Teacher Competencies and School Improvement Specialist Coaching (SISC+) Programme in Malaysia as a Model for Improvement of Quality Education in China

Abstract

The focus for Chinese citizens to pursue study in Malaysia is based on quality improvement in the Malaysian education system, especially in the teacher quality and school improvement specialist coaching (SISC+) program implemented in the Malaysian school system. The role of teacher’s competencies, such as teacher enthusiasm, which involves the invoking of passion and excitement in students and the participation of teachers, are the most positive teaching activity associated with the gratification of specific lessons. As a model to attract foreign students, especially from China, it is important to review the Ministry’s SISC+ plan and determine if teaching competencies among teachers can positively impact the system. The purpose of this study is to examine how teacher competencies influence the SISC+ Coaching program (Guidance) in rural high schools in Malaysia. The novelty of this research lies in measuring teachers’ competencies in three dimensions: communication skills, skills in teaching strategies, and methods and teaching-involvements skills within a framework. This study employed a quantitative method consisting of a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The instruments were taken from a questionnaire developed by the Malaysia Ministry of Education (MOE) for the coaching of SISC+ (16 questions), while the measurement of teachers’ competencies (22 questions) was performed using a questionnaire from past literature. A total of 186 teachers from six Malaysia secondary schools were involved in the study and the data were analyzed using SEM PLS. The findings revealed that out of all the three competency dimensions (communication, policy, process, and methodology, and student involvement), only teacher communication skills with learners had a major effect on the SISC+ coaching program. The findings also showed that the contact capabilities with students appeared to favor the SISC+ method. Thus, the study contributes to the creation of new knowledge with empirical tests, along with several practical implications for research on teaching competency development.

1. Introduction

In a 21st-century school, students are given the tools they need to excel in this changing world and help them develop trust in their abilities. Of so much knowledge available to them, the talents of the 21st century are focused increasingly on knowing, communicating, and using materials smartly. Educators, therefore, have to be prepared for the changes adopted in the 21st century, particularly the adoption of 4Cs, including innovation, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration [1,2]. The four areas are not subjects or sections, but subjects that dominate the entire curriculum and strategic planning. They are used in the same manner as multiplication and counting in every class. To clearly describe, creativity encompasses new concepts, creative interactions, and innovative approaches to create solutions. Critical thinking, however, is the study of facts and critique. Next, communication is well-understood enough to share things with others. In addition, collaboration refers to teamwork and mutual creativity of a group beyond its boundary. In reality, in the 21st century, the 4Cs must be paired with emerging technologies in education. They have been developed to be integrated into social networking so that students have a purely self-centered approach in the learning processes. They benefit more from social networking than from the conventional, face-to-face training approaches. “Intelligent social networking requires analytical thought and metacognitive abilities, the ability to incorporate and analyze real situations and realistic learning skills for validity”, said Boholano [1]. In the 21st century, technology serves as an extraordinary instrument for shaping and improving the learning environment. Online capabilities in literacy are extremely important in order to ensure that the platform supports and will not undermine high-quality education approaches. Pre-service teachers with valuable digital technological know-how are the most powerful assets in 21st-century teaching.

In addition, students in the 21st century should be self-directed and capable of interacting with people, communities, and machines [3]. Social networking is based on the idea of knowing and interacting with people [4]. Social networking helps restoration teachers to incorporate innovations into teaching and learning. All of the policies and changes that have been put in place require that all educators understand, appreciate, and apply them in the best ways possible [5]. It suggests that educators ought to be more accountable for enforcing the ministry’s reforms. Teachers are the core of a school, and professionalism is a key to producing high-quality teaching performance [6]. Quality in this sense not only includes consistency throughout the teaching and learning process, but is also related to the quality of performance [7]. This cannot be done if individuals, organizations, and associations carry out their duties ineffectively.

Likewise, we all are aware of the recent COVID-19 pandemic which has shifted the paradigm of the learning landscape to online education using technology [8]. For remote learning, among other online platforms, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, virtual learning environments, social media, and varied group forums are utilized [9]. Parker et al. [10] admit that the COVID-19 pandemic made higher education institutions rethink their traditional ways of teaching and how they teach content. These alternative arrangements remain an integral part of education delivery in the post-COVID era. Also, the curriculum has been reformed to meet the expectations of the fourth industrial revolution. However, all these changes are directly related to the teachers’ competencies, meaning, skills, and knowledge which will directly be transmitted to the students. To resolve the question of inadequacy, each teacher must make adjustments, particularly concerning teacher style, attitude, and behavior. Jamil [11] notes that current reform in the national structure of schools needs teachers who are pedagogically skilled and qualified to enhance the teaching and learning of students in a classroom. So, the types of companies that are more relevant is an essential aspect of making proper decisions.

