The Elements Of National Philosophy Of Education Education Essay

The first aim of National Philosophy of Education was believe and devotion to God. We must believe and accept the existing of God according to our own beliefs. In Malaysia, there are several of races and religion that have been practiced by different group of people or community because we live in one unified country. The second aim was responsible to self society, religion and nation in order produce individual that are responsible and unable to fulfill their duties as a good citizen. They also must taking and carrying out the responsibility as far as they can and being a good role model for anyone else. The third aim was reducing the gap in various fields through provision adequate education facilities to less fortunate in terms of providing an equal education and facilities. The next aim was being tolerance to foster unity among people of various races especially in Malaysia in order to produce individuals that understand and practice the National Principles. For instance, Rukun Negara is one of the National Principles that have been created and practiced by all Malaysian. The contents of Rukun Negara are suitable and suit especially for Malaysian to practice in their daily lives and included five aspects which are Belief in God, Loyalty to King and country, Upholding the constitution, Rule of law, Good behavior and morality. Moreover, it is one of the methods to foster unity of various races in Malaysia. Besides that, all of the aspects in Rukun Negara are also having in the National Philosophy of Education as well which means it was an important thing to instill and practice those aspects in ourselves as the philosophy has proposed. The last aim for National Philosophy of Education was to develop individual’s potential and improve their self development as well into the highest level in terms of five important elements which are physically balanced, emotionally, spiritually, intellectual and social. Therefore, the National Philosophy of Education is manifested in human life that has some good characteristics; balanced and harmonious. As a result, it can produce and develop many potential people which can give contributions to religion and the nation as a whole.

Other than that, there are several factors in developing the National Philosophy of Education which are religious factor, social factor, the political factor, the economic factor, individual factor and international factor. The first was religious factor which means Islam as the official religion in Malaysia, but another religion is free to embrace and worship such as Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and so on. The second factor was social which means socializing between other people is indeed important because we have various races and citizens as we live in Malaysia. The good interaction among the citizens is an important thing to construct and achieve the harmony, peace and the stability of the nation and society. The third was the political factor which means the National Philosophy of Education was made up based on policies, documents, educational reports and ordinance, and it is suited with one of the aims which is to foster unity among people of various races especially in Malaysia and in order to produce individuals that understand and practice the National Principles. The forth was economic factor since Malaysia wants to become one of the economically strongest country and it can achieve by producing the individuals who are knowledgeable, competent and responsible towards the society, religion and nation. The fifth factor was individual which is also one of the aims to develop individual’s potential and improve their self development as well into the highest level in terms of five important elements

which are physically balanced, emotionally, spiritually, intellectual and social. It also emphasis the individuals may build and create some good characteristics such as balanced and harmonious. The last factor was international factor which means Malaysia is a well known country all over the world and we must show our first-class image to get the respect and fostering good relationship from other countries.

1.1 Elements of National Philosophy of Education (NPE)

The National Philosophy of Education has stated that ” Education in Malaysia is a an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving a high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large.” It also has several elements and implications in order to produce and create an individual who are balanced in terms of physically, emotionally, spiritually, intellectually and socially. These five aspects are indeed important to develop the individual potentials. The first element

2.0 The National Curriculum of the school

The national curriculum often changes especially in our Primary Education in order to improve for the betterment of our system to become first class educational system, develop potentials among the students and mold the student’s behavior and believes in accordance with the National Philosophy of Education (NPE). The curriculum system also made several changes during this period from 1960 until 2013 which are Old Primary School Curriculum (KLSR) that was implemented in the early 1961s, New Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) was introduced in 1982s followed by

Primary School Integrated Curriculum, and the latest curriculum is Standard Primary School Curriculum (KSSR) that was implemented in 2011.

2.1 The implementation of KBSR and KSSR

The curriculum that has been implemented in 1982 is New Primary School Curriculum (KBSR). The weaknesses of KLSR led to this upgraded curriculum because it balanced and according to the National Philosophies of Education. Furthermore, the aims of the curriculum are to acquire learners with basic skills and knowledge of the subjects and focuses on the development of the individual which includes physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social. The most important objectives to be reached in KBSR are students can acknowledge the Malay language as the national language and emphasizes the mastery of basic skills 3M of reading, writing and arithmetic.

