Materials Contexts

In this study, material contexts refer to schools’ ‘staffing, available technologies and surrounding infrastructure’ that ‘can have considerable impact on policy enactments on the ground’ (Braun et al., 2011a: 592). Anggerik school, one of the Ministry of Education ‘Projek

Sinar’ school projects was established in 1997. Under this project, modern building designs

with secondary and primary schools equipped with complete infrastructures are located in one spacious school compound. Bakawali school was built in 1993 and with the efforts of the previous and present head teachers, this school had been equipped with complete infrastructure and modern facilities. Every year this school has plans to improve the school infrastructure. Indeed, during my visit, Bakawali school teachers and students were busy

making preparations for a school carnival that aimed to finance a new students’ lavatory that resembles the ‘Rest&Relax’ (R&R) lavatories found along Malaysia highways. Similarly, through the efforts of the present and previous headmasters, the infrastructures and facilities in Dahlia school, built in 1981, have been improved and upgraded. However, compared to the other schools, facilities in Cempaka school, established in 1963, could be considered as basic. This lack of facilities was brought up by a couple of teachers but as commented by a senior teacher in this school, the facilities provided would usually not last long as most students were incapable of taking care and appreciating them. With complete infrastructures provided in Anggerik school, the administrators’ emphasis was on improving the school’s management and students’ academic performance and personality. However, for the other schools administrators, efforts were also being made to improve their school infrastructure and facilities.

The materials found in these schools reflected students’ and surrounding society socioeconomic. For example, due to the fact that a high number of Bakawali school students could afford to spend in the school canteen, had allowed the canteen operator to sell varieties of food throughout the two school sessions. Indeed, as recorded in the field notes, the experience of eating in this school canteen was like eating in a food court due to the wide ranges of Malaysian food sold. In contrast to the other schools and especially in Cempaka school, not only less variety of food was sold, the teachers’ eating area looked not much different from the students' eating area. A small talk with Cempaka school’s canteen operator indicated that due to the students’ socioeconomic background, generally students brought their own food or shared the food bought in the canteen.

In this study, schools located in the urban areas had the advantages of excellent internet access. Not only in the schools but generally in all students’ houses, ‘there is

computer with internet access making it easier to access for information’ (Anggerik 4) which

was also another reason for teachers to view their students had more knowledge on other countries. A young teacher in Anggerik school who was teaching CCE and History meanwhile shared that due to the information spread on the Internet, her students had questioned the reliability of the country’s history taught in the History subject. In contrast to the urban schools, the slow internet connection in the rural area might be the main reason for

Cempaka school not having a school website. As mentioned by a senior non-CCE teacher

in this school, not only were students in this low socioeconomic town provided with minimal social activities, they were also lacking in technology infrastructures which was viewed as a drawback to students’ learning processes. Different from Cempaka school, information about the other three schools could easily be accessed through their school and interlink websites. Various reports and photos published in these schools’ official websites and schools’-linked websites reflected their students’ active participation and involvement in

and out of classroom activities. In Anggerik school, for example, the Journalism & Broadcasting Club was responsible for updating the monthly news of their school in their

club website which was news on the school’s programs, achievement and school communities such as details about the teachers who were transferred from and to other schools, obituary of a student and the wedding of their school teachers and other school staffs. These not only reflected the urban school students’ creativity and ability to manage their own websites, but in Anggerik school, the close relationship that this school tried to inculcate among the school communities. Moreover, every year all schools produced a school magazine for the school students which in Anggerik school, for example, was the responsibility of the Journalism & Broadcasting Club. Other than reporting on school achievements and programs, selected work by the students such as essays, articles and poems were also included in the school magazine throughout the four schools.

As Maguire et al. (2011a : 598) argued, ‘in schools, education policy discourses are ‘represented’ and ‘translated’ in a variety of ways including the production of wide range

of artefacts…that comprise some of the key discourses that are in circulation’. In accordance, in these four schools visited, these ‘policy artefacts’ (Braun et al., 2010 : 554)

which include school magazines, school websites (Maguire et al., 2011b) and material contexts involving school buildings and compounds had been used as students’ environment for learning (Braun et al., 2011a) and to circulate ‘the good student’s discourse’ (Maguire et al., 2011a : 600) among the school communities. In Anggerik school, for example, the photos of students awarded with an ‘Excellent Badge’; students who excelled in academic, co-curricular activities and personality and those who were chosen to be the monthly ‘Exemplar Student’ and ‘Exemplar Leader’ were displayed on one of the notice boards. Meanwhile, in Bakawali and Dahlia schools, students’ achievement; names and trophies

won; were displayed at their hall of fame. Besides educational and general knowledge, these four schools’ notice boards, walls, and compounds were also filled with information on the activities organised by their society and club, uniform bodies, and sports and games. Yet, the information displayed in Cempaka school was minimal compared to the other schools. Thus, in these schools visited, especially in the urban schools, school communities’ achievement in academic and co-curricular activities were recognised and celebrated with the other school communities (Maguire et al., 2011a). The promotion of being a good student; a student who excels in the academic and co-curricular activities and in personality was ‘being encoded, enacted and embedded in a vast range of visual cues and prompts’ (Maguire et al., 2011a : 600).

