Reforming Secondary

Education
Challenges to Paradigms
BY:
RUSLAN ABDUL SHUKOR
MAJLIS AMANAH RAKYAT (MARA)
 Preface
 More and better of what we are doing?
 A bridge between primary and tertiary
 It is only an urban issue?
 The literature: the missing part
 Basic Education
 Secondary Education
 Vocational Education
 Higher Education
Secondary education: Why now?
The Contexts

 Society: new workplace

 Education: new developments
 Learning: new understanding
Change in society & workplace
 Then
Industrial society……..
Industrial Society: the Pyramid
 Assumptions…..
 Large organizations
 Parallel departments
 Layers and ranks
 Detailed division of labour
 Tight structures
 Rules and regulations
 Credential-based recruitment

i.e bureaucracies
 People’s assumptions….
 Lifelong career
 Long-term employment
 Presumed loyalty
 Upward mobility
 Escalating incomes
 Foreseeable future
 Predictable retirement
People in Workplace: Industrial
 Work in specific jobs
 Engage in relatively isolated tasks
 Are specialized
 Are ranked
 Implement pre-set designs
 Follow prescribed procedures
 Abide by rules and regulations
 Recruited by qualifications
 Assumption:
People are Specialized, Classified &
Ranked
 Industrial society: Education
Preparing people
 For specific occupations at specific ranks

 Providing them with credentials

 Based on the knowledge and skills

 Industrial society:
Secondary Education
Therefore,
 Prepare young people for higher level

education
 Providing them with credentials

 Based on the knowledge and skills

 Or employment, if they fail

 Industrial society:
Secondary Educatio
 Teaching through subjects
 Helping students through examinations
 Providing them with credentials
 Based on the knowledge and skills
Curriculum as Subjects
 Knowledge & Skills

Preschool Primary Secondary Tertiary

“End” of secondary education:

Tertiary education
 Now,
Post-industrial society………
Industrial: Scale Production
Post-industrial: Customized Products
Post-industrial:SMEs
Post-industrial: Large Organisations
Project Groups
Task Forces
Production Teams
Client Groups
“Accounts”
Deal Team
Task Force
Post-industrial: Free-lancers
 Example:

Hong Kong (around 290,000 registered companies)

 99 under 100 (SME)
- 70% of employees

 87 under 10
- 33% of employees
Hong Kong…..

 Free-lancers 220,000 estimated

vis-à-vis 2,2000,000 in registered companies
Example:

The United States

Business Enterprises
 98 under 100
 86 under 20

National Bureau of Economic Research, 2002

 Post-industrial: Workplace
Project Groups/Task Forces
Small Enterprises
Free-lancers
The Civil Service
 Post-industrial: Workplace
 Organization:
- small,
- flat
- loose
 Mode of work:
- Teamwork
- Collaborative design
- III-defined labour division
- Blurred specialization
- Integration of expertise
 Post-industrial: Individuals
 Many free-lancers
 Many unemployed
 Frequent change of jobs
 Frequent change of careers
 Ever-changing networks
 Frequent change of partners
 Workplace & Society
Then Now

-Large & Pyramidal - Small & Flat

-Procedures, rules - Communications
& regulations & relations
-Lifelong careers - Multiple careers
qualifications - On-demand,just-
in-time learning
 Post-industrial: Expectations
 Communication
 Learning on-demand, just-in-time
 Team-work
 Personal responsibilities
 Solving problems
 Integrating expertise
 Conceptualising complex matters
 Post-industrial: Expectations
 Readliness to adapt to changes
 Self-reflection
 Self-discipline & Self-management
 Capacity to query, challenge, innovate
 Flexible human relations
 Crossing occupational borders
 Moving across cultures
However,
If the “end’ of secondary education is changed
 No longer mainly for credentials

