HMEF5143 SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

There are two common expectations on schooling purposes. First, that education should
produce individuals who function in society (Ballantine & Hammack 2009: 75). Second, that
education should be the great equalizer of the conditions of men the balance wheel of social
machinery (Mann as cited in Ballantine & Hammack, 2009: 75). Ironically, these might be
conflicting anticipations, for decision makers do not always consider equality as functional to
society.

Schooling reflects the stratification system because the purposes of education and how
they are channeled are defined and justified by those with more power, property and prestige,
who are often parents of the high achievers and teachers that want to remain uncontroversial.
The educational system will continue reproducing inequalities, until all kids have food, shelter,
love and affection, respect, trust, knowledge and truth, for teaching is only effecting when the
right tools to learn are provided.

In most of the schools, poor kids, often children of minorities, are low achievers, but
ability and motivation are hardly the first factors in a complex causation chain. Leonard
Beeghleys status attainment model (as cited in Ballentine & Hammack 2009: 80) arrived to the
conclusion that academic achievement of the students were depends on 6 variables namely,
fathers and mothers education, fathers occupation, family income; significant others
encouragement; academic performance; ability measured by achievement or IQ test (academic
aptitude); educational and occupational aspirations and educational attainments direct influence
on occupational attainment. In this study we going to the first FIVE variables and demonstrate
how each of them affects on students educational attainment.

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2.0 DEFINITION
According to a philosopher of education George F. Kneller (1941), education is in its
broad sense, education refers to any act or experience that has formative effect on the mind,
character, or physical ability of an individual ... In its technical sense, education is the process
by which society, through schools, colleges, universities, and other institutions, deliberately
transmits its cultural heritage its accumulated knowledge, values, and skills from one
generation to another (Noryati Alias, 2009).

As a multi racial society, Malaysia has promoted living together in peace and harmony.
With a population of 23 million the Malay race is the majority, approximately 60% and all
are Muslims, with the next two major races being the Chinese and Indians, 23% and 10%
respectively (Mohamed Kumail, 2000).

Ritzer & Goodman , (2004) describe that functionalism theory basically sees
society as a human body, where institutions such as education are like important
organs that keep the society healthy and well. ( Noryati Alias, 2009). In a term of
education, develop, sort and select individuals by its ability level to fill hierarchical position
means that do bring out the students capabilities; arranged them from lowest to highest and
make a choice to classify them (Free Dictionary Online, 2013).

3.0 MALAYSIAN SCHOOL SYSTEMS

It was also known as a National Education System. The National Education System
involves several levels of schooling which includes preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary
education institutions. Entry into public preschools is limited to local citizens. However, non-
citizens may enroll into primary and secondary public schools. In public schools, the medium of
instruction is the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu) because its a national language. English
subject as second language. Other subjects like Science, Mathematics, Moral, Music, Arts are
taught in their medium of instruction in school.

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The vision of the Government is to make Malaysia a centre of educational excellence.

Malaysia, unlike Finland and Denmark, has yet to be a high income country to afford free higher
education for its citizens. Based on per capita income, Malaysia was at RM25,000 compared
with Finland at RM138,000 and Denmark, at RM176,000. The high income earned by the two
countries Finland and Denmark make it possible for them to provide free higher education. The
number of students at institutions of higher learning in Finland and Denmark was also small,
about 169,000 and 241,000, respectively, compared with the number of students in Malaysia, at
1.1 million. And, the tax rate in Finland was also high, at 6.5 to 30 per cent, and Denmark, at
36.57 to 55.4 per cent, while in Malaysia, the tax rate was from 0 to 26 per cent (Ministry of
Education, 2011).

Students of the national education system need to sit for Malaysias public examinations
such as UPSR, PMR, SPM, STPM or Matriculation examinations. The system is governed by the
Malaysian Examination Syndicate, which plans and schedules examinations that students of the
national education system need to sit for. Malaysian education is the responsibility of the
Government and it is committed to providing a sound education to all. The Malaysian education
system encompasses education beginning from pre-school to university. Pre-tertiary education
(pre-school to secondary education) is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education (MOE)
while tertiary or higher education is the responsibility of the Ministry of Higher Education
(MOHE). The vision of the Government is to make Malaysia a centre of educational excellence.

