Task 1

A response to

Teachers, Democratisation and Educational Reform in Russia band

South Africa Michelle Schweisfurth. Monographs in International
Education. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2002, 140 pp.

“ Michele Schweisfurth (PhD, MSc, BEd/Ontario Teachers Certificate, BA) is Director

of CIER and Senior Lecturer in International Education. Her research interests within
Comparative and International Education are democratic education, global citizenship
and intercultural education, and the professional identity of teachers. Current projects
include a comparative study of the intercultural experiences of international students in
the UK (ESRC). A Canadian national, she has also lived and taught in Sierra Leone,
Indonesia, and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and recent research projects have provided
experience of The Gambia, Rwanda, Russia, and South Africa.
M.Schweisfurth@bham.ac.uk ”1

1
<URL: http://www.education.bham.ac.uk/research/cierold/documents/CIER_Newsletter_2006.pdf>
[Access date: 16th May 2009]

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 In this essay, I shall debate Schweisfurth’s article on primary education teachers’
response to educational reforms to demonstrate that reforms cannot be completely
doomed to 100% failure because there is an element of continuity in the Mauritian
context. Furthermore, reforms do not partly work because of other reasons than ignoring
the main actors of implementation. Along with the driving force and purposes of reform,
we shall view whether the structure, curriculum and pedagogy is democratic in our
education system. An overview of the school as an agent of socialisation will be also
discussed.

What is democracy? According to John Dewey, it goes beyond the meaning of

government and it also includes social interaction and readiness to readjustments and he
underlines the importance of education in a democracy. (Democracy and Education,
Chapter 7, 1916). As Porter stated in 1999, democracy involves the element of equity and
inclusion along with freedom of expression (p. 67, in Schweisfurth, 2002) but it should
also include respect for others (Aspin, 1995, in Schweisfurth, 2002). My understanding of
democracy is a government by the people and for the people but it should not be mixed
up with a laissez-faire type of leadership. In a democracy, the people in power are the
voice of the majority, since it’s the mass that elected them. For Aristotle, the poor is
greater in number (In Dewey, 1916).

Bassey states that Education is seen as ‘acquiring useful knowledge and skills … as
developing personally and socially … about how to earn a living in the future … how to
increase the gross national product in future’ (1995). In every country educational
policies are governed by the people in power through major changes (reforms) which
each new government brings about and it mainly aims for betterment individually,
socially, culturally and economically.
“All government leaders have been committed to the idea “education for all”
with the avowed aim of bringing more democracy and greater social, cultural,
economic and political equality in the former colonial society, as education has
been identified as the royal road to economic development.”
(Payneendy, 1997)

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They are often driven politically (Campbell & Neill, 1994, p. 1, in Schweisfurth, 2002,
Fullan 1991:72, in Payneeandy, 1997). Ideologies governing reforms should be left in
public hand to be judged since it is what dictates policy. (See Bassey, 1995, for ideologies
which influences policy).

The Minister, whom the mass voted for, is on top of the hierarchy of the Mauritian
Education Structure. All the other post (In zones and educational institutions- created by
the new government who came into power in 2000) are appointed by the Public Service
Commission & Disciplined Forces Service Commission (PSC) with in-course course
provided (See Appendix A & B for the echelons in zones). The recruiting system is
democratic since anyone having the necessary qualifications for the job can apply. In the
state secondary schools, there is a Parent Teachers Association (PTA) which is selected
during the annual general meeting of the school.(See G.Crozier & D Reay, educational
structure, 2005; for a concrete example of how PTA helped in bridging the gap between
black parents and the school) There is also the student council, which is approved by the
school administration, body which can be described as the voice of the students.