In line with the notion of integration in the KBSM curriculum, the formal teaching and learning processes of all KBSM subjects should be integrated with co-curricular activities to provide opportunities for students to increase, reinforce and put into practice the knowledge, skills and values taught in the classrooms (Ministry of Education, 1989). Accordingly, schools are also responsible for providing opportunities for students to actively participate in co-curriculum activities. Besides recognising students’ active participation in the school’s Co-Curriculum Day, 10% of their participation marks is also one of the Public Higher Education (Ministry of Education, 2007) application criteria. These co-curricular activities consist of each school uniform bodies, club and society, and sports and games (see Appendix D) that need to be registered with the State Education Department and are usually based on school’s needs, available facilities, and students’ interest. Analysis of school documents showed that differences in co-curricular activities offered in these four schools were also due to different subject options offered and students’ demand. Compared to the other three schools, Bakawali school offered the most number of co-curricular activities and co-academic (subject related) activities. Moreover, in contrast to Anggerik and

Cempaka schools, the students in Bakawali and Dahlia schools were more inclined towards

community service and to some teachers ‘more towards westernised activities’ (Bakawali 9) such as Choir and Cheerleading. Indeed, Leo Club and Interact Club offered in these two schools were active internationally recognised clubs. In all schools, students were free to choose to be a member of most of the co-curricular activities offered. However, membership of the School Prefect and Resource Center Prefect, for example, were exclusive

to students who meet specified criteria and characteristics as these memberships came with bigger responsibilities. Subsequently, they needed to go through certain exercises such as

‘interview and training before being elected as members’ (Dahlia 6). In addition, in all society

and club, uniform bodies, sports and games, a few students would be elected by the members to be committee members responsible for organising and carrying out the co-curricular activities.

Less co-curricular activities were offered in Cempaka school, which might reflect students’ socioeconomic backgrounds. Although schools could not afford to offer and support all of the co-curricular activities that students were interested in, especially in terms of facilities, training and money, they were still allowed and encouraged to take part in activities that were not offered in their schools. This is especially an advantage to Anggerik,

Bakawali and Dahlia school students as parents in these ‘higher socioeconomic schools

were also able to support more academic school programmes and a wider range of extracurricular activities’ (Thrupp and Lupton, 2006`: 309). Indeed, some of the students’

involvements in some of these schools co-curricular activities such as golf, shooting and swimming in Anggerik School were based on parents’ own support and initiative. Similarly, some of the competitions and tournaments that these urban students participated in were

on parents’ own expenses too. Nevertheless, from the school documents, parents in Bakawali School seemed to be more financially capable of financing some of the co-curricular activities. Indeed, compared to other schools, Bakawali School Parents

Teachers Association (PTA) was also more involved in funding various co-curricular activities.

In addition, there were also activities organised by the subject departments or subject committees offered in these schools. These activities were not only organised by

subject society or clubs such as English, Science and Mathematics and History club, but other organisations in this school such as the School Prefects Board, Disciplines Unit, Counselling and Guidance Unit, and Student Affairs. These activities (see Appendix E) could be divided into co-academic, aesthetic and cultural, religious, civics and citizenship, motivation, career and personal development, social service, technical, vocational and entrepreneurship skills, and field trip activities. In addition, schools also organised Sport Days, Co-Curriculum Day, Academic Day and Graduation Day as directed at the macro level.

During my visit for example, a ‘Career Day’ where students were given information on their career path and the opportunity to interact with representatives from public and private universities and colleges had been organised by Bakawali School’s Guidance and Counselling Unit. Document analysis also showed that Bakawali School Prefect Board had not only organised activities for their school community but had also organised Interschool Prefect Games and Interschool Prefects Council Annual Dinner for all prefects in their school’s district. Subsequently, Bakawali and Dahlia school students also held campaigns in electing the Head School Prefect and the President of Leo Club. Indeed, there were students in the four schools and particularly in Bakawali school that had even participated at international level activities.

Staffing was also one of the school’s assets (Braun et al., 2011a) and from these four schools visited, there were differences in terms of CCE teachers’ teaching experiences and teachers’ ethnic ratio. Generally in Bakawali and Anggerik schools, CCE teachers were teachers who had just started their teaching careers or who had just been transferred to these schools (see Chapter Eight). In contrast, there were more senior and experienced CCE teachers in Cempaka and Dahlia schools who seemed to have some knowledge and ideas on CCE which had been previously introduced as Civics. While chit-chatting with a group of Bakawali school non-CCE senior teachers, for example, upon hearing that I was doing research in CCE, these teachers began recalling their Civics lessons in their primary schooling years. Unlike these teachers, the younger teachers generally had never been exposed to CCE and to a small number of these young teachers knowledge related to CCE was either from their higher education background or from active participation in higher education co-curricular activities. The analysis in Table 6.1 also showed that students’ ethnic population did in a way influence the allocation of the schoolteacher especially in term of ethnicity, though it might be a coincidence that the highest numbers of Indian and Chinese teachers were in schools with over representation of Indian (Cempaka school) and Chinese students (Bakawali school).