7.3. Were The Pre-service Teachers Happy With Their Career Choice?
7.3.3. Teacher Training As A Form Of Sponsored Higher Education
All the pre-service teachers saw teacher training as a form of sponsored higher education as they each received a monthly stipend of RM 345, a comfortable sum of money for a single person undergoing training. This gave the pre-service teachers financial independence from their families. They were given training in a socially acceptable and respectable profession without incurring additional financial burden. As Kampar explained "With other institutions of learning I have to pay fees." Not all the pre-service teachers came from families that could afford to pay for their education in other private institutions of tertiary education. This was demonstrated by a majority of the pre-service teachers saying that they would leave teaching if there "are other better options" or if they had the financial means.
Ten of the thirty-two pre-service teachers had taught as temporary teachers 3 before they were admitted into the 'TTC. Their experience as temporary teachers ranged from a minimum of four months to a maximum of two years. Four others, three men and a woman had non-teaching
3 As of 1st of July 1993 there were 21,000 untrained temporary teachers in primary and secondary schools in Malaysia. (New Straits Times, 01/06/1993)
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working experience. The three men, Ramli, Gunung-Panjang and Abdul had worked as an audit clerk, a salesman and a factory hand respectively. Sari, a woman, and Abdul had both worked as temporary teachers as well as factory hands. Sari was admitted into the college on her fifth attempt, Sham! and Abdul, on their second. The rest of the twenty-two participants were successful on their first attempt.
Although thirteen women pre-service teachers expressed altruistic reasons for wanting to be teachers of mathematics, the overall responses of the thirty-two pre-service teachers indicated that financial independence was a very significant motivator for entering TTC. In fact five pre- service teachers, three women and two men, took up the TTC's offer even though they were not offered the option for which they applied. One (Sham!) of the five was not bothered whether he was given his choice option so long as he was accepted by the TTC. The remaining four, three women, one from each race, and a Chinese man accepted the TTC's offer to be a mathematics teacher even though they applied to be teachers of languages. In fact Akma, a pre-service teacher was given this challenge, "Are you brave enough to take mathematics?" by the selection committee during her selection interview. For these four pre-service teachers it was not surprising that they said that they were happy to be teachers but not teachers of
mathematics. It might be possible that freedom from financial worry allowed the thirteen pre- service teachers to be altruistic, "to transmit knowledge, to sharpen the minds of the young, to improve the position of the Malays with respect to mathematics, it is challenging to teach till someone can understand" (Sari)
7.4. Malaysian Mathematics Lecturers Views About The Pre-Service Teachers.
Participating and non-participating lecturers as well as HD informed me that the Malay pre- service teachers were very weak in mathematics compared to the Chinese language option pre- service teachers. Chinese language option pre-service teachers were those training to teach Mandarin in National (Chinese) type schools. If they had to teach mathematics they would do so in Mandarin. At the end of the teaching practice DD stated that she too had found that the
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pre-service teachers she had observed were very weak in their subject-matter knowledge. She formed her opinion after her observations of pre-service teachers who were awarded
distinctions in their practical teaching. She was concerned about the ability of the pre-service teachers to teach mathematics when they themselves did not have a good grasp of the
mathematical concepts they were to teach. She said that directors of other colleges shared her apprehensions.
W said that there was evidence to support their claim
(In a hushed tone of voice) Sometimes this is a problem. You know our trainees they are not so good in maths.... We gave them a diagnostic test in Semester one, we found some of them are really weak in topics like fractions. We gave them extra classes to help them. How effective we don't know. Some of them are not equipped.
It was quite shocking. Some of them [the Malay Pre-service teachers]
could not get 50 percent for UPSR maths paper. Although they may have the maths grade to qualify them for entry into college, yet when we tested them on the UPSR maths paper, this was the result.
Another lecturer, 0, who taught these pre-service teachers mathematical content during their first and second semesters, had this to say of their subject-matter knowledge
Actually their basic skills are very weak. That is the problem and the cause. That is why they couldn't perform their work properly. What they understand is very vague so they could not understand the sequencing. They jumble up everything. They have no prior
knowledge what students should know before they come to the next skill. That is the major drawback. They don't really understand. When they want to teach certain concepts, what should the student know first? Overall I feel that they are very weak. I realise that there are very simple concepts they themselves cannot understand. So definitely if they are going to teach they will find it very hard.
T presented the following reasons why Chinese language option pre-service teachers were better prepared to teach mathematics.
