298-319, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2015-0094Permanent link to this document:https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-06-2015-0094

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Key performance indicators forexcellent teachers in Malaysia

A measurement model for excellentteaching practicesIsmail Hussein Amzat

Department of Education, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Malaysia

AbstractPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to create a key performance indicator (KPI) that can be used as thebenchmark tool for teaching performance and practices of both excellent teachers (ETs) and non-ETs and toinvestigate the possible interrelationships between the five thinking domains (teachers’ teaching philosophy,teaching objective, pedagogical content knowledge, teachers’ expectations and management style).Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a quantitative approach with a sample of 306 ETs fromeight states including the Federal Territory. Exploratory factor analysis was used to validate the instrumentand confirmatory factor analysis for model fit.Findings – The findings showed that an excellent classroom management style was the most significantdomain for KPI with the highest factor loading, followed by ETs’ teaching philosophy and objectives.It revealed that there was no significant relationship between ETs’ expectations and their classroommanagement style and that the relationships between the other domains were weak.Originality/value –With this research creating a KPI model for excellent teaching practices, it is suggestedthat an in-depth review should be conducted concerning the standardization of the classroom managementand the national teaching objectives in Malaysia. Perhaps representatives from the Ministry of Education andthe school principals could go into the field to determine whether the excellent and non-ETs are fulfilling thenational education objectives and meeting the expectations. This could lead to setting KPIs for achievingteaching objectives among the ETs.Keywords Continuous improvement, EducationPaper type Research paper

IntroductionEducation, both historically and contemporarily, is believed to be the key in improving thelives and success of people. Speaking fairly, every student deserves to have a qualityeducation and they are entitled to have excellent teachers (ETs) in their classrooms. With thisbelief, in Malaysia, investing in education has become the backbone for economic growth,human capital development and nation building. In 2013, according to the World Bank,Malaysia managed to increase its spending on education to 3.8 per cent of its gross domesticproduct, which exceeded that of other Asian nations by 1.8 per cent. Malaysia’s dedication toimprove teaching and learning has currently ranked it among the top nations that haveinvested significantly in education, thereby prioritizing teaching and learning. Furthermore,the budget allocated to the Ministry of Education (MoE) has helped theMinistry to build manymore schools (primary and secondary) and higher institutions. Part of the budget allocationwas directed to improve the facilities, maintenance and teaching materials, while the rest of theallocation was channelled to the training and development of teachers. The aim of thisapproach is to achieve quality education that will pave the way for productivity andcompetence among the new generation in leading the nation. In pursuit of the objective toachieve excellence in teaching and learning, teacher professional development is both aninevitable and necessary fundamental step. Accordingly, several programmes and schemesrelated to teachers’ development have been launched to boost teacher morale, satisfaction andmotivation. The Excellent Teacher Scheme was one of the schemes to raise the standard ofteaching, improve the standard of living and increase the salary of the teachers.

International Journal ofProductivity and PerformanceManagementVol. 66 No. 3, 2017pp. 298-319© Emerald Publishing Limited1741-0401DOI 10.1108/IJPPM-06-2015-0094

Received 26 June 2015Revised 11 January 2016Accepted 7 February 2016

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:www.emeraldinsight.com/1741-0401.htm

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The Excellent Teacher Scheme was introduced in 1993 as a reward for teachers whobecame experts in their area of specialization. These ETs are given the title, “Guru Cemerlang”,in theMalay language (Hamzah et al., 2008). This award is conferred by theMoE inMalaysia topromote excellence in teaching among teachers and to urge and encourage other teachers topursue this route. According to the MoE, ETs are those teachers who possess or shouldpossess great knowledge, skill and character. Furthermore, they should show quality work intheir teaching and performance. Therefore, the purpose of developing the scheme is torecognize those teachers who demonstrate excellence in their area of teaching; encourage otherteachers by example to raise the quality of their teaching; improve school standards by gearingthem towards excellence through the competence and experience of the ETs; promote thequality of service in education, and restructure the role and job description of teachers withoutoverlapping with the administrative role; and, increase the teachers’ chances for promotion to ahigher grade (Hamzah et al., 2008).

Eligibility for this scheme, according to the Ministry of Education Malaysia (2007)guidelines, requires the applicant to have a strong character; good knowledge and skills; theability to improve the learning outcomes of the students; be equipped with excellentcommunication skills; be innovative and able to contribute to the field of education for thedevelopment of the nation (Ibrahim et al., 2013). In addition, the applicant must beconsidered to have a good past record in his or her teaching area according to their superiors(Hapidah, 2001; Ibrahim et al., 2013). These requirements and expectations drive andprepare ETs in Malaysia to be different in their teaching practices from non-ETs. In anutshell, the notion of excellent teaching or what constitutes good teaching in general is yetto be precisely defined. Besides, the appointment or awarding of excellence status, which iseven broader in some countries, is subjected to a political appointment, connection andculture dimensions. Many good initiatives have come from authors and researchers aroundthe world by forming an exact definition; and the effort and initiation have been fruitfulwhere the majority of their definitions tend to be similar and identical. With the globaldefinitions of excellent, good or effective teaching, the majority of the authors agreed that,an excellent or good teacher is good or excellent in pedagogy, knowledgeable about thecontent or subject matters, and uses multiple approaches to research students andclassroom management. These global definitions are paralleled with Malaysian definitionsof excellent teaching and teachers. As a result of these similar definitions, teacher’s thinkingdomains that were initially created by Clark and Peterson (1986) were used to measure ETsand non-ETs’ performances. Furthermore, the domains were later expanded in Malaysia byHamzah et al. (2008), followed by Pet and Sihes (2015).

Literature review and related worksTheoretical frameworkThis study relies on models of excellent teaching. The theoretical framework of this studypresents some requirements that are globally accepted and recommended for excellentteaching or key performance indicators (KPIs) for becoming an ET. In this study, theframework for excellent teaching for teachers and leaders in the USA designed by theKnowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Association in 2012, is used to strengthen the researchargument. The KIPP model presents four elements of excellent teaching that are linkedthrough belief and character. Excellent KIPP teachers are expected to improve theirstandards and be role models for their students as their beliefs and character affect theirstudents, their relationships with others, classroom management, methods of teaching andpersonal knowledge. The four elements in the Figure 1 are explained below.

Self and others. For excellent teaching to occur, self and others argue with each teacher tounderstand his or her individuality and ability to connect to other individuals. In addition,it is about teachers taking credit for the growth and development of their students.

