Development in Malaysian Education System

21ST CENTURY
EDUCATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Global education system..............................................................................................................1
Malaysian Education system........................................................................................................1
Development in Malaysian education system..............................................................................2
Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025.................................................................................3
Purpose and concept of 21st Century Education.........................................................................5
Implementation of 21st Century Education concept....................................................................6
Opinion on 21st Century Education teaching and learning.........................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Education plays a vital role in the growth of a country. It helps in improving the literacy
rate of a country as well. Nowadays requirements of business are completely different as
compared to traditional business requirements. Due to this it has become important to bring
changes within education system so that students can improve their current skills and learn new
skills such as digital literacy, critical thinking, problem solving skills, collaborative learning and
creative thinking (Mayhew and et.al., 2016). For this many countries are adopting 21st century
educational concept where complex but advanced learning environment will be provided to the
students where the focus of teachers will be to enhance their skills and knowledge, learn new
skills, tools and technology, personalty development and way to face real life complex problems.
This assignment will lay emphasis on 21st century educational concept which is one of the main
component in Malaysian government's National education Blueprint (2013-2025).
MAIN BODY
Global education system
According to Allman, (2019), Global education focuses on teaching ideas and enhancing
one's perception towards the world. It is included within curriculum where teachers communicate
and teach different dimensions, citizenships and perspective towards the world. Education
system of each and every country is different from one another. Different countries have
different way of teaching or spreading education within students such that they learn various
skills and enhance their knowledge as per 21st century. Each country has different way of
providing education in different way such as experimental learning where people are encouraged
to learn new things by doing or performing it, leadership development where teachers take
ownership of a classroom in order to teach their students, inclusion where all kinds of students
obtain high quality education provided by them, innovation where people learn by experimenting
and learning new things by innovating something.
Malaysian Education system
As per the view of Chin, Thien and Chiew, (2019), Education system in Malaysia is
divided into five parts or grades which are: preschool education, primary school education,
secondary school education post secondary education and tertiary education. It is mainly
bifurcated into two parts which are public and private education. Education provided by public
school's in Malaysia provides free schooling while private or international education institution
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charges fee for education. As per the educational law of Malaysia it is important for everyone to
obtain primary education. This is because Malaysian government thinks that each and every
individual has a right to obtain high quality education. Further, explained by Yen and Halili,
(2015), School year in Malaysia is mainly divided into two semesters. First semester starts in
January and ends in May end whereas second semester starts in June and ends in November.
Each school grade is divided into sub levels. Preschool is divided into two levels which are pre-
school playgroup and kindergarten. Primary is divided into six standards, secondary school is
divided into six forms. Then cones the post secondary education and tertiary education which
consist of colleges or universities. It is important for each and every individual to attend all six
standards of primary school. After primary school education is not compulsory and it is up to
students or parents that whether they want to continue their education or not. Although
government provides free education for primary school six years and secondary school five
years. In other words it is compulsory for children between 5 to 15 years to attend school at least
up to secondary school whether in public or private schools. This compulsion is mainly to
increase the literacy level of Malaysia. For this various kinds of education blue prints have been
made by Ministry of education of federal government. Malaysian government has adopted an
educational structure and implements it in such a manner that each one has access to education
easily from wherever they want and in whichever for them they are comfortable within like
home schooling, boarding schools, public schools or private schools.
Development in Malaysian education system
According to the view of Kim, Horta and Jung, (2017), Malaysian government has
developed their education system and policies related to it in such a manner that their literacy
rate has increased up to 98 percent. Their focus is mainly the courses that are taught to students
and curriculum change as both the factors affect and bring changes within education system of
Malaysia as well as affects students perspective for future. So, for this ministry of education
focuses on the courses and curriculum of the school and in order to bring improvement within
the education system they continuously bring required changes within the educational system.