After the1987 election, educational reform came with the idea of 9-year schooling which
would have been facilitating entry to secondary after a general exam at Form III level,
since at the end of the actual primary cycle children are so young to bare the stress of a
ranking-oriented exam. The 1991’s reform thought the same noble intention possible
through regionalisation and removal of the Certificate of Primary Education (CPE- end of
primary cycle exam) did not have the backup needed from the government at that time.
The follower transformed his predecessor’s words into action when that government
voted for the construction of around 20 colleges, thus regionalising students’ access to a
state secondary school because the ministry was able to bring real change when backed
by cabinet members. Afterwards in 2005, World Class Quality Education was echoed via
the media. It only paraphrased what was in the former paper (National Report of
Mauritius, 2004, p. 3).Ironically, the same government adopted Programme Based
Budgeting (PBB) which focuses on quantity pass rate rather than quality pass.
Nevertheless, this government took the ‘education for all’ philosophy a step further by

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providing free transport for all students to and from school. The same money invested to
reduce the actual teacher pupil ratio of 40:1 to 25:1 would have been more lucrative in
terms of quality education because thank to regionalisation the students did not have to
travel much to attend a college. After a reshuffling of the ministries in the same mandate,
the actual Minister of Education came forward with ‘activity period’ to be added in
school curriculum. In my view no reform is short lived because even though those
reforms which were not fully prosperous, each power egocentrically amended the
previous one in a new version with personal signatures. All these reforms have a touch of
‘untested alien practices’ (Pollard et al, 1994, p. 2, in Schweisfurth, 2002). The teacher
factor has been but aside and we shall debate it later. Economically driven reforms can be
seen in the history when we ponder about how the curriculum was influenced when
British colonised Mauritius in 1810 and how it changed post independence. It is closely
linked to the aim of education. Like in 1987 when Asian languages (A.L) were
considered for ranking, so that ethnic and cultural groups can be considered.

In 2004’s the National Report of Mauritius, we can see how much effort the government
put to achieve quality in education as well as providing education for all from pre-
primary till tertiary. They even took into account Priority Action Zone (Zone d’éducation
prioritaire – ZEP), students with special needs and provision for school drop outs through
specialized pre-vocational classes.(See Appendix C for Number of educational
establishments in pre-primary, primary and secondary per zone). During the international
conference on education at the Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) in 2009, we could
see the dream of the Open University, which was mentioned in the National Report of
Mauritius, taking shape. (Prof V.S. Prasad Lecture, 2009).

Reforms also contribute in the changes in curriculum. In Mauritius, we have National

Curriculum Committee on Research and Development (NCCRD) which takes into
account mixed ability group but the Urdu books I work with up to form III but has no
continuity in the curriculum because it does not provide for translations which are 30% of
the O’level paper. Since teachers have the freedom to choose the books from the list
which the ministry approves (See references for Standardisation of textbook for

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secondary school yr 2008 & 2009), the door is open for them to be authors. They are free
propose their book(s) as part of the standardisation list (Communiqué for Standardisation
of Secondary School Textbooks for 2010 and 2011). If they are not authors, teachers can
pass their recommendation through the Head of Departments (HOD) who are now invited
to join the board for setting the standardised list of books. HODs who are themselves
authors cannot sit in the committee.

Schools are socializing agents (Giroux, 1983, p. 62, in Schweisfurth, 2002) and ‘as a
mean of training well-balanced citizens for a democracy’ (Bruner, 1977, p. 1).Therefore,
education should aim at facilitating the students to be productive and responsible adults
for society of tomorrow. Secular education very often restricts moral values through rules
and regulations at school or as hidden agendas in the classroom. Point to be noted that
those rules and regulations are imposed on the teenagers instead of allowing for example
the student council to amend it to a certain degree without any abuse. Citizenship is a
myth in our secondary schools where only a few students participate in “Project citizen”
organised by the Ministry of Education each year. Although citizenship education was
introduced in the primary but was discontinued and it is not in the secondary cycle
curriculum.

As Schweisfurth demonstrated how schools reproduce the societal norms in the citizens
of tomorrow, being an A.L teacher, I noticed that these languages are being
communalised and adversely to school roles it does not mirror our multi-culture. The
content of the NCCRD Urdu textbooks is an example where the comprehensions have
been contextualized for Muslim learners only. A language is not meant for only a specific
community. It is a contradiction to the “education for all” conception, in a ‘democratic’
country. Cultural centres are being politicised, this is the reason we could not take the
students in our A.L department there during an educational tour regardless of their
individual community.

All these finally aim at leaving the college with the highest achievement of an A’ level
certificate set by Cambridge. The Mauritius Examination Syndicate (MES) has a say in

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the syllabus and preparation of question papers and correction as well for some subjects.
Reports and marking schemes are at educators’ disposal so that they can enhance their
result areas. We can say its communication from the board to the educators but it seems
to be a one-way traffic with the receiving end and they cannot amend the syllabus
although they are the field workers.