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Classroom culture. This concept concerns the classroom communication between the teacherand the students; the teacher is required to set his or her learning expectation – what he orshe expects from the students. In addition, it is about creating a conducive classroom culturein which students can learn by themselves and have the freedom of choice.

The teaching cycle. In terms of the teaching cycle, excellent teaching is carried out whenthe learning or what is taught in the classroom or the objectives are related to the future ofthe students. It is when a lesson plan is measurable, connects to the prior knowledge, andapplies rigorous teaching strategies and assessment.

Knowledge. Knowledge is about a teacher’s knowledge of pedagogical content, their deepknowledge of teaching and their suitability to the learner’s level. It is knowing about achild’s emotions, development, level of literacy and learning style and differences that callfor various teaching strategies.

In this study, the KIPP Framework for excellent teaching is used as a theoreticalframework to support the notion that teachers in general and ETs in particular shouldpossess knowledge about the subjects that they are teaching, pedagogical content andclassroom management for excellent teaching practices. This model is employed as it isrelated to Malaysia thinking domains that are used in this study for KPIs for excellentteaching and ETs.

Furthermore, other models are utilized in this study for quality and excellent teachingcriteria. In terms of good teaching, the models of McIlrath and Huitt (1995) and Carroll(1963) emphasized the importance of the quality of instruction as a KPI for good teaching,teacher classroom behaviour or classroom context (Cruickshank, 1985), connectinginstruction objectives and evaluations as well as classroom management forstudents’ motivation (Gage and Berliner, 1992); while Huitt (1995) explained theclassroom processes and management. These models have helped to shed light on the

StudentGrowth and

Achievement

Self andOthers

ClassroomCulture

TheTeaching

Cycle

Knowledge

Source: KIPP Framework for excellent teaching

Figure 1.KIPP supportedFramework forexcellent teaching

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importance of a teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), methods of teaching,classroom management, teaching objectives and expectations in their quest for excellentteaching and becoming an ET. Furthermore, the models advocate the interconnectivity ofone requirement with another.

Since the evidence points to certain skills that ETs are supposed to have for excellentteaching practices; ETs in Malaysia should be evaluated based on these skills and the skillsshould be used as indicators for reward and appraisal. In addition, the lesson to be learntfrom these models is, excellent teaching does not come in a vacuum; it is a process to followand skills to be acquired such as content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, classroommanagement, connecting teaching with its objective and so on.

Research conceptual frameworkIn this study, the conceptual framework relies on the models in the theoreticalframework. Figure 2 shows that the KPIs are assessed and determined using the ETthinking domains created by Hamzah et al. (2008). Since these domains are created forETs’ teaching performance in Malaysia, the research conceptual framework has putthese domains on trial to see which one would be ranked as the top KPI for excellentteaching performance and practices. The figure also indicates the interrelationshipsbetween the domains.

Excellent Teacher Scheme and standards across boardsTo understand how ETs might be assigned in Malaysia and other emerging countries, thisstudy explores how ETs are appointed in developed countries. The exemplar in the UK isthe “excellent teacher” scheme that was introduced in 2008 as a sign of encouragement andreward for teachers whose wish or aim was to further their careers in the field of teachingwithout getting involved in school management. The Excellent Teacher Scheme wasdesigned according to the Oxford Reference (2014) in recognition and appreciation of theachievements and skills of ETs as well as seeking their contribution to help other teachers toimprove and become effective. According to the Oxford Reference (2014), for the applicationprocess in the UK teachers are urged to meet the ET standards and the GovernmentTeacher Professional Standard Framework. The quota of teachers meeting the requirementsof the framework and standards tends to be low inasmuch as less than 40 teachers in 2008qualified for the scheme, which aimed for 5,000 teachers in the first year. It is envisaged that

TeacherTeaching

Philosophy

KeyPerformance

Indicators

TeachingObjective

Teacher’sExpectation

PedagogicalContent

Knowledge

ClassroomManagement

Style

Figure 2.The research

conceptual frameworkfor excellent teachers

thinking domainsand their KPI

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the fixed salary offered by the UK government deters the teachers from aspiring to attainthe ET status and acquiring advanced skills. Furthermore, teachers are restricted fromapplying for this recognition until they have fulfilled the criteria for the ET standards. Uponcompletion of the ET standards, the applicant is advised to submit the application form totheir school principal.

Furthermore, in the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, different standardsare stipulated for ETs and awards, which are becoming requirements for the professionaldevelopment of ETs, especially in the UK. According to the UK Training and DevelopmentAgency (2007), in terms of professional attributes, ETs are expected to:

(1) participate as a leader in developing school policies and practice; and

(2) promote joint responsibility in implementing those policies.

For professional development, ETs should take an active role in:

(1) undertaking research and evaluation of innovative curricular practices anddetermining the research outcomes; and

(2) identifying other external evidence to help in improving their practices and emulatethose of other teachers.

In relation to professional knowledge and understanding, ETs are expected to have:

(1) critical understanding when it comes to teaching and learning;

(2) knowledge of teaching and learning effectiveness;

(3) knowledge of behaviour management strategies; and

(4) understanding in selecting learning approaches and methods that can be used toprovide better opportunities for learners to tap their potential.

With respect to assessment and monitoring to determine a learner’s performance andlearning outcomes, ETs should:

(1) have the ability to improve the assessment practices and evaluate their effectivenessin their school; and

(2) have the ability to analyse statistical information to examine if teaching andlearning are taking place in their respective schools or others.

For subjects and curriculum matters, ETs are expected to:

(1) possess deep knowledge of their subjects and awareness of issues related to theircurriculum as well as their pedagogical content; and

(2) possess deep knowledge on issues related to equality, awareness of students withspecial needs and diversity in teaching.

Concerning professional skills, ETs are assumed in respect of planning, teaching, feedbackand teamwork to:

(1) work together with their colleagues in planning by taking a leading role to promoteeffective teaching practices;

(2) equip themselves with teaching skills that pave the way for excellent results andoutcomes;

(3) be a role model in excellence and innovation in their pedagogical practice;

(4) be excellent in providing feedback in a timely manner to learners; colleagues, afterobservation, and parents;

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(5) have the ability to improve learners’ performance through constructive and accuratefeedback as well as by highlighting the areas that need to be improved for theprogress of the students;

(6) demonstrate strong leadership practices and encourage teamwork to improve theschool’s policies, their implementation and evaluation for school improvement;

(7) participate in professional development training for teachers and share knowledgeon skills and techniques to improve teaching practices; and

(8) participate in classroom observation, using high-level skills, make general appraisalfor good teaching, advise colleagues concerning their work and provide strategies toimprove learning for children and in meeting their needs to increase their outcomes.

