SME 3023

TRENDS AND ISSUES IN EDUCATION FOR MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES

DISCUSSION ISSUES ON DISPARITIES IN ACHIEVEMENT OF STUDENTS

NAME NO MATRIKATINA HASANAH BINTI MOHD RAZALI D20121058406NUR SHUHADA SURIA BINTI SHA’ARI D20121058472FATIN AMIRA BINTI YUNUS D20121058529

GROUP : A

LECTURER : Dr. MOHD FAIZAL NIZAM LEE BIN ABDULLAH

INTRODUCTION

There is consensus that the education of children is one of the key vehicles

engendering the development of economies (UNESCO, 2009). However, the distribution of

resources and its consequent effects on rural-urban schooling performance has remained a

serious issue in most developing countries. Despite a rising focus by governments to target

rural areas for special assistance, rural-urban disparities in education performance have

remained a problem.

Malaysian education programmes have continued to emphasize increasingly on

accessibility, equity and quality, strengthening the delivery system, as well as improving the

achievement of rural students to reduce the performance gap between rural and urban areas

(Malaysia, 2003: 102). During the Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005), RM43.7 billion or 26%

of the government development fund was allocated for education and training. Of this, about

RM7 billion or 16 per cent was for primary school education and RM11 billion or a quarter

was for secondary school education. On average, the development expenditure for primary

schools came to around RM440 per student per year as compared with RM1740 for

secondary schools.

Many schools in the area of education in recent past seemed to have shifted studies

from the measures of individual to the measure of the environment. The reason that could be

adduced for this trend ranges from the accurate prediction which measures of environment

could bring to learning in order to possibly manipulate the environment so as to bring about

optimal conditions for learning. For quite some time, a general perception of the comparative

inferiority of rural schools has prevailed. This view implies the existence of rural-urban

differences in students’ academic performance.

The general perception of rural urban differences also extends to many other socially

desirable outcomes, such as aptitude, intelligence and aspiration (De Young and Lawrence,

1995; Herzog and Pittman, 1995). Until recently, there has been little empirical evidence to

challenge this view. Now, however, a growing body of work has begun to examine how well

students perform in and after graduation from rural schools. Although the results are far from

conclusive, they do suggest that some generally held beliefs about rural student achievement

need review, if not revision. This concern about potential rural – urban differences in

education outcomes is not limited to one country, but rather it appears to be a global issue.

DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

1. FAMILY

At the rural areas, family is one of the factors that determine their child performance. In

this study, students in rural areas have low performance compared to students in urban areas

because it is relate to their parents education. Majority of parents in rural areas are less

educated than parents in urban areas. The family background is the most important and

weighty factor in determining the academic performance of learners (Adell, 2002: 91).

Survey found that, rural students felt no pressure to attain good performance when their

parents’ expectations towards education were low. Parental encouragement has a positive

influence towards their child performance and at rural areas most of parents did not care

about their child academic performance. Some experts believe that parent expectations is the

most influential factor affecting youth decisions to pursue education

The first institution of a child where he learns is his home. A child passes most of his

time with his parents and learns from his parents and the environment provided to him by his

parents in home. Parents play a vital role in the education of their child, whatever child’s age

is, (either he read in college or in school). If parents pay attention to their children, they make

more scholastic achievements than those who are ignored. If parents take care of following

things, they can improve the education of their children.

Give more time to children.

Spare time in busy routine, for the children. If you keep on ignoring your children, it

will make them feel irresponsible and they will lose interest in study. Spend time with your

children as much as possible and discuss with them about their studies daily. Ask them daily,

what they read in school or college today. Help them in their studies, if possible. Talk to them

about the how can they improve. Make them aware of the importance of study in their life.

By this way, children start taking interest in their studies and they do well in exam. If you do

not give them time you cannot expect that they well do well in their academics.

Provide them a supportive environment in home.