Pedagogy is where teachers are the real actors in the teaching and learning scene. "The
processes of teaching and learning stimulate one another." (Confucius, circa 500 BCE)
Whether being called the ‘black box’ (Ball, 1990b, in Schweisfurth, 2002) yet in this case
educators cannot be the ‘ignored factor’ as Schweisfurth labeled it. (2002). Atkinson’s
research in 2000 shows that, in the attempt to devise a standardized theory via practice,
government-funded researches in England restrict the spectrum of problem solving in
education field to only ‘What Works’ in the classroom where teachers are the main actors.
But in Ball’s view this is quiet difficult because policies are simple where as practice is
more complex (1994, p. 11, in Schweisfurth, 2002). Porter thinks that in order for reforms
to be successful in a democratic society, the schools and its teachers should be able to
have a certain degree of freedom (1999, in Schweisfurth, 2002).The reality is that the
school along with the teachers do not have the absolute liberty since we are restricted to
our scheme of duties to implement the reforms or rather it would be against their nature,
as it is described in Schweisfurth’s article.

She is convinced that all reforms are doomed to failure because implementers are
‘alienated’ in the process (2002). In the same paper it is shown that for ages, teachers
become teachers because they personally have strong moral believes (Sikes and Measor,
1985; Zeichner et al, 1987; Nias, 1989; Cassey, 1993; Fullan, 1993; Huberman, 1993;
Nixon, 1995 in Schweisfurth, 2002). M. Schweisfurth herself came to the same
conclusion with her 12 case studies from Russia and South Africa in 2002. The research
also mention Broadfoot and Osborn realised that in England and France, teacher’s
professional responsibility is anchored in local culture (1993, in Schweisfurth, 2002) and
the same conclusion is mirrored in South Africa and Gambia in Jessop & Penny’s
research (1998, in Schweisfurth, 2002). With such an investment in their profession

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(Nias, 1989, p. 3, in Schweisfurth, 2002) reforms cannot be bound to fail. The pedagogy
an educator adopts forms part of his/her personality (Grimmet, 1995, p. 118, in
Schweisfurth, 2002). Since the later is committed to his/her duty, policy makers expect
them to adapt voluntarily to change. There is a degree of resistance although there is
adaptation to reforms (Broadfoot & Osborn, 1993; Fuller et all, 1996, in Schweisfurth,
2002). Because of their conservative nature, some educators also find those changes
traumatic (Nias, 1989, p. 62, in Schweisfurth, 2002)..

Since Mauritius is a democratic country, educators often find themselves finding the
balance between asserting their individual practice and incorporating selectively the
innovations proposed in reforms (PACE study, Pollard et al, 1994, in Schweisfurth,
2002). The ‘activity period’ imposed by the present education ministry is an example.
The tone is set by the maestro (policy makers) but the orchestra (teachers) is neither
given the instruments (resources) nor the music sheets (guidelines). Educators and rectors
are adapting the reform to their convenience, just like any new government does when he
comes in office. Fortunately, my school has a well-designed formula for activities to the
best interest of the students. Although teachers try their best to accommodate activity
period, they often see themselves in a dead end where resources and funds are short or
inexistent. While responding to Schweisfurth article Shari Popen says:
“One wants to be swayed by phrases such as “giving teachers the
opportunity, if not necessarily the capacity, to act as agents of
democratic social change” (Schweisfurth, 2002, p. 24). In practice,
enabling teachers has less to do with the national reform movements
that serve to de-skill and reduce the legitimate authority of teachers, and
more to do with dramatically raising teacher salaries, funding services and
supplies, and fixing broken buildings.”
(2003)
Schweisfurth feels ‘successful change’ is not possible when teachers are considered to be
passive agent of reforms. The present government tried his level best to motivate teachers
through an attractive salary in the latest Pay Research Bureau (PRB) report in 2008. Plus
the Performance Management System (PMS) was introduced which is far more

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democratic that previous Confidential Report (C.R) as mode of assessment for teachers
performance.