3.1 Preschool education

There are no fixed rules on when a child needs to start preschool education but majority
would start when the child turns 5 years old. Schooling can begin earlier, from 3-6, in
kindergarten. Preschool education usually lasts for 2 years, before they proceed to
primary school at age 7. There is no formal preschool curriculum except a formal
mandatory training and certification for principals and teachers before they may operate a
preschool. The training covers lessons on child psychology, teaching methodologies, and
other related curricula on childcare and development.

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Preschool education is mainly provided by private for-profit preschools, though some are
run by the government or religious groups. Some primary schools have attached
preschool sections. Attendance in a preschool programme is not universal; while people
living in urban areas are generally able to send their children to private kindergartens, few
do in rural areas.

3.2 Primary School Education

Primary school education is the first level of formal learning, which provides a
foundation for life-long learning. The Ministry of Education has established
a curriculum standardized (Malay version only) to ensure that core subjects are given due
emphasis. All children from the ages of seven are required to enroll for primary school
education. Public primary schools are divided into two categories based on the medium
of instruction namely, Malay-medium National Schools Sekolah Kebangsaan, SK and
non-Malay-medium National-type Schools Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan, SJK, also known
as "vernacular schools" which further divided into national-type School (Chinese)
(Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina), SJK(C)), Mandarin-medium and simplified Chinese
writing and national-type School (Tamil) (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Tamil), SJK (T)),
Tamil-medium.

The duration for primary school education is six years. At the end of the sixth year of
primary education, the students aptitude is measured through the Primary School
Achievement Test (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah) (UPSR).
However, the division of public education at the primary level into National and
National-type Schools has been criticized for allegedly creating racial polarization at an
early age.[9] To address the problem, attempts have been made to establish Sekolah
Wawasan ("vision schools"). Under the concept, three schools (typically one SK, one
SJK(C) and one SJK(T)) would share the same school compound and facilities while
maintaining different school administrations, ostensibly to encourage closer interaction.
However, this was met with objections from most of the Chinese and Indian communities
as they believe this will restrict the use of their mother tongue in schools.

3.3 Secondary School Education

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Secondary school education is the second stage of formal education in Malaysia.

Secondary education for Malaysian students starts at age 13 and continues for of five to
seven years. Just as in primary school, there is a standardized curriculum (Malay version
only) for secondary school as well. It was designed and implemented to ensure
consistency in learning standards. The students level of understanding is measured
through general examinations at the end of each year. In the course of their secondary
education, students are required to sit for two national examinations set by the Malaysian
Examination Syndicate.

After their third year (Form Three) students are required to sit for the Lower Secondary
Assessment (Penilaian Menengah Rendah) (PMR) (Malay version only) examination. In
Form Five they are required to take the Malaysia Certificate of Education (Sijil Pelajaran
Malaysia) (SPM) (Malay version only) examination. With the completion of Form Five,
students who wish to continue their education have the option to either continue with
Form Six or further their studies with other public or private tertiary institutions. Students
who opt for Form Six are required to sit for the Malaysia Higher School Certificate (Sijil
Tinggi Penilaian Malaysia) (STPM) (Malay version only) examination.

3.4 Islamic religious schools

A system of Islamic religious schools exists in Malaysia. Primary schools are called
Sekolah Rendah Agama (SRA), while secondary schools are called Sekolah Menengah
Agama (SMA). Another type of schools available in Malaysia is the Islamic religious
schools or sekolah agama rakyat (SAR). The schools teach Muslim students subjects
related to Islam such as early Islamic history, Arabic language and Fiqh. It is not
compulsory though some states such as Johor make it mandatory for all Muslim children
aged six to twelve to attend the schools as a complement to the mandatory primary
education. In the final year, students will sit an examination for graduation. Most SAR
are funded by respective states and managed by states' religious authority.

