EDU 3083 2 (i) FRANCES FR ANCES FULLER’S THEORY OF OF CONCERN (1969)
Frances Fuller is a researcher of teacher’s education that creates the Theory of Concerns Concerns that highlighting highlighting the perceptions, perceptions, concerns, dissatisfaction dissatisfaction and satisfaction satisfaction of pre-service teachers during their teaching training programme (Rashid et al., 200!. Fulle Fuller’s r’s Theor Theory y of Conc Concer erns ns sugg suggest ests s three three stage stages s in teach teacher er profe professi ssion onal al development development that teachers need to undergo undergo in order to improve their professionalism professionalism in teaching profession.
Self Fuller's Theory of Concerns
Task
Impact
Figure 2" Three #tages in Fuller’s Theory of Concern The first stage in teacher professional professional development development is concern toward e!" . $uring the early teaching years, the novice teachers usually %orry a&out their survival %hich usually a&out %hether they are a&le or una&le to carry out the teaching session successfully. 'n this stage, it is all a&out inner self of the novice teachers. They %ill &e having dou&ts on their action %hile teaching and facing lac of confidence &ecause they feel they are still ne% to the real teaching %ors and they might feel they are still entitled to the lecturers’ comments during their professional practice at the school. )o%ever,
EDU 3083 according to Fuller (*+*! as cited in Rashid et al. (200!, this type of concern and %orries upon self-a&ilities in teaching %ill &e naturally reducing after fe% months of teaching. The end mar of this concern is %hen the teacher is starting to pay more attention to%ards the method to control his teaching tass. For instance, the teacher might dou&t %hether using songs %ould help his students to understand the content of the lesson. The second stage in teacher professional development is concern toward ta#. sually on this stage, the novice teachers are focusing more on finding the
strategies or methods to handle the teaching tass effectively. 'n this stage, the novice teachers are starting to have the a%areness to improve their content no%ledge on the su&ect, classroom management, students’ discipline, teaching preparation, teaching strategies and so on. ccording to Rashid et al. (200!, novice teachers on this stage usually /uestion themselves %ith the /uestions %hether the teaching materials are suita&le or not, %hether their teaching styles suit students’ learning styles or not and %hether they %ere a&le to deliver the content to students in an effective %ay or not and so on. For eample, the teacher %ill esta&lish the classroom rules in order to ensure the learning session %ill &e going %ell %ithout distraction and in the same time, oining courses might &e one of the %ays to improve content no%ledge. 1ast &ut not least, the third stage in teacher professional development according to Frances Fuller’s Theory of Concerns is concern toward i$%act. 'f the t%o stages &efore focusing on the sills of a teacher, this stage is different &ecause it is focusing more on the after-effect of the teaching sills used to%ards students. n this stage, the novice teachers %ill &e focusing on the effect of his teaching to%ards the students’ learning achievement. )e %ill see his students as someone that has potential in improving. )e is no longer %orry a&out his a&ility to control neither the class nor dou&ting %hether he delivered the content no%ledge effectively or not. 't is more a&out teachers’ concern to%ards students’ learning and achievement. The teacher %ill &e more interested in the progress and development of his students rather focusing on his self-sills. For instance, the teacher monitor students’ achievement and %ill &e /uestioning %hether his teaching styles suit his students learning preferences.
EDU 3083 'n conclusion, a novice teacher has to eperience these three stages during their early years of teaching in order to develop their professionalism.
EDU 3083 2 (ii) HO& ' &OUL HANLE THE THREE STAES 'N *Y +ROFESS'ONAL E,ELO+*ENT
n the first stage %hich is concerns to%ards self, ' %ould handle it &y a#in"or -.idance and /e!% "ro$ t/e enior teac/er that are also teach the su&ect that '
teach. The purpose of doing this is to ensure that ' am doing things in a correct %ay. 'n the same time, ' can learn many sills in teaching the assigned su&ect %hich gives me the chance to improve my content no%ledge. 't %ill useful for me to avoid false teaching and %ill ensure me that ' am teaching the content effectively. Furthermore, their eperience %ill help me to nurture and gro% my confidence in teaching. 'n this %ay, ' %ill slo%ly develop my confidence in teaching and %hen the time has come, ' %ill &e a&le to teach confidently %ith the help from my senior teachers. This is ust one %ay from many %ays to handle this stage of concern. nother %ay to handle this stage is &y ta#in- t/e initiati0e to i$%ro0e e!" #i!! in teac/in-. s a novice teacher, teaching is a %hole ne% eperience and
different compared to professional practice. 3oining courses held &y district education office or education ministry is one of the %ays to overcome concerns regarding self among the novice teachers. ' %ould oin courses or self-enrichment programme to develop my sills in teaching %hich can contri&ute to the development of my confidence. $uring the courses, there %ill &e a lot of eperienced teachers participating and ' can use that opportunity to echange no%ledge %ith them especially on content no%ledge, pedagogical sills and classroom management sills. Furthermore, ' can learn a fe% things that ' cannot get inside the &oos ' read &y listening to their eperience. From that, ' %ill try my &est to practice %hat they preached and in the same time, develop my confidence in teaching. n the second stage %hich is concern to%ards tas, ' %ould handle it &y !earnin- and #nowin- $ t.dent’ %re"erence on every aspect related to the
education such as their learning styles and personalities. This is important for me to improve my pedagogical sills to suit their learning preferences in order to ensure the learning process &ecomes effective. part from that, no%ing my students’ personalities
EDU 3083 also %ould help me to master the classroom management sills &ecause ' no% ho% they act and ' no% %hat measure is suita&le to &e used if some of them are mis&ehaving in my class. Recently, 4rofessional 1earning Community (41C! %as introduced to the 5alaysian education system. 't is an approach %here&y teachers are encouraged to cooperate %ith each other &y echanging their no%ledge, eperience and opinions in pedagogical sills and content no%ledge. The aim of this approach is to ensure that the teachers in 5alaysia are al%ays improving themselves &y doing self-improvement practice. #ince this stage of concern maes me focusing more on improving my o%n teaching practice, ' %ill a# o$e enior teac/er to o3er0e $ teac/in- and !earnin- eion . Through this session, ' %ill as for their feed&ac and comments in
order to identify my %eanesses in teaching. 'n addition, ' can learn from their feed&ac and use it as a stepping stone to do &etter in the future. n the third stage %hich is concern to%ards impact, ' %ould handle it &y $onitorin- $ t.dent’ !earnin- %ro-re and de0e!o%$ent . This %ill allo% me to
identify their %eanesses on the content ' taught. 6y doing this, ' %ill &e a&le to focus on improving my students’ %eanesses &ecause ' &elieve all of them have their o%n potential and it is my responsi&ility to help them reali7e and epand it. part from that, ' %ould handle the concern to%ards impact &y de0iintrate-ie4 $et/od or inter0ention to help my students in mastering the content that
they have difficulty in understanding. ne of them is &y doing action research. ' %ill develop a suita&le intervention and then use it to help my students to master the content. ' %ill evaluate its effectiveness in my action research report. This promotes the innovative practices among novice teachers and in the same time, is very useful to help %eaer students. ll these come after ' monitor the impact of my teaching. ction done during this stage is purposely to help students &ecause ' &elieve, everyone has their o%n potential and as a teacher, it is my responsi&ility to help them to gro% it.
EDU 3083 'n conclusion, all of these are the %ays that ' %ill use to handle the three stages of teacher professional development suggested &y Frances Fuller’s Theory of Concern (*+*!.