In Scotland, the Excellent Teacher Scheme was created in 2001 in collaboration with thegovernment, local employees, authorities and the teachers’ organizations to recognize andcompensate teachers who achieve high standards in their teaching practices. The policy isespecially aimed at the Chartered Teacher Scheme to increase student’s performance byretaining and maintaining effective teachers and encouraging them to join the league.This is to instil a spirit of continuous learning among teachers and to create a learningenvironment for professional development (Ingvarson, 2009). In New Zealand, the ET statusis motivated by the aim of rewarding the good work performed by a teacher andappreciating their significant efforts to influence learning. It is an achievement based oneffective teaching that yields positive learning outcomes.

In the US, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has taken the step of ensuring thatall schools are equipped with ETs with the belief that all children deserve ETs who arequalified in their area of specialization, possess content knowledge, skills and uplift theperformance of learners through teaching instruction and creativity. In addition, the AFT hasensured that all teaching staff are provided with good working conditions in a conduciveenvironment, which prioritizes the welfare and safety of the teachers for the betterment ofthe teaching and learning process. Teacher quality is believed to be an integral part of thedevelopment of a school and achievement of the students (National Commission on Teachingand America’s Future, 1996; AFT Teachers, 2007).

In Malaysia, despite the huge efforts by the Malaysian Government and theirconsistency in investing in education year-on-year to elevate the standard of education, andinstil excellence in teaching and learning, some parents, as reported by the Star Online, aredeeply concerned and lament the declining standards of teaching. In addition, employers arecomplaining about the low proficiency of the new graduates in English (Azizan and Chew,2009). As per the World Bank report on standardized international tests to measure thecognitive skills byMalay Mail Online, Malaysian students have been reported to be “not onpar with the country’s aspirations to become a high-income economy” (Su-Lyn, 2014, p. 1).Additionally, the report states that the Programme for International Student Assessmentsurvey results released in 2013 indicated that Malaysian students “lagged far behind theirpeers in Singapore, who are placed second behind top-scorers in Shanghai, China, as well as15-year-olds in Thailand” (p. 1).

This problem was acknowledged by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri HishammuddinTun Hussein, in his keynote speech reported by Azizan and Chew (2009) in which hecommented that, “teachers are the backbone of the nation’s move to develop human capitalfor a knowledge-based economy” (p. 1). This view was supported by Professor IbrahimBajunid in his reported comments “How can we foster intellectual capabilities in students ifwe do not foster it in our teachers? Teachers need to have an intellectual character; as longas the teacher is not an intellectual, then we are on losing ground” (p. 1). In its quest toachieve a knowledge-based economy in 2020, the Malaysian MoE has spontaneously

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responded to the problems, and, currently, different measures are being implemented, suchas nurturing quality teachers within the system, managing the supply of teachers,overcoming mediocrity in the profession, and providing continuous opportunities forimprovement. In addition, Teacher Education and Development has taken the initiative offormulating the Malaysian Teaching Standards (MTS) to ensure that the quality of teachereducation is both maintained and improved. This approach by MTS is expected to be acomprehensive guide for quality teacher education in Malaysia to equip all new teacherswith the subject knowledge and pedagogical skills that they need (Azizan and Chew, 2009).

Furthermore, Malaysia, as the regional education hub, which captures 2 per cent of theworld’s population of international students, has taken on board the concept of best practice,both near and far, through benchmarking. Various best practices around the world wereresearched by MTS, such as in the UK, Japan, Indonesia and Singapore, with particularreference to Singapore in 1965 and its remarkable achievement today. Remarkably,Singapore has transformed itself, as reported by Stewart (2013), from being a country withhigh illiteracy in Southeast Asia to emerge as a country with high literacy and a first classeducation system, and, thereby, one of the Asian tigers, and a global hub for business andtrade. This achievement was possible because of the implementation of a coherent andcohesive national education curriculum in all schools and the provision of high qualityteachers. The Singapore Government’s investment in human capital, a strong educationalpolicy and effective school leadership are reported to be the other factors contributing to itssuccess. A careful and thorough selection of teachers is undertaken with drilling andrigorous training for the teachers and principals.

Teaching practices among ETs in MalaysiaThe Excellent Teacher Scheme in Malaysia was created to pave a better career path forclassroom teachers. This scheme also paves the way for a teacher’s promotion to earn abetter salary. As the salary increases, task and responsibility increases as well. Therefore,with the increment of salary with this scheme, ETs are expected to do extra jobs, go beyondtheir classroom routine and contribute to the development curriculum and policy as they areconsidered as experts in the field of teaching. Unfortunately, despite an increase in the ETsquota in Malaysia with the promise of higher salary and promotion, the number of ETsconstitutes less than 4 per cent of the entire teacher population in Malaysia (Awang, 2014).Perhaps this is due to the higher salary attached and budget allocated for Excellent TeacherScheme that is hard to maintain.

Furthermore, in Malaysia, according to Ming-ming (2007), students expect ETs to:

(1) inculcate motivation in their teaching;

(2) consider the learning environment;

(3) facilitate learning;

(4) use an instructional approach;

(5) enhance students’ learning with technology; and

(6) be supported by a good leader.

However, there are some concerns on how teaching is performed by some ETs. This paperidentifies some interesting stories and scenarios from the literature and findings about thedifferent styles of teaching among ETs with different specializations. A mixed-methodsresearch conducted by Ng (2009) concerning how ETs in science manage and engage theirstudents into thinking in the classrooms shows that science teachers differ in their teachingpractices. It was found that they use different and unstandardized approaches in theirthinking despite being expected to have unified, standardized and similar approaches,

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and methods and teaching practices. These differences occur as every ET teaching sciencehas reservations or different views, beliefs about their subjects, and preferences in usingtheir own individual teaching methods and approaches (Ibrahim et al., 2013).

A qualitative study by Lyla (as cited in Ibrahim et al., 2013), concerning the pedagogicalpractices of ETs teaching English as a second language supported the findings of Ng (2009).Lyla reported a contradiction in the views of ETs about their subjects and classroom teachingpractices with learners as well as of having different views about their role as ETs. In addition,teaching context, school location and education system as well as parental involvement arereported to influence the teaching practices and thinking models of ETs, while, unexpectedly,the teaching experiences and specialization of ETs failed to have an impact on or predict theirteaching practices (Ibrahim et al., 2013). These are serious issues that need to be consideredwhen asking or pondering why the classroom management styles, teaching objectives andexpectations of ETs are varied and unstandardized. In addition, an investigation needs to beconducted to determine whether these variances occur in all subjects.