Home environment affects a student life a lot. Create a loving environment having

good relationships among all family members which has a good impact on the mind of your

children so that they can study well. If the environment of home stresses children, they will

not be able to concentrate on their studies. Create a supportive and educational environment

in home. Don’t do such activities which can absorb the attention of your children while they

study like turn off television when they study. Provide them a quiet place for study where

they can study with more concentration and interest. Paste some charts or tables (having

study material) on the walls of home.

Encourage your children.

Appreciate if they do well in exam and if they get less grades encourage them for hard

work. By appreciating them for their achievements in exam, they start to struggle more to get

more appreciation. Encouraging them if they fail or get less marks enables them to stand

again and start with new determination.

Make link with the school or college teachers of your children.

Visit their school college once a week and ask the relevant teacher about the studies

of your children. It will give you the idea about the study of your children. You come to

know about the weakness of your children and then try to improve accordingly. If you ask the

their teacher, your children will study whole heartedly.

Discuss with your children about their problems.

Your children may have some problems which hinder their study. Ask your children if

they have some problems and try to solve their problem. Be friendly while discussing with

them about their problems so that they can discuss openly.

Keep watch on the activities of your children.

Have watch on the daily activities of your children and see they may not be utilizing

their energy and time in un-necessary activities. They may not be wasting time in playing

game or watching movies for a lot of time. Never suspect on your children but have watch on

their activities in a way so that they may not feel that you are suspecting on them.

Improve the study habits of your children.

Advise your children about how to develop study habits. Make your children sleep in

time and get up early in the morning. Make them sit for study if they do not, so that they

develop the study habit. Show them the tips for good study and preparation for exam. Stop

them from useless activities.

Your behavior while advising them

You should have balance in your love and strictness to your children. Have love while

advising your children for studies Have authoritative behavior while prohibiting them from

some things. Never beat them but strictly prohibit them from wasting time or unnecessary

activities or wrong manners etc so that can take it serious and follow it.

2. TEACHER

Many people emphasize the importance of good teachers, and many local, state, and

federal policies are designed to promote teacher quality. Research using student scores on

standardized tests confirms the common perception that some teachers are more effective

than others and also reveals that being taught by an effective teacher has important

consequences for student achievement.

It’s important to note that there are individual teachers who are highly effective

although they lack one or more of these qualities, just as there are ineffective teachers who

have all of them. But on average, the presence rather than absence of these qualities is more

likely to produce effective teaching.

An effective teacher loves to teach.

The single most important quality that every teacher should possess is a love and

passion for teaching young people. Unfortunately, there are teachers who do not love what

they do. This single factor can destroy a teacher’s effectiveness quicker than anything else.

Teachers who do not enjoy their job cannot possibly be effective day in and day out. There

are too many discouraging factors associated with teaching that is difficult enough on a

teacher who absolutely loves what they do, much less on one who doesn’t have the drive,

passion, or enthusiasm for it. On top of that, kids are smarter than what we give them credit

for. They will spot a fake sooner than anyone and thus destroy any credibility that the teacher

may have.

An effective teacher demonstrates a caring attitude.

Even teachers who love their job can struggle in this area, not because they don’t care,

but because they get caught up so much in the day to day routine of teaching that they can

forget that their students have lives outside of school. Taking the time to get to know a

student on a personal level takes a lot of time and dedication. There is also a line that no

teacher wants to cross where their relationship becomes too personal. Elite teachers know

how to balance this without crossing that line and once a student believes the teacher truly

cares for them, then there is no limit to what that student can achieve.

An effective teacher can relate to his or her students.

The best teachers work hard to figure out how to relate to each of their students.

Common interest can be hard to find, but exceptional teachers will find a way to connect with

their students even if they have to fake it. For instance, you may have a student who is a Lego

fanatic. You can relate to that student if you do something as simple as ordering a Lego

catalog and then going through it and discussing it with that student. Even if you have no

actual interest in Lego’s, the student will think you do and thus naturally create a connection.

An effective teacher is willing to think outside the box.