In the line of promoting quality, through performance, in Education, the Ministry of

Education recently launched “The Excellence Award Scheme” which was not only an
encouragement for the teachers but also recognition of their efforts. While aiming at
‘Excellence’, Mauritius tends to follow the footsteps of U.K and USA without any idea of
implementation. Payneendy associated this to lack of ‘quality of man power at the head
of decision-making team in the Ministry of Education’ (1997).Possibly being past British
colonies, it was easier to follow the British system, which had a well-developed
educational system. The policy-makers can also follow the example of Finland who
succeeded in PISA for several years. The inherited elitism from the colonial days,
resurfaced through laureates and scholarships. Although, after the struggle the ‘ending the
rat race’ reform, elitism reappeared by a more fierce and cruel race of maximum A+
criteria. On the other hand, due to globalization a trend has been noted for State colleges
to go for ISO certification, a quality measurement device. My college has the ISO-
9001:2000 IWA2:2007 since last year.

Excellence and world class quality education can be obtained through a good teaching
and learning process. Recently the policy-makers made teachers participate in piloted
projects like the 21st century science (2006) before implementing it on general scale (See
Bassey, 1995, for an ideal view educational research). It is encouraging to see that our
policy-makers are investing in research, involving teaching and learning operation, before
putting their policy into practice. In our Mauritian context, teachers have not been
neglected in all aspects of amendments to the educational system.

Contrary to what Schweisfurth asserts when saying reforms are doomed to failure,
teachers are not the only one to be blamed. For instance, we realised that many past
reforms did not become immediate reality because the national assembly did not provide
the necessary support. Sometimes the reform itself was not clear like the one of 9-year
schooling. The assessment at the end of this cycle was not explicit: who conducts the

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
exam and how it would be conducted. Hollup feels if reforms are not successful, it is due
to lack of partnership between policy-makers and teaching unions (2004).

The bottom line is if we want a democratic participation at every level, from people in
power to the participants in the classroom, everything should reflect democracy. If
educators want new generations to develop democratic values then they should make sure
democracy prevails in the intimacy of the ‘black box’ through a shift from traditional
teaching to cooperative learning like Jigsaw (1971) because teachers roles should not be
authoritarian but rather participative in the teaching and learning process. This would
prone to ensure skills in democratic citizenship. All actors of a reform should place their
ego aside and change their mind-set in favour of the learner. (Harris & Cullen, 2008)

I - Mauritius Publications
Communiqué for Standardization of Secondary School Textbooks for 2010 and 2011

<URL:http://www.gov.mu/portal/goc/educationsite/file/CommStandardization%20of%20
Textbooks.doc> [Access date 10th May 2009].
Chedumbarum Pillay, K.R WHITE PAPER - Pre Primary Primary & Secondary
Education – Mauritius

<URL:http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/skills/hrdr/init/mau_1.htm>
[Access date 10th May 2009]

DRAFT (2008) Education & Human Resources Strategy Plan

2008-2020, Ministry of Education, Culture and Human Resources –Mauritius

<URL:http://www.gov.mu/portal/goc/educationsite/file/DRAFT%20EDUCATION%20&
%20HUMAN%20RESOURCES%20STRATEGY%20PLAN%20(2008-2020).pdf
[Access Date 10th May 2009]

Ending the rat race in primary education and breaking the admission bottleneck at
secondary level –The way forward 2001

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
Minister Gokhool Advocates Quality Education for All
<URL:http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/Mainhomepage/menuitem.a42b24128104d9845dab
ddd154508a0c/?content_id=f9fc79323aeea110VgnVCM1000000a04a8c0RCRD>
[Access date 1st May 2009]
Parsuramen, A. (2001) Acheiving Education For All: The experience of Mauritius
<URL: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0013/001322/132243eo.pdf> [Accessed on 13th
May 2009]
Pay Research Bureau (PRB) report in 2008
<URL:http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/prb/menuitem.42a12b6f62328003a6a4bc10a0208a0
c/> [Access date 15th May 2009]
Programme Based Budgeting (PBB) and linkage with Performance Management
System (PMS)
<URL:http://api.ning.com/files/ZXke4BJZhyWgsHZL6piBYrLtVH6eiGuUjbyAvw2CPl
HMfueOtWERzsVbPy4ruwIDamvGQeJ*7VfoG4HAoclSVEadGx3nlvAl/MauritiusCAS
ESTUDYlinkingPBBandPMSRMCE.ppt> [Access date 15th May 2009]
Standardisation of textbook for secondary school yr 2008 & 2009 -
<URL:http://www.gov.mu/portal/site/education/menuitem.0e6db76912517504631e69104
8a521ca/?content_id=d7288cb1521e4110VgnVCM1000000a04a8c0RCRD> [Access
date 12th April 2009)
The Ministry of Education and Scientific research (2004) The Development of
Education: National Report of Mauritius
<URL:http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/ICE47/English/Natreps/reports/mauritius.
pdf> [Access date 12th April 2009)

