Dr Lee, the Ministry of Education and Dancing!

On Monday, we were given the opportunity to meet Dr Lee Boon Hua, Principal Director of the Languages and Literature Department of the Curriculum Development Division at the Ministry of Education in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

Putrajaya itself is a stunning newly-built city that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. Pristine buildings and futuristic bridges stand proudly alongside the traditional mosque in a way that reflects the country's pride in its heritage and its ambitions for the future.

A centralised system

One of the most significant differences between the education systems of Malaysia and the UK is the centralisation of the Malaysian system. Everything about the curriculum is shaped by the Ministry of Education, developed with practitioners and implemented in all schools in the country.

Types of school

We were introduced to the two main types of school: State Schools where the teachers are employed by the government and the students follow the National Curriculum and National-Type Schools where the land is owned privately but the students follow the National Curriculum. The education system itself appeared, to me, to be much clearer than the system in the UK and we all found Dr Lee, a previous teacher and head-teacher to be an inspiring educational leader.

Language of instruction

In almost all schools the principal language of instruction is Bahasa Malay; however, some primary schools use Mandarin or Tamil as the language of instruction and teach Bahasa Malay as a language. In all cases, English, Maths and Science are taught in English, and this – which language to use in schools, as we discovered, continues to be a contentious and complex issue.

Whilst in Kuala Lumpur itself, students and teachers tend to have an excellent grasp of English, beyond the city and particularly in more rural areas, this is not necessarily the case. This was something we certainly discovered on our visit. The goal is to teach all children English as a second language.

Curriculum Development and “Curriculum Fidelity”

The Ministry of Education develops, plans and produces curricular support materials because, as Dr Lee explained, “We need to ensure that what we have put into the curriculum is actually delivered at the chalkface. The more materials we produce, the more compliance there is.” I personally found this a fascinating concept as, in my context, we strive to encourage teacher innovation and creativity and often have to deal with the consequences of teachers’ choices of unsuitable resources or inappropriate activities. The Ministry monitors and evaluates curriculum compliance across the country.

Dr Lee explained that there are three principles of curriculum development: Equity, Quality and Sustainability. These key principles are then broken down further into a series of underpinning concepts:
· Consolidation
· Rationalisation
· Enhancement
· Sustenance
· Collaboration
· Evaluation
· Networking
· Team Building

Many of us could see the similarities here between what we are working towards in our own schools with regards to curriculum transformation.

A curriculum which addresses the needs of the teachers as well as the students

One idea which held particular resonance for me, was when Dr Lee spoke of the need for a curriculum that must address the needs of both the students and the teachers because the teachers are also learners. He explained that, particular in the case of the English language, lessons had to be incorporated into the curriculum so that teachers can learn at the same time. This has had an immediate impact on my practice as I am currently working on transforming the curriculum for English and Literature in my school and am now looking at it in a very different way, thinking about how best to ensure the curriculum supports and develops the teachers’ subject knowledge, rather than assuming they already have that knowledge securely in place. We are, after all, lifelong learners. The challenge now is how to combine a prescriptive curriculum with innovative teaching and teacher satisfaction. What I have taken away from this concept, is the ideas that everything needs to be extremely clear so that teachers themselves aren’t confused. I am sure many of us have sat in a lesson where it is evident the teacher isn’t entirely secure with the content or skill they are delivering and ultimately, what the children are left with, is a state of confusion and insecurity. As Dr Lee said, we must always bear in mind “teacher capacity and readiness.”

In order to achieve this aim, the Ministry provides five days of training for all teachers at the start of the new school year. Additionally, the government employs state trainers and district trainers who support teacher development and some individual schools even employ a dedicated ‘Teacher Trainer’.

The professional development in Malaysia is based upon needs-analysis and is provided to help teachers feel more confident. It was clear in everything Dr Lee said, the his focus is on improving teachers in order to improve learning for the students.

The New English and Literature Curriculum

The new curriculum for English in Malaysia aims to:
· Clarify purpose
· Set clear learning standards
· Redistribute priorities
· Provide opportunities for innovation and creativity
· Bridge classroom life and the outside world

I absolutely agreed with these key concepts and aims and felt it showed how the Ministry of Education were engaged with learning and pedagogy, considering the whole child and not merely focussing on data and attainment.

On our school visits, however, many teachers spoke of the continuing conflict between wanting to provide a creative and holistic education and the parents’ desire for “Straight A grades”. Several teachers spoke of the competitive attitude of parents regarding how many A grades their son or daughter had compared with another parents’ son or daughter and while the co-curricular (extra-curricular) programme across the country (also organised by the Ministry) seemed extremely impressive, everyone seemed to say that, ultimately, parents want their students to get top grades, rather than develop life skills or talents in areas beyond the traditionally academic.

