TASK 1

Democratization of Education is a process of democratize education so that each

individual is given the same opportunities and rights to education and to the services
provided. In other words, the process of democratization of education , individuals
are given equal opportunities to education and the right to choose which school to
learn regardless of their economic status , social rights , gender, race , religion or
background .
The democratization of Education clearly demonstrated the importance of education
when it can eradicate illiteracy among the population in less developed countries ,
the situation is evidenced by the implementation of the democratization of the
education system through providing education to all rural communities . Moreover ,
the democratization of education can also close the gap in academic achievement
because of inequality of opportunity in education . Academic achievement gap is
affected by social class differences , social differences and language differences and
rural locations .
According to research from Pierre Bourdieu (1930 ) , he viewed that , schooling
attainment of an individual is closely linked to the cultural background of his parents ,
and the educational level of parents is more important to the performance of their
child's school career of their position in society . This issue may also increase
community awareness on education as well as the latest developments and so
raises their interest in education in general and in particular to the education of their
children.
Programs that have been implemented to help increase Malaysians to be
educated and knowledgable.

Textbook loan scheme

The textbook is the reference given to students who are studying in school. In the past ,
textbooks are only given to students whose parents who receive low incomes . But , the
School Textbook Loan Scheme has given instructions to provide free textbooks to all
students in the school irrespective of the amount of income received by the students' parents
whether high or too low . The impact of this program is students do not have to spend a lot of

money to buy textbooks. In fact, there are parents who are experiencing money problems
and after the program is realized they did not have to find the money to buy textbooks for
every child in the home. Money may be used to purchase reference books and training for
children.
Vision schools as the agents of unity
The role of education in multi-ethnical/cultural societies is vital to guaranty their sustainability
of development. On the other hand, because of the diverse nature of multi-ethnical/cultural
societies and communities, designing and applying an educational pattern which can answer
the needs of each minority in regards to its unique identity and promote tolerance, respect
and understanding among them is a challenging task. Vision schools are primary schools
with the concept of children learning together within an area without regard for race or
religion to foster solidarity, integration and respect among the students by sharing of school
facilities and implementation of other activities in school. The main aims of the Government
Educational Policy are to 1) Equip students with the essential skills in a holistic and
integrated manner, in order to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually,
emotionally and physically balanced; as well as functionally literate; 2) Inculcate and nurture
national consciousness by promoting common ideals, values, aspirations and loyalties to
foster national unity and national identity 3) Produce skilled manpower for economic and
national development; 4) Instill desired moral values in students so that they can contribute
effectively towards nation building.
Textbook Scheme Loan
The scheme cover all levels of education from the primary to the upper secondary education
in government schools and government aided schools. The aim of the scheme is to lessen
the financial burden of parents from the lower income group and ultimately ensure access to
education for every child. In 1983, this scheme was extended to Peoples Religious Schools
(SMAR). Beginning 2008, the MOE has made a provision to give free textbooks to every
student regardless of socioeconomic status. Besides ensuring the textbook packages
produced are of high quality and concurrent with the curriculum, efforts have also been
made to ensure the suitability for the target groups and able to achieve the teaching and
learning objectives. Students are given the opportunity to use the CD-ROM in their Malay
language, English language, as well as Science and Mathematics classes.

Special Needs Education

Special Needs Education is education for students with disabilities, in consideration of their
individual educational needs, which aims at full development of their capabilities and at their
independence and social participation. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned
and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and
materials, and accessible settings. These interventions are designed to help learners with
special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and success in school and
their community, than may be available if the student were only given access to a typical
classroom education.
TRUST FUND: KUMPULAN WANG AMANAH PELAJAR MISKIN (KWAPM)
Ministry of Education (MOE) is targetting to eliminate or decrease the existing gap in
education as one of the main agenda to increase excellence in education. This is inline with
the aspiration of the Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan (PIPP) 2006-2010. As such,
various efforts to increase funds for school support programmes relating to poor student will
always be MOE's priority. Henceforth, MOE had established a trust fund known as the
Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pelajar Miskin (KWAPM) under Section 10 of The Financial
Procedure Act 1957 with main objective to assist low income parents who are not able
financially to send their children to attend school and by doing that, the gap in education
between the urban and rural can be reduced. It has been the Ministry's hope to eliminate
school drop-out cases resulting from poverty and provide equal opportunity and accessibility
in education.The establishment of this fund is in accordance with MOE's Compulsory
Education Policy that was enforced since January 2003 under Section 29A of Education act
1996 (Act 550) whereby it is compulsory for parents to send their children to school
beginning the age of seven.

