- 18 hours ago
- #considerthis
Malaysia has launched the new Education Blueprint for 2026 to 2035, setting out the government’s plans to reshape the school system over the next decade. Does it represent a shift in the vision for education in Malaysia? On this episode of #ConsiderThis Melisa Idris speaks with Chan Soon Seng, CEO of Teach for Malaysia.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and good evening. I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This. This is the show
00:15where we want you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of the day. The
00:19government has launched the new education blueprint for 2026 to 2035, setting out Malaysia's
00:29plans to reshape education for the next decade. So does it represent a shift in the vision
00:37for education and the school system in Malaysia? Well, joining me on the show to explore that
00:42further is Chan Sun Singh, who is the CEO of Teach for Malaysia. Sun Singh, great to have
00:48you back on the show with us today. So talk to me. Do you see a clear shift in the vision
00:55for education within this blueprint, if you were to compare it to the previous one?
01:01Yeah, thanks, Melissa. Thanks for having me on the show. You know, I think that the previous
01:07education blueprint actually laid out a very, very comprehensive plan for, you know, changes
01:14across our education system. And I think that there's actually a lot of unfinished business
01:20from that plan. And there are some things that are worth, not everything wholesale, right?
01:27But there are some things that I think that are worth considering and thinking about how
01:31we continue what was started in the previous education blueprint. So I think that when we
01:36look at this blueprint, we don't necessarily, we shouldn't necessarily be thinking just on
01:43the sense of what's completely new and what's completely different. But is it also building
01:47on the strengths of the previous blueprint and seeing through initiatives that were started
01:53or didn't completely come to fruition? With regards to a shift that we see in the blueprint,
02:01I think we also still have to wait for the full document to come out. And so what was released
02:06yesterday was the executive summary of the document, which kind of gives you a high level
02:11of the outcomes that we're looking towards. I think that overall you do see sort of a similarity
02:20around some of the outcomes that were focused on the previous blueprint. And some of that
02:25I think are good things. I think the top one is quality, which is called out in the blueprint.
02:32And I think that that's where we really, really need to be making the biggest changes.
02:36Okay, a couple of follow up questions from that. What did you mean, what were you referring
02:40to in terms of unfinished business from the previous blueprint?
02:43Yeah, you know, I think that what's important is to just, is to really stock take and think
02:49about where we're at moving forward, right? And so making sure that that process is being
02:53done, which I think the executive summary shows that there has been some stock take from
02:58that. And then we see that there are areas which we haven't realized the aspirations yet
03:03in the blueprint, right? So for example, areas around quality, so strengthening student outcomes.
03:10And so, you know, the blueprint, the previous blueprint had this aspiration to be in the
03:14top third of countries that are on the PISA rankings, for example. And in the previous,
03:22in the first 10 years of the previous blueprint, we actually did see progress and we made it
03:26from the bottom third into the middle third. But because of COVID and, you know, numerous
03:33other factors, we're actually back into the bottom third. And so I think that that's a
03:37key quality aspiration that we need to continue to pursue. One of the things that we see currently
03:44in the current executive summary of the blueprint is that when it lays out the quality aspirations,
03:51there aren't any international benchmarks at this point in time. And maybe that will be
03:56in the more detailed blueprint, but that isn't in the executive summary at this point in time.
04:00And I think that's an example of something where we'd want to see continuity.
04:03Okay. So, so definitely we'll have to wait for the details to be announced. And one of the things
04:08we should be watching out for is whether there are quality, how to assess quality and whether there
04:16are international benchmarks. I'll keep an eye for that as well. But let's come to what was announced
04:21soon saying in the executive summary. So I think there's a lot of focus on parents being now allowed to
04:27enroll their six-year-olds into year one if they think that their children are ready. Talk to me a
04:33little bit about where you see the potential upside to this, having this differentiated learning
04:40pathways. Because I'm thinking the earlier children enter the schooling system, the earlier they will
04:46also exit the schooling system. So how do we make sense of different age groups within one cohort?
04:52Yeah. So I think that the initial plan is to make it voluntary as of next year for six-year-olds to
04:58start, right? But from what I understand that that will then be the new starting point eventually over time.
05:05And so the idea is to let them opt in first, but then eventually the mandatory starting age will become
05:11six years old. And I think that this is in response to, I think it's also laid out in RMK 13 if I'm not wrong, but I think this is in response to the fact that in 2040,
05:2140 something, 2041, I believe, Malaysia will shift to becoming an aging society. And so the whole idea is that we want to be able to allow kids to start school earlier so that they finish earlier and are able to enter into the workforce earlier.
05:35I think this is also in line with a lot of international systems where kids typically do start earlier.
05:42Okay. Is that a smart choice? I'm just wondering where, having this kind of phased approach, the voluntary approach, do you see risks in this adjustment period before we get to the mandatory six-year-old starting point?
05:59Yeah. So I mean, I think that there are many, many factors that we don't have the details yet around how they're going to be managed, right? And I think some of the things that we have to think about is, number one, are there limits to the number of students that can opt into this?
