Teacher competence is recognised as an important requisite to improve students_ academic performance and their experiences of schooling. The current strategy in Malaysia to improve this competency and outcomes of education culminated in the articulation of the Standard Guru Malaysia or the Malaysian Teacher Standards (MTS). Introduced in December 2009, the MTS is to establish high teaching standards and sets out to recognise accomplished teaching among the teaching profession. Although proponents of the standards have welcomed its introduction, this article argues that the MTS poses significant challenges for teacher educators as they set out to train new teachers to begin teaching in ways that are congruent to the standards. The article claims that the new MTS represent the standards towards which teacher educators must now aim for. In fact, this is an intentional element embedded in the MTS. The Malaysian government hopes that by initiating standards by which teachers are to be appra.....

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Starting with a brief overview of the history of teacher education development in China, this paper aims to shed light on a few major positive characteristics in the reform and change of teacher education in China occurred in the past decade. These include changing role of the central government, innovations in curriculum and instruction in pre-service teacher education and strengthening of in-service teacher development. Challenges and issues faced by the reform and development of teacher education in China will be discussed in the final part of the paper together with a brief discussion on directions for the future. Key words: China, Pre- and In-service Teacher Education, Reform and Innovation, Role of the Central Government, Curriculum and Instruction..

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This paper aims to discuss teacher education in Japan. In pre-service education, the curriculum at the Bachelor_s degree level has shifted more to an approach that emphasizes reflective practices. Professional schools of teacher education, which have recently been established for the Master_s degree level, are supposed to function as a practical course of education, but it is still very unclear how they are different from the existing graduate schools of education. In the domain of in-service training, a teacher license renewal system was recently introduced, but it does not seem to be meaningful because of its cost. Instead of the introduction of license renewal system, it is more efficient and effective for teachers to be united and involved in reforming themselves at every school level in order to create secure learning spaces and communities inside the schools. Keywords: Teacher education reform; pre-service education; professional schools of teacher education; teacher license ren.....

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This study aims to evaluate the implementation of online reading course at Universiti Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), by identifying authentic online reading assessment approaches and measuring students_ attitudes towards reading course during online learning. This study employs a mixed-method approach. In qualitative phase, document analysis of course guidelines and observations of six Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (FLSP) instructors during online teaching were conducted using a thematic approach. This was followed by a quantitative phase, where a Learning Assessment questionnaire containing six dimensions (planning, teaching and learning, student engagement, course assignments, and course explanation) was distributed to 170 students to measure their attitudes, with acceptability criteria between 0.6 and 0.79. The findings show that performance-based assessment is the main authentic assessment approach implemented by FLSP instructors, as evidenced through the analysis of course gu.....

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Kajian ini bertujuan untuk membangunkan kit media pendidikan (kit E-Muhadathat) untuk pembelajaran komunikasi bahasa Arab, mengenal pasti kebolehgunaan dan keberkesanannya terhadap kesediaan untuk berkomunikasi (KUB) dalam bahasa Arab. Kajian ini menggunakan reka bentuk kuasi-eksperimen terhadap 34 pelajar sebagai responden daripada Program Ijazah Sarjana Muda Bahasa Arab dengan Pendidikan, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) yang dipilih melalui teknik pensampelan rawak mudah, dan 13 responden pakar dari pelbagai bidang bagi menilai kebolehgunaan kit E-Muhadathat berdasarkan teknik Fuzzy Delphi. Data dikumpulkan menggunakan instrumen praujian, pasca ujian, soal selidik kebolehgunaan kit, dan dianalisis menggunakan analisis deskriptif, ujian-t, dan teknik Fuzzy Delphi. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahawa kit E-Muhadathat berkesan dalam meningkatkan KUB bahasa Arab pelajar, dengan perbezaan yang signifikan antara kumpulan kawalan dan kumpulan rawatan (p=0.000). Selain itu, hasil dar.....

