Colloquium to highlight roles of teachers – Madius

KOTA KINABALU: The International Education Action Research Colloquium (IEARC) 2019 is an effort to address the challenges of the current and future educational agenda, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau.

It is also to mark the success and contribution of teachers in shaping and producing excellent and competitive people in line with educational aspirations as well as to celebrate the success and contribution of teachers, he pointed out when opening the colloquium.

He said the colloquium was meant to highlight the role of teachers as the binding force in shaping generations to be knowledgeable, equipped with leadership skills, practice good values and be prepared to meet today’s challenges.

The challenges, he said, included demand for high-skilled workforce which is a major problem facing Sabah and the country.

“As the Minister for Trade and Industry, I am leading the initiative to drive industrialisation in the Sabah. The target set by state government is to achieve 35 per cent contribution by 2030.

“This target can only be achieved if our industrialisation efforts are supported by highskilled workforce. This is a challenge for all educators present today. By improving and enhancing your skills in pedagogy and education management, I hope it will also cater to the current demand of the industry.

“As Tuaran MP, educationbased effort such as this is highly recommended and my undivided support will always be given,” Madius added.

Speaking to reporters later, Madius said that moving into the fourth industrial revolution, there was a need for them to embrace change and one of the changes was that they must be able to innovate to resolve practical problems.

“When we talk about problems that teachers are facing when teaching as well as the challenge of learning even among students then you have to innovate learning methodologies.

“This is where IEARC comes in. It is inquiry based so it means that you have to have active learning, therefore you are interested in what is happening to the students as well as in how you are teaching.

“You go through the process and at the end of the day, you look at the outcome, which approaches, which learning methodology are more effective. I would encourage teachers to embrace and continue this process and make it as part of their profession so that the teaching profession will become alive and interesting to them,” he stressed.

Citing an example, Madius said there is a decline in the number of students taking up science subject.

“Universities have a problem filling in the places of science students. So how we make the learning process of science interesting? Because right now the perception that it is a hard subject and a little bit boring for the students and teachers.

“But it can be made interesting and one of the things we are doing in Tuaran is the inquiry based science education (IBSC) and we found that students and teachers are more ‘alive’.

“With the implementation of some of this in Tuaran, now they are doing it through the STEM centres. I hope that this will eventually be adopted, the pedagogy for science for the country. This is how important it is,” he stressed.

Madius also pointed out that nowadays, people when facing problems, tend to complain.

But they should instead be thinking on how to be part of the solution, they should take it as an opportunity to be innovative and look for solutions, he pointed out, adding, “if you can find the solution to the problem, it will have a commercial value. This is how we create wealth value to things. It is all about paradigm and change.

IEARCC 2019 is a Professional Learning Community (PLC) Sharing Best Practices project designed by PPD Tuaran with the collaboration of the University of Selangor (UNISEL).

Among the responsibilities of Tuaran PPD is to assist in the realization of classroom conservation and culture assessment in schools in Tuaran district through PLC.

In addition, the project also provides opportunities for educators in Tuaran, other states as well countries to share innovations that have been made especially pedagogy. Through collaboration with UNISEL, it is hoped that this project will help to strengthen the quality of education in Tuaran.