II - References
Atkinson, K. (2000) “In Defense of Ideas, or Why ‘What Works’ is Not Enough”
British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 21, Number 3 (2000), Pg 317 – 330
Bassey, M. (1995) Creating Education through research: A Global Perspective of
Educational Research for the 21st century Newark: BERA
Bruner, S, J (1977) The process of education,Edition: 2, illustrated
Published by Harvard University Press.

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
Cooperative Learning
<URL:http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/intech/cooperativelearning.htm [Access date 17th May
2009]
Crozier,G. & Reay,D. (2005) Activating Participation: parents and Teachers Working
Towards Partnership
<URL:http://www.ttrb.ac.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?Keyword=democracy+in+education&se
archOption=And&SearchType=Advanced&RefineExpand=1&Contentld=10710&Search
Context=All&ContentId=10710> [Access date 6th April 2009]
Dewey,J. (1916), Democracy and Education
<URL:http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/socl/education/DemocracyandEdu
cation/chap7.html> [Access date 12th April 2009]
Dr. Payneendy, S. (1997) Educational Reforms: The need v/s The will, University of
London
Harris,M. & Cullen,R. (2008) Observing the Learner-Centered Class o
Florida Journal of Educational Administration & Policy, Volume 1, Issue 2.f Eational
Hollup,O. (2004)Educational policies, reforms and the role of teachers unions in
Mauritius, Telemark University College, Porsgrunn.
ISO-9001:2000 IWA2:2007
<URL:http://www.iso.org/iso/iwa2_ims_07_06.pdf> [Access date 21st May 2009]
Jigsaw classroom An overview of the technique
<URL:http://www.jigsaw.org/overview.htm> [Access date 17th May 2009]>> Issue 2
Popen,S. (2003) Response to Schweisfurth, M (2002) Teachers, Democratisation and
Educational Reform in Russia band South Africa, American Anthropological
Association , University of Arizona.
Prof Prasad, V.S. Lecture (2009), Education for Democracy: Role of 21st century
Open University, International conference at MIE
Raymond Dawson, Confucius Hill and Wang (1981) New York
Schweisfurth, M. (2002) Teachers, Democratisation and Educational Reform in
Russia band South Africa, Oxford: Symposium Books

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
<URL:http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_32252351_32235731_1_1_1_1_1,00.ht
ml> [Access date 23rd May 2009]

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 Task 2

The impact of the MA in Education’s experience

on my understanding, my skills

and my practice in the

future.

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
To teach is to learn.
Chinese proverb

During a flight, I met an old friend. After hi hellos and how you are doing, he said to me
“so you finally became what you always wanted to be: an educator” That triggered me to
ponder about my real ambition in life. An M.A in the subject I teach does not seem to be
enough for my task as an educator. Educator is the term which is in the PRB report 2008
but it is not different from the work of a teacher who helps the students complete a course
syllabus in order to succeed in their exams. So far I have been sent to three colleges to
work in my 6th year career as an Educator and been teaching students till O’level. My
understanding of the education world and my teaching strategies were based on my own
experience. In the process of reviewing and renewing information about my profession
and my identity, I asked myself this question several times. Was being an educator was
my final destination? Whether my pedagogical skills were the right ones?

