An Exploratory Factor Analysis on Generating Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles from Malaysian Teacher Educators’ Perspectives

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and establish the validity and reliability of Teaching and Learning instrument to generate teaching and learning guiding principles. Participants consisted of 171 Malaysian teacher educators. The Teaching and Learning instrument is a 5-point Likertscaled survey consisting of 67 statements and 6 subscales. The internal consistency using Cronbach's coefficient alpha for every subscale is greater than 0.700. For the overall instrument using the 67 items that comprised the six subscales, internal consistency reliability analysis revealed a Cronbach's coefficient alpha of 0.977. Additionally, the varimax rotation was proceeded by maintaining six factors with a total variance contribution of 62.56 percent. Items with factor loading greater than 0.375 were retained. Finally, there were 41 items remaining. However, there were 26 items absent in the original constructs, thus the items were discarded because they were found inappropriate for representing new constructs. The factor analysis found that the teaching and learning guiding principles produced six factors: intellectual excitement (6 items), quality learning spaces (10 items), constructive alignment (8 items), international and culturally (10 items), climate of inquiry (4 items), and nurture good values (3 items). Keywords Overview and Background of the ResearchIt is acknowledged that teacher education programmes need dynamic development to establish both important core, and the most up-to-date content. At the same time, pedagogies need to change given the changing nature of knowledge, learning, profile of learners and the new environment. A more student-centred rather than teachercentred mode of teaching emphasises the different learning styles and needs of students. It requires the teacher to demonstrate content-pedagogical expertise and also a more definitive understanding of the different learning styles and needs of children and how to address them pedagogically (Futrell, 2010).However, research by AKEPT (Ministry of Education, 2012) found that 50% of Malaysian teachers observed failed to deliver their lessons effectively, particularly to inculcate higher order thinking which is one of the six key student attributes as embodied in the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Ministry of Education, 2012). Such ineffective exemplification of teaching among Malaysian teachers warrants immediate attention and appropriate intervention. Therefore, it is crucial for both Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) and Teacher Training Institutions (IPG) to review their existing teacher education programmes, giving adequate attention, emphasis and focus on the aspect of teaching and learning in the teacher education programmes. This is to enhance and where necessary, to transform their teacher education model so that it will be able to produce teachers for the 21 st Century and beyond. Consequently, measuring teaching and learning guiding principles quantitatively provides teacher educators with a new research direction...

Uncovering pedagogical gaps in a chemistry classroom: Implications for teaching and learning

“…The "guiding principles for teaching and learning" were developed at the start of the NRGS via document review of present policy positions, as well as expert interviews with policymakers and experts in teacher education. "A Teaching & Learning Checklist" was produced, piloted, and validated using exploratory factor analysis based on the "guiding principles for teaching and learning", confirming the six-factor checklist [36] with 67 initial items reduced to 50. The "Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning" show the intended or aspired teaching practices in teacher preparation program, but the actual or direct implementation of science-based teaching practices still has to be determined via classroom observations.…”

“…The non-participatory observation strategy was chosen since it was more impartial to hone our focus on the chemistry teaching strategies that were being implemented. The teaching and learning regulatory principles were earlier designed, authenticated, outlined and reported in [36], [37]. The observation checklist named as the "Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles" has items that are divided into six practices or key points.…”

Validation of Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles Instrument for Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions

“…The comparison between the previous study about the TLGP and this study is as shown in Table 2. Table 2 Comparision of Previous and Present Study of Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles (TLGP) Previous study (Adnan et al, 2015) This study Reason…”

“…The purpose of this article is to present the processes and analyses involved in further validating the Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles (TLGP) in the context of higher learning institutions in Malaysia by Adnan, Masuwai, Tajudin, & Rahman (2015). The previous stage of the research resulted in six key themes, later labeled as constructs, related to principles of teaching and learning.…”

“…As stated earlier, the instrument used to collect further data was the TLGPI, the same instrument used in the previous stage of the research (Adnan et al, 2015). In validating the factor structure underlying the TLGP, we were in effect validating the factor structure of the TLGPI.…”