Curriculum is one of the most important and vital component of an educational system as it helps
in building education base within the students and teachers as well. These changes are made in
such a manner that Malaysian values are not overridden and usage of new and advance
technology does not overpower current technology usage as it affects students perceptive or their
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point of view towards technology usage and Malaysian values. As elaborated by Harris and
et.al., (2017), The current education system of Malaysia focuses on building morale, values,
national pride as well as confidence within students. Initially to bring changes and development
within education system Malaysian government had build and released a national education
Blueprint 2006-2010 whose main goal was to establish National pre-school curriculum, set 100
new classrooms for special needs students, increase single session classroom session to 90
percent for primary schools and for secondary schools to 70 percent. This blueprint also focused
on all kinds of educational weakness within their system such as more than 10 percent of primary
schools lacked electricity and water supply and various other problems. This blue print also
focused on decreasing racial polarization problem within schools. So, in order to reduce such
problems Malaysian government conducted various seminars on constitution of Malaysia,
organized motivational camps for students in order to increase their concordance and cultural
awareness, organized food festival where different kinds of ethnic cooking styles were taught.
Other than this government of Malaysia also organized essay competition on various kinds of
cultural traditions. Different languages were taught to students like Tamil, mandarin etc. Even
after taking so many actions to improve educational system of Malaysia they were subjected to
various kinds of criticism by saying that educational blueprint is not needed to produce brilliant
students but it is required to revive old education system and bring improvement in that
educational system. So for this in 2013 new National educational blueprint 2013-2025 was
released.
Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025
As per the view of Peterson, Gaskill and Cordova, (2018), This new National education
blueprint focused on Malaysian education starting from preschool to post secondary. This new
approach of education was ground breaking as it focused on multiple perspectives in order to
assess and evaluate Malaysian education system performance. Ministry of education of Malaysia
also worked with various other governmental agencies such that their policy works in alignment
with others policies related to education system. This blueprint mainly focused on aspiration of
full enrolment and universal access of all children from preschool to upper secondary level of
school by 2020. Further, expanded by Blueprint, (2016), This blueprint also focused on
aspiration of Malaysian education to be on top three countries in terms of performance in all
kinds of internation assessments which is measured by PISA (programme for international
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student assessment) and TIMSS (tends in international mathematics and science study) within 15
years. They have also focused on achieving gender equality, socio economic and urban rural
gaps by 2020. They have also focused on creating opportunities for students where they can have
opportunities to build shared experiences. Ministry of education had also focused in bringing all
such improvements within their educational system by 2020 within their budget level. In simple
words they have build 5 aspiration systems which are access to educational system, raising
quality standard of education and increasing unity among students, bringing equality among
people, promoting shared values in education system and increasing student efficiency and
maximising their outcomes.
In addition to this, illustrated by Sulaiman and et.al., (2017), Malaysian government has
also identified 11 shifts that will be needed to bring changes among their educational system and
deliver step by stem changes within educational system of Malaysia. Each shift addresses at least
one of the five system outcomes which are equality, access, quality, efficiency and unity. These
11 shifts will also help in increasing compulsory education importance from at least six to eleven
years. This will help in aspiring 6 main things within students which are increasing their
knowledge base by literating each and every child, by increasing bilingual proficiency i.e. all the
students will be able to take their education and English and learn new and different languages.
Each and every child will be able to acquire knowledge throughout their lives by acquiring new
knowledge in pieces, this will help them in increasing children's critical thinking skills, reasoning
skills, creative thinking and innovation. Build an education system with increased ethical level
and spirituality in order to prepare each child such that they can face any number of challenges
and employee sound judgement by applying those ethics and principles within critical
movements of their lives. This will eventually help them to increase as well as improve their
leadership skills by working efficiently with others students such that they can learn in working
in team and can take leadership roles. All such things will increase the sense of nationality
among children and will participate in both success and failure of the country. Further, explained
by Azman, (2016), By 2025 they want that all kind of students (general students and disabled
students) to attend schools with fully equipped classrooms with a supportive learning
environment. By 2025 they want to ensure that each and every students has learned English as a
compulsory language with various other additional languages so that they can work efficiently
with international workforce. They have also started a provision for students to learn other
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languages such as French, Spanish, Japanese and various others. This blueprint has also ensured
to increase 30 percent more graduates, reduce academic pressure from children, students have
full access to necessities and new advanced technologies. In order to achieve all the set
objectives Malaysian government has set some milestones within their journey in three waves
i.e. from 2013-2015, 2016-2020 and 2021-2025.