Therefore I set for a quest to be a perfectionist in my dream career, the idea of teacher
training came to my mind on many occasions. Unfortunately, other commitments and
course timings did not suit me. Seeing the advert about the M.A in education offered by
Mauritius Institute of Education (MIE) and the University of Brighton was like a
blessing. It seemed like a tailor-made scheme just for me. The fact that I do not need to
squeeze in for lecture after school hours gladdens me because it did not require
sacrificing the time allocated for my family. Besides the fact that it will be allowing me to
go a step further in the promotion ladder, the MA programme syllabus answer my need in
becoming a reflective teacher and help me improving my practice. This curriculum gives
me the opportunity to deepen my knowledge in the education field, improve my teaching
skills applicable to my personal development and the academic know-how desired. This
teacher centered formulae facilitates and encourages ‘active learning, greater
participation and the development of reflective practices’ (Rumajogee et al, 2003).

Once embarked on the journey, the class culture of the sessions was like a new world
discovered via group work. “Group work (GW) means being able to share resources,

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
ideas and abilities. Student can learn from and help each other” (Drew and Bingham,
2001) and where students are (Zajac & Hartup, 1997). Matthews suggests that learning
will be more effective if well planned strategically into group work (Blatchford et al,
2003)

While working in critical study groups, I got to better understand different facets of my
assignment regarding Schweisfurth article on which we had to reflect. In a shorter period
of time we were able to get more learning materials and information about our topic, thus
more learning was taking place due to shared responsibilities and agreement of the
ground rule of active engagement in agreed tasks. During session about assignments, a
view of what happens in other colleges and in other teaching fields is being offered after
discussions. Since GW is an exact replica of the working world, we learn how to
cooperate and work together and develop the sense of responsibility and commitment
towards the clique. Although there has been personality clash, we have been of moral
support to each other and a source of inspiration. Birds of the same feather pluck
together, and the crew had a common aim of being side by side on the graduation day
when we will be awarded our M.A degree in Education. It was realised that
communication and development of interactive skills were important. Turner (1983, in
Drew & Bhingam, 2001) allowed forging of a good personality which would favour
fruitful GW and an empowerment to be a good listener was also given. Besides from
listening, there was a lot of give-and-take going on. Preparation was always done prior to
meetings and the argumentation was in an egalitarian environment where there was
freedom of expression along with respect for others, just like Aspin’s view of democracy
(1995, in Schweisfurth, 2002). Problem solving techniques were supplied by Powell
(1999) and Drew & Bhingam (2001) for the team’s smooth running.

In order to achieve a professional evolution, distant learning (DL) was preferred. It is

appreciated since it cuts off from the authoritative approach to a more participatory
approach (Prof V.S. Prasad Lecture, 2009). While struggling to balance my DL target
with working a full-time job and taking care of a family, this flexibility of DL allows me
to pursue education which I would not otherwise be able to do. In the DL formula since

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there is no traditional classroom lots of information are gathered through reading
academic articles of researches done by professionals. The importance of research has
been acknowledged as it broadens the horizons of the sea of learning because it is a
trustable path towards favourable innovation in every field including education. For this
purpose, reading became my hobby and the more I read the hunger is not appeased but
rather increases, as appetite comes from eating, so work brings inspiration. The literature
reviews act like a driving force within me which stimulates active participation and
reading rather than a passive one. As a result, it concocted me into a critical reader and
writer (Wallace & Poulson, 2004) using active reading (Fairbairn & Fairbairn, 2001).
Sauders was right to say that I was turning to be a good text-juggler (1994) The
inspections of researches, while thinking critically (McMillan & Weyers, 2006), created a
sense of belonging to the school organisation in me because I better understand the
educational system and the reforms which were behind those changes. The course content
revived the detective who was asleep inside of me though the arousal of my sense of
curiosity and made me look for the hows and the whys instead of considering only
hearsay. A confidence in sharing personal view on educational issues has been thriving.

At this point, the accent on research in relation with policy theory and practice has been
clearly understood (Appendix E). As consequence of literature review during reading of
theories, unconsciously reflection on improvement of my practice was being made. Both
contemplation in and on practice and other educational issues started to become a sixth
sense which will surely further maturate with the help of the MA in Education. By virtue
of theories and result of researches, the best demarche is adopted in favour of my students
and myself since teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin. Furthermore,
reflection and understanding goes hand in hand, seeing that when I reflect upon my class
practice, for instance I get a better comprehension of how to reach the learning outcomes
and expect the unexpected like the possibilities which cause obstruction. My assumptions
of ideal teaching and learning process have been reshaped again and again through
continuous rumination. This can be described as a brainwork spiral in which we look at
the pertinent issues in multiple angles. For example, the issue of discipline in school can
be the repercussion of various factors like high teacher pupils ratio, parent support almost

