Exploring the School Improvement Specialist Coaches’ Experience in Coaching English Language Teachers

Abstract

Having School Improvement Specialist Coach to support English language teachers is one of the most recent efforts taken by Malaysian government to improve the standard of English in the country. This paper aims to provide insights into the coaching process as perceived by the coaches. In-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out with two coaches where they were asked to share their coaching experience. Specifically, this paper addresses the coaches' perceptions on the professional and personal qualities required in order to be a good coach; their challenging and successful experiences; and their overall views of the effectiveness of the coaching programme. Data analysis reveals that coaching, as part of a professional development programme, is perceived by the coaches to have a significant impact on the enhancement of overall teaching practices. This paper offers valuable insights into the coaching process which are hoped to be beneficial to SISC+, teachers and other stakeholders in education sector.

Teacher Competencies and School Improvement Specialist Coaching (SISC+) Programme in Malaysia as a Model for Improvement of Quality Education in China

“…Nor et al [27] reported that the coached teachers showed some improvements to the methods used in the classroom and concluded by stating that the coaching program was able to support teachers in the implementation of new teaching practices [27]. In addition, seven other reports on instructor and teacher viewpoints toward SISC+ confirmed that coaching sessions were successful in helping them develop their teaching practices [14,29,[51][52][53][54][55]. An-other study on PLC activities with SISC+ verified that teachers' skills, knowledge, and level of confidence grew through the dialogue and lessons analysis sessions [56].…”

“…The findings revealed that out of all the three competency dimensions (communication, policy, process and methodology, and student involvement), only teacher communication skills with learners had an effect on the SISC+ coaching program. However, after much trial and error, SISC+ finally realised that, in order to be successful while dealing with adults, they would need to acquire novel coaching and mentoring techniques [51,60]. The SISC+ coaches employed were in-service teachers with exceptional teaching expertise, content knowledge, and experience in schools, but not trained as adults.…”

Pengalaman Pembimbing Instruksional Pendidikan dan Latihan Teknikal Vokasional (PLTV) dalam Menyokong Refleksi Pengajaran Guru Reka Bentuk dan Teknologi (RBT)

“…Pada tahun-tahun awal program bimbingan, apabila SISC+ turun ke sekolah, mereka menghadapi tentangan daripada guru yang mereka ingin bekerjasama . Ini disokong oleh kajian lain yang menyatakan bahawa walaupun SISC+ cuba memberi penerangan, guru-guru masih tidak berpuas hati dan berasa gentar terutamanya apabila SISC+ melawat bilik darjah mereka (Ahmad Syahiran et al, 2016). Salah satu tanggungjawab utama SISC+ ialah mengadakan lawatan bilik darjah secara berkala dan memberi taklimat kepada guru untuk membuat refleksi tentang pelajaran, dan merancang strategi intervensi (Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia, 2015.…”

Influence of Language Coaching Techniques on Undergraduate Students’ Motivation in the Process of Foreign Languages Teaching at Non-Linguistic Specialties

“…It has been implemented in schools, colleges, and higher education institutions to help students, teachers, and leaders succeed (Lord, Atkinson, & Mitchel, 2008;Tarwiyah, Bharati, & Dwi, 2018). Mohamad, Rashid, & Yunus, et al (2016) examined the views of School Improvement Specialist Coach on their roles in coaching English language teachers in Malaysian primary school. They found that coaching has a significant impact on teaching practices and teacher professional development (p. 269).…”