The History Of The National Philosophy Of Education

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

During the implementation of KBSR, there are four principles were contained inside which are integrated approach, holistic development, life-long learning and one education for all. The first principle which is contained in KBSR is integrated approach. It means where the knowledge, skills and good values are accumulated together to develop and create a learner who are balanced in various aspects of self development which are physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually and social. Other than that, it also has four ways included in the principle such as skill cohesion, infusion, integration of two elements and element across the curriculum. The first way that has been used in integrated approach is skill cohesion. It can be divided into two terms which are in one subject and between subjects. In terms of in one subject, the learner should be able to master main skills which are speaking, reading and speaking, meanwhile the example for the between subjects, the teacher should be able to relate together between the subject of Physical Education and Health Science by teaching the learner to use singing method in order to increase their interest to learn. The second way that has been provided in this principle is infusion. It can be separated into two terms which are various knowledge areas and across subjects and the other term is moral value in subject. For instance, throughout the teaching process of Art subject, the mathematical element is being used by the teacher. The example of the second term of infusion is to create the respect, appreciation and cooperation among the learner when they are doing some group discussions or a particular project. The third way of this principle is integration of two elements and can be divided into three terms which are curriculum and co-curriculum, knowledge and practice and previous experiences and new experiences. For instance, by taking part the co-curricular and curriculum activities, the learner should be able to gain some knowledge and new experiences and it can be applied and shared with their parents, friends and community as well. In addition, they can make some reflections between their previous and new experiences by themselves whether to take it as good or bad ones. The last way of this principle is element across the curriculum. For example, thinking skills across the curriculum enable the student to get the higher level of thinking and develop their minds to think creatively and think out of the box.

The second principle of KBSR also upholds of the holistic development of individuals which is important to develop in order to fulfill the learners’ needs. In addition, this principle can be implemented through all subjects that have been taught and give the challenge to the teacher to produce a learner who balanced in physical, spiritual, emotional and spiritual development. For instance, according to psychologists, the individual potentials cannot be develop separately because it depends on each other. If a learner is a skillful footballer, he needs to develop his knowledge which is effective ways of playing and his skills which are his agility and speed as well as nurture the cooperation among his team members.

Besides, the principle of life-long learning also considered as the principle of KBSR as well. The life-long learning means a continuously learning from we were born until our last breathe. The learning process should be continued and it is unlimited for those who are willing to learn without forcing and allow the on-going process of learning towards them because they have the rights to do so. This principle also claims the importance roles of school runs as the formal institution and the teacher as the person who are taught, nurtured and inculcated the learner with knowledge, reading cultures, practice good values and develop skills and self development.

The last principle contained in KBSR is one education for all learners. This principle is referred to an equal basic education given to all learners and follows the same curriculum that has been applied by all primary schools. Other than that, the learner will sit for the examination and the school will provide the examination like the other schools did as well. For example, all learners from any schools in Malaysia should be taking the UPSR examination because it has been enacted in our educational system.

Besides the roles of school and teachers, the learner also become as one of the important elements that help the teaching and learning process to be developed and sustained. According to Oxford Advanced Learner Dictionary, the definition of learner is a person who receives education especially a child who learns from a teacher or takes up knowledge or beliefs. The effective ways of teaching and learning will enhance and expand the good interaction between the teacher and the learner as well. In fact, the proper teaching method such as teacher-student centred has been used to keep the interaction goes well through the teaching and learning process. There are several types of learner and some of preferred strategies according to their own types which can be identified or justified and can be divided into four types which are concrete learner, analytical learner, communicative learner and authority-oriented learner. For example, English language as a subject to be reflected by all types of learner. The concrete learner can learn English through visual or sort of illustration such as playing English (language) games, referring pictures, watching films and videos, talking in English with their pairs and practicing what they had learnt outside of class. Besides that, an analytical learner can learn English through their critical thinking and making analysis such as studying the grammar rules and English books, reading an English newspapers and problem-solving. Meanwhile, the communicative learner can be justified as visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner because to learn English, they are using all these learning styles such as listening to native speakers, watching TV in English, using English for communication outside class, learning new words by conversing and hearing them. The last type of learner is authority-oriented learner. This type of learners is depending on himself and they need the teacher to give the full support towards them. The learner is preferred the teacher to explain everything for them and they can concentrate on what the teacher is teaching only if they get the individual coaching by the teacher. Furthermore, they like to have their own textbook and did not like to share the book with others. They also love to write everything in a notebook and study grammar through reading. The developing characteristics of 21st century learners are learning the 21st century skills which are highly expected to be transformed. The 21st century skills are including, the mastery of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the ability to think creatively, problem solving, interpersonal and global awareness. Besides that, the 21st century learner has an intimate bond with the internet. For them, the internet is a gateway to connect with other people by communicating, entertainment and information gathering.