1.1. Background

1.1.1. SISC+ Program

The School Development Consultant Coach (SISC+) program was launched in 2012 to assist teachers in transforming written instruction into classroom teaching. The roles of SISC+ include the responsibility for developing new curricula and classroom assessments, coaching teachers on teaching skills, and monitoring the effectiveness of implementation [12,13,14]. The first impact is reflected on the School Improvement System, where each District Education Office (PPD) is encouraged to customize the assistance received by students, including the recruitment of full-time teacher assistants, the School Improvement Professional Assistants Plus (SISC+). SISC+ has been allocated to three important subjects, English, Bahasa Melayu (Malay), and Mathematics. These SISC+ will provide support to the respective teachers in low-level schools categorized as Bands 5, 6, and 7. This is a National Key Result Area (NKRA) strategy that emphasizes the need to transform schools and empower learning. Teacher coaching should, at its best, contribute to the intellectual development of the schools, and thus, convert them to high-level schools ranked as Band One to Band Four. The implementation of the SISC+ is hoped to reduce the number of third parties participating in the production of curricula and evaluation and to provide on-the-ground instruction for teachers [12]. Coaching is hoped to be tailored to the needs of teachers, as SISC+ observes teachers in classrooms and provides instant feedback. More than 60% of SISC+’s time is spent on coaching practices [13], as teaching consistency is key to student development [12,14]. Teachers are expected to implement the current syllabus in a manner that stresses skills and competencies relevant to the 21st century [13]. Pedagogical capabilities are improved in order to strengthen student-centered instruction. The focus of the SISC+ coaching sessions is on mastering key teaching skills in developing higher-level thinking skills, teaching children with different abilities, and assessing students effectively. SISC+ does not have any interaction with school pupils, since the clients of SISC+ are teachers.

According to the report, the Ministry has improved the teacher-support program to enhance teaching and learning. In addition to continuing to strengthen the daily monitoring between teachers and school administration, the Ministry of Education Malaysia developed the second program, Continuing Professionalism Development Program (CPD), the SISC+ was introduced under the District Transformation Program as a mentor to educate teachers and direct them in order to succeed. The SISC+ officer delivers comprehensive and structured services to improve the quality of teacher education. The selected coaches will be program consultants, evaluators, and pedagogical specialists who can lead, solve issues, and build professionally successful relationships with teachers for the growth of schools [15]. Teaching and learning include facets of teaching, such as student assistance, input and motivation, educational dimensions, such as public engagement and socio-emotional abilities, and indices of professional development and school leadership for teachers, such as cooperation, evaluation of students, institutional support, and the direction of the school [16].

The SISC+ program is implemented to provide on-site professional developers to coach teachers and to collaborate with School Improvement Partner Plus (SIP+), which coaches school leaders to narrow the achievement gap between rural and urban schools. The main goal of SISC+ is to give teachers the teaching strategies they need to help students in low-performing schools in all districts across the country do better [17]. These coaches act as catalysts to help teachers improve their professional knowledge or gain pedagogical skills in lesson planning, classroom management, content, instruction, or ongoing assessment aimed at changing the lessons. This is done through thoughtful conversations that lead to quality professional development. The chosen teachers take part in at least three one-on-one coaching sessions or cycles during the school year (i.e., approximately 6–7 contact hours). Supported by the District Transformation Program (DTP), an expert consultant outside of the school with at least five years of teaching experience ishired as an instructional coach. These specialists offer professional development that is based on the content, teaching methods, and how well students are learning [18]. Figure 1 shows how the SISC+ program works and how long it takes in a year.

While the program helps to recognize the problems of the school and propose strategies and changes to overcome the difficulties, the SISC+ program cannot work successfully unless the selected teacher of the program has the skills. The researcher will analyze other strategies by looking at how teacher competency skills can affect the program rather than the other way around. Since this program is not designed for pre-service teachers and mainly employs experiential teaching, our focus is to look at how their skills could help the program progress smoothly. The impact of teachers professional growth on the practice of teaching has increased significantly as teachers are able to improve their qualifications for the quality of teaching topics and teaching strategies, according to Ishak and Ibrahim [19]. Since it can improve the quality of the teacher, researchers should understand ways to enhance the SISC+ program [14]. Since the SISC+ coaching and mentoring plan does not aim to enhance public-test outcomes, but focuses on teaching and learning for teachers, it satisfies the teaching standards of the 21st century and complies with the National Education Policy, which aims to equip students with strong thinking skills [20]. Nonetheless, teachers must first develop instructional skills, i.e., communication skills, training practices, and skills for engaging students. This approach would also help to classify the loopholes in the SISC Plus system.

