A workshop was held on Friday 26 February 2016 for the teachers of St. George's School to inform them of the Brunei Teachers' Standard (BTS). The Chairman of the School Board of Governors, Anthony Liew, was also in attendance.
The objectives of the workshop are to help teachers to understand the development of the BTS, to understand the element of the BTS framework and how the Standards are to be applied, and to understand and practice the key skills for using the Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) form.
The facilitators of the workshop were Lily Sim, Sheeba Charles, Chew Lai Kwan and Binoy Sebastian. The workshop focused on the following areas: Introduction to Brunei Teachers' Standards (BTS), Introduction to Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA), Lesson Observation, Written Work Scrutiny and Quality Feedback.
The participants at the workshop were introduced to the Brunei Teachers' Standards which is a set of teaching competencies designed to raise the quality of teaching in order to improve attainment of all students and the overall quality of education. Although previous standards served a good purpose, the emphasis now is on the impact of teaching on students' achievement and learning outcomes. The BTS will help teachers to connect with students so they are more engaged, perform more effectively, reflect on their teaching practices and appreciate teaching as a satisfying career choice. The expected outcomes of BTS are that students will be the main focus in our education system, they are instilled with right values and morals in accordance with Brunei national philosophy, Melayu Islam Beraja, they will discover a more interactive and rewarding learning experience and appreciate school life as more enjoyable, beneficial and memorable.
The participants were also enlightened on the Teacher Performance Appraisal (TPA) which is a systematic approach to evaluate learning and teaching quality (based on a set of teaching competencies laid out in the BTS Framework) in order to support teacher's professional growth and recognition. The key principles of the TPA System are to focus more on learning than teaching and to emphasise on the impact of the teaching on students' achievement and learning outcomes. The teachers were also guided on assessing a lesson observation.
The significance of students' written work scrutiny was emphasised to the teachers as it is an important source of first-hand evidence about students' achievements, teaching, students' learning, curriculum and response to the classroom experience. It provides a crucial way to assess the teacher's ability to use assessment, feedback and communication and reporting to drive progress. The teachers were also briefed on the things to look for when checking students' written work.
The workshop ended on a good note as the participants were responsive to the positive changes in the teaching standards in Brunei.