ET thinking domain and teaching effectivenessThe thinking domains used in this study were derived from three sources: a thinking andaction process model by Clark and Peterson (1986), teachers’ decisions planning model byMyers and Myers (1995) and the symbolic interaction theory by Mead (1894-1931) accordingto Ritzer (1996) cited by Hamzah et al. (2008). These models have been used to improveteaching, making teaching a professional career and teacher professional about careerthinking. Thus, such models are used in Malaysia by researchers to measure ETsperformance and are utilized as indications of an excellent teaching process and of practices.Clark and Peterson, as well as the Myers and Myers (1995), believed in their models that forexcellent teaching to take place, teachers should have the knowledge of what they areteaching, knowledge of pedagogy, content, skills to manage their classroom, students’expectation and consideration as well as external factors.

With the adopted models, in normal circumstances, teachers’ expectations are believed toreflect their classroom management style. Hence, learning success is inevitably influenced bythe teachers’ actions in their classrooms and the way the classrooms are managed. Manystudies have indicated that teachers’ expectations, their actions in their classrooms, and theway the classroom is managed and conducted play huge roles in the learners’ learningoutcomes. In addition, school policies, curriculum, assessment, staff collegiality andcommunity participation also dictate the students’ achievement (Marzano andMarzano, 2003).Although other factors are reported to influencing learning, classroom management tends tobe the leading factor concerning learners’ learning success. This indicates that proper learningcannot occur in a classroom that is poorly managed. Therefore, it is important for teachers toset their own expectations and rules, such as classroom discipline and procedure, whatstudents should know and learn, learning objectives, outcomes, and what is expected from theteacher and students. An experiment conducted by Robert Rosenthal cited by Spiegel (2012)at an elementary school, south of San Francisco, showed that teachers’ expectations have agreat influence on the performance of students, especially their IQs. Setting rules andexpectations should help in managing the classroom; teachers’ expectations and classroommanagement should be regulated and linked. A study by Hamzah et al. (2008) on the ETs’model for effective teaching confirmed the statement that teachers’ expectations was found tohave the highest contribution to ET teaching performance.

Relatedly, if teachers’ expectations and rules are set, it reduces violence and disciplineproblems in the classroom, and, eventually, leads to a proper classroom management thatwill positively influence the learning outcomes. Moreover, it paves the way for a conduciveclassroom environment, and strong rapport between the teachers and students. Researchhas shown that when there is a good relationship between the teachers and students,

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it curbs discipline problems in the classroom (Marzano and Marzano, 2003). In addition,another study has shown that to achieve effective teaching, teachers must set highexpectations and practice excellent classroom management skills (Curry, 2000). Hence,classroom management and positive expectations are considered to be among theprerequisites of becoming an effective teacher. A positive expectation is that a teacherbelieves that every student has the potential to learn by his or her own self. In alignmentwith the definition, research has shown the correlation between the teachers’ positiveexpectations and students’ believing in themselves (self-concept) as well as learningachievement. As matter of fact, in today’s learning, expectations are not only set byteachers, they include the students’ input as well. Students in the twenty-first century aredifferent from those of the 1980s and 1990s. Millennium students are amazingly conscious,smart, active, fast learners and current about the latest issues and developments around theworld. They expect to have teachers in their classrooms who are well-prepared, withextensive knowledge about the subjects being taught, well-equipped with pedagogical skills,who go beyond the curriculum and syllabus, as well as good classroom managers.Furthermore, it is through classroom management that the teaching effectiveness ofteachers is tested and an ET is determined.

According to Baumrind (1971), the teacher style of classroom management can bedivided into two types: control and involvement. The control type includes teachers who laydown the rules and expect all the students to adhere strictly to the rules. The involvementtype comprises teachers who promote a good relationship between themselves and theirstudents. However, teachers who lack either type of teacher style have no rules andexpectations for their students, and do not encourage a relationship between themselves andtheir students. In sum, a teacher’s personality or style could influence or impact onclassroom management. Research has found a causal-relationship between the type ofmanagement style and the teacher’s characteristic behaviour (Wenning, 1998). Furthermore,the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education (2008) reported that teacher culture influencesteachers’ expectations, their style of managing their classrooms, their interaction with thestudents and the way they perceive learning.

Additionally, to become an effective teacher, teacher knowledge, which includes disciplinarycontent, subject knowledge, pedagogical content and teaching methods, is necessary for qualityteaching practice. This constitutes the knowledge that a teacher must have to become aneffective teacher. In addition, PCK is about what a teacher knows and about what he or sheteaches. Thus, PCK is considered to be the subject matter in relation to what a teacher knowsabout teaching, as well as his or her knowledge concerning how learners learn and theirconceptions (Sibuyi, 2012). PCK is a teacher’s professional understanding about topicorganization, presentation and problems as well as issues related to teaching or instructionaccording to the students’ background and school’s goals ( Juang et al., 2008).

According to Jadama (2014), the underlying power and strength of teachers as pedagoguesis their knowledge of the subject matter. In his study on the impact of teacher subject matterknowledge on teaching and learning process, he concluded that, teachers can only know orteach the subject matter to students and have an impact on learning, when they have fullcomprehension of the subject matter and ability to explain misconceptions of knowledge.In addition, an effective teacher, according to the US National Council for Accreditation ofTeacher Education (NCATE) findings, is a teacher that has high quality preparation to helpstudents develop their essential knowledge and pedagogical skill ( Jadama, 2014). Therefore,PCK is needed for effective teaching (Gerges, 2001), and, in Singapore, teacher contentknowledge is found among pre-service teachers to lead to good teaching, as good teaching isthe ability to transmit knowledge to others (Wilke, 2004; Chong et al., 2005).

In sum, this study makes a great contribution to the body of knowledge in terms ofbridging the gap between theories, models and literature. With the models adapted in this

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study and support of relevant literature cited, it shows that, to be an ET is not just a“day job”. To appoint an ET should not be political or just for promotion and increment inincentives as evidence in the literature has shown that to have excellent teaching is to haveETs. Hence, to have excellent teaching according to the KIPP framework and supportingliterature means teachers should possess knowledge of content, subject matter, pedagogicalknowledge, classroom management, ability to link teaching with its objectives and considerstudent’s expectations as well as external factors.

In Malaysia, since excellent teaching is very concerning for the Malaysian Government,this research will play a big role for the government in changing the policy related to theappointment of ETs. Again, in respect to high incentives attached to the ExcellentTeachers’ Scheme, the appointment of ETs in Malaysia requires that the reward andappraisal should be robust and rigorous. Hence, government should look critically into thecandidate skills and knowledge, perhaps using this research model and others beforeappointment and after. As a matter of fact, this research model could be used asbenchmark, rubric and indicator for key performance indices as well as to encourage bestpractices among ETs.