Coaching motivates the people in the school, helps the activities by making people think about the results, encourages teachers in the field of work to understand, encourages them to think about the steps they have taken, involves everyone at all levels, and encourages a positive and flexible attitude to stay on track [21]. Interactive coaching will affect how teachers learn and develop their teaching methods and prepare for their future learning [22]. In addition, such student-centered learning can help teachers orient students into 21st-century learning which is more challenging than learning by using technology [23]. It also promotes high-level thinking skills, uses information technology, and enables students to communicate in and outside the classroom with confidence [24]. Using this approach, teachers are effective, competitive, and have strong teaching skills. Teachers should be informed that the principle of continual development in the teaching career is in line with the framework of the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2013–2015 and must be applied without a time limit so that students can deal with the pressure and difficulties to learn effectively in the 21st century.

1.1.2. Effective Teaching Competencies

The key source of knowledge was the competency tests compiled by Medley, Coker and Soar [25] at the University of Toledo. Three key areas were identified: Area I: Instructional Strategies, Techniques, and/or Methods Area II: Communication with the Learner, Area III: Students Involvement. The following competences represent teachers’ teaching competencies:

1.2. Research Problem

The Malaysian Education Development Plan (MEDP) 2013–2025 has specifically defined the obstacles to education in the 21st century in order to achieve competitive, future-oriented, scalable, and equal jobs for students in all respects [5]. Under these circumstances, teachers’ role has become more complex, challenging, and requires teachers’ commitment to support educational changes in order to keep abreast of the current environment [26].

Teachers are also extremely responsible for delivering quality education because quality education can only be obtained if the standard of teaching is world-class [27]. However, according to the report in the MEDP [5] from the Inspectorate of Schools (JNJK), only 13 percent of the schools being tracked are of an outstanding standard of teaching and learning, and all other schools are of decent quality. With less than 15 percent of well-known schools, it indicates that more effort needs to be made to develop teacher educational skills so as to provide pupils with information and skills for the 2013–2025 MEDP, which lasts for only six years. The findings of Dahalan and Saidin [24] affirms that teachers have the opportunity to blend skills and knowledge to equilibrate their students in a manner that is following the national-education ideology. The results show a high percentage and it is worrying that Malaysian teachers could not tackle the demands of the 21st century in achieving the Malaysian government’s expectations and maintaining the national philosophy of education.

On the other hand, findings from the Inspectorate of Schools show that teaching skills are troubling in Malaysia [5]. In addition to the results of a survey carried out by the Academy of Higher Education-AKEPT (2011) from the Malaysian Education Growth Plan 2013–2025 report (Ministry of Education, 2013), only 12 percent of the 125 teachers in 41 colleges are of a high quality who have achieved best pedagogical practices, while the remaining 38 percent has a satisfactorily teaching performance. To make it worse, quite unexpectedly, 50 percent of the teacher’s curriculum is unsatisfactory and does not meet expectations. This shows clearly that school administration has to frequently supervise teachers in order to ensure that teaching expectations are met [28]. The results show that Malaysian teachers have not been able to understand the government’s aspirations and maintain the National Ideology of Education. To make matters worse, the OECD reported in 2018 that the excitement of teachers teaching in Malaysia was lower (M = 0.25) than in Indonesia (M = 0.40) and Thailand (M = 0.35). Teacher enthusiasm involves the passion and excitement of teaching students, which includes the participation of teachers, and is the most positive teaching activity correlated with the gratification of specific lessons (OECD, 2019 B). With these concerns, it is necessary to review the SISC+ program of the Ministry to see how teaching competencies among teachers will affect the system. In the meantime, teachers in Hilmi and Jamil’s [29] research found their SISC+ to be very competent but not very competent in evaluation methods, which was also due to the fact that they had not received much assistance in this area of teaching.

1.3. Objective of the Study

The purpose of this analysis is, therefore, to examine how teacher competencies (strategy, methods and techniques, communications, and students’ involvement) influence the SISC+ Coaching program (Guidance), in particular, for rural high school teachers (Jeli District and Kelantan).

1.4. Research Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1 (H1).

There is a significant correlation between communication and guidance by the SISC+ coaching program.

Hypothesis 2 (H2).

There is a significant correlation between teaching strategy, method and techniques and guidance by the SISC+ coaching program.

