Recast - FOUR KEY AREAS NEED SPECIAL ATTENTION TO MEET DEMANDS OF INNOVATION ECONOMY

KUALA LUMPUR, August 17 (Bernama) -- The Crown Prince of northern state of
Perak, Raja Dr Nazrin Shah, on Monday stressed on four key aspects of the
education system that should receive special attention in meeting the demands of
a knowledge and innovation economy.

The four key areas are the curriculum at all levels of education, assessment
system, teaching-learning methods and strategies, and English language.

He said the curriculum was too bogged down with teachers and university
instructors dispensing chunks of information with students being passive
recipients.

"Perhaps it is time to reduce the amount of content disseminated and spend
the extra time on developing skills and competencies needed in the 21st
century," he said at the opening of the International Conference on Education
For All, here, Monday.

"Often, school teachers and university instructors lament that they have
insufficient time to complete the syllabus and fear that reducing the content
will deprive learners, not realising that less may in fact be more.

"The more comes from students learning to inquire and discover the facts and
concepts of a discipline by themselves. With the billions of web pages available
at the click of a mouse, the earlier notions of the 'sage on the stage' may have
to give way to the 'guide on the side'," he said.

On the assessment system, Dr Nazrin Shah said perhaps Malaysia could do with
less national examinations, thus reducing the burden and anxiety of teachers,
school administrators and parents.

"We have a very examination-oriented education system with students having
to sit for four public examinations before entering university. Undue
pre-occupation with examinations has led to neglect in the teaching of many of
the skills and competencies required of individuals in the knowledge and
innovation economy."

He said the examination-oriented system had also led to schools focusing on
high achievers to the exclusion of underachievers, who unfortunately tended to
be from poorer backgrounds.

"Studies have shown these academic underachievers exhibit low self-esteem
and a sense of hopelessness. They have negative beliefs about their abilities
which tend to be reinforced by the school and the community.

"Alternative assessment methods that are more reflective of learner ability
should be widely implemented, while the number of As scored by learners is
important to ensure that all students master the knowledge and skills required
of them to function effectively and efficiently in the workplace of the 21st
century," he said.

On teaching-learning methods and strategies, he said the focus should be on
students engaging in projects, analysing case studies, solving real-world
problems, making decisions in different situations, making presentations and
arguing their case and constructing their own knowledge.

"These are not new teaching approaches. They are being used in schools and
universities in some countries.

"Often, teachers lament that they would like to use these learner-centred
strategies but because of the amount of content they need to cover, are forced
to resort to the lecture method because a lot more content can be disseminated
to students," he said.

The Perak Raja Muda also said that English was of paramount importance in
the 21st century workplace and the lingua franca of the knowledge and innovation
economy, and those proficient in the language would enjoy many advantages in the
global workplace.

"Teachers should be better trained. Standardised tests can be introduced
to allow teachers to determine at each level of schooling how their students are
faring and, if necessary, to undertake immediate remedial measures," he said.
-- BERNAMA