3.4 Higher Education

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Upon successful completion of 11 years of free education, further education is no longer

automatic but is subject to the individual's academic performance and financial capability.
These upper school graduates like SPM leavers can opt to continue their education in post-
secondary schools to obtain a pre-university qualification (such as the Sixth Form or
Matriculation programme, GCE'A7 levels) or further their education at tertiary or higher
institutions. At tertiary education level, institutions of higher learning offer courses leading to
the awards of certificate, diploma, first degree and higher degree qualifications (at academic
and professional fields). The duration of study for a basic bachelor degree programme is 3
years and the courses of study at this level are provided by both the public and private
education sectors, attracting many international students.

Tertiary education providers consist of two major groups such as public (government-funded)
institutions of higher learning, for example, public universities, polytechnics, community
colleges and teacher training institutes and private (private-funded) higher educational
institutions (PHEIs), for example, private universities, private university colleges, foreign
branch campus universities and private colleges.

3.5.1 Government-funded Educational Institutions

The Government provides more than 95% of primary and secondary education as
well as about 60% of the tertiary education, with the private sector providing the
balance.
3.5.2 Private- funded Educational Institutions
The private education providers in Malaysia can be broadly grouped into 2
categories, depending on the levels of education offered, ranging from pre-school
to tertiary education. These two categories of private institutions are private
Educational Institutions (PEIs) which provide education at preschool, primary and
secondary levels. They comprise private schools and foreign system schools and
private Higher Educational Institutions (PHEIs) which provide tertiary education
leading to the awarding of certificate, diploma and degree qualifications.

4.0 MALAYSIAN SCHOOL POLICIES AND PRACTICES

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4.1 Malaysian education philosophy

Malaysian school philosophy is:

Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further

developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated
manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually,
emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm
belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce
Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess
high moral standards, and who are responsible and capable of achieving
high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the
harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large.
Ministry of Education, Malaysia

4.2 School uniforms

Present-day Malaysia introduced Western style school uniforms (pakaian seragam

sekolah) in the late 19th century during the British colonial era. Today, school
uniforms are almost universal in the public and private school systems. Standardized
beginning January 1, 1970, public school uniforms are compulsory for all students
and standardized nationwide. A common version of Malaysian school uniform is of
public schools. The dress code for males is the most standardized while female
uniforms are more varied based on the religion of students and the type of schools.

Male students are required to wear a collared shirt with a pair of shorts or long pants.
Female students may wear a knee-length pinafore and a collared shirt, a knee-length
skirt and a collared shirt, or a baju kurung consisting of a top and a long skirt with an
optional hijab (tudung) for Muslim students. White socks and shoes of black or white
are almost universally required for students, while ties are included in certain dress
codes. Prefects and students with other additional school duties may wear uniforms of
different colours; colours may differ between primary and secondary schools.

4.3 Blue-Print 2013-2025

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The blue-print was developed with three specific objectives such as understanding the
current performance and challenges; establishing clear vision and aspirations and
outlining the comprehensive transformation programme for the system including the
policy changes to Ministry of education. There are eleven policies to transform in
Malaysian school system. Some are below:

4.3.1 Provide equal access to quality education of an international standard

The foundation for the success of a school system lies in its definition of
what students must know, understand and able to do. There is a benchmark
in learning languages, Mathematics and Science to international standard
whereby, every student will receive a strong literacy and numeracy as
basic. New curriculum was launched by the Ministry namely, Primary
School Standard Curriculum (KSSR) and Secondary School Standard
Curriculum (KSSM). And, also revamp national examination and school-
based assessments to gradually increase percentage of questions that test
higher-order thinking.

Furthermore, government raised quality of preschool and encourage

universal enrollment by 2020 whereby every child aged 5+ will be
registered in preschool, be it private or public. For low income families
that would otherwise not be able to afford preschool will receive need-
based financial support from the Ministry. Besides, move from six 6 to 11
years of compulsory schooling, starting at age 6+ supported by targeted
retention programmes and job- ready vocational training.

