TOWARDS A NEW EDUCATION MODEL

Towards A New Education ModelDR THEVA NITHY

Senior lecturer

The School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia

In this second article on 1Session in 1School, being the way forward for the country, I will present a proposal for a new education model where technology and higher levels of awareness and demands by stakeholders of education systems are creating new pressures that the Education and Higher Education Ministry must be held accountable for.

The centre section (with the pyramid) in the figure above describes the Fields of Play in a classroom environment, the smallest unit in a formal schooling system, and the factors that are at work in a classroom to evolve a student from the point where

• all he perceives are data that hold no meaning, but yet he manipulates;
• to the point where he is able to evolve the data and through choice, application and intuition, finally achieves a level of wisdom where he is able to make well informed, thoughtful and mostly correct decisions that will impact the world and his place in it.

The defined factors interacting within the Field of Play are:

• Curriculum: Defined as content, pedagogy, andragogy, evaluations, learning aids including technology, diets and Neuronutrition - all tangible and intangible items used in the learning space for the express purpose of achieving the aims of the curriculum
• Social Forces: Defined as forces that affect the emotional content of a student, both positive and negative; and include friendships, relationships, peer and parental pressure, performance pressure, praise and criticisms and rewards, conditioning and stimulus response systems. These forces are also involved in the building of unity, inter cultural and religious tolerance and understanding and in nation building.
• Stressors: Defined as strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities available to the student that impact the shaping of academic related skills and talents, and are the supplementary forces that are needed to evolve brains and minds to the level where wisdom is enabled to make “leaps of logic”.

Experience and interactions of cause and effect in the real world will further inform his wisdom so that as his thinking skills evolves further, he starts making fewer mistakes and better choices.

This feeds his thinking and intuitive skills and he becomes wiser as he matures. The final step is when he is able to make instant decisions based on Leaps of Logic that fuel Disruptive Thinking to create Innovation.

Intuition and Leaps of Logic are phenomena that actually are the highest order skills that develop when we become expert enough in a field of study that our brain networks processes data instantly and without conscious effort, and provides an answer to a related question in that same field, to the conscious brain.

There are two parts to achieving this level of skill. One is to become expert enough so that we are aware of all the possibilities, research and knowledge in that field. The other, is to learn to listen to that inner voice that is called intuition or gut feeling.

As we become more aware of the intuitive answer, and we experience the correctness or wrongness of it in the real world (it is almost always correct), then we start learning to listen to our intuition and start relying on the answers that we know must be correct, although we have not purposefully processed the question pathways.

In the last article, I wrote about the many problems facing the Malaysian schooling and curricular systems. In this article, I try to address the details involved in an ideal classroom environment. I have also included what the Malaysian classroom environment is.

Ideally, the education curriculum is based on input by stakeholders - the Malaysian universities, non-governmental organisations, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education Ministry, teachers, student focus groups, parents, invited global accreditation and qualifying bodies – whose contributions and vision are then evaluated by government to make sure its policies will be fine-tuned to fit , and then taken by experts in curriculum development and solidified into a product that will now be used in the classroom.

In the diagram above though, I have prominently mentioned the government, the ministries and political parties as the top heavy shapers of Malaysian education, whilst the stakeholders who should be at the top, are at the bottom, to be seen but not heard

This is the problem we have now. Our total education scenario, encompassed by the circle and divided into three sections, are in disarray and completely disparate to an ideal system. How then can we begin a process to transform our education system so that it becomes the vehicle that enables the concept of 1Malaysia in order to create a sustainable future for Malaysians?

I would suggest a five-step process:

1. Gather a representation of all stakeholders in Malaysian education as well as a representation of the powers that be from the Ministries, and be fearless and open enough to invite international representatives, political organisations and anyone else who wants to have a say in the formation of a new education system that MUST be based on a 1Session 1School concept
2. Create a platform for dialogues when all these parties meet so that all concern of various parties will be collected and compiled into a guide to the development of a new education system
3. Conduct a series of workshops involving stakeholders and experts who will develop and build a framework for new education system. This process should be able to be viewed online and will present findings, suggested courses of actions and the final framework to the Malaysian public through newspapers and other easily accessible media
4. Conduct dialogues and engage stakeholders to fine-tune the framework for the new education system till a final consensus is reached. This will be further developed by university and stakeholder experts and a presentation to public will be conducted for final approval.
5. Implementation plan with monitoring and feedback for refinement and fine-tuning will be constantly carried out for constant evolution of curriculum to keep up with technological, student and teacher advancements and changing demands of industry and market place.

I have overly simplified the process, but the idea I would like to convey is that the process has to be inclusive of, participative and consultative with all Malaysian and Global stakeholders, and it has to be a process with accountability clearly defined at every step of the way.

If this proposal actually comes to fruition and we reach stage five of the process, then the buy-in by the Malaysian public and acknowledgement by International parties will be realised and we should have no problem convincing everyone that 1Session in 1School is the way forward for Malaysia.

Prejudices and false perceptions can be laid to rest, and Malaysia will be able to start producing students who will meet the demands and expectations of global standards of student attributes and curricular outcomes.