Hypothesis 3 (H3).

There is a significant correlation between student involvement and guidance by the SISC+ coaching program.

2. Methodology

2.1. Sampling

In the district of Jeli in Kelantan, all of the high-school and boarding-school instructors, who are subject to inspection by the SISC+ inspector, were included in the sample. Krejcie and Morgan’s [30] method of random sampling was employed for this study. According to Jeli’s Department of Education, there are 357 secondary school teachers (135 males; 222 females) in the Jeli district, which is the population of the study. Based on Krejcie and Morgan’s [30] sample table, the sample size is 186, which is sufficient for an empirical test. We received 210 responses, of which 24 responses were excluded in the screening of the questionnaire due to the incomplete answers. Thus, the response rate was 59%.

2.2. Instrument of Study

The questionnaire is a way of evaluating the influence of teachers’ teaching competencies and the SISC+ coaching program. The questionnaire was divided into two sections, and part A was designed to measure the level of teacher competences using an adapted version of Coker, Medley, Cocker, and Soar’s [25] questionnaire containing 22 items using a 5-point Likert scale identified as: (1) never, (2) occasionally (3), sometimes (4), very frequently, and (5) often. Part B was developed to measure the SISC+ guidance level using 16 original items created by Pejabat Pendidikan daearah Kluang, Johor (2015). The 5-point Likert instrument was (1) strongly divergent, (2) divergent, (3) neutral, (4) accepted, and (5) strongly endorsed. A researcher performed a field study and was able to calculate descriptive and inferential statistics using IBM Statistical Package for Science Social (SPSS) version 25.0. Both questionnaires were reliable with an alpha Cronbach greater than 0.89 and 0.80, respectively. In a pilot study of 30 teachers at one of the Jeli schools, Kelantan observed that this questionnaire was extremely reliable with the Cronbach alpha of SISC+ being 0.96, whereas the Cronbach alpha value for the reliability of the teacher competence questionnaire is 0.94.

2.3. Study Procedures

Applications for the study were submitted to the Education Planning and Research Division (EPRD) of Malaysia’s Ministry of Education through the University Graduate School Office for approval. Once accepted, the letter of approval was forwarded to the Kelantan State Education Department and then to the Jeli District Education Office in Kelantan. A letter was sent to the principals to gather data at the schools with the approval of the Jeli District Education Office. Permission from school principals included encouraging researchers to carry out data collection if the randomly selected teachers responded to the researcher’s self-directed questionnaire. The survey was administered in February and March 2022.

3. Results

3.1. Descriptive Test (Mean, SD)

Table 1. Teachers’ training competencies.

Area	Competencies Characteristic
Area I: Instructional strategies, techniques, and methods	1. Uses a wide variety of instructional techniques. 2. Uses convergent and divergent analytical approaches. 3. Develops and reveals the capacity to solve problems. 4. Sets instruction transitions and sequences that are varied, logical, and relevant. 5. Modifies educational programs to meet the defined needs of the learner. 6. Demonstrates the capacity to interact with people, small groups and large groups. 7. Structures the use of time to make learning easier for students. 8. Requires a wide variety of tools and materials. 9. Provides learning opportunities that enable students to master concepts and generalizations outside of school.
Area II: Communication with learner	10. Provides interactive opportunities for students in a school. 11. Uses a range of practical verbal and non-verbal communication skills with students. 12. Provides simple instructions and explanations. 13. Encourages students to ask questions. 14. Uses questions that lead students to evaluate, synthesize, and think critically. 15. Accepts a range of student experiences and/or allows students to extend or elaborate responses or ideas. 16. Demonstrates the right listening skills. 17. Provides feedback on learners’ academic performance.
Area III; Student involvement	18. Maintains a work-on-task atmosphere in which students are actively involved. 19. Enhances an efficient classroom-management program for maintaining student conduct (discipline). 20. Uses constructive forms of communication with students. 21. Helps students find and correct mistakes and inaccuracies. 22. Develops student reviews, evaluation skills, and student self-assessment.

Source: Medley, D. M., Coker, H., Soar, R. S. [25].

highlights the teachers training competencies. Based on the analysis of the SISC+ data at the level of guidance in the district of Jeli shown in

Table 2. The Likert-scale classification of the questionnaire items.

Mean Value	Level
1.00 to 2.00	Very Low
2.01 to 3.00	Low
3.01 to 4.00	Moderate/High Moderate
4.01 to 5.00	High

(Source: Nunnally & Bernstein, [31]).

, SISC+-directed experience is mild.

Table 3. Teachers’ teaching competency level and coaching of secondary schools in Jeli District.