There is no one set cookie cutter way to teach. A cookie cutter approach would likely

be boring for both teachers and students. What makes teaching so exciting is that kids learn

differently, and we have to find and utilize different strategies and differentiated learning to

reach every student. What works for one student, will not work for every student. Teachers

have to be willing to be creative and adaptive in their lessons, thinking outside the box on a

continual basis. If you try to teach every concept in the same manner, there will be students

who miss out on key factors because they aren’t wired to learn that way.

An effective teacher is an excellent communicator.

To be the best possible teacher you must be an effective communicator. However, in

this area you are not just limited to being a skilled communicator to your students although

that is a must. You must also be a strong communicator with parents of your students as well

as your faculty/staff team within in your building. If you have a difficulty communicating

with any of these three groups, then you limit your overall effectiveness as a teacher.

3. STUDENT

For students with special needs, participation in transition planning is critical.

Students must be willing to participate in planning for their future. Opportunities should be

provided for students to actively participate in transition planning meetings and provide

suggestions for identifying and accomplishing goals for the future.

As students mature, their input becomes essential to the decision-making process.

However, students would benefit from preparation prior to attending meetings with school

personnel and parents. The following suggestions may be helpful in preparing students to

actively participate:

Advise students of meetings early enough for them to work with family members and

teachers to formulate questions and statements of concerns or preferences concerning

issues that may be discussed.

Advise students of the purpose of the meeting, the general format of the meeting, and

those invited to attend and the reason for their attendance.

Advise students of the role they will be expected to play and the input that will be

sought (for example, why they cannot get their homework done; the type of classroom

they prefer; preferred leisure-time activities or club preferences; personal vocational

goals; living preferences).

If appropriate, provide students with information or questions that they may be asked

and provide them with the opportunity to prepare answers.

Provide communication skills training specific to the demands of the meeting,

including role-playing when appropriate.

Have discussions prior to the meeting to determine the student’s emotional status and

stress level and to assist the student in preparing emotionally for the event.

During the meeting, the student may need support and encouragement to ensure and

enhance active participation. Opportunities to participate can occur when team members

solicit input from the student. To assure that the student understands the discussion,

information or explanations should be included throughout the meeting. Student participation

should be encouraged during the meeting by acknowledging their comments and recognizing

that they should have a strong voice in the activities that affect them. Participation is not only

a right, but also an opportunity to practice those skills that will be necessary for their

independence as an adult.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE PROBLEM

Educational research has examined rural and urban differences in their achievement.

Many educators, researchers, legislators and the general public believe that students from

rural schools mostly receive an education that is inferior compared to the students that live in

urban areas. Students background also impact on their performance where we can see that

many of the students that lives in rural areas has low academic achievement when we

compared it with the students that lives in urban areas. There are many factors that cause to

the gap performance between students in rural and urban areas. Students in urban schools get

many excess compared to students in rural schools. The National Education Association said

that the low performing youth are in public rural schools (Brown & Swanson, 2001).

The excellent performance of urban students is because of their better quality in their

education, availability of the information that they get from various sources like mass media

and electronic media, their educated families and peers groups which help them for better

performance. They have many advantages and facilities in their education compared to rural

students. Students in rural areas less exposed to the outside world and also lack of knowledge

about the currents issues that happen.

Education is proving to be effective instrument that can raise students’ self-belief,

forethought, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Students that lives in undeveloped village must try

to attain the best education for them and do not make their living environment as one of the

factors that be a barrier in their success. We also can see that students in rural areas are much

less likely to earn a college degree than students of urban areas. The disparity is highest in

rural areas where only 8 percent of rural residents over age 25 have a college degree,

compared with 16 percent of the residents in urban areas (U. S. Bureau of the Census, 1999).

So from these, we can clarify that, there is a gap of performance between students that live in

rural and urban areas due to some factors.

STUDENT

The students itself should realize the importance of education in their future lives. If

they want a better life in the future they must study hard to get a good performance. Usually

students at rural area does not care about their education and most of them dropout from

schooling. This is because they do not have motivation in their study and their parents also

did not care about their performance. So in order to overcome the gap performance between

students in rural and urban areas, rural students should set their mind that education is

important to change their lives. When they have a mindset that education is important, they

will study hard in order to get a good achievement.

