Human Rights Education in England and Malaysia: Faith and Secular Schools’ Knowledge and Practice

This thesis reports the findings of a study into human rights education (HRE) in four secondary schools in England and Malaysia. A key aim of the research was to investigate the extent to which faith may impact upon the delivery of HRE. For the purposes of comparison, one faith school and one secular school were sampled in each country. In each school, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with the curriculum coordinator and teachers responsible for delivering HRE and questionnaire surveys and focus group interviews were carried out with students in Years 8 and 9. Data were gathered in relation to: the nature and positioning of human rights education in each school; teachers’ levels of confidence in delivering HRE and their pedagogical strategies; and the students’ knowledge of human rights principles and the extent to which this knowledge shaped their attitudes and behaviour. Findings from this study indicate that the teaching of human rights education is addressed differently in schools, depending on their staffing, curriculum priorities and religious status. In the English faith school, HRE was taught within the RE curriculum and was seen as a means to teach about Christianity; in the secular school, the emphasis was on human rights as universal values, delivered through the Citizenship curriculum. In both schools in Malaysia, where Islamic principles strongly underpin the national curriculum, human rights education was delivered as part of the Civics and Citizenship curriculum, but taught by RE teachers. Common concerns amongst teachers in both countries and both types of school related to appropriate training, sufficient curriculum time and confidence to teach about controversial issues. While there were school-level factors influencing delivery, these could not be disassociated from the wider socio-cultural, political and educational policy contexts. The findings in relation to students’ knowledge and practice of human rights also reflected the different contexts of each school and country. The key influences appeared less to do with religion (in that this did not appear to be a key factor in the differing responses from the two English schools) than with cultural, social and economic factors, though Islam underpins these in Malaysia. In general, English students had a deeper understanding of human rights but there was some dislocation between understanding and actual attitudes and behaviour. In Malaysia, a much newer democracy, levels of understanding about human rights were somewhat lower but there were many issues on which English and Malaysian students expressed similar views. The most noticeable exception was in relation to respect for individuals regardless of their sexuality. This was a small study and it is therefore not possible to generalise from its findings. However, it has raised some important issues about the teaching of HRE in both England and Malaysia. In both countries there needs to be further consideration of where in the curriculum HRE is best positioned, in order to ensure that it receives sufficient curriculum time and resources. More and better targeted in-service education is required to support teachers of human rights, with particular emphasis on the pedagogy of teaching controversial issues. In both countries it is important that teachers and students work together on understanding and practising the principles underpinning human rights

Memes and consciousness: Friend or foe?

Besides the renowned biologist, Richard Dawkins, Dennett is amongst the first to be cognizance of the importance of memes, making it central in the formulation of a Dennettian theory of consciousness. The importance of memes in Dennett's theory of consciousness lies second only to his heterophenomenological theory. This paper argues that Dennett's conception of meme and consciousness is flawed. It raises difficult and thorny issues that could not be easily resolved and hence discrediting Dennett's theorizing of consciousness generally

Measuring Reliability of Metacognitive Strategies in Reading Comprehension Questionnaire: A Pilot Study on First Year Engineering Students in Pakistan

This study aimed to investigate the reliability (psychometric properties) of the metacognitive strategies questionnaire piloted on Pakistani engineering students of QUEST, Nawabshah. The questionnaire had four parts including demographic, reading comprehension, metacognition, and scaffolding having 53 questions that were tested on 37 first year engineering students. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability was measured through SPSS 17. The results showed that the Cronbach’s Alpha reliability concerning reading comprehension ranged from .826-.842, metacognitive strategies ranged from.830-.839, and the reliability of scaffolding ranged from .829-.837. Therefore, the results from the pilot study showed that the questionnaire needed to be used without any modification in the actual study

A Quantitative Research for Improving Reading Comprehension of First Year Engineering Students of QUEST, Pakistan Through Metacognitive Strategies

This quantitative research investigates first year engineering students’ reading comprehension using the different metacognitive strategies and scaffolding strategies. The research was undertaken at QUEST, Nawabshah, Pakistan. The respondents of this research were taken from four engineering departments including Mechanical Engineering, Energy and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Computer System Engineering. A set of questionnaire was used among 311 respondents. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics to analyze research variables through SPSS 17 for producing the Percentages, Mean and Standard Deviation of the data. The results acquired from data suggested that the engineering respondents used their metacognitive strategies in order to make their comprehension easy to apprehend the meaning of reading passages. This research also revealed the average uses of twenty important categories on metacognitive strategies as reported by engineering respondents. The mean score for ‘I often find that I have been reading for class but don’t know what it is all about’ category (M = 2.65) was rated by the respondents of this research as the highest; while the mean score for ‘reading instructions carefully before beginning a task’ (M = 1.54) was rated as the lowest. The results also showed that the respondents of this study revealed the average uses of the twelve important categories of scaffolding. However, the mean score for ‘When studying this course I often set aside time to discuss the course material with a group of students from the class’ category (M = 2.29) was the highest for all respondents; whereas, the mean score for ‘I ask teachers/students for help when they do not understand’ (M = 1.37) was the lowermost. However, no category of metacognitive strategies and scaffolding fell into low level of usage. To sum up, results are presented for developing effective reading strategies for engineering students to improve their reading proficiency

Cabaran Penerapan Strategi Metakognitif dalam Pengajaran Penyelesaian Masalah Ekonomi Tingkatan Enam

