sunday april 29, 2012
TRANSCRIPT
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The ancient Chinese learning tradition is one where the teacher imparts information directly to
the learner who receives the teaching passively in quiet deference.
Globally, education is shifting from this teacher-centred approach towards a student-centred
paradigm where students learn independently while teachers provide support. This is needed
now because what we teach will soon be outdated, so students must know how to actively find
information and apply it to their situation. Hence we need to be teaching the sciences using
inductive methods such as problem-based, enquiry-based and discovery learning.
Active learning methods
Next, we need approaches that increases student motivation and information retention.
Language teachers should make liberal use of active learning methods like debates and role
plays. Experiential learning is facilitated by lab work or field trips where knowledge is acquired by
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching.
Authentic learning can take place by bringing the Mathematics class for an outing to the
supermarket. Teachers should be asking students open-ended questions and encouraging them
to think up and share ideas. Students should have a wide range of subjects to choose from,
without the restriction of arts-science class distinction.
Last, our assessment methods must change.
National standardised public exams must be kept at a minimum to discourage exam-centric
learning and tuition culture. There should be less questions testing simple factual recall, which
promote rote learning of superficial knowledge.
Instead, questions that require justification of answer or problem solving help to foster higher
order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis and application. Students should be given
projects where they are graded for original thought, collaborative work and presentation skills.
These are the abilities needed in the k-economy where wealth is generated by creating new
knowledge, not regurgitating old knowledge.
Peculiar to our country is the frequent report that more non-Chinese are attending Chinese
schools because of better discipline and use of Mandarin. Traditional Chinese education is
teacher-centred, with the cane being used to force compliance.
However, the need now is not greater conformity, but creativity. Asia is still better known for
imitation than innovation. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that China has failed to foster
enough outstanding talents to meet the needs of the nation. He has headed education reform to
address the issue of fostering creative and outstanding talents in China to support Chinas
intention to transform its economy from one built on cheap labour and cheap resources into one
built on innovation.
When the ministry implemented the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English
in 2003 (better known by its Malay acronym PPSMI), many parents with children in Chinese
primary schools were pleased with the increased exposure to the English language.
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However, many schools ended up teaching in both Mandarin and English, not because those
subjects were best taught in Mandarin, but because their teachers were mostly incompetent in
English. One of the consequences of having national and vernacular schools is the sustained
national decline in English proficiency.
The affluent and well connected resolve this problem by sending their children overseas or
enrolling them here in private and international schools. We cannot have an education system
where national schools are perceived as a substandard option for the underprivileged.
To have a national education system accepted by all communities, we need a single public
school system where the English language curriculum is at par with those in English-speaking
Western countries, with Malay as a compulsory-pass language, and both Tamil and Mandarin as
optional subjects.
Initially, English can be offered at both a lower basic level, and a higher level incorporating
English Literature. At the lower level, it will be a must-pass subject, but students can opt for the
higher level on passing a qualifying test. If English-medium schools are reintroduced as an option
(via a referendum or otherwise), only Malay would need to be a must-pass subject.
When the ministrys current nationwide dialogue is over, they should hold roadshows to inform
Malaysian parents of the educational culture their children need in the 21st century. The most
important role of the Education Minisry in this education review is not to please as many parties
as possible, but to design an education system that equips Malaysian children for new global
realities. If they get it right, we are headed for a great future.
The writer is from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak,
Kuching. He can be reached at
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]