Although, there are a number of studies in Malaysia on ETs such as Hamzah, Mohamad,Ghorbani’s study on excellent thinking model which mainly focussed on challenges facedbased on ET in their classrooms, Hoque et al. (2012) on ET’s job satisfaction, Ibrahim et al.(2013) on what master teachers do and expertise in the classroom, Hussin et al. (2014) on thereligious practices teaching pedagogical of Islamic education ETs, looking at PCK of ET inMalaysia, Cheah (2007) on student perception of ET, Awang (2014) on policy ecology of ETs,Jasmi et al. (2014) on classroom management practice by excellent Islamic education teachersat secondary school in Malaysia. All these studies indeed contributed to the development ofETs in Malaysia and the researchers have done remarkable jobs but yet, there is no study onwhat should be considered before appointment of ETs in Malaysia and after.

As a contribution again, based on researchers best knowledge, there is no model orrubrics to measure ET performance or indicator(s) put forward by any researcher for ETs’key performance and practices. Therefore, with the issue of excellence in teaching andlearning for nation development topping the government agenda in Malaysia, this researchin terms of objective aims to examine which among teachers’ domains that predicts ETs’teaching performance, leads best practices or used as a performance indicator or indices.In achieving this objective, this study strives to answer the following questions:

RQ1. Which factor(s) among ETs’ thinking domains highly predicts teaching performanceor can be used as indicators for best practices among ETs in Malaysia?

RQ2. Which among the thinking domains is found to be the most challenging or highlyranked amongst ETs in Malaysia for KPI?

RQ3. Is there any interrelationship between the five thinking domains (teachers’teaching philosophy, teaching objective, PCK, teachers’ expectations andmanagement style)?

RQ4. What are the reliability and psychometric properties of the thinking modelinstrument created by the researcher?

MethodologyThis research used a quantitative design through the survey method to reach the participants.The population consisted of ETs in Malaysia. Malaysia has 15 states among which is PutraJaya, the Federal Territory. The sample for this study comprised ETs taken from eight states(Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Kelantan, Kedah, Perak, Sabah, Sarawak and Putra Jaya, theFederal Territory). Permission was sought from the Malaysian Educational Planning and

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Research Division (EPRD), and from each state educational department, which in Malay iscalled Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri. The state education departments provided the necessaryassistance in furnishing the research with the list of ETs in their states.

In terms of data collection, this study used face-to-face data collection by going from oneschool to another, especially in the states that lacked data or records of ETs. This was verytedious, daunting and really challenging. Some data were collected through e-mails, postingand SurveyMonkey which has contributed to the increased response of ET.

The researcher was not able to include the remaining states due to the unavailability ofan ETs list in those states. In terms of instrumentation, a self-developed five pointLikert-scale instrument was used by the researcher, ranging from strongly disagree tostrongly agree. The instrument was developed based on the literature by referring to whatthe literature says on each domain (teacher teaching philosophy, teaching objective,pedagogical content knowledge, classroom management style and teachers’ expectation)and how they were defined by authors as well as researchers in their studies. Questionnaireswere distributed to ETs using stratified sampling, dividing them into stratum based on theirlocations, regions and states. Eventually, 306 questionnaires were returned while the beliefthat representativeness was observed. For the data analysis, this study employedconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to determine and confirm the factor or domain that has ahigh factor loading. CFA is designed to test the multi-dimensionality of a theoreticalconstruct and helps to postulate relationship between the observed variables andunderlying latent variable (Byrne, 2001).

Additionally, CFA, according to Williams, Eaves, Cox cited by Kline (2005) can help tomeasure or provide distinct factor(s) that may correspond highly to the observed variable.CFA does not provide causality and the factor loading are usually interpreted as regressioncoefficients or estimated as Pearson correlations between an indicator and a factor(Kline, 2005). In light of this, this study uses CFA to indicate distinct factor(s) among ETdomains by looking at highest factor loading that could be used as an indicator for KPI andpractices among ETs in Malaysia.

FindingsDemographic informationTable I shows the respondents’ demographic information and the table indicates that62.7 per cent (n¼ 192) of the respondents were female while 37.3 per cent (n¼ 114) weremales. It also shows that the majority of the ETs that participated in this study weresecondary schoolteachers (80.7 per cent, n¼ 247), while only 19.3 per cent (n¼ 59)were primary schoolteachers.

Table I shows that the majority, 78.4 per cent (n¼ 240), of the ETs that participated inthis study had less than 10 years working experience while only 21.6 per cent (n¼ 66) hadmore than 10 years working experience. For salary grade, 56.2 per cent (n¼ 172) of the ETswere DG44 salary grade, 17.3 per cent (n¼ 53) were DG48, while the lowest with 0.3 per cent(n¼ 1) was special grade C.

Reliability and validity of the resultsAnswering RQ4. Since a self-developed instrument is used in this study to determine ETperformance indicators, this study ensured that different measurements were used todetermine the instrument reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) wasused since the instrument was self-developed and CFA for the construct validity and model-fit as well as convergence and divergence. Convergent validity shows “items indication of aspecific construct that are expected to converge or share a high proportion of variance incommon” (Hair et al., 2010, p. 709). According to Hair et al. (2010), items are converged when

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there are high loadings on a factor, the loading should be 0.5 or higher and statisticallysignificant. Divergent validity or perceived as discriminant validity “is extent to which aconstruct is truly distinct from other construct” (p. 710). Divergent validity is where there isno relationship between construct and each construct is distinctly different from one andanother. Therefore, looking at Figure 3, it shows that, the correlations and high loading of

Demographic variable Frequency Per cent

GenderMale 114 37.3Female 192 62.7

SchoolPrimary 59 19.3Secondary 247 80.7

Working experience10 years below 240 78.410 years above 66 21.6

Salary gradeDG34 41 13.4DG44 172 56.2DG48 53 17.3DG52 23 7.5DG54 16 5.2Special Grade C 1 0.3

Table I.Respondents’demographicinformation

PedegogicalContent

Knowledge

TeacherTeaching

Philosophy

Teacher’sExpectation

ClassroomManagement

Style

TeachingObjective

PCK2 PCK6 PCK8 PCK9 PCK11

TTP9

TTP8

TTP7

TTP6

TE9TE8TE7MS3MS2MS1

TO4

TO5

TO7

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5

e6

e7

e8

e9

e10e11e12e13e14e15

e16

e17

e18

0.33

0.58

0.33

0.57

0.61

0.78

0.56

0.75

0.53

0.73

0.52

0.72

0.64 0.80

0.53

0.73

0.49

0.70

0.34

0.58

0.17

0.42

0.72

0.85

0.79

0.89

0.93

0.96

0.59

0.77

0.64

0.80

0.670.82

0.240.49

0.50

0.55

0.620.35

0.56

0.14

0.35

0.50

0.26

0.36

0.27

Figure 3.Excellent teacher

teaching performanceindicator model

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each item under each construct provides evidence that the items all converge on the sameconstruct as all exceeded 0.5 except for TO7 and TE8. Hence, we can conclude that theconvergence is valid and divergence is supported as a result of high loading of eachconstruct which indicates a distinct discrimination between constructs.