Purpose and concept of 21st Century Education
According to the view of Fukuda-Parr, (2016), In today's digitally and globally connected
world people need new and advanced technology, skills and knowledge. It has become quite
important to teach students all 21st century skills as these skills are more important today as
compared to earlier times. This 21st century education not only provide skills to ensure success
within classrooms but it leverages life long learning within individuals. Today demand within
industry for skilled employees is also increasing which increases the need to teach students with
all 21st century skills and knowledge so that they can ensure their success and build successful
carrier as per the changing demand of the organizations according to the market change. Today
many countries are adopting 21st century education within their educational system in order to
increase students digital literacy, critical thinking, global awareness and effective
communication. The main concept of 21st century education system is to increase collaboration,
communication, creativity and critical thinking skills among learners as these are the skills that
are required by all individuals within their lives, school and work. Further, expanded by Romero,
Usart and Ott, (2015), Many schools are adopting this education system in order to build
important skills within students and they can become aware about new and latest tools and
technology that they will be using in the future. These new tools and technologies will also
support the teachers and educators in making and improving education. This help the students to
develop required foundational skills which help them to analyse data, work collaboratively, think
reasonably and think creatively.
As per the view of Greenhow and Lewin, (2016), The main concept of 21st century
education is to ensure that students build and learn right skills which will support their future,
they have complete knowledge of things that are going on both near them and globally. This
helps both the teachers and students to bring necessary changes within them. This can be done by
building and providing with a complex educational learning environment for the students which
helps them in incorporating learning, personal development and assessing required skills and
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knowledge. This education system will help students to enhance their skills such that students
can understand and solve any kind of complex problem that they face within their real life.
Greenhow and Lewin, (2016), also says that, this will also help the students to understand others,
their skills and required knowledge which will help them to eventually connect with people
globally. This education system focuses on developing political knowledge, economical
knowledge, educational knowledge, global knowledge, develop as well as enhance their skills
which will help them in enhancing and building a successful carrier and tackle any typical
situation that they will face within their life or at work. This will also increase opportunities for
students to enhance their knowledge, participate in innovative activities, ability to work within
teams. 21st century education focuses on improving such things because the main base of
students is build in their school.
Implementation of 21st Century Education concept
According to Sullivan and Dallas, (2017), In order to implement this 21st century
education concept Malaysian ministry of education needs to being changes within their education
system, teaching ways, their curriculum and many more in order to ensure that their students are
equipped with correct skills and enhanced knowledge so that they value those skills and
knowledge within their future. For this ministry of education need to think more creatively so
that they can prepare students the changes that they need to face within their future. They need to
bring changes within their educational curriculum, learning patterns so that they can teach and
make aware of the changing technology to their students, competition within the changing job
market, structural transformation. So in order to prepare students with these changes and
advancements change and improvement in current skills and knowledge of students is required
so that students can participate in global economy. In addition to this elaborated by Bernhardt,
(2015), Malaysian government need to bring changes within the education process as per 21st
century skills, technologies, knowledge and educational process. They need to introduce students
with five main things which are: effective communication in different languages, intensive
thinking, spiritual values, high productivity and digital literacy. For adopting this 21st century
educational concept Malaysian government has introduced National educational blueprint 2013 –
2025. This national educational blueprint was developed by keeping 21st century learning in
mind and adopting all kinds of new technologies. Bernhardt, (2015), also says that, this blueprint
has been going on from past six years. This blueprint was divided into three waves out of this
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second wave is going on which started from 2016 and will end in 2020. It is important to adopt
this educational concept as it has been observed that to many jobs or traditional businesses are
being replaced by new and advanced technology. Due to this traditional ways of doing business
or jobs are being replaced by the new and advance ways this has created a need and urge of
bringing changes within the educational system. Due to this National education blueprint focuses
on improving and teaching teachers new way of teaching so that they can bring changes within
their methodology. For this Malaysian government arrange various kinds of campaigns for
teachers as well where they are taught with various new teaching methods for their students.
