Understanding Educator Beliefs in Teaching and Assessing Soft Skills: An Examination within the Malaysian Public Higher Education Sector

Higher education plays a significant role in determining the growth and income of a country through the development of graduates with discipline-specific technical skills. However, employers consider graduates who have developed generic skills, or soft skills, as most employable. To address this, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) established the soft skills development module for the advancement of soft skills in higher education with the aim of producing the work-ready graduates demanded by employers. The module is flexible and provides for the development of seven soft skills: communication; critical thinking and problem solving; teamwork; lifelong learning and information management; entrepreneurship; moral and professional ethics; and leadership. Despite this innovative policy-level approach, little is yet known about the experiences of individual educators within the Malaysian higher education system in delivering and assessing soft skills. A mixed methods approach was used in this study in order to gain a better understanding of educator experiences. An in-depth qualitative phenomenological approach was followed by a quantitative study to explore educator perceptions. The outcomes of this research highlight educator personal beliefs as a significant antecedent to perceptions of teaching and assessing soft skills. The varied and interdependent role of the educator as teacher, facilitator and consultant is also a central theme of this research, which recognises the central role of educators in the development by students of soft skills via formal, non-formal and informal modes with a student-learning focus. Results across the two phases of this study have been integrated, leading to the development of two frameworks. The first enables a better understanding of educator perceptions about their role, and specifically “individual responsibility” in developing soft skills. The second guides the teaching and assessing of soft skills. These frameworks have implications for teaching and learning strategies associated with soft skills development, and have applicability across the higher education sector

Kebimbangan Pelajar Sekolah Rendah Luar Bandar di Sarawak Terhadap Pembelajaran Matematik: Penglibatan Ibu Bapa dan Medium Pengajaran

Pencapaian akademik pelajar dipengaruhi oleh aspek luaran, iaitu sokongan pembelajaran dan persekitaran seperti kemudahan asas, peranan ibu bapa dan guru, dan aspek dalaman seperti keupayaan intelektual, daya pemahaman dan penguasaan. Kajian ini bertujuan mengkaji kebimbangan pelajar sekolah rendah luar bandar di Sarawak terhadap pembelajaran matematik. Kajian kualitatif ini menggunakan kaedah temu bual separa berstruktur yang terbahagi kepada dua bahagian iaitu, penglibatan ibu bapa dan medium pengajaran. Data temu bual bersemuka daripada tujuh kumpulan sasaran pelajar sekolah rendah luar bandar di Simunjan dan Serian telah ditranskripsi dan dianalisis menggunakan pendekatan tematik. Penyelidikan berdasarkan kajian kes ini menunjukkan bahawa kebimbangan pelajar terhadap pembelajaran matematik dipengaruhi oleh usaha ibubapa dan aspirasi pendidikan; sokongan pembelajaran; sokongan persekitaran dan bahasa sebagai medium utama dalam pengajaran di sekolah. Menerusi dapatan ini juga dapat dirumuskan bahawa kebimbangan pelajar dapat dikurangkan dengan penglibatan ibu bapa. Di samping itu, penyampaian pengajaran Matematik dalam bahasa Melayu menjadi pilihan pelajar pelbagai etnik kerana ia dapat mengurangkan kebimbangan mereka. Kajian ini memberi implikasi kepada strategi ibu bapa di rumah dan pendekatan guru di sekolah melalui medium pengajaran yang digunakan untuk mengurangkan kebimbangan pelajar pelbagai etnik dalam mata pelajaran Matematik. Kata kunci: Kebimbangan matematik; sekolah rendah; sekolah luar bandar; penglibatan ibu bapa; medium pengajara

Generation-Y Employees and Their Perceptions of Work-Life Balance

The objective of this study is to identify the perceptions of Generation Y employees regarding work-life balance practices. As increasing numbers of Generation Y enter the workforce, questions regarding how they perceive work, family and self-related issues, challenges and coping strategies in balancing personal and professional commitments became issues of interests for employers. This study uses interviews to collect data from six informants in Generation Y and the data were analyzed through content analysis. The results indicate that Generation Y employees do indeed have issues and challenges with balancing work and family. However, unlike the older generation of employees, Generation Y employees perceive managing work-life balance only through segmentation or separation strategies. This particular finding indicates that if organizations want to attract and retain these employees they should adapt a strategy specifically designed to target this employee group

Impact of External Debt on Economic Growth: The Role of Institutional Quality

Utilizing GMM panel data analysis, covering twenty-three samples of countries from 2011 to 2014, this study examines the nexus between external debt and economic growth where institutional quality acts as a moderator. The samples for the study are divided into two groups consisting of low and high governance groups of countries. Findings report the importance of institutional quality as a moderator in the relationship between external debt and economic growth for both samples of study. The results confirm that, despite the importance of good governance practices, as indicated by the significant effect of high scores in governance indicators such as voice and accountability (samples from low governance countries) and regulatory quality (samples from high governance countries), prescribing the right policy is crucial to avoid the negative impact of the wrong policy prescription on economic growth. The results are dissected into two groups, for low governance and high governance countries respectively. Overall, the study suggests good debt management and feasible policy prescriptions are the keys to controlling external debt

My PhD Journey: Using a Mixed Methods to Understand Educator Beliefs in Teaching and Assessing Soft Skills

The FCSHD 13th Research Presentation Series has been conducted on1 Nov. 2017 at the FCSHD Program Meeting Room