Discourses of Schooling in Contemporary Malaysia: Pedagogical Practices and Ethnic Politics

Abstract

This paper examines the notion of schooling and draws on the experiences of Malaysian teenage schoolgirls in contemporary postcolonial Malaysia. Using a critical approach to understandings of schooling, the author unpacks the links between the macro, micro and the personal in examining these girls' negotiations with discourses of schooling. The intra and inter ethnic dynamics between the Malay, Chinese and Indian collectivities problematises the notion of schooling in contemporary Malaysia. The author examines the markers of the discourses of schooling as manifested in the narratives of these girls. These include the pedagogical practices of streaming and ranking, the politics of ethnic identification and the ‘Chineseness’ in the school ethos.

Keywords

discourse gender secondary education ethnicity identity streaming

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