The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) collaborates with the Ministry of Education, Malaysia (MOE) in training special needs teachers.
This partnership between MOE, UNMC and College of Allied Educators trained and assessed 292 primary school teachers from all over Malaysia at various centres located in Kuching, Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Terengganu, Batu Pahat and Melaka.
“We are proud to be partners in this pilot initiative by the Ministry of Education to develop education for children with special needs. It is vital that children receive good education as early as possible as it provides a platform from which they can pursue their goals in secondary education and beyond,” said Professor Christine Ennew, Pro-Vice-Chancellor/ Provost and CEO of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus.
The programmes equips teachers with skills to assess, identify and teach students who have learning difficulties specifically related to numeracy and literary skills and provide effective teaching to them. As part of the programme, UNMC’s School of Education academic staff managed the evaluation of the programme by assessing participant competence and across Malaysia.
According to Suhaimee Sulaiman, a graduate of the programme, he is thankful to be part of this initiative as he is now better equipped to train the weaker students in his class.
“We should not be too focused on the grades especially when students are struggling to cope with their studies,” Suhaimee, a teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kampung Kudong, a school for Orang Asli children said.
Another graduate, Madavan Narayanan said that this programme would help him address some of the issues he has to deal with especially when parents are not willing to accept that their children have learning disabilities.
“I chose to participate in this programme because I wanted a challenge in my career and I also want to help the students,” said Madavan who teaches Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematics at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Sagil in Tangkak.
The graduation ceremony organised and hosted on 2 September 2013 by MOE’s Programme Delivery Unit was officiated by the Minister of Education Malaysia II, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.
Among the attendees were Professor Dr. Datuk Rujhan Mustapha, CEO of PADU, MOE; Professor Christine Ennew, Pro-Vice–Chancellor/ Provost and CEO, UNMC; Datuk Haji Ghazali Abdul Rahman, Director of Teachers Training Institute, MOE and Bong Muk Shin, Director of Special Education, MOE.
“I wish to congratulate the Malaysian Government on the work it is doing to make education accessible to all and particularly to those children who require specially trained teachers to aid their learning,” said Professor Ennew.
UNMC has previously conducted professional development sessions for teachers in Malaysian public schools, Chinese independent schools and for volunteer teachers at United Nations High Commission for Refugees supported schools.
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Posted on 25th September 2013