4.3.2 Ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English

Language

School as a organization should boosting all the students proficiency in

Bahasa Malaysia and English Language will be the most intermediate
priority. After three years of schooling, every child will achieve 100%
literacy in those languages. So, by at the end of form 5 90% of students

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will score a minimum credit in SPM Bahasa Malaysia and 70% in

English.

4.3.3 Develop values-driven Malaysians

Every students leaves school as a global citizen imbued with core,

universal values and a strong Malaysian identity. Strengthen Islamic
Education, Moral Education and civics element into new curriculum. And
then, develop students holistically by reinforcing the requirement for every
student to participate in sport activities. In addition, enhance RIMUP
programme to facilitate interaction across school types.

4.3.4 Transform teaching into professional of choice

Teaching will be a prestigious, elite profession that only recruits from the
top 30% of graduates in the country. Teachers will receive the best training
possible, from the time they enter their teacher training programmes,
through to the point of retirement.

4.5 System Aspirations

There are five outcomes that the Blueprint aspires to for the Malaysian education system:
access, quality, equity, unity, and efficiency. These aspirations have emerged from the body of
historical Education Reports, remaining as relevant today as when they were first conceived in
the Malaysian context.

4.5.1 Access to Success

Every child in Malaysia, regardless of wealth, ethnicity or background, deserves equal
access to a quality education that will enable the student to achieve his or her potential. Building
upon the principle of Education for All, part of the Millennium Development Goals, the
Malaysian education system aspires to ensure universal access and full enrolment of all children
from preschool through to the upper secondary (Form Five) level, whether through the academic
pathway or equivalent vocational and technical pathways.

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This commitment includes both proactively reaching out to those children currently not
attending school, as well as ensuring that these students complete schooling to minimum
acceptable standards, namely passing the six core subjects of Bahasa Malaysia, English
language, Mathematics, Science, History and Islamic Education or Moral Education at the end
of Form 5.

4.5.2 Quality of a High International Standard

All students will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education that is uniquely
Malaysian and comparable to high-performing education systems. This will require that
Malaysias education system embark upon a path of improvement that will move it rapidly
towards great performance, as benchmarked against other countries by international standards.
This includes standards for disciplines such as Mathematics, Science, and English language, and
for higher-order thinking skills such as reasoning, applying, and problem-solving.

4.5.3 Equity for All Students

The best school systems deliver the best possible education for every student, regardless
of ethnicity, geographical location, or socio-economic background. The education system
envisioned for Malaysia is one where all studentsregardless of who their parents are, or where
they study and will be equipped with the tools they need to unlock their own future. The
Malaysian school system aspires to halve the socio-economic, urban-rural and gender
achievement gaps in student outcomes by 2020. The reduction of the socio-economic and urban-
rural gap is expected to also impact corresponding achievement gaps between states and school
types. Achieving this reduction would make Malaysia one of the more equitable systems in the
world.

4.5.4 Fostering Unity among Students

Since independence, one of Malaysias core aspirations as a uniquely diverse nation has
been to foster unity. Highly diverse nations that embrace this diversity and prioritise social and

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systemic inclusiveness exhibit greater unity. International research from the OECD indicates that
such greater unity is associated with healthier populations, safer communities, and higher rates of
employment.

4.5.5 Delivering with Greater Efficiency

Malaysias consistently high level of expenditure on education relative to its federal
budget is indicative of the Governments commitment to education. These expenditure levels
have resulted in almost universal access to primary and lower secondary education and relatively
high upper secondary enrolments, but there remains room for improvement on the other
dimensions of quality, equity, and unity. Consequently, returns (in the form of student outcomes)
must be maximised for every ringgit spent. As the Ministry strives towards delivering the
education system aspirations, execution will be done responsibly and will pay heed to efficient
and effective deployment of public resources so as to maximise student outcomes within the
given budget. The Government is also committed to maintaining the current level of investment
in the system of approximately 16% of the annual federal budget.