LINUS 2.0
Under the Government Transformation Programme, the Education National Key Results
Area (NKRA) aims to eradicate the dropout problem caused by students inability to cope
with mainstream education. The Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) programme is
aimed at ensuring that all Malaysian children acquire basic literacy and numeracy skills after
three years of mainstream primary education.

The Education NKRA has set a 100% literacy and numeracy target for all Year Three pupils
in Malaysia.

By basic literacy skills, the children are expected to have the ability to read, write and
understand words, simple and complex sentences (using conjunctions) in Bahasa Malaysia
and apply such knowledge in learning and everyday communication.

TASK 2
Being a teacher is quite a tedious professional occupation in the 21 st century.
Additional works in teaching not only caused teachers to share their precious time
that can be used to plan and teach in class, but also adding to teachers physical and
mental stresses. Despite reform efforts, regular government reviews and ongoing
calls for change, progress in addressing our most significant challenges is often slow
and solutions continue to elude us.Its not that we dont know what the challenges
are. But the possible solution often is outside the reach of schools or in deeply
entrenched educational processes and structures that are difficult to change.
High stakes exams. Demanding administrators. Challenging students. No wonder
teachers are stressed! On a daily basis, those circumstances can challenge teachers
to do their jobs well or worst, overwhelm them. Stress is negatively affects the way
the brain and the nervous system operate. Teachers could show lack of quality in
work, always moody and easily get angry. They could be experiencing stress that
affects their performance, their students, and their personal lives.

Stress heavily strains teachers' "pro-social emotion" (compassion and empathy),

according to Dr. Margaret Kemeny, professor in psychiatry at the University of
California in San Francisco. "Stressed teachers affect their environment, both
personal and professional," said McCraty. "Often, they are exhausted from lack of
sleep and overwork, which has an impact on their preparation, their class demeanor,
and their relationships with others in school."

Teachers workloads and challenges.

The rise of school-based assessment is one of the issues faced by teachers in
school. The school-based assessment (SBA) is often perceived as the process put in
place to collect evidence of what students have achieved, especially in important
learning outcomes that do not easily lend themselves to the pen and paper tests.
The system needs to be able to deliver a clear picture of the attainment levels of
individuals and of the performance of individual institutions, so that comparisons can

be made on a respectable basis, using data produced on the same or comparable

scales.
Teachers protest that it is difficult to use formative assessment with students they
consider as more challenging. When formative assessment is used within the
classrooms, teachers may vary in their interpretation and Planned Formative
Assessment Interactive Formative Assessment application of the same performance
criteria either among themselves, or with different students or classes (Kellagahan
& Madaus 2003). Teachers may develop various impressions of students on the
basis of incomplete information or stereotypes. They may also give high marks to
students who are more like themselves and make negative judgements of students.
According to these, some parents may contact or meet teachers to get explanation
why their kids got marks so and so. Teachers had to deal with parents even after
working hours.
How to cope with stress?
How do teachers "manage" stress? Some reach out to friends or family, or they
exercise; those are among some of the recommended positive activities. Others
resort to less productive methods, like social separation, overeating, and compulsive
activities.
One key to strengthening coping skills is beginning to understand what stress is:
emotional reactions which turn into turmoil and then performance blocks. Anyone
can engage in "positive emotion-refocusing techniques" that help to build positive
energy and helpful responses to challenges. Responding differently to stress can
alter its physiological impact.

Teachers and administrators who lack outside stress reduction programs and
individual counselors can absolutely reduce stress in school themselves. Nagel
suggests that teachers find satisfaction in the rewards their profession brings, like
successfully integrating parents into the classroom setting or improving the life of a
child who ends up valuing himself and learning more.

