Malaysian education system

Discussion on The Malaysian Education System and the Changes.
1.The Malaysian education system was shaped by the Razak Report(1956)also known as the Education Ordinance(1957).

2.Before independence,education was not regulated as a unitary system.Each race provided education services to their own people through their own social or religious entities.Thus the emergence of vernacular schools.
The British government on the other hand created their own missionary schools.
The main achievement of the Education Ordinance(1957)was to provide the nation with an education system that would unify all races.

3.In 1960 another bill was introduced(the Rahman Talib Report)which was enacted as the Education Act(1961).

4.The Mahatir Report(1979)saw a major educational reform taking place.Among the major contributions of this bill was the introduction of the Kurikulum Baru Sekolah Rendah(KBSR),which was later renamed as the Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah(the integrated Primary School Curriculum)to reflect the integrated nature of the curriculum.The KBSR was introduced nationwide in 1983 and the secondary school curriculum that followed was known as the Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Menengah(KBSM)or the Integrated Secondary School Curriculum,which was introduced in 1989.

5.The educational reform introduced in the Mahatir Report(1979)was greatly influenced by the progressivist philosophy.This teaching philosophy moves away from the traditionally popular perennialist view(before independence).The emphasis moves away from the teacher to the learner.

6.The KBSR and KBSM advocated a learner-centred teaching approach.

7.The development of smart schools through the enactment of the EducationAct 1996 saw another shift in the teaching philosophy.The emphasis moved from the learner to learning.The reason for this shift was due to the shift in the structure of the economy from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy.

8.The shift from the learner to the learning –centred philosophy was not a major change like the move from the teacher-centred philosophy to the learner-centred teaching philosophy.Instead we see a shift from an emphasis on the learner as a democratic citizen(having their own rights to self-determination and freedom of choice)to an emphasis on the learning process of the individual students,especially in their learning habits and learning styles.

9.The emphasis on the learning process will see a change in the teaching approaches.The role of the teacher is now expanded from a facilitator to a manager of learning.

10.The 4 features of the constructivist teaching philosophy:a)learners construct their own meaning b)new learning builds on prior knowledge c)learning is enhanced by social interaction d)meaningful learning develops through ‘authentic’ tasks.