MINISTERIAL EXCHANGE C: SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL LEARNING AND NEW DEVELOPMENTS

IN PEDAGOGIES
BY

H.E. DR. MASZLEE MALIK

MINISTER OF EDUCATION MALAYSIA
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Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
1. First and foremost, my appreciation and gratitude to the
organiser for giving me this opportunity to speak on the topic of
“Social and Emotional Learning and New Developments in
Pedagogies”.

2. We have all heard and talked about the complexity of the world
in which we are in today, and what we thought our children need to
prepare themselves for the future is no longer adequate. The social,
environmental and economic challenges of tomorrow require us to
rethink our learning systems. What this means is us, people in this
room, have a much larger responsibility now. We need to design a
system that will not only help our children understand and navigate
this complexity, but also to adapt and thrive in response to novel and
complex problems.
3. The adoption of digital technologies in education has
accelerated the changes in behaviours, values and actions, which in
turn impacted the way we learn and our capacity to learn. New jargons
and terms like big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence are
now dominating conversations around education policies. In fact,
many companies, including those in this forum today, have really
pushed the boundaries on how we can leverage on technology to
support teaching and learning.

But Ladies and Gentlemen,

4. I don’t have to convince you of the value of technology. I will
argue, however, that in our process of preparing our children for the
future, we may have overlooked another important aspect of
education. In our chase to incorporate technology, we sometimes
neglect the core elements that have made us human. Our social and
emotional abilities, or how we interact with each other, and our ability
to regulate our emotions and behaviour, are equally if not more
important than learning our ABCs. While technology may replace how
we learn our ABCs, there is no substitute for the type of social and
emotional learning that is driven in school through teachers.

5. If the future of work requires us to be more collaborative and

creative, then all the more important for educators to prioritise social
and emotional learning in our children. Work aside, social and
emotional abilities are also indicators of how well a person adjusts to
his or her environment, adapts to change and, ultimately, how
successful he or she will be in life.
6. Social and emotional learning plays an important role in the
classroom. But for the majority of our students, this learning will be
highly dependent on whether it is a priority for their teacher and their
school. Findings have shown that when social and emotional learning
is promoted as part of the daily classroom life, it fosters positive
working relationships, increases student engagement, and models
constructive behaviours, all pertinent elements for students to thrive
in the 4th Industrial Revolution.

7. For this very reason, students’ social and emotional skills form
the core principles of the Malaysian education system. Underpinning
these principles is the National Philosophy of Education (NPE) that
aspires to develop holistic individuals who are intellectually,
emotionally, socially and physically balanced. These individuals in turn
are able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of themselves,
their family, society and the nation at large.
8. With this in mind, Malaysia is now moving towards more growth-
based learning where the whole development of a child is at the
center of our policies. What this means are three things:

1. Moving learning from teacher-based to student-based,

where skills like communication, collaboration and critical
thinking can be harnessed. For this, we are upskilling our
teachers on changing their pedagogical practices to allow for
a more student-centered classroom.

2. Emphasis on values-based education in which values like

love, happiness and mutual respect are at the core of our
education system. We want to humanise education. Our
schools should be a place where children learn to love
knowledge and one another, where learning is fun and
meaningful, where they learn the value of unity and respect.

3. A more holistic evaluation of students’ achievements beyond

content knowledge. Moving away from an exam-oriented
system not only pushes us to focus on critical thinking and
creativity, but can help put the spotlight on how we develop
positive values and ideas of an individual who is balanced
intellectually and socially. In fact, we have just done away
with summative exams at Year 1, 2, and 3 in Malaysia this year
so that the whole development of a child can be prioritised
instead.
9. In short, Malaysia aspires to strengthen our education system by
emphasising a more humanistic and values-driven education, with
the internalisation of the culture of happiness, love and mutual
respect. We want to ensure we create a fun, safe and positive learning
environment where the social and emotional wellbeing of our children
are prioritised.

10. Moving from an exam-oriented to a growth-oriented system in

a country just as obsessed with ranking and achievement like others
will obviously not be easy. It requires massive cultural change and
mindset shift. Not just with our teachers, but also with parents,
employers and the larger society. But I strongly believe that we will
not do our children justice if we continue to expect them to survive in
a world they are not socially and emotionally prepared to be in.

Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
11. Part of our effort to build a values-driven education system
include working with others outside the education system. Something
like social and emotional learning cannot be the responsibility of
schools and teachers alone, and we are working with parents and
other NGOs in this effort. Parents, especially, are vital to this and we
are accelerating efforts to deepen the involvement of parents in the
education of the child. Currently, more than 90% of all Malaysian
schools have parents involved in a majority of school events. Moving
forward, we plan to make these contact points more meaningful.
12. Our partnership with external stakeholders like NGOs and the
private sector have also been beneficial to this effort. As an example,
a nationwide project was launched in Malaysia called Project
Kindness, to get students involved and engaged in learning. One of the
students in the school, Saiful Ikhwan, chosen to represent Malaysia at
the African Youth Development Summit to develop the #ENDviolence
Youth Manifesto said this about his school – “The students in our
schools were behaving poorly and aggressively before this, not
because we are bad people, but because we were so often treated as
if we didn’t matter and nothing we did amount to anything. Once the
teacher started being kinder to us, we began to feel valued and
respected. That was how the transformation began.”

13. In sum, Ikhwan’s words are significant to our discussion here.

Findings from PISA 2015 showed that across OECD countries, 42
percent of students feel like an outsider in school and students’ sense
of belonging in school has declined since PISA 2003. This is why we
need to prioritise a values-driven education system. We need to bring
back the love for school so that students are more engaged and happy
learners. Education is not an end itself. It is the process of facilitating
learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and
habits. Schools are not the only place for the acquisition of academic
skills but where they develop social and emotional skills. With the
onset of advanced digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence,
we need to teach our children skills that could not be automated and
this could be facilitated through social and emotional learning.
15. The advancement of social and emotional learning will require a
shift in pedagogy and this will require the commitments across sectors
and communities. In the process, we can forge a more well-rounded
education system to produce more socially responsible citizens who
are better prepared to work together to build communities, nations
and, ultimately, a better peaceful sustainable world.

Thank you.