	N	Mean	Standard Deviation (SD)
Teaching Competency Level
Communication	186	4.12	0.49
Student involvement	186	4.07	0.48
Teaching strategy, technique and method	186	3.97	0.47
SISC+ Coaching Level
Guidance	186	3.77	0.82

displays the mean and standard deviation of the constructs.

3.1.1. Assessing Reflective Measurement Model

When evaluating PLS-SEM results, the first step is to look at the measurement models (Figure 2). Different criteria are applicable to reflective and formative constructions. If all the criteria for the measurement models are met, researchers need to look at the structural model [32].

First, we examine the indicator loading as part of our assessment of the reflective- measurement model. Acceptable item reliability is provided by loadings over 0.708, which indicates that the construct explains more than 50% of the variance in the indicator [32].

The second step is to calculate composite reliability, according to Jöreskog [33]. In general, more reliable results are indicated by larger numbers. To be “acceptable in exploratory research,” a reliability value needs to be between 0.60 and 0.70, while values between 0.70 and 0.90 are “satisfactory”. Having a value of 0.95 or above is troublesome since it suggests that the elements are redundant, which decreases construct validity [34]. Additionally, Cronbach’s alpha is an alternate measure of internal-consistency dependability that uses the same criteria but generates smaller values than composite reliability.

The third stage of the reflective-measurement-model assessment is convergent validity. The level of convergent validity refers to how well the construct explains the variations among its components. The average variance extracted (AVE) for each item on each construct is the measure that is utilised in the process of determining whether or not a construct possesses convergent validity. AVE is determined by squaring the loading of each indicator on the construct and assessing the mean value. To be considered adequate, an AVE must be at least 0.50, which means that the construct accounts for at least 50% of the variations among its components. The details of these initial three steps are listed in

Table 4. Loadings, composite reliability, and Cronbach alpha.

Constructs	Items	Loading	Composite Reliability	Cronbach Alpha	AVE
Communication	C16	0.870	0.928	0.908	0.684
	C12	0.847
	C11	0.835
	C10	0.807
	C13	0.801
	C15	0.798
Guidance	B1	0.898	0.987	0.986	0.824
	B10	0.917
	B11	0.933
	B12	0.933
	B13	0.898
	B14	0.901
	B15	0.918
	B16	0.923
	B2	0.913
	B3	0.903
	B4	0.931
	B5	0.902
	B6	0.826
	B7	0.885
	B8	0.914
	B9	0.920
Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique	C2	0.764	0.906	0.88	0.581
	C3	0.802
	C4	0.795
	C5	0.740
	C6	0.785
	C7	0.736
	C8	0.710
Student Involvement	C18	0.778	0.907	0.873	0.661
	C19	0.844
	C20	0.772
	C21	0.846
	C22	0.820

.

The fourth step is to assess discriminant validity, which is the extent to which a construct is empirically distinct from other constructs in the structural model. Fornell and Larcker (1981) proposed the traditional metric and suggested that each construct’s AVE should be compared to the squared inter-construct correlation (as a measure of shared variance) of that same construct and all other reflectively measured constructs in the structural model.

The fourth step involves evaluating the construct’s discriminant validity, or how much it differs from the other constructs in the model in terms of empirical evidence. The conventional metric was developed by Fornell and Larcker [35], who argued that the AVE for each construct should be compared to the squared inter-construct correlation (as a measure of shared variance) of that construct and all other reflectively assessed constructs in the structural model. The HTMT ratio of correlations was proposed by Henseler et al. [36]. By definition, HTMT is the average correlation between items measuring different constructs, divided by the average correlation between items measuring the same construct (geometric mean). When HTMT readings are very high, discriminant validity issues arise. For structural models with relatively similar constructs, such as cognitive satisfaction, affective satisfaction, and loyalty, Henseler et al. [37] recommend a threshold value of 0.90. When applied in this context, an HTMT score above 0.90 indicates a lack of discriminant validity. However, a lower, more conservative threshold value is suggested, such as 0.85 [36], when constructs are conceptually more diverse. In addition to these rules, bootstrapping can be used to determine if the HTMT value is significantly different from 1.00 [36] or a lower threshold value, such as 0.85 or 0.90, which should be defined based on the study setting [38]. More specifically, researchers can look at whether or not the upper limit of the 95% confidence interval for HTMT is less than 0.90 or 0.85. Fornell and Larcker metric and HTMT are described in

Table 5. Fornell and Larcker Metric.

