Policies and Politics in Malaysian Education ― Education Reforms, Nationalism and Neoliberalism

This book draws on elements of critical social theory, research on globalization, neo liberalism and education, and Malaysian Studies to understand the interplay of globalization, nationalism, cultural politics and ethnicized neoliberalism in shaping the educational reforms in Malaysia. Using the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (MEB) as a case study, a catalyst and a context, this collection critically explores some of the complex historical and contemporary push-pull politics and factors shaping Malaysia’s education system, its reform and the experience of Malaysians – and others – within it. The authors in this volume focus on the interplay of neoliberalism, nationalism, ethnic and cultural politics in shaping the educational reforms in Malaysia. Their work captures and seeks to understand the enduring, though changing, hierarchy of access and differentiated rights to educational, social and economic resources and opportunities experienced by different individuals and collectives, including those involved in the neoliberal enterprise of international education. It looks at how inequities have been re-configured in different educational spaces in Malaysia, and at how these inequities have been addressed through reform policies and practices. The book will be a shaper and critical contributor to the assessment of the Malaysian Education Blueprint and related policies. It will also have wider relevance globally as a critical approach to policy discussion.

Cynthia Joseph (Dr), a science graduate, completed a Master in Education in psychology at Universiti Sains Malaysia and a PhD at Monash University, Australia. Until she passed away, she was a Senior Lecturer at Monash University in Australia, and had been active as an executive board member (and President Elect) of a leading international research network of sociologists; she was also on the editorial board of two prestigious journals.