New education target: World class students
The national education blueprint launched today also aims to create students with richer school experience.
(Bernama) – Students with world-class knowledge and skills, strong moral values and capable of competing with their peers from other countries are among the major impacts envisioned by the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
According to the Malaysia Educational Blueprint 2013-2025, launched by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today, students will also learn in an environment where the fundamental belief is that all students can learn and all students can succeed.
“Students will have a richer school experience, both academic and non-academic, so that they can excel in life. Students will have a greater say in shaping their learning experience,” it said.
Its impact on the teacher is that it will develop the world-class capabilities needed to facilitate desired student outcomes and gain more enjoyment and fulfillment from their jobs.
“Teachers will have the support they need to succeed and will enjoy better working conditions, performance-based rewards and enhanced pathways and will be immersed in a culture of collaboration and professional excellence,” according to the blueprint.
Meanwhile, school leaders will become excellent instructional leaders and act as agents for change and enjoy closer support and enhanced services from federal, state and district education officers.
“They will have the support and resources they need to guide their schools effectively,” it said, while ministry officials will receive targeted support, training and resources needed to fulfill their new roles and responsibilities.
They will work in a collaborative and transparent environment and will receive greater operational flexibility and accountability.
The blueprint said parents will see tangible and sustained improvement in the educational experiences of their children.
There will be increased transparency around a school’s performance and priorities, and parents will be constantly kept in the loop as to how their children are performing at school, both in terms of achievements and areas for development.
“Parents will have better understanding of how their children are developing and how they can help them improve and also have more opportunities to provide input into their school’s improvement strategies,” said the blueprint.
Below are the highlights of the Education Blueprint;
The Education Ministry:
– aspires to ensure universal access and full enrolment of all children from preschool through to upper secondary school level by 2020.
– aspires for Malaysia to be in the top third of countries in terms of performance in international assessments, as measured by outcomes in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) within 15 years.
– aspires to halve the current urban-rural, socio-economic and gender achievement gaps by 2020.
– aspires to create a system whereby students have opportunities to build shared experiences and aspirations that form the foundation for unity.
– aspires to further maximise student outcomes within the current budget levels.
– has identified 11 shifts that will need to occur to deliver the step change in outcomes envisioned by all Malaysians, which each shift to address at least one of the five system outcomes of access, quality, equity, unity and efficiency.
– is to increase compulsory schooling from six to 11 years, starting at the age of six years supported by targeted retention programmes.
– is to launch the Secondary School Standard Curriculum or Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Menengah (KSSM) and revised Primary School Standard Curriculum or Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) in 2017 to embed a balanced set of knowledge and skills such as creative thinking, innovation, problem-solving and leadership.
– is to lay out clear learning standards so that students and parents understand the progress expected within each year of schooling.
– is to revamp the national examination and school-based assessments in stages, whereby by 2016 at least 40 per cent of questions in Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and 50 per cent in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) are higher-order thinking questions.
– by the end of 2013, is to build academic and career counselling services into the secondary school timetable to help students make better informed choices about the various education pathways on offer.
– by 2025, is to ensure that Orang Asli students, other minority groups and students with physical or learning disabilities go to schools with the facilities and equipment needed to create a conductive and supportive learning environment.
– from 2016, is to ensure that English is made a compulsory subject to pass for SPM.
– by 2025, is to ensure that every student is encouraged to learn an additional language in the move to equip them well for entering the workforce in a globalising world.
– will focus on building up its cadre of Chinese, Tamil and Arabic language teachers to ensure that the supply of teachers matches student demand, besides expanding the provision of other important languages such as Spanish, French and Japanese.
– from 2013, is to ensure that the entry bar for teachers is raised to be amongst the top 30 per cent of graduates.
– from 2013, is to ensure that teachers enjoy a reduced administrative burden so that they can focus the majority of their time on their core function of teaching, with some administrative functions moved to a centralised service centre or to a dedicated administrative teacher at the school level.
– by 2015, is to ensure that all schools meet basic infrastructure requirements, starting with Sabah and Sarawak.
– is to ensure that the Trust School model is expanded to 500 schools by 2025, including by alumni groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as potential sponsors.
– will publish an annual report on the progress made against each initiative outlined in the blueprint.
– will undertake a stock-take at key milestones in the blueprint journey in 2015, 2020 and 2025.