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This study investigates the influence of transformational leadership and knowledge leadership of principals on the motivation of private school teachers in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. A quantitative approach was used in this study, using a survey method and a questionnaire. The samples were selected using stratified and simple random sampling involving 335 teachers in 13 regions. Furthermore, data were analyzed through descriptive and regression analysis. The results of the study showed that the level of transformational leadership of principals was high (mean=4.39, standard deviation=0.61), the level of knowledge leadership of principals was also high (mean=4.43, standard deviation=0.61), as well as the level of intrinsic motivation of teachers (mean=4.41, standard deviation=0.55) and the level of extrinsic motivation of teachers (mean=4.37, standard deviation=0.59). The result also proved that transformational school leadership and knowledge leadership simultaneously influence the i.....

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Peralihan daripada pemain bola remaja kepada dewasa ialah satu tempoh kritikal, yang mana ramai pemain bola sepak telah menunjukkan prestasi yang baik semasa remaja namun gagal mengekalkan prestasi mereka sehingga dewasa. Prestasi pemain bola sepak dari remaja ke dewasa merupakan masalah besar dan serius bagi bola sepak negara kerana pemain remaja ialah kunci masa hadapan pasukan bola sepak senior pada masa akan datang. Kajian ini dilakukan untuk meneroka isu dan cabaran laluan pembangunan pemain bola sepak bawah 17 tahun Indonesia dan Malaysia, serta mengenal pasti ciri-ciri psikologi yang dapat membantu pemain bola sepak bawah 17 tahun untuk mengekalkan kesinambungan prestasi mereka hingga dewasa. Tujuan akhirnya ialah membina sebuah model pembangunan pemain bola sepak bawah 17 tahun Indonesia dan Malaysia. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kualitatif dengan pendekatan grounded theory, sebanyak 25 pelatih dari Indonesia dan Malaysia mengambil bahagian dalam kajian ini dengan kriteria mem.....

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The purpose of this study is twofold. First, it explores the influence of Chinese translations of foreign picture books on the development of Chinese children's picture books. Second, it compares the characteristics of these two types of picture books. The present study employs the qualitative research approach, and 129 samples of Chinese and foreign picture books that were written in Europe, America, and Japan were selected for comparative analysis. The study shows that the introduction of foreign picture books in China has promoted the creation and development of Chinese native picture books. Chinese original picture books are now rich in themes and content. They are relatively subtle in artistic expression and focus on conveying inner emotions and meanings. However, there is still a need to expand their ideas in terms of innovation, imagination, and children's enjoyment. Chinese picture books, while telling Chinese stories well, need to learn from foreign graphic narrative technique.....

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This study investigates the effectiveness of picture cue cards in helping Year 3 pupils improve their vocabulary retention. This action research was conducted in a suburban school involving 30 pupils. Data collection instruments included pretest and post-test assessments and a post-test questionnaire comprising Likertscale and open-ended questions. The purpose was to gauge the pupils' attitudes towards using picture cue cards and to identify any challenges they faced during the process. The findings indicate that using picture cue cards significantly improved the Year 3 pupils_ vocabulary retention. The paired sample t-test results revealed a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test scores (M = 10.60 and M = 27.17, respectively), demonstrating marked improvement in vocabulary retention. Furthermore, the questionnaire data showed that the pupils had a positive attitude towards using picture cue cards for vocabulary retention. Despite the improvements, some challenges we.....

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This study aimed to examine the effect of transformational leadership (TL) on teachers_ creativity (TC) in the United Arab Emirates public schools. The study employed a quantitative approach. The sample of 420 teachers was selected using a random sampling technique. This study further employed T-Test and Multiple Regression to analyse the hypotheses. Findings revealed significant effect of teacher gender on TL(IS) (t=9.388, F=11.567, p=0.000) with men (M = 2.8094, SD=0.89162) attaining higher scores than women (M=1.998, SD=0.775). On TL(IC), there was significant effect of gender (t=6.031, F=4.033, p=0.000) with men (M = 2.707, SD=1.074) attaining higher scores than women (M=2.03, SD=1.119). On TL(IM) there was a significant effect of gender (t=6.500, F=3.311, p=0.000) with men (M = 2.8058, SD=1.082) attaining higher scores than women (M=2.109, SD=0.995. On TL(II), gender showed a significant effect (t=6.638, 6.759, p=0.000) with men (M = 2.839, SD=1.059) attaining higher scores than w.....

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