Kemahiran penyelesaian masalah merupakan salah satu kemahiran penting yang perlu dikuasai oleh pelajar khususnya pelajar Ekonomi yang sering mengalami kesukaran dalam pemahaman konsep dan teori Ekonomi yang bersifat abstrak. Beberapa kajian lepas mencadangkan bahawa terdapat perkaitan antara penguasaan kemahiran penyelesaian masalah dengan proses metakognitif. Komponen utama dalam regulasi metakognitif iaitu perancangan, pemantauan dan penilaian didapati berupaya meningkatkan kemahiran berfikir serta kemahiran penyelesaian masalah pelajar dalam Ekonomi. Penerapan strategi metakognitif dalam pengajaran penyelesaian masalah boleh dicadangkan sebagai salah satu intervensi untuk menangani kesukaran dalam pembelajaran Ekonomi di sekolah. Guru pula memainkan peranan yang amat penting untuk menggalakkan pelajar menggunakan strategi metakognitif dalam proses pembelajaran mereka. Oleh itu, kajian ini dijalankan untuk meneroka cabaran penerapan strategi metakognitif dalam pengajaran penyelesaian masalah Ekonomi Tingkatan Enam. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif berbentuk kajian kes yang melibatkan dua orang guru Ekonomi Tingkatan Enam. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui temu bual mendalam dan dianalisis secara tematik. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa terdapat empat cabaran utama yang dihadapi oleh guru iaitu kekangan masa, pengetahuan guru tentang strategi metakognitif, penyediaan bahan pengajaran dan kesediaan pelajar. Kajian ini diharapkan dapat memberi cadangan untuk memperkukuh kerangka model pengajaran Ekonomi berasaskan penyelesaian masalah dan strategi metakognitif yang bersifat praktikal dan mencadangkan implikasi kepada polisi melibatkan Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM) serta amalan pihak sekolah dan juga guru

Training and Development Model for Higher Education Institution in the Context of Lao P.D.R

In the constantly changing environment, organizations have to find ways to maintain their competitive advantage. Training and development model for higher learning institution is one of the ways in which organization can find its competitive advantage because university lecturers being trained have more diverse set of knowledge and skills that will help to support the organization growth. This research tries to find out the suitable model for training of personnel. Initially, a detailed review about challenges to higher education in the context of Lao P.D.R in this matter is presented and then the research introduces a framework of a proposed model of personnel training in a higher learning institution

Kelestarian dana masjid di Negeri Sarawak

Kelestarian dana merupakan isu penting terutamanya bagi institusi yang bukan berasaskan keuntungan seperti masjid. Dana yang lestari membantu masjid memainkan peranan dan fungsinya yang pelbagai secara berterusan untuk memberi manfaat kepada masyarakat pada masa sekarang dan akan datang. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk mengenal pasti (i) sumber dana; (ii) aktiviti pengimarahan; dan (iii) perkhidmatan komuniti yang disediakan; serta (iv) meneroka faktor-faktor yang menyumbang kepada kelestarian dana masjid-masjid di Negeri Sarawak. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif dengan reka bentuk kajian kes, melibatkan 16 informan yang merupakan Ahli Jawatankusa Pengurusan Masjid. Sebanyak lima buah masjid yang dikategorikan oleh Jabatan Agama Islam Sarawak (JAIS) sebagai masjid yang aktif dengan aktiviti pengimarahan serta mempunyai dana yang lestari dipilih sebagai sampel kajian ini. Kaedah pengumpulan data pula menggunakan kaedah temu bual berstruktur dan penganalisaan dokumen manakala analisis data menggunakan teknik analisis kandungan. Hasil kajian mendapati derma orang ramai melalui kutipan Jumaat, derma berasaskan keperluan dan aktiviti masjid merupakan sumber dana utama bagi masjid-masjid di Negeri Sarawak. Hasil kajian juga mendapati masjid-masjid tersebut aktif melaksanakan aktiviti pengimarahan yang dijalankan secara mingguan, bulanan dan tahunan manakala perkhidmatan komuniti pula merangkumi aspek kebajikan, pendidikan dan sokongan sosial. Kekerapan aktiviti pengimarahan serta perkhidmatan komuniti yang dilaksanakan oleh masjid mendorong jemaah untuk terus menyumbang kepada dana masjid. Kesedaran yang tinggi untuk menderma dalam kalangan masyarakat setempat juga menyumbang kepada perolehan dana masjid. Implikasi kajian menyarankan agar institusi masjid dapat mengusahakan sumber dana lain yang dijana melalui pendapatan dan tidak terlalu bergantung sepenuhnya dengan sumbangan dan derma orang ramai. Aktiviti pengimarahan dan perkhidmatan komuniti yang sedia ada boleh dipelbagaikan dan diperluaskan agar dapat memberikan manfaat bukan sahaja kepada komuniti setempat tetapi umat Islam di Sarawak amnya

Peer Observation : A Professional Learning Tool for English Language Teachers in an EFL Institute

The key aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of English as foreign language (EFL) teachers about peer observation as a tool for professional development that is implemented in an English Language Institute of a Saudi Arabian university. This paper reviews literature on peer observation to develop a conceptual and theoretical understanding of peer observation systems in different contexts. It utilizes a mix-method approach and applies a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews as data collection tools. Questionnaire is used to get information about EFL teachers’ perceptions whereas semi-structured interviews provide an insight into their practices in the form of peer observation and future amendments for PD. The participants share their lived experiences who consider the current practice of peer observation a consistent professional challenge due to several factors, i.e. their lack of autonomy in deciding about the peers, trust deficit between administration and EFL teachers, rarely held pre-observation conferences due to the loads of teaching hours, observers’ insufficient training and qualifications in conducting PO, and the element of threat and insecurity. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to improve the existing peer observation system for the benefit of the EFL teachers, English language learners and the institute