Grades vs. Values

Towards the end of his presentation, Dr Lee spoke of the need to reduce the stakes of the central exams as only then will other types of assessment be considered important. As in the UK at the moment, there is a push towards innovative and exploratory learning and we are looking for ways to develop learners who are confident, creative, independent, articulate and good at working in teams; yet, the exams in both countries are still largely based upon the written and spoken word and it will require a huge culture-shift before all companies, universities and parents will accept that vocational courses are equal to more traditionally academic A levels and GCSEs.

Dr Lee mentioned an interesting development which will look at assessing students’ potential and leadership skills, rather than focussing purely on raw scores.

Learning Standards not Outcomes

The new English Curriculum, which Dr Lee had recently developed, moves away from learning outcomes to learning standards because, he explained, that is what the assessment division (exam board) uses.

Back to Basics

Dr Lee explained that they have decided to return “back to basics” by building a strong foundation of competencies in basic literacy skills, reading through phonics, penmanship, basic listening and speaking.

Learning is fun, meaningful and purposeful

During his time with us, Dr Lee spoke very highly of the primary schools in the UK. He children had attended schools in England while he completed his PhD at Exeter University and he had clearly been inspired by the way primary teachers facilitate learning through exploration and play. As such, he provided three key underpinning principles for learning:

· Activities are contextualised, meaningful, purposeful and fun-filled
· Language skills are integrated as a means to an end
· Language is learnt in meaningful contexts

During our school visits, we found a wide range of learning experiences, including those that very clearly used group-working and fun activities, such as inventing and marketing a brand new, all-natural deodrant and observing worms in petri dishes. We also saw several 'teaching from the front' and 'text book centered lessons' - I imagine a similar experience would be encountered if we visited any six schools in the UK. What is important is to reflect on our roles as leaders as we all strive for more meaningful and engaging learning experiences for our young people.

Student-centred learning

One of the statements which many of us held onto was “The student is the most important concern but the teacher is the most important agent”. With so much emphasis on student-centred learning, it is possible to wonder what the role of the teacher is and we felt that Dr Lee explained this perfectly by emphasising that the teacher is the person who creates the learning and enables the student to flourish. He stated, “No teacher equals no learning” and he said that the teacher’s role is to create the learner-centred learning.

Salient Integration of ICT

As in the UK, one of the problems found in some lessons in Malaysia, is the use of ICT merely as an add-on, whiteboards being used as little more than an OHP. Dr Lee spoke of the need to integrate ICT into lessons and to ensure that it is used in a meaningful way. As Daniel pointed out, this issue of ICT in education is being explored by teachers and educational leaders across the world.

Teaching and Learning Moral Values

As well as the continued focus on academic standards and students’ achievements, the Malaysia Ministry of Education are emphasising the need to build character and moral values. Similar, in some ways, to the new PLTS in the UK’s curriculum, the Malaysian teachers are encouraged to integrate moral values and character-building into their lessons. The aim of the government is to create learners who are articulate, confident and of good character. This was exemplified in many of the schools we visited where corridors and classrooms, as well as outside spaces were adorned with inspiring quotations and mantras.

Interestingly, Dr Lee also spoke of the need to select classroom resources carefully, explaining that we, as teachers, have a responsibility to read between the lines in order to ensure that our chosen resources highlight positive moral aspects and that students will not pick up on any negative messages.

Teaching Grammar

Grammar continues to be an area of concern for teachers across the world – how can we make such a seemingly dry, but absolutely fundamental part of the curriculum accessible and motivating. Having spend some time looking at this issue myself in recent years (see video evidence here! http://www.teachers.tv/video/12115), I was very interested in Dr Lee’s philosophy. He explained that teachers are encouraged to create learning through the Arts, through role-play, for instance. He also explained that their approach to teaching grammar is based upon the following concepts:
· Grammar should be learnt in context
· There should be an emphasis on form and function
· Grammar should be acquired through a multi-sensory and multi-modal approach
· There should be clear links to an on-going theme or topic
· Grammar lessons should be structured in terms of complexity, relevance and frequency.

Teaching is Dancing

Throughout his presentation, Dr Lee showed us his love of and belief in education. We learnt as much about him as we did about the Malaysian education system and it highlighted for us future leaders, the idea that a good leader is about more than the words he speaks; a true leader is someone who truly believes in and lives their ideas. Dr Lee revealed that his PhD was in Metaphor, so towards the end of our meeting, one of our group asked which metaphor Dr Lee would use to describe teaching. His answer struck a chord with us all: “Teaching is dancing. As head teacher, I saw my role as overseeing the ballroom and ensuring the room and the music was beautiful so that learning could take place.” I know I will take this with me throughout my career. Every now and then, someone says something that illuminates your own core values, and for me, this was the moment of the trip, that changed me as a leader.

Liana Swanton, June 2009