I REFER to the letter “Quality teachers are key” published in The Star Online today.

Every teacher wants to be good, said to be good, and really good. Teachers of Malaysia are guided through the Malaysia Teacher Education Philosophy, or Falsafah Pendidikan Guru (FPG).

FPG outlines the type of teachers aspired by the nation: “Teachers who have a good personal well-being, progressive and scientifically-oriented, ready to uphold the nation’s aspirations and preserve her cultural heritage, promises individual development and maintains a united, democratic, progressive and disciplined society.” (1982).

Elements of FPG analysis come with:

1. Personal wellbeing  
– Good personality, well-mannered, disciplined, morally good

2. Progressive and scientifically oriented
– Develop according to the present times with due emphasis on science and technology
– Strive hard in order not to be left behind professionally

3. Ready to uphold the nation’s aspirations
– Comprehends fully the nation’s unique culture
– Endeavour to maximise contribution in order to change nation’s aspiration

4. Sustain nation’s cultural heritage
– Appreciate nation’s unique culture
– Foster sense of pride with respect to our diversified culture
–  Nurture patriotism and love for the country

5. Promise individual development
– Teachers role in self-development and pupils holistic development

6. Maintain a united democratic, progressive and disciplined society
– Teachers responsibility as a member of the society to contribute towards nation-building
– Endeavour so that society can fulfil the nation’s aspirations

But what exactly are the qualities that make a good teacher? What are the skills, talents, and characteristics, and can they be taught or learnt?

Teacher quality is defined as teachers engaging in education tasks, with certain characteristics, and being able qualified to conduct teaching activities, arousing students’ interest in learning, and enhancing students’ learning achievements.

Teaching can be quite satisfying for people who do it well. A number of educators will not admit they are the best teacher as they do not know the real numbers of students who loves or like them but should good things happened in the classroom, then by all means we are good teachers.

Teachers are the individuals that prepare the future workforce. High calibre teachers that conduct high-quality teaching by integrating their skills and knowledge into their instructional time are central to improving student outcomes.

But for new reporting teachers, the key challenges start when teachers are asked to put theory and innovative ideas into practice without getting much guidance on how to do it.

Thus, having a high-quality teacher who can bring her/his professional attributes and skills into the classroom is not enough to achieve higher gains in student outcomes.

Without a well-prepared instruction process and strong support, quality teaching is impossible to achieve.

Teacher quality and quality teaching are highly interconnected; one without the other can do little for student success.

Policy strategies should align with a clear vision for talented teacher recruitment, preparation, professional learning, and ongoing evaluation that can significantly improve system performance.

This policy brief will provide background information on interconnection of teacher and teaching quality, discuss key challenges, and propose solutions to for higher outcomes. Teaching quality, teacher quality, innovative ideas.

Although every great teacher has their own special, unique style, and there many writings on universal qualities that are necessary for anyone who wants to teach effectively, whether they want to teach in an elementary school or a university.

Educator or teacher should be have expert communication skills, superior listening skills, deep knowledge and passion for their subject matter, the ability to build caring relationships with students, friendliness and approachability, excellent preparation and organisation skills, strong work ethic, community-building skills and of course provide high expectations for all.

Great teachers may also possess a number of other wonderful qualities (like a sense of humour, personality, flexibility, kindness, leadership, classroom management, a calm demeanour, experience, and the ability to multitask), these are the qualities the best teachers universally possess.

* Azizi Ahmad is a senior educator at Institut Pendidikan Guru Kampus Bahasa Antarabangsa.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.