5.0 DISCUSSION

Malaysias national education policy has been changed many times. It was first changed
when the Razak Report 1956 and the Education Ordinance 1957 which was dubbed the
Consolidation Era were introduced and the most recent one was the introduction of the New
Education Policy (the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2012-2025) which was approved by the
Cabinet on January 30, 2013.

Although, all the changes done to the national education policy always maintained the
essence of MOEs education philosophy, none of the changes made resulted in improving our
standard of education, as a matter of fact, it continued to drop and is still dropping even
further. Therefore, besides changing the policy, we may also need to re-look at our education
philosophy. The education philosophy neither takes into consideration global competition nor
making our education standard and quality to be among the best in the world.

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The 1996 Education Act states that Bahasa Malaysia is the main language of instruction
in schools and it is meant to uphold Bahasa Malaysia's rightful place as the national language in
Malaysia as stipulated in Article 152 of the Constitution. The Cabinet Committee Report (1979)
also recommended that the Malay language be the main medium of instruction and that English
be taught as a second language at all levels of education. The MOE recognises that Bahasa
Malaysia, as the national language, promotes unity and is also the main language of
communication. English is the language of international communication and is necessary to
explore knowledge at the global level.

The major transformation in Malaysian education policy was to change the medium of
instruction from English language to Bahasa Malaysia which was implemented in the late 70s in
schools and the institutions of higher learning. It took about twelve years to complete and is
acknowledged to have produced many graduates from first degree to PhD levels. We are all
proud of that fact however the quality of science, technical, engineering and medicine graduates
is lagging behind if compared to our pre-70s graduates. Our graduates now are no longer able to
compete globally especially with people from the other developing countries as well as from
some of the third world countries even.

Many of our graduates are finding getting employment locally a problem mainly due to
their poor command of English and there are now more than 10,000 of them still remain
unemployed, some after three years since they graduated. During the days when we were using
English language as the medium of instruction we had many public schools and a public
university, such as University Malaya, which were considered or listed as among the worlds best
50 schools and universities in the world during that period. Many of our teachers in schools and
lecturers in universities were among the best in the world.

Those days, English medium national schools were the schools of choice of most
Malaysians. We were all mostly bilingual and many were trilingual or better. English language,
Malay (Bahasa Malaysia), Mandarin, Tamil, Arabic, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese
were some of the languages many Malaysians were proficient at, some less some more, and we
even had judges who mastered Latin. The majority of our people mastered both English language
and Malay (Bahasa Malaysia).

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Many students were courted during their final years at university by prospective
employers and graduates remaining unemployed after completing their studies were not heard of
at all. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) latest report place our
countrys education level at 55 out of 77 countries, i.e. in the bottom third and in the report
prepared by Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2012-13, our
universities are not even listed in the top 400 in the world. If these are not the consequences of
the policy change that the country has made in education, what are they then?

If Bahasa Malaysia was able to lift our standard of education or at least maintain our high
pre-70s level when we were considered and acknowledged as country with one of the best
education systems in the world, then why are we now placed in the bottom third, 55th out of 77
countries, by PISA and that and our universities are not even listed in the top 400 in the world by
Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2012-13? The number of students
taking up science subjects has also dropped to below 30 per cent out of the overall secondary
school population of 2.3 million students, which is well below the countrys target of 60 per
cent.

We may still have a few good teachers and lecturers but still, due to their very poor
command of the English language, they can only teach in local schools or universities. The
question is: Is the New Education Blueprint 2013- 2025 designed to correct and improve the
standard of education in the country and to raise our education level back to the level we were
before?

6.0 CONCLUSION

In short, without changing the education philosophy and the education policy and
practices along with it. Without a good programme in our education curriculum in our national
schools to allow for the proper teaching and learning of English in the new education policy to
complement the teaching and learning of subjects in Bahasa Malaysia, it is impossible for our
standard to be raised to the high and respected level we were at before. Our education philosophy
and policy is however very successful in producing many jaguh kampung. Its very surprising
that the government, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Higher Education and the people

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at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education seem to be very happy and
contented about it.

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