Issues of Teacher Professionalism In The Era of The COVID-19

Vol. Abstract The whole world is experiencing a COVID-19 pandemic and this is affecting the professionalism of teachers, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, this study aims to identify among the issues faced by teachers throughout this pandemic. Among the issues experienced by teachers are the problem of online learning skills, teachers at risk of becoming COVID-19 patients and spreading it, the spread of false news and stress among teachers. This study also suggests actions that can be taken by teachers in dealing with these issues of professionalism.


Introduction
The COVID-19 related study is new and began to be studied by researchers in various fields worldwide starting in 2020. It is common knowledge that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the norms of human life in total. The purpose of writing this article is to reveal the impact and challenges in the field of education in Malaysia, especially teacher's professionalism due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Patah & Boon (2021), every profession has a set of professional standards that must meet to ensure its quality and effectiveness, and teachers are no exception. Therefore throughout this pandemic period, teachers must maintain their professionalism to ensure their quality and effectiveness. The first case in Malaysia was confirmed on 25 January 2020. That is why the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 a pandemic on 20 March 2020 worldwide. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of the country's education world. It posed a great challenge to the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) after face-to-face teaching and learning sessions had to be stopped. Online learning has had a positive and negative impact on all levels of society, from students to the MOE administration.

Research Objective
There are two objectives in this study.
1. Identify the issues and challenges faced by teachers and their professionalism throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. 2. Provide suggestions and insights to improve teacher professionalism throughout the pandemic season expected to last throughout 2021.

Significance of the Study
This paper hopes to be a reference source for education researchers to address the impact and challenges faced in education, especially teachers when the COVID-19 pandemic tests the country. This paper also proposes some suggestions and recommendations to improve the professionalism of teachers in the pandemic period.

Literature review
Findings of previous studies before COVID-19 show that computer-assisted teaching and learning (CATL) is one of the appropriate teaching methods used to help students produce encouraging achievements (Abu Hassan, 2017). However, e-learning through various available platforms such as zoom, google meet, google class should be optimized. Through that medium, teachers can transfer knowledge and skills. How about character building? It can go through time discipline in starting and ending online class meetings, time limits for uploading assignments, independence through individual projects, cooperation through group assignments, and ethics in speaking or writing during live learning. The role of teachers as educators is not replaced by machines (technology). The teacher's ability to touch on taste, language, and character shaping makes his presence always awaited by learners, whenever and wherever. Technology is to facilitates human work, including in the learning process. Combining these two is the right solution in learning in the era, especially after COVID-19 (Syaharuddin, 2020). In education today, there is a problem that is the COVID-19 pandemic that causes education to become increasingly lacking in optimal time in providing face-to-face learning for learners. COVID-19 greatly affects human life, especially in the field of education and health. In education, Indonesia has a school health unit (UKS) that is very influential in school health COVID-19 prevention efforts today. UKS has the meaning of an effort made by the school to help students and school residents who are sick in the school environment. The field of education, especially the role of teachers, has a way in the prevention of COVID-19 by providing online learning materials using tools and methods done by the education ministry by using one of the television stations to guide learners in learning from early childhood education, Kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school and high school divided into different hours. Thus, personal health must be maintained in a way that has been recommended by the government called "Social Distancing" to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus (Wulandari, 2020).
Online learning was not something new to teachers before the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Yet, this method of learning was only in support of conventional learning conducted in the classroom. When this pandemic hit, online learning through the Home-Based Learning (HBL) approach has become a necessity for educators. Teachers are also prepared to implement online learning by using printed modules and learning materials available on the internet, such as YouTube, despite facing various challenges. Among the challenges faced is the difficulty of teachers establishing two-way communication with students, lack of learning support from parents and guardians, and teachers' lack of knowledge and skills to implement online learning (Azizan & Nasri, 2020).
Digital communication tools need students from preschool to university in online learning as a medium of education. However, the presence of virtual classes makes students less focused during learning sessions coupled with an unfavorable environment due to lack of support from parents, such as poor internet access and lack of gadgets for children to use. A teacher also needs a high degree of patience and perseverance to face because of the variety of students' distance learning sessions. Using the latest technology applications such as Google Meet, Zoom, YouTube, and Tik Tok applications is a new platform for teachers to deliver learning sessions more effectively during Teaching and Learning at Home (TLH). It is because it will put pressure on the teachers and students themselves. Increasing workload, lack of appreciation, family issues, lack of technological skills, and financial problems cause teachers to experience high stress (Azizan & Nasri, 2020).

Issues of Teacher Professionalism in a Pandemic
Teachers need to master digital technology to meet the demands of Teaching and Learning at Home (TLH). Before COVID-19, telecommunication devices such as smartphones and gadgets were prohibited from being brought to school. The opposite happens when the world of education needs to be accessed online, and classes can be conducted anywhere with internet access. The global crisis due to the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic has delayed face-to-face learning and teaching and made teachers 'tasks increasingly challenging when adapting to new norms. Studies show that there is a low level of ICT skills of teachers. This is because teachers feel it is very difficult and a waste of time to learn ICT skills, especially for older teachers (Razali et al., 2017).
When schools are open for face-to-face sessions during a pandemic period, teachers have to deal with a new norm culture by implementing changes such as physical incarceration while in school, in classrooms, offices, adopting a healthy lifestyle and emphasizing hygiene aspects. Teachers 'leadership styles and task execution also require drastic changes beyond the expectations of ordinary thinking when faced with these unexpected new situations. These all inevitably create big and unique challenges that every teacher has to face. This will add a further burden in the workplace to teachers. A workload is a form of a person's physical and mental response to changes in their environment that disturb and cause them to be threatened or uncomfortable (Amalia et al., 2017).
A total of 64,046 children in Malaysia were infected with COVID-19, as reported by the Ministry of Health My Health Portal via their official Twitter (Awani, 2021). The initiative of the Malaysian government and the MOE by making teachers one of the main groups to receive the vaccine is very timely to reduce the risk of infection in schools. More dangerous if there are teachers who do not want to receive COVID-19 vaccine injections. It puts teachers at risk for COVID-19 infection and becomes a spreader if schools are opened for face-to-face learning sessions later. It will directly affect the teachers in the classroom as the new variants are more dangerous and endanger the pupils, especially in primary schools who are no longer vaccinated because they are underage.

