A Historical Account of Skills Training in Malaysia

8/6/2019 A Historical Account of Skills Training in Malaysia

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Pang Chau Leong Department of Skills Development

A HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF

SKILLS TRAINING IN MALAYSIA

Abstract

In Malaysia, skills training have for the most part of its long and chequered history been considered as within and part of the countrys vocational education and training system. It made its earliest appearance in the form of traditional handicraft training almost 120 years ago, and craft and trade skills training about a century ago.During the post-First World War years, apprenticeship training had already made its presence. However, it was only after the country gained its independence in 1957 that vocational training began to emerge and to establish itself as a major component of Malaysias education and training system. This was achieved largely through several policy recommendations particularly the Razak Report in 1956,the Rahman Talib Report in 1960 and the Cabinet (Mahathir) Report of 1979.

It was only in more recent decades that skills training have become an increasingly visible and separate component within the Malaysian education and training system, instead of merely being regarded as part of its vocational education and training component.Skills training were seen to emerge prominently as a distinct component of Malaysias education and training system during the 1970s,especially with the introduction of training based on occupational skills standards. These standards were initially known as National Trade Standards but as National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS) in 1993, following a major overhaul of the countrys skills delivery system.Over the years, the development of occupational skills standards in Malaysia experienced many more changes until it reached a major milestone with the enactment of the National Skills Development Act 2006 [Act 652] on June 29, 2006. Under the new Act 652, NOSS development is covered by the countrys legislative framework for the first time ever. Even more significantly, the Act also marks the first time in its history, that a national legislation has been enacted directly for skills training and development in Malaysia. Finally, the meaning and scope of skills training is clarified and defined, distinguishing it from other components of the countrys national education and training system.


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Rapid changes in technology and increasing complexity of work processes in Malaysian industries have created new demands on the skilled workforce, namely for knowledge-workers or k-workers. This led to yet another major development in the countrys skills delivery system this time, with the decision of the Government of Malaysia on 19 May

2004 to implement the National Dual Training System (NDTS) starting from 2005. Its introduction of the NDTS has been touted as a new national training initiative which provides an extra edge over the existing NOSS-based training system in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the emergence of the NDTS alongside the existing NOSS-based training system has also become a source of concern to training providers,employers and other stakeholders. Clearly, deep and comprehensive insights are required before leaders and policy-makers are able to make informed decisions on shaping the future direction of skills training in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION

In the context of Malaysias education and training system, skills training has

often been used synonymous with vocational training or subsumed within the

wider notion of vocational education and training (VET) . It was only recently

that skills training has become an increasingly recognisable and distinct

component within the education and training system in Malaysia, rather than

merely been regarded as part of the VET component. This paper is an attempt to

explore the early beginnings of skills training in Malaysia, and to trace its

development over the years. In essence, it seeks to scrutinize skills training in

the country from a historical perspective. This exploration of the development of

the Malaysian skills training system traces the development of the countrys VET

system. It then examines the structure and shape of skills training in the country

today, as well as takes a glimpse of new developments which are unfolding.


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EARLY DEVELOPMENTS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND

TRAINING IN MALAYSIA

The idea of providing for VET (in reality, trade skills training) in Malaysia could be

traced back to the late 1890s. Francis Wong & Ee (1975) noted that in 1897,

there were already discussions on setting up trade schools to prepare Malay

boys to work as mechanics and fitters on the railways. However, in practice,

much of the early initiatives catered mainly for traditional arts and crafts as seen

in 1900 when the government of Selangor engaged several local craftsmen

comprising of a wood-carver, a silversmith, a blacksmith and a tailor, to teach

their crafts to Malay students residing in the Malay Settlement on the outskirts of

Kuala Lumpur (Philip Loh, 1975). In 1902, similar craft training was organised inthe neighbouring state of Perak, with the establishment of a school named

Malayan Art School under the patronage of its Sultan, providing training for

weaving, embroidery, wood-carving, silversmiths work, pottery and mat-making

(ibid : 111).

The British colonial government of Malaya was first seen to get involved in

VET when it appointed a Commission in 1902 to look into vocational education

(Ahmad, 2003). In 1906, a school known as the Treacher Technical School was

established by the Public Works Department of the Federated Malay States to

train technical assistants for the Railways and Public Works Department

(Maznah, 2001). The school was closed at the start of the First World War but

reopened in 1918. Using English as the medium of instruction, it conducted

apprenticeship courses to serve the needs of several public departments

including the Public Works Department, the Federated Malay States Railways

and the Survey Department (Ahmad, 2003; Philip Loh, 1975). Upon completion

of training, successful apprentices were employed as clerks of works, surveyors

or draftsmen. In 1919, the government set up a committee to review the needs

for technical and industrial education and it put forward various recommendations

concerning training in the country, including the call for an expansion of technical


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training in terms of language used and industry sectors covered. The measures

are summarized and paraphrased from Philip Loh (1975: 111):-

i. Establishing trade schools using Malay as the medium of instruction;

ii. Building a new technical school using English as the language of

instruction;

iii. Establishing an agricultural school;

iv. Providing training facilities for the Forest Department; and

v. Providing better salaries for technically trained employees in

government departments to bring them in line with the clerical service.