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nil, having the ombudsman on the back which limits the possibilities of disciplinary
measures.
Another aspect of this MA programme which was very enriching for me is ‘Living with
tutors’. It is double advantageous considering that it enables maximum learning from a
learners port of view and at the same time ideas emerge of how to be an effective teacher
and to allow my learners to get the most out of me during class sessions. Being ready for
the tutors’ expectations (See Bourner & Race, 1995, for the tutor terminology) of
assignment facilitates achieving good marks. Similarly, the same concept should be
encouraged in teaching practice because the educational system is exam oriented. Walter
& Sierbert (1987; in Bourner & Race, 1995) made me realise that tutors are humans.
Therefore, tutors should be treated as such and showing appreciation affects the quality of
teaching received. Likewise, our learners should feel free to communicate their
apprehension and appraisal in a teaching and learning period. The does and don’ts
proposed by Bourner & Race (1995) is something which can be inculcated in my ‘black
box’ (Ball, 1990b, in Schweisfurth, 2002) and being the educator, my role would be to set
the example by adopting these advices during the get-together with the tutors.

The option of returning back to study necessitated a change in role. Often my identity as
a teacher and a mother was often questioned. Whether I am doing my job to the level
best? The transition from the teacher to be a learner affected my whole life style.
“ Gallacher and Cleary define transition as “personal transition between
two states of ‘being’ – the before and after of specified learning
experiences” (2007). Blair defines it as a “discontinuity in a person’s
life-space” (2007). One influential strand of thinking on transitions as a
process of becoming has been the work on pupil and learning ‘career’
(see Pollard, 1995; Bloomer and Hodkinson, 1997).”
(in Ecclestone, 2007)

During the amplification of my role as change agent to the commitment of teaching, my

role of a teacher changed from authoritarian to collaborative approaches to my teaching
strategies (Appendix D) Kennedy presented the characteristics of a good teacher from the

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
students’ viewpoint (1998). According to Bain, the best teachers diagnosed that
intelligence is spacious, meaning to say that student have the potential to learn (2004). In
this optic, the trend is towards more intentional learning which a learner-centered ideal is.
This method can also be assessed (Harris & Cullen, 2008) and studies of classroom
interaction and learning has also been carried out (Kumpulainen & Wray, 2002). In
learner-centered approaches, motivation and self-confidence are endangered by lack of
control; students become more resistant to learning under multiple control measures from
teacher (Perry, 1997; Zull, 2002). After the two weeks sessions at MIE, the immediate
side effect of the programme was seen in my teaching practice, because learner-centered
learning is being favoured through GW. Schweisfurth’s article related to the module
assignment sparked the democratic values in my class. The GW activity itself came out as
participation from the students and willingness in this setup. By encouraging the
participation in extra curricular activities like educational tours, drama, essay writing and
quiz, first hand knowledge is being gained by the students. Effective learning acquired
when students are allowed to have their say in decision making regarding activities,
assignments, classroom policies etc so that the learner feels responsible and take active
role in his/her learning process (Harris & Cullen, 2008).

This module is only the tip of the iceberg of knowledge. The whole iceberg is yet to be
discovered with the help of the M.A in Education as equipment. Aristotle rightly said
“Teaching is the highest form of understanding” and I shall never cease to learn and
evermore I shall understand. The process of self-development is perpetual and under this
scheme it will go hand in hand with the school development, because the institutions with
its teachers work hard to make the learners winners. When the educator focus on
improving their practice through reflective teaching and revert to research before and
while innovating learning is being assured and the goal of the institution is being reached.
In the teaching and learning cycle the teacher has a simultaneous double role (learner and
teacher). The willingness to upgrade and affirm ones own identity is an inquiry to better
know oneself in the different characters played in the Drama of life. The pilgrimage of a
learning teacher is appropriately summarised by Goodson & Adair

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Jaunky Runalaila (Fatimah)
 “ It is as if this search for selfhood, this pursuit of personhood,
This process of ‘becoming somebody’ provides a set of drives
and engagements that are absolutely central importance
in learning and evolution.”
(2006)
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