IIUM Journal of Educational Studies
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Teachers’ Appraisal Methods and Job Performance: Learning from an Islamic Boarding School in Indonesia
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Purpose ‒The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between teachers’ performance appraisal methods and teachers’ job performance and its implications to teaching and learning explicitly in the context of Islamic Boarding Schools in Gontor, East Java Indonesia, a district that has more than 10 school branches in Indonesia.
Designed/methodology/approach ‒A survey method was employed to collect the data from 110 teachers who had two to five years of teaching experiences. In data analysis, the researchers had applied a two-step approach to test the measured variables representing three latent constructs namely classroom observation, lesson planning, self-appraisal, and teachers’ job performance as the criterion variable.
Findings and Results ‒ The findings from descriptive analysis indicated that teachers perceived self-appraisal and classroom observation more frequently than lesson plan. Teachers viewed lesson plan as an adequate method used in teachers’ appraisal. Moreover, correlation analysis revealed that two of TPA methods namely classroom observation and self-appraisal, were positively correlated with teachers’ job performance, while lesson planning was found to have no correlation with job performance. The regression results concluded that the best predictor of teachers’ job performance was lesson planning.
Research limitations/implications ‒This research only focuses on Islamic boarding school in Gontor East Java Indonesia.
Originality/value: The implementation of teachers’ appraisal in Islamic Boarding School is unique to educational institutions in Muslim country such as in Indonesia. Thus, the findings could be generalized to other school branches of Gontor and schools which have similar characteristic and curriculum to those of Gontor.
Keywords: Multiple regression analysis, Performance appraisal, Classroom observation, Self-appraisal, Lesson plan, Job performance, Instructional leadership, Islamic Boarding School.
Paper type: Research pape
Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Professional Agency during Curriculum Reform and Its Underlying Structure
Get PDFThe purpose of this study was to construct validate an effective instrument to measure teachers’ professional agency and factors influencing it. The validity and reliability of the instrument were tested using exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis. Ninety-four items were developed for initial instrument based on ecological model of teachers’ professional agency as the conceptual model. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that nine factor structure of the instrument explained 76.37% of the variance in the pattern of relationships among the items. All the nine factors had high reliabilities (all Cronbach’s alpha greater than .791). Fifty-three items remained in the final questionnaire after deleting items with cross-loadings on multiple factors and loadings below .5. Hence this study confirmed a nine-factor structure of the instrument. This instrument could be used to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing teachers’ professional agency during a curriculum reform
Development of Character and Life Skills through Islamic Methods of Teaching Acquired Science Subjects at Islamic International Schools in Malaysia
Get PDFIslamic Schools strive to achieve educational excellence while integrating religious values into their curriculum. Yet, what makes an Islamic school really “Islamic” is not just the content of the curriculum, but also the teaching methods employed by the teachers who are teaching religious and non-religious subjects which affect the whole implementation of the integrated curriculum. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential benefits of using Quranic and Prophetic Teaching Methods (QPTMs) in non-religious classes on developing the characters of students. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with 6 teachers teaching non-religious subjects in Islamic international schools in Malaysia. The interviews were transcribed and the data collected was analyzed by the researchers. The study analysis revealed that teachers of non-religious subjects in Islamic international schools believe that QPTMs contribute to students’ character development by inculcating characteristics and life skills. The findings of the study can draw the attention of integrated curriculum developers to the impact of including the QPTMs in teaching non-religious subjects in the inculcation of Islamic morals and developing the characters of the students.
Key words: Islamic education, moral education, character development, teaching methods, integrated curriculu
Investigating Students’ Philosophic-Mindedness through Their Producing Philosophical Questions: Hindering and Facilitating Factors
Get PDFGiven the crucial role philosophical thinking can serve in enhancing the cultivation of mind, it seems urgent that prior to nurturing such thinking its status be investigated within individuals in various educational contexts. Moreover, since philosophy is characteristically a question-raising discipline, one way one’s philosophic-mindedness can be investigated is to see if s/he is capable to cast a philosophical look at a text and in turn pose philosophical questions on it. Hence, the present paper aims at a) exploring the participants’ ability in making philosophical questions and b) finding out factors leading to producing and not-producing such questions. To this end, through accessible sampling, a group of 50 BA sophomore and junior students in an EFL context attended this study. The participants were asked to read two simple short passages and make any type of question(s) (text-based, beyond the text, etc.) that would occur to their mind in essay-type format. Then, using purposeful sampling, 17 out of 50 were selected for an open interview. Based on Cam’s (2006) question framework, the findings revealed that the majority of the participants were not able to produce philosophical questions and the factors leading to generating non-philosophical questions were memorization-based system, teacher-centered curriculum, non-liberal atmosphere of classes, unsuitable family environment, weak performance of mass media, irrational social customs, etc. On the contrary, the factors giving rise to producing philosophical questions were innate disposition towards thinking, introversion, appropriate family environment, proper nurturing conditions, adequate method of teaching, etc. Furthermore, the technique of question-making and question-analysis together with a question framework are introduced to be employed for realizing philosophic-mindedness. Finally, Philosophy-based Language Teaching is suggested as an approach for removing the obstacles to philosophical thinking.