TEACHER

The teacher is an important force in school learning. Teachers also one of the sources

that can help in overcomes the problem of low performance among rural students. Teachers

can help in encouraging the students to study hard and help them to complete most of their

work at school during study time, where students can ask teachers if they do not understand

about the lesson. If they are doing work at home, nobody can help them since their parents

might not be able to assist because most of parents in rural areas have less education.

Teachers should encourage their students to participate in many activities because it will give

them the opportunity to build their self-confident and positive self-esteem. Besides that,

teacher also can create a caring and supportive environment where students will feel more

comfortable during their learning. Good relationship between students and teacher also good

in order to improve students’ performance where when teachers are close with the students,

students will feel easy and not shy to ask anything that they do not understand.

PARENT AND ENVIRONMENT

While the teachers play their role at school, parents should play their roles at home.

Although parents in rural areas have no education, they can help their children performance

in terms of giving them moral supports and motivation to learn. Even they cannot help in

terms of provide resources to learn, they can give a support to their child to study hard to

change the fate of their family. Parents should realize how important of education to their

child and their future. Parents can always ask their child about their learning progress and

accompanied them during doing their work. They also must always care about their child

performance and monitor their progress.

SCHOOL

District Education Office and the parties must prepare a report containing diagnosis

student achievement. Classroom organization plays an important role in attracting students

follow the teaching and learning of mathematics. Headmaster / Principal of the school as an

organization administrator must explain clearly the matters relating to the Mathematics Panel

like in structure and organization, its aims and objectives and roles.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

Government has to play a role in improving educational outcomes for rural students.

Government should provide enough facilities to the schools that located in rural areas same as

the urban schools. Besides that, government also must provide a financial support to the

students that lives in rural areas where we know that most of them come from low income

families and not affordable to gain a better education and services. Facilities that were

provided must be fair and equal treatment should be given to rural schools same like urban

schools. In addition, best educators also should be placed in rural schools because they can

help students to improve their performance. Good teachers will produce good students. Most

important is government should ensure that teachers are adequately qualified to teach the

subject that allocated for them and they can do their work properly. Education department

also should visit all schools to establish and verify their needs to ensure that resources are

allocated in line with their needs and status.

CONCLUSION

The study presented the differences of performances between students in rural and

urban areas. Rural and urban schools are characterized by its unique strength and weaknesses.

“Rural and urban schools are much the same when it comes to resources and learning

environments” (EQR, 2003, p.45). Yet there are many variables that affect students’

achievement and those variables are directly related to whether a school is considered a rural

or an urban school. Some factors that contribute to the gap performances between students in

these two areas were determined and also recommendations in order to overcome this

problem were suggested. Although some recommendations have been highlighted, solutions

might not be easy for them. The suggestions for improving the performance among rural

students is that they must understand their environment properly, and maintain their inner

resources like self-efficacy and self-esteem. From this study we can conclude that, there have

differences between student performance in rural and urban schools. Students that lives in

urban area will get high performance excel opportunities provided by their location. Urban

students have greater access to many resources and therefore have opportunities that are not

easily accessible to rural students. Besides that urban parents were more professional and

they realize the advantage of education. Parents of rural students were less likely to expect

their children to advance their education. From the comparison of this study we can know

what the differences between rural and urban schools are.

REFERENCE

Asmah Bee Mohd. Noor (1975) “Hubungan Penggerak Pencapaian dengan Aspek aspek Tertentu dalam Sosialisasi: Kajian Perbandingan di Kawasan Bandar dan Luar Bandar”, Graduation Exercise, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

Sharifah Mohd. Noor (1991) “Faktor-faktor Latar Belakang yang Berkaitan dengan Pencapaian Akademik”, Jurnal Pendidikan, 11.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Research_Q_consider/

http://kamipendidik2012.blogspot.com/2012/03/mengurangkan-jurang-perbezaan.html

https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080402232156AAtBWJe