Preschool Teachers’ Professionalism through Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) Curriculum

Abstract

When discussing the education system quality of    a    country,    the    main    focus    points    to    teachers’ professionalism.    Teachers    are    the    foundation    to    the education   system   as   they   are   the   implementors   to   the policy,   curriculum   goal   and   the   government’s   desires. Professional  teachers  will  always  perform  the  duties  and responsibilities  assigned  to  them  with  full  dedication.  In formal education in Malaysia, preschool is the most critical period  to  prepare  children  with  various  skills,  self-esteem and  positive  attitudes  for  the  next  phase  of  learning.  Even though   many   efforts   have   been   implemented   by   the ministry  to  increase  teachers’  professionalism,  there  still 9exists   preschool   teachers   who   failed   to   implement   the curriculum as expected. Thus, this concept paper discusses the   concept   of   Developmentally   Appropriate   Practices (DAP)  to  build  the  professionalism  of  preschool  teachers. DAP  is  the  basic  knowledge  that  needs  to  be  mastered  by preschool   teachers   regarding   appropriate   teaching   and learning strategies for children.