 
Attitude of Military and Paramilitary Officers towards the Role of Arabic Language in Addressing Security Issues in Nigeria
Get PDFThis study addresses security issues in Nigeria through Arabic Language Education. Arabic Language is one out of the international languages, it is a member of the Semitic family of language and perhaps the only one among them that has gallantly stood the test of the time. It gains wide range of currency and leaves an indelible mark on the course of world history, culture and civilization. The language has played a significant role in security challenges. It has the ability to solve problems between groups of people by ensuring atmosphere for understanding and peaceful co-existence. The study was a descriptive survey type. The population consisted of all Nigerian military and paramilitary officers using stratified random sampling technique, 50 officers were selected from each of the Nigerian Army, Air force, Police, and Civil Defence corps in the North-east totaling 200. A questionnaire titled “Arabic Language Education and National Security Questionnaire” was designed for the data collection. Test re-test method was employed for the reliability with 0.76 coefficient. One research question and one hypothesis guided the study. Percentage was used to answer the research question and ANOVA was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05significance level. The findings reveal that there was a significant difference in the understanding of Arabic Language among Nigerian security officers. Significant difference was found in addressing insecurity through Arabic than in other languages. It was recommended among others that, the government should recognize Arabic Language as a medium of communication/instruction and of the equal rank with English language in Nigeria. The Language should be incorporated into in-house training for the security officers.
Keywords: Nigeria, Security, Arabic Language, Rol
Difficulties Faced by Science Teachers in Selected Public Schools in Kuwait: A Descriptive Study
Get PDFThere are numerous difficulties associating with the teaching process in the secondary public schools in Kuwait. The aim of the study is to determine some of the difficulties facing science teachers in secondary schools of Mubarak AL Kabeer governorate in Kuwait. The difficulties encountered by science teachers in secondary schools were examined under these issues: curriculum objectives, student assessment system, school management and science laboratory. Seventy-seven science teachers were chosen randomly from secondary schools in Mubarak AL Kabeer governorate. A structured pretested self-administered questionnaire in Arabic was used to collect data for this study. The analyzed data indicated that both male and female science teachers have difficulties with the curriculum objectives, student assessment system, school management and science laboratory. This study suggested number of recommendations for teachers and administrators in secondary school
Parental Involvement in Education Among Albanian Parents
Get PDFParents' involvement has a huge influence on children’s educational engagement during the elementary years, the study sought to examine the perceptions of Albanian parents of their involvement in their children's schooling at the Qemal Stafa School in Albania. The parental involvement construct examined in the study was conceptualized based on Epstein’s (1995) six categories of parental involvement comprising parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and ANOVA. The results showed a high level of parental involvement in the Albanian children’s learning development. The parents surveyed reported volunteering in many workshops that the school conducted. In addition, the results indicated that some parents maintained a good communication with teachers. The ANOVA results showed statistically significant differences in parental involvement by age, marital status, education level, Income Level. Variables such as communicating, and volunteering were identified as the most important components of parental involvement
Parental Reading Beliefs and Children's Reading Performance
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This study put its interest in investigating parental reading beliefs and children’s reading performance. It also sought to determine whether there is an association between parental reading beliefs and children’s reading performance. This research employed a quantitative research design and it used a quota sampling technique to select the respondents. A total of 30 parents from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Pusu Kuala Lumpur answered a questionnaire about parental reading beliefs. The questionnaire used was adapted from a study by DeBaryshe and Binder (1994). In order to measure the children’s reading performance, the parents were asked to state their children’s comprehension marks towards the end of the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of five factors related to parental reading beliefs which were teaching efficacy, positive attitude, verbal participation, reading instruction and basic knowledge. The data collected was analysed using Pearson Correlation. The results showed that all the factors under parental reading beliefs had positive relationship with children’s reading performance except for one factor which was reading instruction. All of them were not significant and as this study was a preliminary study, hence the results should not be generalised due to number of reasons.
Keywords: Parents, reading beliefs, reading performance, primary school, quantitative researc