At present, our education system shows the well-built relationship and connection between several theories which have been used by the teacher during the teaching and learning process in order to create the learner. There are several types of theories which can help the teacher by implementing these theories and using it inside their classes. In the early twentieth century, the first learning theory which is Behavioral Theory was proposed and supported by some psychologists who are Pavlov, Watson and Thorndike. They believed that human behavior can be observed, controlled and predicted by their presence. They also mentioned that the relationship between individual responses and stimuli is a learning process in forming new behaviors. The learning theory consists of a stimulus, a response and reinforcement. According to B.F. Skinner, he applied the stimulus-response reinforcement to the way humans acquire language. He stressed the importance of reinforcement in the early stages of learning process and should be given frequently and the mistakes should be corrected immediately to prevent the misunderstanding or confusion amongst the learner. Therefore, this type of theory is related to one of the KBSR principles, which is Integrated Approach. For instance, the focus of this theory is implementing on integration of two elements in Integrated Approach and can be divided into three terms which are curriculum and co-curriculum, knowledge and practice and previous experiences and new experiences. It means the learner should be able to relate all of the three terms for gaining some knowledge, new experiences and applying it on their daily lives. Based on my observation in school, the teacher play his or her role as a classroom facilitator towards the learner. They should use proper resources and opportunities to create a good learning environment which allows each student to develop and enhance his or her own knowledge. Besides that, they are supposed to synchronize and get along with the students and know how to pace the lessons and provide some exercises that actively engages students in their learning process. Furthermore, I found that the teacher is applied this theory on their teaching methods and strategies which can help to build up the characteristic of 21st century learner which are alert and conscious with some issues , flexibility towards differing perspectives at school, interpersonal and self-directional skills. Other than that, the teachers also can use the Bloom’s Taxonomy to carry out or plan their teaching lessons in the class in order to assess their students according to the six levels of Bloom's taxonomy. There are many strategies in Bloom’s Taxonomy that can be used by the teacher to produce a great learning process which allocate them to upgrade and improve their standard or quality of teaching and enable them to create the learner as well. Behavioural Theory is appropriate to be implemented in the classroom and being practiced by the teacher to create the learner who is excellent for the self-development and be an inventive thinker.