Improving Teacher Professionalism in a Pandemic
The global crisis due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed learning and teaching conventionally and made teachers' tasks increasingly challenging. They have to adapt to new life norms and habits requiring teaching and learning processes to be implemented online. Teachers must change, which can be enhanced with training, understanding and the importance of change understood by school teachers (Abu Hassan et al., 2017). Teachers need to learn ICT skills more aggressively to meet the learning needs that desperately need technology as a learning platform. Almost all teaching and facilitation methods are conducted online, such as Google Classroom, Google Meet, YouTube, Zoom Cloud Meeting, and various quizzes. In a new millennium that prioritises lifelong learning skills, there is no choice but to leverage online educational technology and applications. The current educational context requires teachers to master and have communication and information technology (ICT) literacy.
Teachers need to help their peers who are weak in ICT skills. Therefore, teachers need to change their beliefs and practices not on their own teaching but for professional development. This can be achieved through the Professional Learning Community in collaboration with other peers. This change for the better can be achieved by teachers because, according to Abu Hassan and Musa (2020a), teachers show that the level of their professional practice is high. This is because these skills are not for a pandemic period but for the rest of their careers as teachers. In addition, learning about technology is available for free through websites, especially video sharing sites like YouTube.
A more flexible TLH during this pandemic should reduce certain non-essential subjects to reduce stress to both of these parties. Some countries like England have dropped the number of topics during this pandemic by prioritising issues that are considered core and should not be left alone. This does not mean that other subjects are not important, but we must have priority for now. This will indirectly have a positive impact on teachers and students. We do not need additional stress at a time when the world is filled with extreme stress as a result of this pandemic. The principal's role is to help teachers achieve the optimal level of motivation (Mukhter, 2020). Therefore, the ministry can give freedom to the school administration to formulate a curriculum or learning strategy that is appropriate to the situation of students and teachers in their respective schools. This is very suitable to be carried out now, especially in primary schools that currently do not have national-level examinations as long as they can provide effective learning for students.
Teachers should be wise in filtering the news received, and the measure of selfvaccination is an intelligent action that must be done by all teachers. This is because teachers are at risk of becoming COVID-19 patients and disseminators to students. This is because primary school pupils between the ages of seven and twelve are still not vaccinated. The wisdom of teachers in being disseminated true stories such as the importance of vaccination and sharing information about COVID-19 is very important. Therefore, teachers should obtain true and accurate information through reliable media, especially from authoritative sources and not from websites where the authenticity of the information is unknown.
Teachers need to be smart in dealing with students' inability to attend online classes due to the point of no gadgets and the weakness of internet connection at home. The provision of offline materials that students can use is necessary to ensure that no students are left behind. However, teachers need to be smart in preparing materials so that teachers are not burdened. This can be done by providing materials that can be used in both online or offline situations. Parents are indeed burdened in a pandemic situation due to job loss and lack of income, so schools as facilitators should help mothers ensure their children get a proper education. Discussion and tolerance should be a model in reducing the impact of a pandemic on all parties. The government should put pressure on internet service providers to provide more comprehensive and worthwhile internet facilities for the fees paid. This is because the internet in the country is more expensive and slower than in some neighbouring countries. The action of the Malaysian ministry to make one of the television stations an educational television channel is an action that should be commended because it is a wise initiative.

Conclusion and Future Agenda
Teacher professionalism is a dynamic thing and changes according to current circumstances and situations. Yet according to Sockett (1993), there are five fixed things for teacher professionalism: teacher character, commitment to continuous change and improvement, subject knowledge and pedagogy, and participation in educational activities outside the classroom. if we go through the duration of this pandemic, all the aspects described by Sockett (1993) occur. First, the teacher must be a professional character that is always committed to teaching despite their weaknesses and shortcomings. Second, teachers must be able to change from unskilled in technology to proficient. Third, as a teacher, subject knowledge is fundamental to a teacher. The fourth is pedagogical knowledge; apart from in the classroom, teachers must now teach online. Finally, teachers must improve weaknesses such as the ability to use technology applications. In the future, teachers should be equipped with current knowledge and willing to change so that all future issues can be faced with a prepared state. Therefore, teachers need to be constantly evolving and can practice PLC at all times to meet the coming changes. This is because the practice of PLC in schools is still at a moderate level (Abu Hassan et al., 2020).
Teacher professionalism provides a standard for teachers to determine the quality values that a teacher should possess (Abu Hassan & Musa, 2020b). Therefore, teacher professionalism should move in line with current developments, and now in the era of COVID-19, a teacher's skills are tested to ensure that students 'learning remains quality. Teachers who previously rejected technology had to learn technology skills by force to impart knowledge to students. Thus, Sockett's (1993) opinion that commitment to change and continuous improvement is accurate. A lesson to teachers is always to ensure that they remain professional in becoming quality and effective teachers. When teachers cannot be professional teachers, it will have a huge impact on the students and will ultimately profoundly affect the teachers themselves and the students.