The administrator must understand his or her role in teacher stress and then change
that impact by practicing "participatory leadership and supporting teachers" when
they need help. "One simple way to show support," said Nagel, " is to use teacher inservice days to teach or reinforce skills that will have a positive impact on school
climate: stress management, conflict management, communication skills" and
effective techniques for parent-teacher communication.

Lantieri recommends that administrators put time into teacher schedules for
professional development that addresses stress or offers strategies for teachers to
maintain an inner calm. Or, to provide a quiet space, other than the teacher lounge,
where teachers can find silence and respite during the school day, or where they can
enjoy soothing activities, like listening to music or drawing.
The division of labor is an important thing in terms of control and management to
analyze the task and the division of labor in detail, then comparing with an
employee's ability to perform the task in detail. The combination of tasks and the
ability to create efficiency (Abdul Shukor Abdullah, 1991). Teachers and
administrators need to discuss the division of duties to teachers so that the division
of labor is fair and in accordance with the teacher's ability.
All programs organized by outside organizations should be managed by them and
the activities carried out outside the school. Teachers and students are only required
to attend the program as participants or invitation only. According to Datuk Azam
Mohd Atan (2010), President of the National Conference of School Principals
Malaysia (papercollection), when the school hosts and event managers, the school
wants to make the best preparations while taking for a long time. So, better program
organized by outside parties held outside the school and managed by their own. This
will ease the burden on teachers because teachers do not have to bother making
preparations for an external program.
In addition, do not master the skill in a given task. On average, teachers spend 38
days a year to attend training courses. It is the needs and opportunities to improve
skills in a given task. However, there are some teachers do not take the initiative to
develop skills. When the new challenges ahead, the teacher does not keep track of

time and had to take a longer time to improve themselves. For example, now all the
information students need to complete an application online, then teachers should
have the skills to use computers and the internet to accomplish this task.
Developments in the Malaysian education system is consistent and in line with the
development of national policy. Each of the policies implemented by the state will be
followed by a change in the education system to meet the country's policies. National
National Education Philosophy (FPK) stresses "education as a continuing effort to
expand the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated approach to creating
insane balanced and harmonious intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically
based on the belief in God. This effort is to produce Malaysian citizens who are
knowledgeable, virtuous, responsible, able to achieve the well-being of the country. "
In order to realize the philosophy of education, Curriculum for Primary Schools
(KBSR) was implemented in 1982 while the New Curriculum for Secondary Schools
(KBSM) was implemented in 1988. Now, the Primary School Standard Curriculum
(KSSR) was introduced to replace KBSR. KBSR implementation, Form and now,
KSSR demanded the teachers to work hard to make it happen.
Responsibilities and workload increasing the teacher plays a variety of roles. In
carrying out their duties as educators, teachers have to make lesson planning,
preparation of teaching tools, students check books, marking examination papers,
attending meetings and courses. In addition, teachers carry out clerical duties such
as managing textbooks, student welfare, student discipline, unity and account
classes, sports and co-curricular activities. The extra workload that teachers have to
handle has caused more depressed and suffer from emotional stress. The addition of
this task will certainly have an impact on the quality of teaching.
Referring to the newspaper, Utusan Malaysia January 23, 2008, former Education
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein revealed that the workload of
teachers nowadays are too heavy. This article explains that the teacher had to bear
the burden of which is outside the terms of reference. The task of teachers is not
only to teach but also to play a role in the development of the school, take care of
and manage the administration of discipline. According to him, hope to raise the
academic level of students and schools has increased the workload of teachers in
addition to the trivial responsibility they had shouldered.

In the past few decades, many countries have made

profound reforms in their

assessment systems. Several educational systems have in turn introduced schoolbased assessment as part of or instead of external assessment in their certification.
While examination bodies acknowledge the immense potential of school-based
assessment in terms of validity and flexibility, yet at the same time they have to
guard against or deal with difficulties related to reliability, quality control and quality
assurance.