The Multifaceted Roles of Teachers in 21st-Century Malaysian Education: A Systematic Literature Review

This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) examining the evolving roles of teachers in 21st-century Malaysia, focusing on their functions as planners, mentors, motivators, controllers, and evaluators. Guided by the PRISMA framework, twenty peer-reviewed studies published between 2013 and 2025 were analyzed from major databases including Scopus, ERIC, and Google Scholar. The review highlights that teachers serve as strategic planners who design inclusive and technology-integrated lessons; as mentors who guide professional growth and foster teacher efficacy; as motivators who inspire student engagement through innovative pedagogical practices; as controllers who maintain effective classroom management and uphold discipline; and as evaluators who implement authentic assessment aligned with the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013–2025). The synthesis underscores the interdependence of these roles and the challenges teachers face, including limited autonomy, digital readiness, and assessment reform constraints. The study concludes that sustained professional development, supportive instructional leadership, and coherent policy implementation are essential to empower Malaysian teachers as transformative agents in achieving national educational excellence.