	Communication	Guidance	Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique	Student Involvement
Communication	0.827
Guidance	0.295	0.908
Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique	0.734	0.231	0.762
Student Involvement	0.718	0.209	0.737	0.813

and

Table 6. Heterotrait-Monotrait (HTMT).

	Communication	Guidance	Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique	Student Involvement
Communication
Guidance	0.296
Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique	0.881	0.244
Student Involvement	0.827	0.211	0.885

.

3.1.2. Assessing Formative Measurement Model

When the structural model incorporates formative elements, PLS-SEM is the method of choice [39]. Formative-measurement models are judged by their convergent validity, indicator collinearity, statistical significance, and relevance of indicator weights [40]. When assessing the degree of collinearity between the formative indicators, variance inflation factor (VIF) is frequently applied. If the VIF value is greater than 5, there are severe collinearity problems between the indicators of the formatively measured constructs. Collinearity concerns among the predictor constructs are likely when the VIF value is greater than 5 [41,42], although they can also exist at lower VIF values of 3–5. In an ideal scenario, the values of the VIF ought to be close to 3 or lower. The findings show all the items are below 5. The VIF results are shown in

Table 7. VIF calculations.

Items	VIF	Items	VIF	Items	VIF
C10	2.734	C18	2.000	C3	2.083
C11	2.671	C19	2.114	C4	2.028
C12	2.748	C20	1.892	C5	1.784
C13	2.537	C21	2.306	C6	2.023
C15	2.484	C22	1.998	C7	1.744
C16	3.158	C2	1.909	C8	1.637

.

3.1.3. Assessing Structural Model

Partial Least Squares (PLS-SEM) path modelling using the Smart PLS application package [43] was also applied to test the hypotheses (

Table 8. Relationship, beta, p-value and results.

Relationship	β	p-Value	Results
Communication → Guidance	0.348	0.007	Significant
Teaching Strategy, Method, and Technique → Guidance	0.046	0.801	Not Significant
Student Involvement → Guidance	−0.089	0.384	Not Significant

and Figure 3). As predicted, communication to guidance (β = 0.348; p < 0.001), strategy, method, and techniques to guidance (β = 0.046; p > 0.001), and student involvement to Guidance (β = −0.089; p > 0.384) were not significant. Table 8 and Figure 3 describe all of the results.

4. Discussion

This study examined the influence of teacher competence towards the SISC+ program. Mean scores for teachers’ competency are communication (M = 4.12, SD = 0.49), strategy, method, and technique of teaching (M = 4.07, SD = 0.49), and student involvement (M = 3.97, SD = 0.47), whereas the score for SISC+ guidance is M = 3.77, SD = 0.82. This shows that the dimension of communication skills among teachers is at a high level, compared to the other two dimensions. The dimension of strategy, method, and technique of teaching is considered high, whereas the student involvement dimension is medium-high. This demonstrates that teachers in this neighbourhood can tap into their psychological ability by using a wide variety of realistic verbal and non-verbal communication skills with pupils, and are energetic in providing their teaching and learning. On the other hand, the SISC+ guidance falls into the medium-high range where teachers presume that the program is quite good but need some improvement to make it better in order to reach a high-level score. If the score is not achieved at a high level, perhaps this gives the meaning that the coach’s knowledge and interpersonal skills are at the medium-high level. Research by Khun-Inkeeree et al. [20] also found that only interpersonal skills influence teacher competency, whereas their knowledge does not influence it at all. However, the level of influence exerted by the coaches’ interpersonal skills on teachers’ competency is relatively low at 6.3%, with the remaining 93.7% attributable to characteristics unrelated to the SISC+ program. These other factors may be the results of teachers’ competency, school environment, principal encouragement, conditions of rural areas, and the SISC+ schedule. Because of these circumstances, Khun-Inkeeree et al. [20] suggested further analysis of the SISC+ program in order to understand how both variables intervene with each other to improve classroom teaching and learning.

The results also display that, out of the three competency dimensions (i.e., communication, strategy, method, and technique, and student involvement), only teachers’ communications skills with learners show a significant influence towards the SISC+ guidance program. It is important to consider the impact of teachers’ competency because, according to Normawati [44] and Permana [45], low teacher competency is one of the causes of low student competency, and vice versa.. Moreover, the instructional teaching competency of teachers plays a critical part in improving the classroom teaching and learning cycle [46]. Although the OECD report in 2018 found that teacher enthusiasm in Malaysia was far lower than in Indonesia and Thailand [47], the teachers in this particular rural area seem to perform better in communications with learners. It is surprising to find that teacher enjoyment is above average, as compared with other OECD countries with a score of 74%; Malaysian teachers score 10% higher at 84% [47]. As expected, competent teachers utilize their personal teaching traits to make the class more cheerful than those who do not have these personal characters. Thus, this shows that individual communication traits help the SISC+ program perform better.

