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Our analysis of student level data on achievements in language, Math and science highlights the
importance of family background. Even though Malaysia belongs to the bottom quartile of
countries in PISA and the average score remains low, it is worrying that achievement also varies
significantly by family wealth. This implies that the broad-base growth in school participation is
not equally benefiting all children. Learning gains from school education remains inequitable.
The analysis also highlights one specific source of this disadvantage, namely, pre-school
experience. Not only early childhood education is lower among the poor, children from well-off
families gain more such early educational experience. These findings on the socio-economic
disadvantage in learning outcomes are consistent with growing concerns over out-of-the pocket
spending in education or private tutoring in Malaysia.
Evidence based on the 2004/2005 Household Expenditures Survey (Kenayathulla, 2013)
indicates that a sizable proportion of households incur non-zero expenditure on private
tutoring. Factors affecting the level of spending on private tutoring include total household
income, parent’s education, household number of school-age children, and home ownership.
These findings draw attention to the role that private tutoring plays in exacerbating inequality,
confirming that the more affluent households can afford to send their children for private
tutoring, while others cannot.
3.2.7. Stakeholder Perceptions in Malaysia
The sample comprised 33 stakeholders of which the majority was school teachers and principals
which included 8 non-school stakeholders (e.g. school inspectors, district education officers,
officials of local NGOs and think tanks and so on). The majority of the stakeholders (over 65%)
interviewed in Malaysia identified school leadership (or effectiveness of the principal) as the
most important feature of an effective school.30 This was followed by an emphasis on learning -
- high learning outcomes of school children and a supportive learning environment. The fourth
factor was continuous professional development of teachers and frequent monitoring of
teaching and learning activities. A good number of stakeholders also identified active
engagement of parents and community as an important feature of an effective school. However,
physical facilities were not perceived as important.
Given the importance of school leadership, stakeholders were asked to name the three most
important features of an effective school principal. For comparison purposes, they were also
asked to describe the three most important factors that define an effective school teacher.
Figure 3.2.10 reports stakeholder responses as proportion of respondents identifying a
category as one of the three most important features. Data is presented separately for responses
relating to principals and teachers. The total does not add up to 1 since we sum across three
responses for each y-axis category. The majority (nearly 60%) identified being “focused on
improving teaching and learning practices” as the most important feature of an effective
principal. This also ranked as most important for an effective teacher (identified by nearly 50%
of the stakeholders). Being motivated is identified as the second most important feature of an
effective teacher. In case of principal, however, this is ranked as fourth most important. For an
effective teacher, being good at communication and being supportive of weaker students were
ranked as the third and fourth most important features respectively. Promoting learning
opportunities and nurturing healthy student-teacher and parent-teacher relationship are
perceived to be the second and third most important features of an effective school principal.
30 Previous studies on Malaysia also identified effective teachers as important for student achievement (Mat
Saad, Nik Yusoff & Mohammad Yassin, 2001)