Education plays a vital role in the economic growth of developing countries. A quality education system can produce competent and knowledgeable citizens in accordance with the country’s requirements for becoming a developed country. Therefore, the teaching and learning process used in schools should be given serious attention to ensure the quality of the education system. The quality of the education system is the most important determinant of a country’s success, as how well a country fairs in the global economy is highly dependent on the knowledge, skills, and competencies of its citizens. Thus, it is not surprising when a country’s economy expands rapidly with the growth of a highly educated work force. At the same time, education is the basis of the country’s formation and national unity. Moreover, individuals have an opportunity to improve their quality of life through education in order to become successful members of society and actively contribute to the country’s development (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2013).
Only with a quality education system can the quality of human capital generation be achieved. In this case, educators are integral to the production of a high-quality education system and student success. However, their duties and responsibilities are more challenging in the new millennium. In addition, the requirements of parents and students are higher now than before. Therefore, educators play an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. If educators fail to implement effective teaching and learning activities, or if they cannot engage in self-reflection or evaluate students’ strengths and weaknesses, a variety of problems may result. To realise the vision and mission of the Ministry of Education Malaysia, educators need to have competencies and sincerity. To this end, the qualifications and credibility of educators are often emphasised. If there are any doubts about the effectiveness of the teaching and learning process, educators should make improvements as quickly as they can. Changes can be made with help and support from external parties, such as recommendations from academicians, parents, and the community, to empower the education system. When such recommendations are taken into account, the teaching and learning process is continuously improved, ultimately leading to a high quality of human capital.
The Ministry of Education’s current attempt at ensuring the quality of the teaching and learning process encourages educators to engage in action research. Through action research, educators can understand their teaching practices (Noraini, 2010) and solve various problems by diagnosing student problems or their own problems (Mohd Sahandri et al., 2010). Therefore, educators can identify the strengths and weaknesses of their teaching practices in responding to the needs of student diversity. According to Levin and Martin (2007) and Volk (2010), action research can be used as a basis method to improve teaching practices.
Although action research has many advantages, there are problems as well. Among the most common problems encountered by educators are time constraints and heavy workloads (Volk, 2010; Othman, 2011; Jun, 2013). The situation is exacerbated when educators realise they lack the necessary knowledge and skills to do action research. Eventually, these problems may hinder the implementation of action research in schools.
Further, school administrators cannot force educators to conduct action research. This is because it is not among the educators’ official duties or responsibilities. The educators must be ready and willing to do the action research (Madzniyah, 2006). Therefore, school administrators should strive to create an environment that leads to the implementation of action research.
Especially, educators should be disclosed to appropriate action research methods with the subject they teach. This paper describes the Kolb Cycle as a method that can be introduced.
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