In addition, this study checked the composite reliability (CR), as shown in Table II,to measure the reliability construct of the thinking domains of each ET. Generally, CR isused to measure the overall reliability of heterogeneous variables with the similarity ofitems. It involves examining the internal consistency of the items (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).CR is calculated as follows:

CR ¼ Sum of standardized loadingð Þ2= Sum of standardized loadingð Þ2þSum of indicator measurement errorÞ

CR should be greater than 0.7 and the variance extracted W0.5 to indicate the reliablefactors (Hair et al., 1995; Holmes-Smith 2001). As suggested by Joreskog (1971), a cut-offvalue of 0.6 for loading is considered to be reliable according to Nunnally and Bernstein(as cited in Blanco et al., 2010).

Measurement modelThe measurement model is designed to investigate relationships between latent variablesand what they measure. The model investigates if there are correlations between latent orunobserved variables and checks for the goodness-fit of the model. Thus, it is through CFAthat the items are determined that do not fit the measurement model (Awang, 2012).Therefore, this study produces a measurement model to examine the relationship betweenlatent variables, determine item goodness-of-fit and highly loading domain through factorloading for the KPI.

Goodness-of-fitTable III presents the fit indices and their threshold values for the ET teaching performanceindicator. This table shows that all the indices fit the model; thus, we can conclude that theresults of the analysis on the overall fit of the model were very encouraging.

Dominant factorAnswering RQ1. This study explores the dominant item and construct or factor that can beconsidered as an indicator for ETs’ KPI for better teaching practices in Malaysia. Figure 3shows that ET classroom management style item 2 “As an excellent teacher, I encouragestudents’ discussion among themselves in the classroom” has the highest standardizedfactor loading squared (R²) and reliability (R²¼ 0.96, y¼ 0.94), and item 3 from the sameconstruct “As an excellent teacher, I engage my students in classroom discussion”(R²¼ 0.89, y¼ 0.79) and items are the best indicators for teacher classroom managementstyle. Item 7 under teachers’ expectations construct “Teacher division under MOE provides

Variable name Composite reliability (CR)

Pedagogical content knowledge 0.81Teacher teaching philosophy 0.82Teachers’ expectations 0.66Classroom management style 0.90Teaching objective 0.75

Table II.Compositereliability (CR)

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training for the primary and secondary school excellent teachers”was the best indicator for itsconstruct with higher factor loading (R²¼ 0.85, y¼ 0.72) while the lowest factor loading in theentire model is item 8 under teachers’ expectation “As an excellent teacher, I was placed on aspecial grade without having to fill up the post of promotion” (R²¼ 0.42, y¼ 0.17). In terms ofhigh factor prediction, Figure 3 also presents the factor or predictor that can be considered forETs’ KPI by looking generally at the construct that has the highest item loading and throughsumming up all items under each construct and multiple by the number of items. From thisfigure and as a result of summing up, we found interesting findings as ETs’ classroommanagement style was found to be the overall predictor for ET thinking domains and anindicator for ETs’ KPI in Malaysia, followed by teacher teaching philosophy, teachingobjective, pedagogical content and teachers’ expectations.

However, we should not forget some items that had low factor loadings as these items areindication of areas to improve for best performances. These areas include that ETs found itdifficult to meet their teaching objectives with parents and community needs. Hence,attention should be paid by the school principals and MoE to this area because failing tomeet community expectations about teaching is an indication of teaching failure to meetfuture needs. In addition, the same issue relates to item 2 and 6 under PCK. There ETsresponded low on training how to relate content knowledge with their students’ ability andlack of training on how to transform their teaching philosophy in the classroom intoinstructional strategies.

Relationship between domainsAnswering RQ3. This study examines whether there are interrelationships between ETsthinking domains. Considering the correlation among the exogenous variables in Figure 3,it is hard to believe that there is no significant relationship between teachers’ expectations andtheir classroom management styles, while previous research and findings have indicated assuch. This means that, the teacher style of classroommanagement could sometimes or alwaysin Malaysia context not be influenced by teachers’ expectations. Thus, this is not a goodindication as literature has found a correlation between teacher’s expectation and student’sperformance in terms of IQ. Literature also showed that teacher’s expectation helps classroommanagement especially in setting rules to curb indiscipline in the classroom and, againaccording to literature, it leads to effective teaching as well as becoming an effective teacher.Ironically, if this part is missing or there is no influence of Malaysia ETs’ classroomexpectations on their classroom management styles, it is alarming and seriously needs to beaddressed by the government, and teaching and learning institutes in Malaysia.

Further, this study also found an insignificant relationship between teacher teachingphilosophy and teacher expectation. This is not a good indication as both variables should

Fit indices Threshold value

CMINdf 1.70χ2 211.03df 124GFI 0.92AGFI 0.90CFI 0.96TLI 0.95IFI 0.96NFI 0.91RMR 0.037RMSEA 0.048

Table III.Goodness-of-fit indicesfor excellent teacher

thinking domains

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be correlated according to the literature. Teaching philosophy talks about knowledge ofteaching and learning, teacher methods and reasons behind teaching that way. When thereis no correlation between both, it means that, there is somehow a lack of knowledgeabout teaching and learning among ET. As was reported before, since there is no trainingon matching teaching objectives with community demand, then the lack of training onapplication content knowledge with students’ ability and training on transforming teachingphilosophy into classroom instruction will definitely prevent them from setting teacherexpectation in the first place.

