By some strange miracle, Malaysia actually surpassed the Philippines in IELTS scores last year, according to IDP Education. The Manila Mail writes:

"Despite the claim that the Philippines is the third largest country in the world with the most number of people who can speak English, it is only second to Malaysia in the whole of Asia when it comes to proficiency in listening, speaking, writing and conversing in English. Andrew King, country director of IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines, said the average overall score of Filipinos who took the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) last year was a poor 6.69 points where 7.0 was largely the passing score for those who took the test for migration to the usual countries that Filipinos seek to migrate to such as Australia....

According to King, Malaysians had an average overall score of 6.71, leading among countries in Asia in overall English proficiency. Philippines was second to Malaysia with 6.69; third was Indonesia with 5.99; fourth was India with 5.79; and Thailand fifth with 5.71."

Interesting that the article does not mention Singapore, considering that IDP does have an office in the island nation. Hmm.

However much you try, separating education and economics is like separating oil and water---the two don't really mix, but they're stuck together whether they like it or not.

Also an ingredient in this unlikely brew is politics and frankly, that's the case here in Malaysia and in the UK and US, whose leaders are now pressured more than ever to rejuvenate their respective education systems.Education is definitely the 'hot topic' in the latter two countries right now.

We've yet to see such strong fighting spirit from the Malaysian media or public for better education (evidently it isn't as 'sexy' as political or celebrity scandals). But I digress, after reading the following letter to Malaysiakini.com: 

What you must know about our economy

By Pak Sako

A new World Bank country report has this to say about Malaysia:

'The economy seems to be caught in a middle-income trap - unable to remain competitive as a high-volume, low-cost producer, yet unable to move up the value chain and achieve rapid growth by breaking into fast growing markets for knowledge and innovation-based products and services' (see page 53 of the full report).

We are unable to break into higher-value markets because our brightest minds leave the country in droves while our research institutions, such as our local universities, have woefully poor track records as far as research and innovation is concerned (negligible amount of publications in top academic journals and no significant, original product development; innovation effort against GDP per capita is lower than for Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines).

Our education system in general appears to stifle true and unbounded thinking and dissent — the preconditions for creativity and innovation. There are structural and institutional causes for this quagmire.
 

Read the rest of the letter here.

Oh the irony, the year-end school holidays are here and all I can think about is this new documentary about schools! I was reading The Guardian today, which featured a new independent documentary curiously titled We Are The People We've Been Waiting For, which explores the relevance of the UK school system, including whether the education system is too academic focused.

The documentary isn't available outside of the UK yet as it only premiered last week (in the UK), but the trailer is availabe on YouTube and it is quite impressive. The movie website is at http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/.

The article in The Guardian and documentary concept is food for thought for educators, especially in Malaysia, whose school system draws heavily from the British system.

What questions should we, as educators, be asking ourselves and our superiors? And are we Malaysians brave enough to subject ourselves to public scrutiny and very likely criticisms in the quest to give our children the quality education they deserve?

"You want to do what?"

The above is the reaction the average Malaysian straight As-in-PMR student ellicits from his or her parents after announcing the intention to enter the Arts and not Science stream at the upper secondary level.

Most 'dutiful children' falter and succumb to their parents' wishes that they join the ranks of their 'brainy' peers instead of pursuing their artistic interests. "What could be worse than being stuck with the under-performers in the Arts stream?", the student reasons.

Being stuck in a career that you hate at age 50 because you didn't listen to your inner voice when you were 15, for one.

I'm not a big fan of streaming, I think students should be exposed to the arts and sciences regardless of their academic abilities. But I do believe that students should be allowed to choose their own life path (I certainly did), regardless of how well it goes down with parents or peers.

Which is why I was delighted to read a post in today's The Answer Sheet that supports the teaching and learning of the arts. Clearly the biased view towards the sciences is universal, but as the blogger writes, this doesn't have to be the case.

Read the full story here.

The fathers of the three pupils who drowned in the Kuala Dipang tragedy on October 26 are suing the Ministry of Education (MOE) and 9 other parties for negligence, news wire Bernama wrote today.