They have also brought changes within primary and secondary school classrooms where new
technologies have been implemented to make learning easier and students can learn new
technologies, ways so that it will become easy for special need students can also learn and
participate actively within the classrooms with other normal or general students. As per the
results of first wave it has been observed that passing rate of students has improved and
increased from 30 percent in 2013 to 80 percent in 2018. Students command on English and
various other languages has also increased.
Opinion on 21st Century Education teaching and learning
According to my opinion there is a lot different between tradition learning and teaching
concept and 21st century educational teaching and learning concept. Today due to advancement
in technology industry requirements have changed. It is required to bring changes within
educational system so that students can learn new skills, enhance their current skills, learn and
enhance their knowledge, learn new technologies and tools. This 21st century educational concept
is adopted by the Malaysian government and is trying to implement this concept within the
current educational system with the help of their National education blueprint. This new
educational concept will help the students to learn and enhance their skills, critical thinking,
reasoning, creative thinking and innovation. Other than these students will also learn
collaborative working, working in teams as well.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been summarized that education helps in enhancing
one's perception towards the world. For this it is important to build a proper educational system
with proper curriculum. Each country has their own educational system and a different way of
spreading education within their students and learn new skills and enhance their knowledge. For
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this many countries are trying to adopt 21st century education concept within their educational
system which helps the students in personality development, learn new technology and skills,
enhance their knowledge and perception towards the world. Malaysian government has build a
national education blueprint to bring improvement within their educational system. This
blueprint has used 21st century education concept and has focused on improving digital literacy,
critical thinking, problem solving skills, collaborative learning and creative thinking of students
so that they learn to solve any kind of complex problem and build their future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Allman, P., 2019. Critical education against global capitalism: Karl Marx and revolutionary
critical education. Brill Sense.
Azman, H., 2016. Implementation and challenges of English language education reform in
Malaysian primary schools. 3L: Language, Linguistics, Literature. 22(3).
Bernhardt, P.E., 2015. 21st century learning: Professional development in practice. The
Qualitative Report. 20(1). pp.1-19.
Blueprint, M.E., 2016. Blueprint 2013-2025.(2013). Ministry of Education, Malaysia. 27.
Chin, H., Thien, L.M. and Chiew, C.M., 2019. The reforms of national assessments in Malaysian
education system. journal of nusantara studies (jonus). 4(1). pp.93-111.
Fukuda-Parr, S., 2016. From the Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable
Development Goals: shifts in purpose, concept, and politics of global goal setting for
development. Gender & Development. 24(1). pp.43-52.
Greenhow, C. and Lewin, C., 2016. Social media and education: Reconceptualizing the
boundaries of formal and informal learning. Learning, media and technology. 41(1).
pp.6-30.
Harris, A., and et.al., 2017. Exploring principals’ instructional leadership practices in Malaysia:
insights and implications. Journal of Educational Administration. 55(2). pp.207-221.
Kim, Y., Horta, H. and Jung, J., 2017. Higher education research in Hong Kong, Japan, China,
and Malaysia: Exploring research community cohesion and the integration of thematic
approaches. Studies in Higher Education. 42(1). pp.149-168.
Mayhew, M.J., and et.al., 2016. How college affects students: 21st century evidence that higher
education works (Vol. 3). John Wiley & Sons.
O'Sullivan, M.K. and Dallas, K.B., 2017. A collaborative approach to implementing 21st century
skills in a high school senior research class. Education Libraries. 33(1). pp.3-9.
Peterson, A., Gaskill, M. and Cordova, J., 2018, March. Connecting STEM with Social
Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum in Elementary Education. In Society for
Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference(pp. 1212-
1219). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Romero, M., Usart, M. and Ott, M., 2015. Can serious games contribute to developing and
sustaining 21st century skills?. Games and Culture. 10(2). pp.148-177.
Sulaiman, T., and et.al., 2017. Implementation of higher order thinking skills in teaching of
science: A case study in Malaysia. International Research Journal of Education and
Sciences (IRJES). 1(1). pp.2550-2158.
Yen, T.S. and Halili, S.H., 2015. Effective teaching of higher order thinking (HOT) in
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