Indeed, if teachers know their expectations and are conscious of what they are expectingfrom students after taking their classes, it helps to apply the content knowledge and teachingphilosophy in the classroom which as a result will be in line with the community needs. In thisscenarios, school principals and MoE have to look into this to align with the literature sayingexcellent teaching occurs when teacher has the pedagogical skills, content knowledge,expectations and enable to achieve the teaching objectives from the outcomes. In addition, thefindings of this study also illustrate surprising results inasmuch as weak and very weakrelationships were found between teachers’ expectations and teachers’ teaching philosophy,teachers’ expectations and teaching objective, between PCK and teachers’ classroommanagement style, between teachers’ teaching philosophy and classroom management style,while previous research and findings have shown strong correlations between these variables.Theoretically, strong connections are expected to exist between these domains, as eachdomain compensates each other and cannot work in isolation (Tables IV and V).

Ranking domain for KPIAnswering RQ2. Table VI confirms the top domain(s) that can be used as an indicator(s) forteaching key performance and practices among ET in Malaysia. From this table, ETs’classroom management style should be seriously considered when it comes to ETs’ KPI forhaving the highest standardized factor loading of (0.965) according to standardizedregression weight, followed by teachers’ expectations (0.850). There should be a thoroughexamination across all schools in Malaysia concerning how ETs manage their classes,lessons, module, mode of delivery and their views towards their learners. Furthermore, ETs’

Estimate

PCK2←Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.577PCK6←Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.572PCK8←Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.781PCK9←Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.748PCK11←Pedagogical_Content_Knowledge 0.726TTP9←Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.719TTP8←Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.800TTP7←Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.728TTP6←Teacher_teaching_Philosophy 0.697TE9←Teachers’_Expectations 0.582TE8←Teachers’_Expectations 0.418TE7←Teachers’_Expectations 0.850MS3←Classroom_Management_Style 0.891MS2←Classroom_Management_Style 0.965MS1←Classroom_Management_Style 0.765TO4←Teaching_Objective 0.803TO5←Teaching_Objective 0.819TO7←Teaching_Objective 0.487

Table IV.Standardizedregression weights ofexcellent teacherthinking domainsbased on item

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expectations about their students, their expectations of the government, and thegovernment’s expectations of them need to the examined as it appears that there areconflicting expectations. Hence, clarity is needed concerning the government’s expectationsof ETs as well as ETs’ expectations of the government.

Implications and recommendationsSince quality teaching is always the top priority of the Malaysian MoE to improve thelearning and performance of students, and since the creation of the ETs’ scheme twodecades ago to improve the standard of teaching, upgrade the salaries as a mechanism formotivation and to encourage the non-ETs to emulate the excellent ones, then rigorousevaluation and assessment of this scheme should be conducted for effectiveness.Furthermore, as the salary scale of the ETs is considered to be among the higher scales forteachers, serious attention should be given to determine whether the ETs are really workingon their thinking domains and whether this scheme is relevant and contributing to theexcellent teaching process in Malaysia or just a belief. Since the aims of this scheme includeachieving quality education, improving the standard of schools and inculcating excellencein learning, research should be conducted to examine whether these aims are beingachieved. In addition, it may be beneficial to invite international examiners to report on therole of ETs with respect to quality education and uplifting the standard of schools inMalaysia. Furthermore, it would be helpful to prepare statistical reports to indicate whetherthe performance of students in schools that have ETs has improved. A transparent policyand unified rubrics in awarding the status in Malaysia is needed to avoid bias andanomalies that could lead to malpractice in the selection process.

Since the purpose of the Excellent Teachers’ Scheme is to influence ordinary teachers toimprove their standard of teaching and help with the development of other schools bytraining their teachers, further studies need to be conducted to determine the impact of theETs on the non-ETs. This is because ETs are expected to be role models and exemplars toother teachers in infusing excellence in teaching, and yet some of the ETs revealed, duringdata collection, that they were not aware of what was required of them. Therefore,

Estimate

Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔Teachers’ teaching philosophy 0.504Pedagogical Content Knowledge↔Teaching objective 0.552Pedagogical Content Knowledge↔Teachers’ expectations 0.619Pedagogical Content Knowledge ↔ Classroom management style 0.351Teachers’ teaching Philosophy↔Teaching objective 0.564Teachers’ expectations↔Classroom management style 0.142Teachers’ expectations↔Teaching objective 0.350Classroom Management Style↔Teaching objective 0.496Teachers’ teaching Philosophy↔Teachers’ expectations 0.257Teachers’ teaching philosophy↔Classroom management style 0.363

Table V.Correlations between

thinking domainconstructs

Rank Domain Action

1 Classroom management style Very highly recommended2 Teachers’ expectations Highly recommended3 Teachers’ objective Highly recommended4 Teachers’ teaching philosophy Highly Recommended5 Pedagogical content knowledge Recommended

Table VI.Top domain for

teaching performanceand practice

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an assessment should be made concerning the involvement of ETs in training teachers andtheir pro-activeness in school to achieve such a vision. Finally, as the quality of teachingand education is emphasized in the current Malaysian Blueprint 2013-2025, the followingquestions must be addressed. What is the role of ETs? Where do they fit in this major planand strategy for the future? Are they expected to play a vital role in the realization of theobjectives stated in the Blueprint? To answer these questions, the restoration of theExcellent Teachers’ Scheme and the evaluation of its effectiveness is required. This awardcalls for the display of very stringent requirements, skills and knowledge. It requiresstrong evaluation and continuous KPI for teaching performance, as ETs whereverlocated, as was explained earlier, shoulder huge responsibilities and perform a major rolefor the future development of education and schools. The same quality is expected of theETs in Malaysia to help the MoE, particularly in achieving quality teaching and learning,as stated in the Blueprint, as well as to assist Malaysia generally in maintaining its statusas an education hub and achieving its dream of 2020 through quality education.

Discussion and conclusionThis study investigated the dominant domain relating to thinking domains of the ETsthrough their factor loadings. It explored the possibility of using these domains as KPIs forteaching practices among the ETs in Malaysia. In addition, this study identified the mostchallenging thinking domain amongst the ETs in Malaysia for further action andexamined the interrelationship between the five thinking domains (teachers’ teachingphilosophy, teaching objective, PCK, teachers’ expectations and management style).Moreover, this study has determined the reliability and psychometric properties of themodel instrument created by the researcher. To achieve all the research objectives, sincethe scale was self-developed, this study first validated the instrument by applyingdifferent techniques of advanced statistics, such as EFA, to investigate the underlyingrelationships among the measured variables and whether the items loaded on theirrespective measured variables. For further confirmation, CFA was used to determine theitem and data fitness. Finally, five factors emerged; the observed variables loaded ontotheir intended latent or unobserved variable after some deletion, and the goodness-of-fitwas achieved through indices.