Next, the second learning theory was proposed by Jean Piaget which is Cognitive Theory or known as Cognitivism. This theory is related to one of the KBSR principles which is holistic development of the individual. According to Piaget, he stressed that self adaption become as one of the important factor of the individual cognitive development. He claimed that during the process of self adaption the individual learning has actually occurred when the individual acquires experience from the process of interaction with other people, things, objects that exists in the surroundings. In addition, Piaget has come out with five basic ideas in accordance with his cognitive theory which are schemas, adaption, equilibration, assimilation andaccomodation. These ideas are related to cognitive thinking of the individual. Based on my observation in class, a teacher who taught English subject is fostered this theory through her teaching process towards the learner. She used one of the basic ideas in this theory which is adaption and equilibration. According to Piaget, adaption is a process of change in schemas so as to meet the requirement of a certain situation. Thus, the process of adaption of an individual’s behavior in the environment is also known as a learning process. Through this process, equilibration is equivalent and may lead to learning motivation. Motivation is very important to instill in order to create the learner who has the characteristics of 21st century learner. In class, the teacher gave the activity which is about singular and plural. She asked the student to differentiate those two things according to their understanding. Some of the students are unable to clarify which one is plural and singular. Then, the teacher gave the support and motivation to the student and figures out a way to solve their understanding about the topic through showing the play cards and sing a song which contains the usage of singular and plural. Moreover, the teacher used different learning styles which are visual, auditory and kinesthetic to equip the learners’ styles of learning. Some of the student are not able to understand the topic by watching the play cards only, but they might understand if the teacher are using auditory styles. Some of the student also who are visual learner might understand with th e visual style, but the rest of the student who are auditory and kinaesthetic learner might not understand if the teacher are only using the play cards through teaching process. In fact, these strategies or teaching methods are related to the six levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy which is analyzing. The teacher analyze the learners level of thinking and learning abilities and capability of the learners understanding before she stars the class. This theory of cognitivism which was proposed by Jean Piaget may give a positive impact to the teacher in order to justify and improve their learners’ learning styles .

The last learning theory was proposed by Albert Bandura which is known as Bandura’s Modelling Theory. This theory is related to one of the KBSR principle which is life long learning. He did an experiment and it was successfully approved that the student are easy to imitate behaviours of model and give reaction in a more aggressive manner than the behavior they have observed. According to his theory, learning from observation is a basic form of human behavior. The observation occurs when the individual’s behavior are shown and learned by others, which are called as model. He claimed that people who have been observed would normally be treated as model, and the learning process through the observation is known as modeling. In addition, this theory can be divided into four elements which are attention, retention, reproduction and reinforcement or motivation. These elements are related to the principle of life long learning because it emphasizes on how the teacher can be a role model towards the learner. In fact, once the teachers become a role model for them, they would probably imitate and follow the positive action and good manner by the teacher. Furthermore, in this theory, the learning process covers with observation, thinking, memorizing and imitation from the teacher and finally with some reinforcement. The learner will imitate the skill or action of the teacher to improve their self skills and knowledge. Based on my observation in class, the teacher shows a good teaching and presentation in front of their learners to make sure that they are understand. The good presentation may lead the learner to make the teacher as a good model to be followed. Besides, the teacher should present the good values and use techniques of role play and simulation to exemplify historical character for the learner to observe and imitate. Then, the teacher should give them some reinforcement such as praising or giving prizes. In this theory, the characteristics of 21st century learners can be developed by symbolize the teacher as the model and imitate the skills that have been taught in order to create a learner who are able to aquire advanced knowledge and be a critical thinker. The Bandura’s Modelling Theory will give a positive impact on the learnera and inspiration to the teacher in creating and developing a learner who are balanced in physical, emotional, spiritual, intellect and social development. These aspects of self development are important in order to develop the 21st century learners in the next future.

In conclusion, a teacher plays a vital role in supporting and developing the children as learners to become a learner who has the characteristics of 21st century learners which are good and will give a lot of benefits for them in the next future. Besides that, the teacher should implement and keep practicing those theories in their teaching and learning process towards the learner and make it related and connected to their learning styles and teaching methods. A way through creating and developing the children as learner, they must have the fulfilment of characteristics of 21st century learners because it is focused on creating and developing students who are highly creative and ingenious thinkers, effective speakers and master all about the latest technology which is known as Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Apart from that, along the way to bring up the school curriculum into the higher level of education, we have to improve the school curriculums’ quality of primary education to be more applicable to the challenges of 21st century education. Next, the role of teachers and the school become as an important role in enabling teaching and learning valuable, also for enabling the transformation of school curriculum in the most appropriate ways. Last but not least, to ensure the realization of the school curriculum is achieving the aspiration and the Vision 2020, it requires a lot of commitments and full attention from all, including the teacher, the students, the parents, curriculum management, and stakeholders.