 No longer limited to knowledge and skills

Then secondary education has brader ends to meet

There are lifelong attributes to develop among

young people
 Lifelong attributes
 Optimism about life
 Passion about nature
 Commitment to society
 Commitment to nation
 Perseverance amidst odds
 Readliness to expand one’s capacity
 Broad base experiences
 Experience in organising
 Lifelong attributes
 Appreciation of arts and music
 Attitude of helping and caring
 Seriousness about the details
 Eagerness to interact with people
 Ability of a second or third language
 Some experience of science discovery
 Some experience of social investigations
 Lifelong attributes
 Love for peace
 Sense of justice
 Consciousness of equity
 Awareness of the deprived
 Comfort with other cultures
 Basic understanding of sex
 Facing moral dilemmas
 Rudimentary analysis and synthesis
 Lifelong attributes
 Belief in rationality
 Tolerance of diversity and plurality
 …..

Many if such are achievable

Only during the secondary years!
 Implications for education
1. Drastic decrease of manual workers
2. Expanded need for higher education
3. Challenge to occupational identity
4. Intensified human interactions
5. Demand for more flexible learning modes
and paths
 Secondary Education
Then Now

-For the selected -For the majority

-Leading to -Facing lifelong
certification learning
-Urban -Spreading to rural
 Change in nature
Then Now

-Preparation for the - Important learning

the next stage learning for life
-Higher education
-Jobs
In order to achieve these…….

Challenges to Paradigms
Paradigm of
“Screening”
 “Screening”
Challenges
 Rapid expansion of higher education

 Unemployment among less-educated

 Middle-age unemployment
The question:

If every child should be given the opportunity to

learn more, what is the point of screening at
secondary level?
 Challenges to “Screening”
Challenge to paradigms

 Belief in innate ability

- “There are smart kids and dumb kids”
 Belief in using knowledge for screening
- versus lifelong & multi-source learning
 Belief in using single indicators (e.g. IQ)
-versus multiple intelligence
 Paradigm of
“Specialisation”
 “Specialisation”
Challenges
 Division of labour blurred

 Frequent change of jobs & occupations

 Job-study mismatch

 Demand for generic competence

 Diluted & delayed specialisation in higher

education
The question:

If higher education has delayed

specialisation,
what is the point of specialisation at
secondary level?
 “Specialisation”
Challenges to Paradigms

 Belief that education is for classifying people

 Belief in people’s occupational identity
 Belief that education should be more
specialised at higher levels
Paradigm of
“teaching”
 “Teaching”
Challenges

 Students also learn what are not taught

 Students also learn from alternative sources
 Technology has made acquisition of
knowledge much easier
The question:

If teacher is no longer the only

source of knowledge,
what is the new role for
teachers?
 “Teaching”
Challenges to paradigms

 Belief that learning is transmission of

knowledge from those who know to those who
don’t know
 Belief that learning is about the known and not
the unknown
Paradigm of
“Study”
 “Study”
Challenges

 The expectation for good characters and

personalities
 The demand for human relational and social
competence
 The renewed iimportance for values, attitudes,
emotions, ethics, principles
The question

If society expects graduated to

engage in more intensive
human relations,
why is such nor formally
reflected in designed
school-lives?
 “Study”
Challenges to Paradigms

 Belief in academic study as proxy for learning

 Belief in classroom learning as the only
reliable learning
 Belief in examination scores as the only
trustworthy measure of human capasity
Paradigm of
“Schooling”
 “Schooling
Challenges

 Call for flexible curriculum

 Learning is recognised beyond institutions
- Credit-unit Bank in Korea
- Lifelong Learning Passport in Taiwan
 Administrative considerations have taken over
learning needs
The question

If all organisations are becoming smaller

and more flexible,
are schools also prepared to explore
alternative ways of organisation?
 “Schooling”
Challenges to Paradigms

 Belief that learning takes place only in schools

 Belief that learning takes place only during
structured activities
- Classes, time-tables, subjects, specialised
teachers, set menu curriculum,
 Belief that learning should be under the control of
schools and institutions
After all……
Industrial Post-industrial

