Teacher Allocation and Equity in Malaysian Schools

Although inequalities in education are relatively well researched, little attention is given to the inequalities in the educational resources used in education. This is clearly a shortcoming in the course of providing equitable education to all. One of the educational resources frequently used in discussion is teachers. Other than being very mobile, teachers are often used as proxy for educational resources because of their role and importance in educating a child. However, not many researchers have evaluated them/this resource in terms of availability in a school. In this paper, allocation of trained teachers to schools is measured. Using Malaysian data from 1986-2006 and Gini coefficient, a well known measure of distribution, trends and patterns of equity are examined. By estimating the Gini coefficient, we aim to enhance our understanding of resource inequalities and their drivers. Inequity is examined at two levels of education, i.e. primary schools and secondary schools. Initial results reveal that the level of equity in primary schools is less desirable than in secondary schools. In this paper, possible reasons on this outcome are delved into.- education, teachers, equity, Gini coefficient

How personality moderates the effect of techno-stress on actual use of technology / Nazli Ebrahimi, Rohana Jani and Raida Abu Bakar

Implementing new technologies may bring about some positive as well as negative changes.Some negative sideeffects of these changes may cause high turnover or burnout in companies. Meanwhile, as individuals may experience the stress and discomfort of dealing with challenging environment, recruiting process and human resources (HR) managers will be affected as well. Several factors will affect recruiting in various aspects. Among such factors, however, personality of the interviewee is one of the top reasons which could have some sort of significant impact on the rest of criteria. Many studies show the stress that comes from technology, called techno-stress, will affect the perception of users, and several studies demonstrate that the level of techno-stress will vary with personality of the people. However due to lack of studies we need to understand the impact of different aspects of personality on the relationship between techno-stress and adoption of technology. Therefore, this study examined the moderating role of personality on relationship between techno-stress and Technology acceptance and usage. This paper reports on the literature we reviewed to better understand the moderating role of personality on the relationship between techno-stress and perceived ease of use of the technology

GENDER AND EMPLOYABILITY IN HIGHER LEARNING INSTITUTIONS IN MALAYSIA: IMPLICATION FOR LEADERSHIP AND POLICY

Education is a key factor in human capital, social, economic, technological and political development of the society. Higher education institutions helps in producing high level manpower needed to attain speedy, purposeful and sustainable development in modern society. It provides students with skills and technical knowledge needed in coping with difficulties in the changing society. For higher learning institutions to perform their duties as expected, the need to employ skilled and competent experts in academic community is indispensable. This paper aims to overview the issues in regard to employability and gender in higher learning institutions. Moreover it tries to clarify the roles of policy makers and academic leaders in ensuring equal opportunity for all as a way of ensuring sustainable development. In order to achieve the goals of higher education globally, there is a need for re-orientation of people on gender disparity. Policy makers and academic leaders need to set a pace for others to follow by promulgating laws and guidelines that will ensure reasonable representation of skilled and competent personnel in academic community and eradicate gender segregation in employment process. Universities should be help and encourage students to develop their skills and capabilities. Concise effort must be made in supervising, guiding and evaluating students training program from time to time. This is to help students to thrive and compete favourable with their counterpart at workplace without facing the issues of gender and segregation.&nbsp

Determinants of quality of life person with disabilities in Malaysia

To maximize the quality of life (QoL) among persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Malaysia, it is important to identify factors that are strongly associated with the QoL of PWDs. The aim of this study is to identify the determinants of QoL among PWDs in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study approach was applied covering 340 participants with hearing impairments, visual impairments, and physical disabilities. A multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the determinants of QoL. The seven QoL domains namely physical health, psychological, social relationships, environment, discrimination, autonomy, and inclusion were considered as dependent variables while demographic profile, socio-economic status, and disability history were considered independent variables. The contribution of independent variables to most of the QoL domains was modest. This study found that type of disabilities is a significant determinant for physical health, psychological, environment, discrimination, and inclusion domains. Meanwhile, the level of education is a significant determinant in the environment and autonomy domain. It was also found that age group is a significant determinant in the psychological domain. Meanwhile, employment status is a significant determinant in physical health domains. However, self-rated health is not significant in the discrimination domain. Both PWDs with good health conditions or PWDs with unhealthy conditions face the same experience of discrimination. These findings supplement the existing knowledge and contribute to future research, service planning initiatives, public education, and policy formulation. Furthermore, this study may aid social service stakeholders in evaluating the effectiveness of current activities and identifying trends for future planning