Among the others named in the landmark suit are the Government of Malaysia, the Education Minister, the Perak State Education Department director, the head of the Kinta Selatan district education office, headmasters of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) Mambang Diawan and SJKT Gopeng.

There's a slim chance that the parents are likely to win this lawsuit, but the media attention it is garnering will hopefully create enough of a ruckus to scare the authorities into ensuring that children's safety are the top priority when they are at government-sponsored camps.

In the past, there have been numerous complaints about the lacksaidical attitude of handlers at the National Service training sites after reports of sudden deaths and freak accidents among students. Nothing of this scale has been reported however, so hopefully the MOE sits up and takes notice this time instead of sitting on their laurels and riding out the media storm.

Malaysian politicians never cease to amuse me with the bizarre things they say and do (or maybe I'm just easily amused). My theory is that our politicians are blessed with a unique gene that makes them fall irrevocably in love with themselves. And since love is blind, it does make you say and do very silly things against your better judgement.

Take for instance the brilliant views of our Deputy Education Mohd Puad Zarkashi on the usage of English in today's workplace, reported in great detail by The New Straits Times today:

"Malaysians in the private sector should use Bahasa Malaysia and not English to show pride of the national language, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said yesterday. He said they used English 99 per cent of the time and hardly communicated in Bahasa Malaysia.

"This also occurs in government-linked companies where we have this weird culture of people speaking to each other in English instead of the national language," he said at the launch of the Bahasa Melayu International linguistics seminar here.

Puad said the private sector, by not using Bahasa Malaysia, had tarnished the image of the national language.

He said Malaysians should emulate the French, Japanese and Koreans who were loyal to their language."

That was as far as I got before I stopped reading the article, but if you insist on reading his monologue, here's the link to the story.

I came away wondering two things after reading the article:

1. It must be love---how else could the Deputy Education Minister forget that Japan and South Korea are spending gazillions hiring English teachers to train them to speak the language fluently?

2. Does his press aide still have a job?

3. How long will he have his job?

Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Center for Policy Initiatives is "at it again", this time with a commentary that poses pertinent questions about how public funds for research and development (R&D) are being utilised by public unis. In his article, Lim asks the following questions:

These questions include:

• What is the selection process used to determine investment in R&D in the country’s universities?
• Is there a fully competitive, transparent and accountable process in determining which universities/individuals receive funding?
• Who are involved in the selection process and how rigorous are the selection procedures at the university and individual researcher level?
• How is the monitoring of the scientific and commercial outcomes and deliverables conducted?
• What has been the return on investment in the R&D allocations to date?
• Are there issues related to leakages, wastage or inefficiencies of the allocations?
• Are reforms necessary in the way public funds are being disbursed for R&D in the universities?

Lim is justified in asking these questions,for despite the billions disbursed to Malaysian public unis over the years, our public unis have yet to make a name for themselves as R&D centres on the global stage.

However, I disagree with his lament about the so-called "policy discrimination" against public unis, as do some other readers. Private universities and colleges are for profit institutions, with their closer ties to the corporate world, shouldn't they be investing more in R&D or at the very least able to secure the corporate sponsorship they need. I don't think it's fair to ask the public to fork out cash to pay for private universities, when only a small segment of the population would only be able to afford to send their children to private universities anyway.

But I digress. I do agree with Lim that we the public should be asking questions about where our money is going and for what it is being utilised. A yearly audit of every public uni's R&D initiatives should be done to get to the bottom of this and thus lay to rest any suspicions about the misuse of public funds.

Source: http://bestofmichaeljackson.jclondon.com

I didn't grow up wanting to be a teacher. Like the rest of my family, I wanted to be "somebody" with a high-flying career, fancy car, fancy house, rich and gorgeous husbands, adorable kids--the whole works. I even walked the tried-and-true path in my family and did a 'marketable' degree.

