Abstract
Educational inequality is a highly debated yet empirically understudied topic in Malaysia. This paper examines the patterns and trends of academic achievement gaps by student social groups in Malaysia, drawing upon nationally representative data for the most recent four cohorts (1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011) of eighth-grade Malaysian students from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Results show that while the achievement gaps by gender (female vs. male) and ethnicity (Malay vs. non-Malay) existed at various time points and have changed over time, the magnitudes of change were small. Most alarmingly, the achievement gaps both in math and in science between students from high and low socioeconomic families have rapidly widened and became more prominent than gender and ethnicity gaps in recent years. If this trend continues, it will have dire consequences for economic equality and social stability in the society. To reduce educational achievement gaps, policymakers and educators should play a more active role in supporting academically disadvantaged students, especially those who are from underprivileged backgrounds.
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Notes
Some other dimensions for identifying achievement gaps are geographical (e.g., urbanicity, regions) or political (e.g., immigration status).
These studies generally concluded that in terms of educational attainment in secondary and post-secondary schools, a Malay advantage trend emerged when comparing birth cohorts across multiple decades pre- and post-independence of Malaysia (Lillard and Willis 1994; Pong 1993, 1995). Furthermore, Pong (1993) found that within Malay group the gender and socioeconomic gaps in educational attainment closed but within non-Malay group they persisted and even widened in some cases.
Two additional proxies of family socioeconomic status, number of books at home and home possessions, were used for the same analysis in this paper. The findings yield similar patterns to the results using parental education as a proxy of socioeconomic status reported in this paper.
According to the report Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics 2010 (Census 2010) released by the Malaysian Department of Statistics (2014), Malay group accounts for about 58 % of teenagers aged 10–14 in the country. The calculations of Malay students in our sample based on the measure of “frequency of use of language of test at home” yield slightly higher percentages at the similar age, but the numbers are quite close to those reported in the Census 2010. It gives us more confidence that our ethnicity identification strategy is reasonable.
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Saw, G.K. Patterns and trends in achievement gaps in Malaysian Secondary Schools (1999–2011): gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Educ Res Policy Prac 15, 41–54 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-015-9175-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-015-9175-2