06:18And so for example, if 50% of six-year-olds are enrolled into a standard one next year, what are the implications on physical class sizes, right? Especially when you think about urban overpopulated schools, will they have enough space to even contain or to host these students?
06:37Then the second thing is thinking about how do teachers, how does teachers time get allocated to support these kids, right? And will you have like significantly large class sizes? Will you have enough teachers? Will there be additional classes that you may then need more teachers to support?
06:56And so I think that those are all some of the considerations that need to be fleshed out. And also thinking about, are these kids going to sit together with the seven-year-old kids as well? Or are they separate classes? And then how do you manage all of those dynamics?
07:12So based on what you know, can we think through what we know from the executive summary, can we think through what this blueprint requires from teachers? I'm just wondering, based on your network within the educators, what are some of the first questions that teachers on the ground actually ask when a new blueprint like this is announced?
07:37Yeah, so I mean, I think one of the things that was mentioned at the launch, which hopefully is a good thing for teachers is a reduction in the administrative burden for teachers. I think that that has been a priority actually for this current government that's in place. And it was also a priority in the last blueprint as well.
08:00But then seeing what that means in terms of what's actually going to be taken off a teacher's plate, right? And how is potentially, for example, technology going to be used to streamline, let's say, administrative work data entry and all of those things.
08:15So I think that hopefully there's going to be some good things for teachers as a result in that reduction of administrative workload.
08:24I think then the thing that teachers would be asking is, what does this look like in terms of change of expectations for their day-to-day jobs?
08:34Right. And what does this also look like in line with the upcoming 2027 curriculum that is that is being rolled out as well?
08:42And so do teachers have access to the training and support that they need in order to deliver the blueprint effectively?
08:49And I think that that's the biggest challenge that we will need to really monitor and support, right?
08:55Like what will the implementation of this blueprint look like and how will there be, you know, transparency and accountability towards its implementation?
09:04Right. Are you curious about the learning matrix that was announced?
09:09That was announced this new year, four year, three, form three new learning measurements.
09:16What would you understand about it, about the benefits of having it, the rationale of introducing it?
09:22Yeah. You know, I think that this has been a, this is probably one of the big hot topics coming out of this announcement, right?
09:29I think that there, you know, one of the challenges of our education system is that we have been a very, very highly exam oriented system.
09:37And as a result of that, most of the pedagogy or the teaching approach has been rote learning.
09:44And how do we get kids to memorize answers that they then regurgitate on an examination in order to get a certain score?
09:51Right. And I think that in many ways that that kind of learning is completely out of date.
09:56Right. Kids do not need to be memorizing information because they have all of that information.
10:01Even what we used to say that that all of the information was available on the Internet.
10:05But with AI that becomes even more at their everybody's fingertips.
10:09Right. And so the way that our learning needs to happen for kids really, really needs to shift away from rote memorization.
10:17Right. And so there is a huge concern of going back to, you know, high stakes, standardized testing and what effects that will then take on the classroom learning experience.
10:29Because it is very, very easy for a teacher who has, you know, spent 20 years of their life teaching in a rote exam oriented way.
10:39And then they had these couple of years where the high stakes exams were gone.
10:43But exams still existed. They're still the end of year school school exams.
10:47But the high stakes exams are gone.
10:49And then they're supposed to teach in a more, you know, student centered collaborative, take a more collaborative learning approach.
10:55But then it will be very, very easy for these teachers who haven't received the training and support to default back to an exam oriented rote learning methodology.
11:05So that I think is the concern. Right. But let's say if if done well, if done well, and I think that a good indicator is that the primary school exam was announced to be a year four exam and not a year six exam.
11:20And so there's potential hope in that in the sense that, you know, being a year six terminal end of primary school exam is very, very high stakes because basically you're not you're only using that data to determine students next steps.
11:38Right. And the rationale behind a primary four exam is that actually if you use it now as a checkpoint at primary school, you can use the data from that exam to make sure that kids who are falling behind have all of the foundational or you're able to address and intervene and make sure that these kids are you spend the next two years closing the gaps and making sure that they leave primary school with the knowledge and skills that they need.
12:06Right. So not quite the, as you said, high stakes going to exit exam, but enough time for intervention should there should it be needed.
12:15OK, in the time that we have left, can I just ask you from the executive summary, is there anything else in this blueprint that has caught your attention that you think really should be highlighted, but has gotten lost in all the headlines of everything else?
12:30Well, I think one thing that is highlighted, I think, in the Theras Lima is is about the partnerships.
12:38Right. So how does the ministry work closely alongside private sector, the civil society, NGOs, but also relevant stakeholders, for example, parents. Right.
12:49And I think that that's going to be even more key as as we move forward.
12:54Right. Because I think collaboration is the only way is the only way forward to make sure that all of us are moving together, aligned towards a shared vision for what we want to be true for our kids.
13:05Yes, definitely. Bring the parents in and collaborate for the for the kids.
13:09Thank you so much, Sun Seng, for your time. Chan Sun Seng there from Teach for Malaysia.
13:13We're going to take a quick break here and consider this. We'll be back with more. Stay tuned.
Comments