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These pre-service teachers have better mathematics grades. Moreover many have taught before they were successfully selected to be trained as primary teachers. Because of positive discrimination and the New Economic Policy, better qualified Chinese applicants are not selected to be mathematics teachers. They usually worked as temporary teachers while all the time trying their luck, waiting to be selected into teacher training colleges. Because of their experiences and also their better mathematics skills these Chinese language option pre- service teachers could better follow the lessons of these lecturers.
They could see the rationale of the activities suggested by the
lecturers. Malay pre-service teachers are usually weaker in their basic mathematical knowledge. They are not the best people for the job.
They are selected because of positive discrimination policy. Therefore there are better qualified people who are not selected to be trained as primary mathematics teachers.
The lecturers found that because of the better mathematics foundation of the Chinese language option pre-service teachers they were able to prepare and write better lesson plans. Activities were well-developed and led to the unfolding of the concepts they wanted their pupils to learn. According to the lecturers, these pre-service teachers prepared better teaching aids which were well-employed in the classrooms. Lecturers from the Tamil language department expressed similar opinions in their informal talks with me. This emphasis on the importance of the knowledge base was consistent with the work by Ball (1991) and Leinhardt et al (1991). I was invited to observe some of the lessons by the Chinese language option pre-service teachers but I had to decline because time did not permit and I could not understand academic Mandarin.
Lecturers 0, W and K were most concerned about the specialist group of pre-service teachers as they were very passive during class activities and were reluctant to participate in discussion activities. 0 suggested that their own weak command of the knowledge prevented them from participating in discussion or being critical of their friends' work. 0 explained that some lecturers might have said that certain topics were elementary. When such views were expressed
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publicly, the pre-service teachers were put on their guard, keeping quiet rather than asking questions for fear that others might think that their questions were too simple. They did not challenge their friends' views for they did not want to embarrass them publicly. However, 0 pointed out that these pre-service teachers would pay attention to others whom they thought were more knowledgeable and from whom they thought they could learn. O's view was confirmed by the other lecturers and also by the pre-service teachers when they explained why they were passive (see Section 13.5. for details on this issue.)
The above predicament described by 0 was replicated in the intervention sessions that I conducted with the pre-service teachers as well as during the comments session at the end of their micro-teaching. However, this was not the case with the English pre-service teachers who actively participated with their lecturers during their mathematics sessions, first discussing with their peers and then engaging in class discussion with the lecturers.
What I saw in the English mathematics class coincided more with the activities listed in paragraph 243 of the Cockcroft Report and with the KBSR recommendation.
Fourteen of the twenty-three women and three of the nine men pre-service teachers thought that boys were better than girls in mathematics because, though girls worked harder than boys at mathematics, they were not so quick at grasping mathematical concepts as boys who were not as hardworking. The remaining nine women and four men thought that there was no difference so long as both sexes were willing to work hard at the subject. This meant that half the pre- service teachers thought that boys were better than girls at mathematics because of their ability to grasp concepts faster than girls.
7.5. Summary of the findings
Below is a summary of the findings based on the work in this teacher training college.
• More Malays and women than non-Malays and men were selected to be primary mathematics teachers.
• More men than women, more non-Malays than Malays were mathematics lecturers in TTC.
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• Lecturers were mathematics graduates while pre-service teachers were all post- fifth form and sixth form students. All the pre-service teachers obtained a
minimum of a credit "6" for their modern mathematics, "6" being the lowest of the four credits.
• The primary teaching profession did not attract the more successful students, from either the Malay, Chinese, or Indian communities.
• The majority of the pre-service teachers obtained a credit three or lower for their modern mathematics paper.
Being selected for TTC gave the pre-service teachers financial independence from their family as well as an avenue to a respectable profession.
Parents had significantly influenced pre-service teachers' decisions to be teachers.
The female pre-service teachers thought that teaching was an appropriate profession for women.
Malaysian pre-service teachers were afraid to go against their parents wishes and counsel for fear of losing their support.
Training to be primary teachers was made very attractive by government sponsorship. Thus, though some pre-service teachers were not offered the course of their choice, they still accepted the offer.
• Lecturers as well as DD, the deputy director of the college, stated that pre-service mathematics teachers had very weak subject-matter knowledge.
• Lecturers held that Chinese language option pre-service teachers had better subject- matter knowledge of mathematics than the specialist pre-service teachers who were mainly Malays. Hence they believed that the Chinese language option pre-service teachers made better mathematics teachers than the specialist group.
• According to the lecturers, the specialist group's weak subject matter knowledge inhibited them from actively participating in their peer and class discussions.