- analytic, regulated - holistic, flexible,

structured, clear-cut, loose, fuzzy,
uniform, convergent, plural, divergent,
normative, neat, liberal, complex,
assertive and speculative and
reducible to tolerant of multiplex
parameters concepts
Reforms in Secondary Education
a scan
 Reform trends
 Blurring subject boundaries
 Compressing “formal” learning
 Creating diverse learning activities
 Introducing “moral” elements
 Soliciting help from more facilitators
 Reforming examinations
 Alternative ways of organising school learning
Key-Learning Areas (Hong Kong)
Co-curriculum of formal curriculum
- Japan 30%
- Singapore 33%
Rise of International Baccalaureate
Curriculum as KLAs
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EXPERIENCE

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DIVERSE LEARNING
 DIVERSE LEARNING
EXPERIENCE

Learning
across Learning
Workplace
Cultures to Serve
Learning Learning Alternative
to Care Creativity Learning Academic
Leadership
Learning knowledge
Learning
 Intership,
Praticum,
Placement,Field
work Rural,visits NGOs,
Community Services,
Mentorship
Church

Student Residence, Student Unions,

Classroom, Associations & Clubs, Young
Libraries
Laboratories Leaders

Music, Sports, Art

Exchange,
Drama, Dance Youth
Conferences
Tacit Knowledge
Social Competence
Values Education
Civic Education
Character Education
Personality Education
Moral Education
Reforming
Examinations

Student
Portfolios
 Alternative organisations
-Conventional - Learning Communities
Classes
After all….

We are facing

Diversity, Uncertainty, Change,…

Plus

Learning anywhere, anytime

 Knowledge acquisition

KG Primary Secondary Tertiary

 Personal develoopment: Lifelong attributes

 Key competencies
 Interacting in socially heterogeneous groups
 Acting autonomously
 Using tools purposively and interactively

OECD: The Definition and Selection of Competencies:

Theoretical and Conceptual Foundations Projiect (DeSeCo)
 Key competencies
Interacting in socially heterogeneous groups

 The ability to relate well to others

 The ability to cooperate
 The ability to manage and resolve conflicts
 Key competencies
Acting autonomously

 The ability to act within the “big picture”

 The ability to form and conduct life plans and
personal projects
 The ability to defend and assert one’s rights,
interests, limits, and needs
 Key competencies
Using tools purposively and itnteractively

 The ability to use language, symbols, and text

interactively
 The ability to use knowledge and information
interactively
 The ability to use technology interactively
Resolution of the International
Colloquium on the Future of
Educational
Table on 15 September 2005
Berjaya Times Square Hotel and Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur
 Whereas, School-Based Assessment (SBA) is
a process of assuring quality acquisition of
knowledge and skills of students based on
educational experiences at school or classroom
level however it is not implemented
effectively;
 Whereas, the emphasis on assessment of
achievement detracts from the assessment of
aptitude, intelligence, values and virtues;
 Whereas, too much emphasis on either
centralized examination or decentralized
assessment leads to a decrease in students’
motivation and enthusiasm for learning;
 Whereas, there are positive characteristics in
centralized examinations such as the learning
culture, work ethics, seriousness in acquiring
knowledge which is currently unacknowledged;
 Whereas, today’s best jobs require active learners
and communicators rather than mere academic
excellence as measured by current assessment
practices;
 Therefore, the Colloquium resolves:

3. The assessment system should be reformed so

that the society can participate meaningfully
and effectively in a globalized world.
4. School-based assessment should be
implemented effectively in relevant subjects to
enhance learning
5. SBA should complement the national
examination so as to be perceived as high
stakes.
1. SBA should be monitored and provided with
clearly defined standards and criteria
2. Bureaucrats, professionals and administrators
in education shoul be committed towards
changing policies in order to strengthen
SBA.
3. In order to implement SBA effectively, the
standards for curriculum, pedagogy and
evaluation should be coordinated and aligned
1. The implementation of SBA should be
accepted and supported by the public.
2. Educators should be highly literate in
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
3. The examination boards should be able to
issue reports that reflect not only grades or
marks but also the students’ ability, mastery
of skill, knowledge and values.
4. APEC economies should work together to
come up with a common framework and
standards in assessment
Thank you