The new curriculum was introduced and implemented in 2011 is Standard Primary School Curriculum (KSSR). It recommends the implementation of schools-based assessments to determine students’ abilities, ways of thinking and the effectiveness of the teaching and learning styles in the classroom. For instance, the ministry’s recent policies including the MBMMBI (Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia & Memperkukuhkan Penguasaan Bahasa Inggeris which means other subjects except for English were taught in Bahasa Malaysia.

3.0 The strategies for the realization of National Philosophy of Education (NPE)

The implementation of curriculum in Malaysia especially in Primary Education is a guide especially for teachers play their roles in education fields in terms of form the national integration among students of all races and molding the student’s behavior and beliefs. Therefore, the teachers have to carry out their teaching and learning activities by evaluating of the students in order to improve the students’ physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social. Indeed, the changes that have been done by the government were one of the ways to establish our educational system in order to make the students, teachers and parents can accept the education system as well.

Nowadays, many people are talking about the integrity and capability of the teacher or the headmaster in school. The people make a lot of opinions and views about the roles of the teacher, the headmaster and the senior assistant’s. As well as teachers, the headmaster and the senior assistant’s also have their own roles to play. The headmaster is the person who plays a very important role in the school. He is an administrator, manager and a leader. In this context, we need to clearly understand and appreciate without involving the administration of the process of collaboration. Therefore, an effective leader shall implement administrative, involving a group of workers under them. As a school leader, he should have a spirit and a heightened awareness of the vision 2020. The role and function of the headmaster are triggering concerted efforts to improve the effectiveness of the teaching-learning process by constantly innovating and thus appreciate the school workforce innovation.

The headmaster had to deal with leadership teachers, students and community as a target. So, as a principal and had to deal with three-dimensional, teachers and support staff, students and the community. Besides that, the senior assistant’s also play an important role and assist the headmaster to back up and support the education system in school. One of the senior assistant’s roles is planning of teaching and learning in the subjects he or she teaches and implement an effective teaching and learning, for example with the skills that he or she had. The next role is coordinated and manage the implementation of programs and activities for the students. The senior assistant’s also control and evaluate each activity to achieve its goal and adapting programs designed to suit the students. We believe that the National Philosophy of Education will lead to an era of excellence in knowledge and development will occur in a balanced way in between, emotional, physical, spiritual intellectual and social.

4.0 The activities carried out in school

Based on the previous interview that I have done with the headmaster and the senior assistant’s who is Madam Halimahton, I had found out several activities that have been carried out by the school itself. Generally, these activities are also had been organized by other schools all around Malaysian but in different ways. In fact, these activities emphasize on the National Philosophy of Education to actualize the real objectives of NPE in school towards the students and the teachers. The first activity is extra classes for UPSR candidates in that year only. The class has started from February until September which is before the UPSR from 2 p.m until 5 p.m. The students have been taught by the teachers in the school, but on the weekend they will be having a teacher from another school. Apart from attending the extra classes, the students also should be participating in seminars and modules in order to be a well prepared candidate for UPSR. In addition, this class also has its monthly fee about Ringgit Malaysia thirty. By having this activity, students will expose to a new environment of learning and teaching and have the chance to gain more input after the school time.

The second activity is ‘Solat Hajat’ which can be categorized as spiritual activities for Muslims only. We pray together in order to get His blessing to achieve what we want in life and be successful in the next future. Usually we also read the Surah Yaasin and giving a bottle of raisins to all students. This activity was held 3 weeks before the exam starts at 6.30 p.m. every year. This activity does need a lot of money because the school will invite the Ustaz to lead the ‘Solat Hajat’ and the villagers to prepare the food for that night.

The third activity is ‘Gotong-royong’ and it usually held on Sunday, twice in six months. Generally, this activity will participate by the school staffs, teachers, students and the community. As this school is near to peoples’ houses, so any kind of activity that was held by school, there must be the villagers as well. On that day, we are going to clean up all areas of the school and split up into different group. At the end of the day, we have some drinks and snacks and throw the rubbish at last. In fact, this activity will unite the teachers, school staffs, students and also the parents and will develop their potentials.

