Exploring the Malaysian Rural School Teachers’ Professional Local Knowledge in Enhancing Students’ Thinking Skills

Abstract

This paper discussed a qualitative research findings on the case of Malaysian teachers employed their professional local knowledge for enhancing students’ thinking skills in classroom practices. In this paper, a teacher’s professional local knowledge is viewed as a teacher’s professional knowledge and skills developed through the combination of the teacher’s expertise, theory, knowledge and experiences gained from professional practices in various and different contexts of students’ social backgrounds, environment and culture. In this case study, we investigate four teachers from various disciplines and schools located in rural areas who are implementing student-centered teaching approach in the classroom. We identified the method, techniques and approaches they employed to enhance students’ thinking skills via observations and interviews regarding their teaching practices in the classroom. The study has shown how teachers practice their professional local knowledge through various approaches, strategies and techniques that form positive interaction between teachers and students. This often emboldens intellectual discourse, and gives the students learning autonomy during the process of teaching and learning to improve their thinking skills.