The results indicate that the communication skills with students tend to promote the system of SISC+ with (β = 0.0.348, p = 0.0007). Thus, this study makes a new contribution of knowledge in the field, which the State Education Department should give considerable importance to, in order to develop the SISC+ system from its current medium-high level to a high level in the future. Most work has shown that training will enhance the performance of teachers; for example, Abidin [48] found that training will enable teachers to become effective teachers in carrying out their duties as educators and teachers for elementary school children, and will reinforce the skills they have gained through vocational education. Nevertheless, the current research finds the opposite, that not all instructor-competency factors can be affected by training. For example, this study found that communication with students (one of the dimensions of teaching competencies) helps to strengthen the SISC+ program in rural school areas. This is true when some of the communication skills that teachers acquired during their teacher training are already in them. Such communication training includes: allowing students to ask questions, use realistic and non-verbal communication skills with their respective students, the provision of engaging learning opportunities for students, and the ability to include clear and concise guidance and explanations that are considered to enhance in-service teaching. This kind of communication abilities includes the teacher’s own individual personality characteristics, such as being an extrovert, which enables the individual to become a successful teacher. Individuals with more desirable personality characteristics for teaching positions will be favoured in the selection process. Characteristics of personality, such as an extrovert, can be an indicator of teacher selection [49]. Teachers who are more extroverted like to be the centre of attention, like to open up and maintain conversations, enjoy the company of others, find it easy to make new friends, draw their energy from interacting with students, and have something to say as they talk about their students [50]. This kind of psychological personal trait is something that cannot be learned overnight. Therefore, this indicates that the SISC+ coaches may include more advice about how to interact with students, but it is difficult to execute if the teachers themselves may not have the psychological strength to do so.

In comparison, the other two instructor competencies are teaching approaches, procedures, and tactics, so that class discipline can be strengthened through SISC+ instruction. Nor et al. [27] reported that the coached teachers showed some improvements to the methods used in the classroom and concluded by stating that the coaching program was able to support teachers in the implementation of new teaching practices [27]. In addition, seven other reports on instructor and teacher viewpoints toward SISC+ confirmed that coaching sessions were successful in helping them develop their teaching practices [14,29,51,52,53,54,55]. Another study on PLC activities with SISC+ verified that teachers’ skills, knowledge, and level of confidence grew through the dialogue and lessons analysis sessions [56]. Interestingly, our study’s findings corroborated those by the aforementioned researchers (e.g., [14,54]), demonstrating that teachers’ competence along the dimensions of instructional approach and student participation had no apparent effect on students’ attitudes toward the SISC+ initiative. This shows that these two dimensions of teachers’ competence could only have an impact through the SISC+ program. It can be further clarified that it does not matter how effective the training approach is, the instructional approaches and strategies have not had an impact on the SISC+ program. This means that SISC+ can be tailored to novice and experienced teachers without compromising their effectiveness. Perhaps the knowledge and interpersonal skills applied by the SISC+ coaches to ensure that teachers improve their teaching skills, but not the academic achievements that have been achieved, pave the way for the achieved results. In order to provide quality education, teachers must have, among others, pedagogical, personal, social, and professional skills [57].

That is true, when 81% of SISC+ have a high level of knowledge and understanding of teaching and learning skills, it shows that it is an important element for teachers to be effectively coached [58]. The SISC+ coaches will help to encourage what teachers have already learned during their teaching training days at their respective universities, i.e., to use a wide range of training techniques, to use convergent and divergent approaches to analysis, and to develop their capacity to solve problems. All of these techniques can be learned and do not involve the teacher’s psychological personality and traits. The SISC+ study by Ng et al. [53] also finds that coached teachers had high expectations of them. The Sarabiah’s [54] Coaching Teachers research has confirmed that their SISC+ have teaching skills and are capable of helping teachers with classroom issues. Another study [59] comes to the same conclusion, reporting that instructors view their SISC+ as pedagogical specialists who are well-versed in the most recent developments in the field of education. The SISC+ coaches have been reported to be trained and competent enough to train teachers in the area of teaching methods and strategies, as well as student participation. However, the outcome of this study finds that it is beyond their capacity to practice communication skills with learners as it requires teachers being extroverts. Not all coaches can give psychological guidance to other teachers if they have no previous therapeutic experience of their own. The same issue also exists with respect to student attendance, where the SISC+ system does not have an impact. This means that the effectiveness of the program has not been ensured by how well the teacher encourages students to engage in the classroom. They are able to improve student evaluations, appraisal skills, and student self-assessments, as stated by a leader in teacher competence, i.e., Medley, Coker, and Soar [25]. Teachers can also learn from SISC+ coaches how to help students identify and correct mistakes and inaccuracies because they do not involve the psychological characteristics of the teachers themselves. Overall, this shows that the SISC+ program is created regardless of the teachers’ teaching skills, teaching strategies, methods, and techniques, and strategies to involve students. Thus, as long as the teacher is an in-service teacher, everyone can participate in this program without worrying whether the teacher is a novice or an experienced teacher.