Quality of Life of Youths with and without Disabilities: A Comparative Study

Introduction: The objective of this paper is to compare the self-perceived Quality of Life (QOL) of youths with and without disabilities using WHOQOL-BREF instrument. Methods: A comparative study design was used in this study. A total of 300 disabled students and 523 non-disabled students (Controls) from Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions were involved. Data were collected by face to face interviews using WHOQOL-BREF instrument. The calculation of the mean score of each domain is using computational methods have been provided by WHO in manual WHOQOL-BREF. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the characteristics of the respondents. The t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used to compare the mean scores of each domain with selected type of socio-demographics. Results: Mean age of disabled students were 21.7 years old (SD = 1.9), while non-disabled students were 22.34 years old (SD = 2.59). Overall mean score QOL Controls are higher than disabled students. Except in the social relationship domain, the disabled, students have significantly higher score compared to controls in domain physical, psychological and environmental. There are no significant differences in Overall QOL, physical, social relationship and environment between fields of study of controls. No significant different on overall QOL between types of disabilities, but, there are significant differences in the mean score between the types of disabilities with physical and social relationship domains. Conclusion: The mean score overall QoL of disabled students is significantly lower as compared to the non-disabled students. There are four items were identified as a factor contributes to lower overall QOL disabled students compare to controls. The items are two from social relationship domain (personal relationship and social support) and also two from global items (overall quality of life and general health) Keywords: WHOQOL-BREF; disabilities; university students, quality of life; comparative stud

Dimensi Personaliti Terhadap Pembudayaan Keusahawanan Dalam Kalangan Graduan di Malaysia

“Bekerja sendiri” sebagai usahawan merupakan kerjaya yang harus diberi perhatian sebagai alternatif oleh para graduan selain makan gaji dalam usaha menghadapi masalah pasaran pekerjaan yang terhad dan kadar pengangguran yang tinggi di kalangan graduan. Oleh itu, pihak berwajib antaranya Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi (KPT) memainkan peranan penting dalam membudayakan keusahawanan dalam kalangan pelajar IPT dan graduan agar kerjaya usahawan menjadi pilihan setelah tamat pengajian. Justeru, kajian ini mengkaji tahap kompetensi pembudayaan keusahawanan dalam kalangan graduan di Malaysia dengan tumpuan terhadap mereka yang bekerja sendiri. Kajian ini menggunakan data primer yang dikumpul melalui survei Kajian Pengesanan Graduan dari tahun 2007 hingga 2009 yang melibatkan 3062 sampel graduan IPTA dan IPTS di Malaysia dan dianalisis menggunakan kaedah Analisis Faktor. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa Sahsiah Diri (kematangan, jati diri, keupayaan berdikari, keyakinan diri, berpengetahuan dan kebolehan menyelesaikan masalah serta membuat keputusan) dan Kemahiran Insaniah (keupayaan menyelesaikan masalah, kritis dan kreatif, analitikal, nilai-nilai positif dan kemahiran berkomunikasi) merupakan dua dimensi personaliti utama dalam diri seseorang graduan yang melibatkan diri dalam bidang keusahawanan

Gender Disparity in School Participation and Achievement: The Case in Malaysia

AbstractGender differences with regard to academic performance remain one of the more challenging issues in educational research. Gender disparity in education has traditionally focus on the under participation of girls and still is in some parts of the world. In a number of countries, including Malaysia, gender disparity in basic and higher education are in favor of girls both in terms of participation and performance. The dual purpose of this paper is to address and to understand the nature of the issue by analyzing the trends of student participation and performance; and secondly, to seek whether student engagement and burnout are possible factors contributing to school dropout and low achievement. There are evidence in the literature to show student engagement and student burnout accounted for gender differences in school performance. The results of the analysis of secondary data reflected a trend that shows girls outperformed boys in national examinations across school levels and types. These trends are confirmed by results of a survey of the level of student engagement and student burnout on a sample of students aged 12, 14 and 16 which seems to suggest that boys are less engaged than girls, and experience more burnout. The findings are discussed in the context of developing support for students, particularly boys, to be more engaged, and less burnout in school and in learning

Indeks keIslaman bagi Pulau Pangkor, Malaysia

Bagi penganut Islam, dalam usaha meningkatkan tahap kualiti hidup penduduk terdapat satu aspek paling utama yang boleh menjadi pemangkin kepada tingginya kualiti hidup atau sebaliknya iaitu kesedaran atau kepatuhan kepada agama Islam kerana makna Islam itu bagi mereka adalah cara hidup yang sempurna. Oleh yang demikian, kajian ini melihat indeks keislaman atau tahap kepatuhan dan kefahaman penduduk terhadap agama Islam. Kajian indeks keislaman ini menggunakan aplikasi GIS. Hasil pemetaan GIS menunjukkan taburan kepatuhan Islam yang berbeza-beza, daripada rendah dan sederhana rendah kepada sederhana dan sederhana tinggi . Dapatan ini bukan sja boleh menyumbang kepada pemahaman yang lebih rapi mengenai keadaan kepatuhan keIslaman di Pulau Pangkor tetapi juga implikasi dasar dari pemahaman tersebut

Interregional Migration and Graduate Earning in Malaysia

This paper investigated the interregional migration patterns and the effects of spatial mobility on the earnings of new graduates from Malaysian universities, utilising the 2013 Tracer Study data obtained from the Ministry of Higher Education. Several local studies using the same data source mainly dealt with issues of employability, but none have studied the effects of migration on their earnings. Some graduates pursued tertiary education away from their state of birth and settled to work in the state where they studied or relocated to work in another state. This study examined graduate migration between Klang Valley (KV) and the rest of Malaysia, which differs very much in terms of economic activities and development. The estimations of the wage equation using ordinal logit models show that migration from all other states towards Klang Valley was associated with higher starting salaries for the graduates