Bila Ku Renung - As I Ponder

Let's look at our fellow teachers in Japan. What are they facing in their job as teachers. What are their ups and downs over there. In general teachers in Japan are:- 1. generally well paid, supported and respected. 2. required to go through extensive training and have to pass a very competitive test. Only a few do pass to be qualified teachers. 3. required to attend classes in the summer and after school. 4. held in very high esteem. 5. making more money than equivalent positions in the private sector and the civil service. 6. treated with more respect and addressed with the honorific " sensei " a term that is usually used in addressing doctors or MPs. 7. required to work an average of 11 hours a day and received ¥410,000 a month salary. 8. more organized and likely to stick to the tasks and matter at hand with few or no personal stories or jokes. 9.stress and experience anxiety related to their work. New rules and regulations gave them too much of extra work

Schools in Malaysia are heavily burden with extra jobs besides teaching. Teachers will be the main actors in making sure that all the extras are carried out in the best manner possible. With the KPI and NKRA requirements one has to put more efforts in making sure that the target achievement set is achieved. Thus teachers may have to sacrifice part of their time in carrying out these extra jobs. The time has come for us to restructure our education system in terms of work load and job specification for teachers. Let's look at the job specification of a secondary school teacher in the United Kingdom. UK Secondary School Teacher's Job Discription. Typical work activities include: •preparing and delivering lessons to a range of classes including putting up displays in the classroom; •marking work, giving appropriate feedback and maintaining records of pupils' progress and development; •researching new topic areas, maintaining up-to-date subject knowledge and then devis