5. Conclusions

The aim of the study was to evaluate how teacher competencies influence the SISC+ Coaching program (Guidance), in rural high schools in Malaysia. The findings revealed that out of all the three competency dimensions (communication, policy, process and methodology, and student involvement), only teacher communication skills with learners had an effect on the SISC+ coaching program. However, after much trial and error, SISC+ finally realised that, in order to be successful while dealing with adults, they would need to acquire novel coaching and mentoring techniques [51,60]. The SISC+ coaches employed were in-service teachers with exceptional teaching expertise, content knowledge, and experience in schools, but not trained as adults. In addition, the principals argued that coaching took much of teachers’ time, therefore, without the principals’ support, this system could not be promoted. The principals urged to boost the coaching program’s teacher uptake by providing a warm welcome to SISC+ coaches, ensuring a secure workplace, providing adequate classroom resources, considering coaching sessions, and evaluating the knowledge imparted by SISC+ instructors [53,54,55,60]. In the meantime, the teachers in Hilmi and Jamil’s [29] research found their SISC+ to be very competent but not adequately competent in evaluation techniques, which was also the reason why they did not receive much support in this area of teaching. The knowledge of assessment techniques may need to be further elaborated in the program.

The study offers a number of theoretical contributions. So far, with the limited knowledge of the researchers, this study is one of the early papers in this field, particularly in Malaysia. This thought-provoking study supplies a framework for evaluating an intervention effect of a well-designed, skill-development program in teacher education. Certainly, this can be replicated in similar research. The scale used in the study can be reused or modified to understand the dynamics of teachers’ competencies and coaching efficiencies in advanced studies.

Also, the study has managerial and policy implications. First, those who are currently employed in schools can make use of the study as a point of reference when it comes to planning, implementation, and assessment of professional learning opportunities. In particular, job-embedded personal development can focus on one or more essential skills, such as evaluating student performance, and giving and receiving feedback. Trained facilitators can model the skills and give feedback to help in-service teachers practice and self-evaluate their skills. Second, this will clarify how the State and District Education Department can work with this program to meet the needs of educators from all angles, boosting the quality of the SISC+ initiative for highly well-rounded classrooms. This study will assist the authorities like the Ministry of Education in Malaysia, which is responsible for the continual development of the teaching career in line with the framework outlined in the Malaysian Education Development Plan 2013–2025. Third, the framework can also be used to foreshadow potential collaborative efforts needed to strengthen healthy education delivery and training between schools, universities, and community partners. Fourth, beyond implications for teacher preparation and training across the career pipeline, the competencies-guidance framework can also inform systems of teacher recruitment, hiring, compensation, and performance evaluation. Schools may use hiring practices that integrate specific essential knowledge and skills (e.g., require skill-specific presentations by job candidates) to ensure applicants have the necessary skills and content knowledge to be effective teachers. Moreover, using specific performance indicators from the sub-domains of essential skills, such as measures for observation and evaluation, could improve the use of evidence-informed practices in the classroom.

Limitations and Possibility of Future Research

The study is not without limitations. First, the study adopted a cross-sectional survey method where only a one-time survey was taken from individual respondents. The methodology of this study could be extended to a longitudinal method. Second, the study was conducted in a particular district (Jeli in Kelantan) in Malaysia, and the generalization based on the results outside Malaysia must be made in a very cautious way. However, future studies can come up with an extended scope considering a country-wide study. Third, the present study utilized only variables related to teachers’ competencies, whereas coaching success can stem from many other factors, such as trust in the curriculum, controlling mechanism, evaluation pattern. Fourth, this study did not consider any mediating or moderating variables, particularly in between the relationships, such as teaching method, strategy, and policy, teachers’ involvement, and guidance which proved insignificant in this study. The inclusion of additional variables will help to understand the indirect factors to completely comprehend the success factors in improving teachers’ capabilities.