Sound familiar? It's the life story of every other Asian adult, who over-achieves to please their parents, grandparents, but mostly nosy neighbours and extended relatives. Often, that means silencing your heart and doing what your brain has been force-fed with all your life.

If you're really lucky, a life-changing event (presumably one that does not kill you) happens to remind you of your ideals. Most people aren't so lucky, they go to their graves having lived someone else's life and wondering why they turned into grumpy old people.

But a rare few were lucky enough to follow their dreams, please their parents and live fabulous lives. But they didn't live to a ripe old age---think James Dean, Heath Ledger and now, Michael Jackson.

I'm writing this just an hour after watching MJ's "This Is It", which gives me plenty of pause for reflection. The first MJ song and music video I saw was "Beat It" at age six, and my fascination with his music and his roller-coaster life remains. And I realise now that I actually learnt quite a bit about education from the King of Pop:

Let children BE children. MJ didn't have that chance as a child, as he was forced to perform day in and day out to fulfill his father's ambitions. That meant no playing with other kids, no pets, no time off and no regular school. And look where that got him on a personal front as an adult. What can you do to avoid your kid crashing in about 20 years? Let them BREATHE. Stop this 24/7 cocktail of school, tuition and "co-curricular" classes. Your kid will thank you for it someday. 

Education outside the classroom. Sure, MJ was as guilty of radio-friendly pop fare as other pop stars. But he also wrote songs about loving the environment, racism and world peace---values that are not taught explicitly in schools (well, not in Malaysia, at least), but are more important than book knowledge.

Imagination is important. As an adult, Michael Jackson was not afraid to tap into his inner child (ok, maybe he went a bit too far with his Neverland ranch) but music videos like “Black or White” and “Man In The Mirror” showcased MJ's imaginative approach in teaching good values through his music. Imagination is one trait teachers can't have enough of. 

Don't stop believing. In a world where bad news is commonplace, MJ was one of a few singers who championed the rights of children, he believe they are future leaders of the world and told the world every chance he got. The next time you're feeling frustrated with that boy in your class who can't sit still or that group of girls who is always talking in class, remember that it is YOUR job too to believe in your “kids”.

Exceed your own expectations. Michael Jackson's first solo effort "Off The Wall" won him five prestigious music awards and 37% of the wholesale album profits. He surpassed his and the industry's expectations in 1982 with his "Thriller" album, which remains the best-selling album of all time. Then came "Bad", which had five no.1 hits, more than any album at the time. His concert tour broke two Guiness World records in 1987. And that was just during the first few years of his solo career.

Bottom-line: MJ taught me that to always aim higher. As  with other careerists, a teacher's greatest pride is accomplishing the impossible.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has ignited a brain-drain debate between Pakatan Rakyat and Parti Gerakan after telling the Parliament recently that the state lost over RM10 billion in foreign investment because it did not have the 1,000 engineers wanted by the foreign investor, writes The Straits Times:

According to Lim’s chief of staff Jeff Ooi, the specifications laid down by the potential investor were such that Penang could not fulfil them. He and other state officials declined to identify the Western European company involved.

“We have a shortage of engineers in Penang, and the investor specified that it needed senior electrical and electronic engineers, which we do not have in big supply,” Ooi told The Straits Times.

It spelt bad news for Malaysia, coming amid a sharp drop in foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently revealed that the country’s net FDI plunged to RM3.6 billion in the first six months of the year, compared with RM19.7 billion in the same period last year.

It seems like every other day there are new developments in the controversy surrounding the government's proposed single stream school system. The biggest chunk of protests is coming from the Malaysian-Chinese community, who refuse to give up the quality education produced by Chinese vernacular schools.  Their protests are likely echoed by the minority of Malay and Indian parents whose children also attend these schools, having given up on the mediocre state of national schools.

The  Star ran a commentary last week, surmising that the quality of national schools should be improved instead of implementing a single stream school system. I couldn't agree more, but I also believe that English should be made the primary medium in national schools, with a student's mother tongue be made a compulsory subject. It has worked for Singapore (the Singaporeans I know speak far more refined Mandarin than a lot of Malaysians I know, even those who were educated in Chinese vernacular schools). It has also worked for a multi-language country such as India (English is the medium of instruction in national schools and in universities), where its people are able to communicate effectively in English and speak four of five Indian languages to boot!

