USM, PENANG, 1 November 2016 - Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through the USM School of Educational Studies (PPIP) would remain committed in ensuring that discussions on issues in local and global education would be continued and research findings to be well-documented and included into relevant journals for future reference.

According to the Dean of PPIP, Professor Dr. Hairul Nizam Ismail, the workshop is held with the intention of developing a comprehensive understanding of the teachers’ identity of those who are in pre-service and already serving in Africa and Asia.

“The data gathered would be interpreted and would assist in understanding further the issues which would then be published in related publications,” he further said in his welcoming speech.

The former Dean of PPIP, Professor Dato’ Dr. Abdul Rashid Mohamed, who had been involved in the first edition in 2006 and who also attended the workshop, proposed for the gathering of the basic data from the countries concerned.

“Accurate information would be needed for proper interpretations and later to be put into publications. We would be setting up a specific website for this purpose and for the identification of journals for citation purposes,” said Abdul Rashid.

This programme was funded by the USM Research University (RU) grant entitled ‘Professional Identity of Novice Teachers: An International Comparison’, headed by its principal researcher, Dr. Mohd Ali Samsudin from PPIP.  

The three-day dialogue is organised by PPIP and has gathered 16 local and foreign academicians who represented their universities and coming from countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Bangladesh and South Africa.

Also present were the Deputy Dean of PPIP, Associate Professor Dr. Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed Ismail, participants from PPIP USM, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; Chiangmai University, Thailand; University of Pretoria, South Africa; Vietnam National University, Vietnam and Hiroshima University, Japan; and PPIP Ph.D candidates who would be involved with the data compilation and presentation process.

Text: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin / Photo: Mohd Fairus Md. Isa