NUTP wants govt to look at its post-Covid-19 teaching method
KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) wants the Education Ministry to consider a new social distancing pedagogy model, created by academicians, educationists and experts that is more effective for the students when schools resume post Covid-19 pandemic.
Its president Aminuddin Awang said the new pedagogy model was created based on the findings of a study which NUTP had conducted with Universiti Malaya researchers led by Associate Professor Mohd Nazri Abdul Rahman, which involved 10,000 respondents from the teaching profession in March.
Although the ministry had been working hard to put in the safety gaps such as social distancing as schools began to reopen in stages, he stressed on the need for a suitable pedagogy to be applied post pandemic.
“As the largest teaching profession union in the country, NUTP has taken upon ourselves to see how best can we address this issue by getting the viewpoints of those in the teaching profession.
“While much emphasise is given to physical and environmental aspects such as social distancing in schools, no one has given clear instructions for teachers how to conduct classes under the new normal.
“Classes will no longer be the same and new pedagogies must be in place according to the subject lessons, syllabus topics and best pedagogy methods that will be most beneficial in understanding a particular subject,” he said in a press conference today.
On the new proposed post-Covid-19 pedagogy model, Aminuddin said the crux of the model was on adhering to social distancing.
“We have to change the way we teach and cannot use the same approach.
“With social distancing needed in most daily activities, online studies is no longer an option.
“Various platforms have been made available for classes to be carried out without contact and this model is ideal for the present situation,” Aminuddin said.
The survey, he added, had shown 93 per cent of teachers preferred the face-to-face teaching approach, adding another panel of 100 experts from various fields evaluated the study findings before coming up with four pedagogies under the said model.
The four pedagogies address face-to-face learning in classroom; online learning or synchronise learning; asynchronise, and offline learning in situations without internet connection.
“This is NUTP’s pioneer project in empowering the teaching profession to match the current technology. Applications such as Google Meet, Zoom, Skype and Padlets are readily available for teachers and students to utilise.
Aminuddin said as part of its corporate social responsibility, NUTP would introduce the model to its members and conduct training for teachers free of charge.
The NUTP president also urged the ministry to postpone the preschool session scheduled to start on July 1.
“We have identified many problems that will arise with the management and current infrastructures at the school. Limited space and learning area and inadequate teachers to help monitor the movement of students is seen as challenge at many schools.”
Source: NST