The fourth activity is the Students Award Day and it was an official activity for the school in order to appreciate the student’s hard work and giving the appreciation to them. Usually this activity will be held together with PIBG because a lot of parents will attend and support this program as well. This activity it looks like to give an award for the excellent students both in academic and co-curriculum. By organizing this activity, we can know how far the development of physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and social.

The last activity for school is Sport’s Day. It will be held in the early of the year because does want to interrupt the learning and teaching process especially for Standard 6 who are taking the UPSR exam. Sport is important for students to take part and try to take the challenges of our own. This may help the students get a good physical look by doing several activities and fitness for themselves. When our body in good condition, then it’s definitely that we can be a happy person at that time without being an anger person anymore. Through sport also, we can discover our hidden talent in playing some games, plan the strategies and create a good teamwork with friends.

5.0 The activities carried out in class.

Based on the interview between me and a Bahasa Malaysia teacher who is Madam Farida, she said all the activities are related to the national curriculum and by implementing the curriculum in order to develop the student’s cognitive, affective and psychomotor with other potentials in which students are physically balanced, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and social. The first activity is a pair activity which is constructing a dialog and present the conversation in front of the class. At first, the teacher asked the students to work together in making the dialog in the right format. By organizing this activity, the students are able to discuss and speak out the dialog together. This will develop their cognitive skills and speaking in order to produce an excellent dialog in terms of using the right format, language and grammar rules. Hence, this activity will produce the students who know the importance of cooperation in order to produce a good result.

The second activity is a crossword puzzle. The teacher has given a title or theme of the crossword puzzle which is Green Day. It is still same like the basic but she makes this activity interesting and more fun, so that the student will not get bored when complete the puzzle. The theme of this crossword puzzle is about Green Day which means it is about the Earth, environment, recycling and awareness. For this task, the students received the order from their teacher to search and find out some words which are connected to the theme. Right after they managed to find those words, their teacher again asked them to construct the words to become a short simple sentence. For example, the word of ‘global’ and ‘warming’, the students should be able to construct the sentence by using those words correctly. This activity will help the student’s to gain more general knowledge and they would be confidence when someone asked them to write or talk about certain things.

The third activity is called ‘Spot the mistakes’ and this is a group task. This kind of activity can be practiced especially on language subjects, but in this case, the teacher will give some examples of essay in Bahasa Malaysia for every group and the task is they have to find out and detect the mistakes of a whole essay. There might be a few mistakes, but it can be a lot too. After they have spotted the mistakes, they once again have to correct the mistakes as fast as they can because to declare the winner, it depends on time. This will encourage the students to exchange their opinions, views and new ideas to generate more the creative ideas. Besides, this activity will actualize a good behavior among the students and they will become a good person in the future.

The fourth activity is self-assessment or known as focused practicing. This kind of activity in order to evaluate the level of the students whether they are understood on the teaching and learning process respectively. In fact, it has also improved their basic knowledge and the practice is given based on certain topics at once. At last, they also may improve their self confidence through this activity.

The last activity for the classroom is ‘one for all’. This activity will be held at the end of the month and all students in the classroom are compulsory to take part. ‘One for all’ activity which means the teacher will give several essay questions and the students should be able to write the essay in the right format by using the same content. For instance, all essay questions are about the same topic but they will receive different types of essay. Some of them may get the report writing, autobiography, news, fiction and non-fiction, but they should use the same content in making all the formatted essays.

6.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, the most important part is the participation of both teachers and students in engaging the elements of the National Philosophy of Education and including those elements in their teaching styles. Moreover, school as the social institution where the learning and teaching process are takes place and it involved two ways of interaction which are students-students and between teachers and students. Hence, in order to produce the high moral standard of individuals and develop their self-development in terms of five important elements which are physically balanced, emotionally, spiritually, intellectual and social, parents and teachers should be able to educate and teach the students by following the philosophy that has been formulated which is the National Philosophy of Education. By implementing the National Philosophy of Education in schools, teachers enable to create the new environment of learning and practice various methods of teaching in accordance with the aim of National Philosophy of Education. This is definitely important because the philosophy has taught the way to be a better person and being a well-mannered individual to achieve the highest standard level in life. As a result, the philosophy may give some impacts especially on students’ life by improving their basic skills, thinking abilities and producing many potential people which can contribute new ideas for the betterment of the nation, society, religion.

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