Malaysian Education Case Study

Introduction :

As Malaysia shifts from a middle-income country towards a high-income country by 2020, there are some fundamental issues and challenges that need to be addressed. One of those challenge is in term of Malaysian education. Malaysian education system, was inherited from the British and had since independence been used as an important strategy in the development process of the nation. It is expected to fulfil the manpower demands of the economy, provide equality of educational opportunity for all and promote national unity in the Malaysian plural society. Dewey J. (1916) define education as a social process ,‘a process of living and not a preparation for future living’. In this view, this educators look to act with people rather

The higher costs has expanded access to education in the country resulting in a marked increase in student enrolment in primary education. Moreover, the quality of education, as reflected in the PISA scores does not compare well with other countries in the ASEAN region. Since the GoM’s spending on education is already large with a significant 22% of the total federal budget and 4% of GDP, indicating a strong commitment to education, it does not leave much leeway to further increase in the education

Some strategies to produce genuine improvement in student learning are not entirely a mystery. Study in recent years has given us strong facts that the best way to improve achievement is having an effective teacher in every classroom and an effective leader in every school (Leithwood et. al, 2004). As a result, the development of human capital (the talents, competencies, and knowledge of teachers and school leaders), has drawn increasing attention in the education community. As researchers and policy makers strive to better understand how to attract and retain highly skilled teachers and leaders and bridge the gap between the under-performing Malaysia’s school system and the more effective systems of our global competitors, investing in a thoughtful human capital strategy is critical. In order to provide guidance to Malaysia and districts as they develop such strategies, this brief highlights three main dimensions of the human capital