This study has determined the KPIs for the ETs though CFA by looking at the highloading factor or ET thinking domains. The findings of this study have shown someinteresting findings as well as some unexpected findings. This study has generallyconfirmed that all the excellent thinking domains should be used as the ETs KPI inMalaysia for the performance and teaching practices of the ETs as all these domains showstrong indicators with high factor loadings. However, when it comes to an exact point orcritical area that needs serious attention and emphasis, this study has confirmed that theclassroom management style of the ETs is the dominant domain and should be used as thetop KPI for ETs in Malaysia followed by ET expectation. This supported the findings ofHamzah et al. (2008) in that teachers’ expectations showed the highest contribution to theteaching performance of the ETs.

In addition, for excellent teaching and practice to take place, ETs among themselvesshould create a peer review system where other teachers are allowed to come in for peerevaluation. Besides, MOE could create a unit for ET classroom evaluation where inspectorsor officers could have a spot check in ET classrooms, even their school principals could doso to investigate the types of teaching method being used in the classroom and whether thestudents’ level of engagement in learning and discussion meets the required standards.In doing this, constructive comments are expected from the inspectors and principals toimprove ET teachers and excellent teaching practices. As there should be serious concernsabout the varying classroom management styles and teaching objectives of the ETs not

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meeting the parents and community needs. It is proposed that the management of theclassroom style, objectives and methods are unified, as the teaching and learningobjectives are expected to be the same. ETs should have the same expectations of theirlearners, which should be reflected in their classroom management. It is rather worrisomewhen each ET practices his or her own classroom management style, preference orreservation. It is also alarming when each ET personalizes his or her own teachingobjectives and expectation.

Therefore, it is suggested that an in-depth review should be conducted concerning thestandardization of the classroom management and the national teaching objectives inMalaysia. Perhaps representatives from the MoE and the school principals could go into thefield to determine whether the excellent and non-ETs are fulfilling the national educationobjectives and meeting expectations. This could lead to setting KPIs for achieving teachingobjectives among the ETs. Furthermore, alignment of their expectations with theirclassroom management as ETs is expected based on their position to produce students withhigh creative thinking. This can be achieved through their students’ outcomes and aninternational assessment to test whether the teaching objectives are being achieved.For the ETs to shoulder these responsibilities, the Malaysian MoE, especially theDepartment of Teacher Training and Development, should provide the necessary trainingand motivation to support the ETs in performing well in their teaching and fulfilling whatis expected of them.

In sum, this study can confirm, based on the ETs who participated in this study, thatETs manage their classrooms in a similar way as they agreed in their responses toencourage students’ discussion and allow communication exchange while they tend to havedifferent expectations. Thus, their expectations of their learners, classroom managementand the teaching objectives, which should be standardized, tend to vary according to thepersonality of each teacher. With these findings, there is no unified or standard rubricconcerning their expectations of their classroom and students. In addition, there is nounified method or approach in their teaching practices or performance. These findingscorrespond with those of Ng (2009), cited in Ibrahim et al. (2013) concerning howETs in science manage and engage students into thinking in their classrooms.As Ng reported, ETs in science differ in their teaching practices by using varying andunstandardized approaches in their subjects related to thinking in classrooms. But in thisstudy, the findings contradicted one part of the Ng study as ETs tend to be similar inthe way they conduct their classes by allowing discussion, participation andcommunication among their students although, they have different expectations of thesubjects and students.

However, in a situation where ETs are not trained to transmit their lesson’s contentknowledge to suit the student’s ability, apply teaching philosophy in their classrooms andtheir teaching objectives does not somehow meet parents as well as community needs,definite action should be taken as there might be implications or setbacks on providingquality teaching and learning. This is in line with Jadama (2014) and NCATE claims wherethey emphasized that teachers can only understand students and have an impact on themwhen the particular teacher has full comprehension of the subject matter. In addition,according to NCATE, a quality or ET is a teacher that has high quality preparation. So as asimple remedy, as suggested before by this research, there should be a major review of ETwork, teaching, methods and syllabuses as ET in Malaysia, based on their scheme and theirstatus which play big roles in infusing quality and excellence in teaching as well as settingexamples for other to emulate.

Additionally, this study also found that there was a weak relationship between the ETPCK and the classroom management style. This implies that the knowledge of how to teachdoes not have much influence or relate to how ETs manage their classes. In fact, research

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has indicated that teacher PCK, which is about the knowledge of teaching or skill of how toteach, reflects the teaching practices in the classroom and methods of teaching.This supported the argument of Wilke (2004), as reported by Chong et al. (2005),concerning teacher content knowledge among the pre-service teachers in Singapore whereit was found that teacher content knowledge leads to good teaching, in which goodteaching is believed to be the ability to transmit knowledge to others. However, in the caseof Malaysia, based on the sample, PCK has a different impact according to theparticipants’ understanding, as the teachers’ PCK is unconnected to the classroommanagement style. This result is consistent with the studies by Lyla (1997) and byNg (2009) concerning the pedagogical practices of ETs in English, as reported by Ibrahimet al. (2013). Lyla also reported a contradiction in the views of the ETs with respect to theirsubjects and classroom teaching practices with learners as well as to having differentopinions about their role as ETs.

In this study, another unexpected weak correlation was found between teachers’expectations and teaching objectives, which implies that ETs’ expectations do not correlatewith their teaching objectives, while it is expected that effective teaching should correspondto teaching, learning objectives and instructional activities. In addition, when teachers areclear about their expectations, it articulates students’ learning and what is expected fromthem through the outcomes. However in the Malaysian context, it might be the other wayaround, perhaps the expectations are shaped by the culture or personality of the teachers,which could influence their classroom management and teaching style as well as theirlearning objectives. This might be corroborated by Wanning (1998), as reported by theMetropolitan Center for Urban Education (2008), in which a causal-relationship was foundbetween the type of management style and teacher characteristic behaviours (Wanning,1998). It also supported an experiment conducted by Robert Rosenthal in 1964, as reportedby Spiegel (2012), in which he found that teachers’ expectations influence the performance ofstudents, especially their IQs.

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Further readingCarl, J.W. (1998), “Classroom management styles”, ISU Physics Teacher Education Program, available

at: www.phy.ilstu.edu/pte/311content/classmgt/mgtstyle.html (accessed 14 September 2015).KIPP (2012), “Why do we have a KIPP Framework for excellent teaching?, available at: www.kipp.org/

files/dmfile/07022012KFET.pdf (accessed 21 September 2015)Nunnally, J. and Bernstein, I. (1994), Psychometric Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.The University of Queensland, School of Education, available at: http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/

UQ:345073/s4244088_phd_submission.pdf (accessed 13 December 2015).

Corresponding authorIsmail Hussein Amzat can be contacted at: ihussein@uum.edu.my

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