The Effectiveness of Buddy Support System Implementation among Science Teachers: The Case of Malaysia

Abstract

The biggest challenge that is being faced by the Malaysian Education scenario occurred when shifting of the Malaysia’s National Science Curriculum from the use of Malay language to English as the medium of instruction. Analogically, varied steps and measures were being put into action to sufficiently groom the available teachers towards fulfilling the challenges. One of the programs is Buddy Support System that was aimed as a peer support system or program to apprehend and provide the necessary avenue for the science teachers to adequately equip themselves towards competency in teaching of science. Therefore this study aims at identifying the effectiveness of professional development among the science teachers in Malaysia under the implementation of the Buddy System in secondary school teachers. A total of 480 science teachers were randomly selected from 160 secondary schools throughout the Northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. Data were collected using questionnaires adapted from Lee (2006) to measure the management of the Buddy System Program. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the Buddy Support Program was measured using questionnaires from Isa (2000). The findings of the study indicate that the level of management and impact of the implementation on the Buddy System Program in general are at the mediocre level. Apart from that, a positive relation and significant (r = 0.73; p