| IPBA E-JOURNAL 2003
This paper aims to tell a story - a story of the sea and of beautiful sandcastles on the shore. Educational change like the rise and ebb of the sea is an epitome of the dynamics of growth and development. This story I am about to tell is about the implementation of an English language project, aimed at improving the quality of English language teaching and training. It fits in with the theme of the conference as it is about development and about language teaching improvement. Like in many countries, educational change in Malaysia has been system and innovation-focused rather than person-focused. This is not surprising as education in Malaysia is a centrally managed provision, and being so, takes on the hierarchical structures of government and administration, a legacy of its colonial history. It follows that all change initiatives are centrally-led, mandated and filtered through a cascading hierarchy right down to the teachers at the chalk face. In the 40 years since Independence, the policies in place have steered nationwide curricular change. However, research evidence from various countries suggests that despite widespread change at great expense, changes at the chalk face leave much to be desired. Is this the case for Malaysia too? |