But of course our government can't take the words of one educator and a few concerned journalists as gospel, perhaps the Ministry of Education should come up with a white paper, like the US did on improving teacher quality (see my previous post). The MOE should produce a white paper on the revamp of national schools and publish the findings on its website for the public to comment on, like the PM did for this year's budget.

Time is running out, the futures of the young should not be gambled with any longer. The longer we delay on the revamp of our public schools, the faster other, more forward-looking nations will get ahead of us.

Between the years 2001 and 2002, there were 10,000 unemployed graduates, a number which has swelled to 163,000 for the year 2008-2009, Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre For Policy Initiatives writes in a commentary in The Sun Daily. In his article, he calls for an explanation for the RM1.3 billion allocated for the training and retraining of unemployed graduates in the country.

The numbers cited by Lim in his article are staggering and his arguments against these retraining programmes justifiable. Every parent of a school-going child should question, why, year after year more and more funds are allocated for graduate retraining yet the numbers of unemployed grads are rising. The hundreds of millions should have been poured into raising the quality of education in public universities,  even your local 'mamak stall' proprietor could work that out. I fully agree with Lim that if the problem is nipped in the bud, the rest will take care of itself.  Yet 8 years since the first graduate training programme was introduced, the powers-that-be are still touting the break-and-fix approach. Is it any wonder that Malaysian parents continue to scrimp and save to send their children abroad for their post-secondary education?

The US' National Academy of Education has released a white paper on teacher quality that all educators (and administrators) can learn from, regardless of nationality. It is precisely this kind of dedication and solidarity of purpose in reforming education that the Malaysian Ministry of Education should make its mission.  Professional development programmes for school teachers in Malaysia today are sporadic and outdated, trapping promising human capital in a cocoon of mediocrity. (And yes, I'm aware how dramatic that reads, but it's the truth. Any teacher who has attended a state-funded motivational or skills training course will know exactly what I mean).

Normally, I'm not a big fan of press releases, but the brief on the Reuters' site had more than piqued my interest. And so I visited the NAE website to take a look at the complete white paper.

Here are some of the NEA's recommendations (the full white paper is available at http://www.naeducation.org/Teacher_Quality_White_Paper.pdf):

RECOMMENDATION 1: School districts, states, and the federal government should continue to experiment with various approaches to teacher recruitment, while collecting data that can be used to improve approaches that are promising and end those that are not. Tools should be developed that can reliably establish that these new recruits have the skills they need to be successful from the start.

RECOMMENDATION 2: States, school districts, and the federal government should support research on a variety of approaches to teacher preparation. Investments should be made in research and development on the core practices and skills that early career teachers require; preparation programs should then focus on these skills.

RECOMMENDATION 3: States and the federal government should encourage and fund experimentation with a wide range of teacher retention strategies. This should include strategies that target individual teachers,such as financial incentives, as well as strategies
that target schools and districts through initiatives to improve school leadership, mentoring, and the provision of high-quality opportunities for professional growth. The federal government should also support the development of robust and valid measures of teacher quality that can be used in identifying which teachers are effective and should be retained.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Districts, states, and the federal government should take steps to improve teachers’ access to high-quality professional development that is appropriate to the grades, subjects, and students they are teaching. The federal government
should invest in research and development to strengthen professional development strategies.

Research suggests there are some key features of effective professional development for content teaching:
• It focuses on deepening subject matter knowledge specifically for teaching, including understanding how students learn and the specific difficulties they may encounter in mastering key concepts
• It involves enough time for significant learning (for example, a course or program of 40 or more hours distributed over 12 or more months)
• It is coherently related to what teachers are being asked to do and builds on what teachers already know and are able to do
• Educators are actively engaged, rather than just listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration and
• Teams of teachers from the same school participate and learn together, enabling them to support each other in using what they have learned.