The next significant development was the opening of a Federal TradeSchool in Kuala Lumpur in 1926 to provide full-time three-year courses to train

mechanics, fitters, machine workers and other technicians (Ahmad, 2003; Philip

Loh, 1975). The school then had a small student capacity of fifteen to twenty per

year and primarily served the needs of Public Works Department. The Education

Department took over the school in 1931 which by then was called Technical

School, to serve the needs of other public departments apart from the Public

Works Department, as well as business enterprises such as mines, estates and

private firms (Ahmad, 2003; Philip Loh, 1975). Later, it also took in private

students leading towards Technological Certificates awarded by the City and

Guilds Institute of London. Later, three other trade schools were built in Penang,

Ipoh and Singapore (part of Malaya at that time) to prepare apprentices as

artisans in trades such as mechanics, plumbers, fitters, electricians and

blacksmiths. These developments clearly marked the expansion of

institutionalized vocational training in Malaya which was geared to meet the

needs of the countrys industry. It is unclear from the literature as to the actual

extent to which the expansion had taken place. It was noted, however, by

Maznah (2001) that the pioneer technical school was renamed Technical College

in 1945, which was then upgraded in 1972 to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, a

full-fledged university.


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In 1955, two years before Malaya gained her independence from the

British colonial government in 1957, the Malayan Alliance Government took over

office. In the same year, it set up an Education Committee headed by Abdul

Razak Hussein, the Malayan Education Minister, to review the existing education

system and to formulate an education system for post-independence Malaya

(Pang, 2005). The study led to a report in 1956 known as the Razak Report

which recommended a unified education system for all Malayans. Eddy Lee

(1972) suggested that this Report promoted the policy of establishing a

vocational stream alongside the general secondary school system. This view was

strongly reflected from the Reports recommendation that technical education

and training be organised into three levels namely; technical colleges, technicalinstitutes and trade schools ( ibid ; Ahmad, 2003; Francis Wong & Ee, 1975).

Thus, during the time of its independence, Malaysias technical education and

training may be summarized as follows (Francis Wong & Ee, 1975: 159):-

a. Technical Colleges : Institutions of post-secondary education to provide

full-time courses for those who had completed a full

(five years) secondary education.

b. Technical Institutes : Institutions of post-lower secondary education to

provide courses of three-years duration for those who

had completed three years of secondary education,

and who seek employment as technicians.

c. Trade Schools : Schools to provide two-years courses for those who

had completed a primary school education especially

in rural areas; courses should be related to the

environment of the school and the needs of

employment, and normally conducted in the Malay

language.


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Many other developments took place, changing further the character and

shape of the countrys VET system. In 1960, another report widely known as the

Rahman Talib Report was published, recommending more changes to the

technical and vocational school system (Eddy Lee, 1972). The Report noted that

there were only eight rural trade schools in 1960, with a student enrollment of

616 only. It proposed that the majority (up to 70 percent) of pupils be given the

opportunity in post-primary schools to acquire manual skills whilst preparing for

the Lower Certificate of Education examinations that is at the end of three years

of secondary education. Eddy Lee (1972) observed that the proposal to

incorporate vocational subjects in lower secondary schools did not take off

because of the shortage of vocationally-qualified teachers. Instead, specializedvocational education was made available at the upper secondary level after

1965, albeit on a very small scale as seen from student enrollment figures. For

example, in 1969 the total enrollment in vocational and technical schools was

3,786 compared with the total secondary school enrollment of 468,816. The

Rahman Talib Report is particularly significant to the countrys VET system

because it brought about the segregation of the formal secondary school system

into academic and vocational streams (MOE, 2007). Under the report, junior

technical (trade) schools were converted to secondary trade schools which, in

turn, were converted in 1968 to secondary vocational schools. Even up to the

present day, the vocational schools conduct trade courses which are of two-year

duration, mainly in the engineering field. In 1979, another high-powered Cabinet

Committee headed by the Deputy Prime Minister at that time, Dr. Mahathir

Mohamed, was formed to study the implementation of the national education

policy including reviewing the countrys technical education and vocational

training system (Pang, 2005). The ensuing Cabinet Report of 1979 reaffirmed

that the countrys upper secondary education should comprise of both the

academic and vocational streams (MOE, 2007).


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SHAPING OF THE MALAYSIAN SKILLS TRAINING SYSTEM

Based on a review of historical developments in the field of VET in Malaysia, it

appears that skills training had emerged as a visible and distinct component of

Malaysias education and training system by the late 1970s. During the period

from the 1956 Razak Report up to the Cabinet Report of 1979, Ahmad (2003)

observed that the Malaysian VET system had progressively assumed a distinct

structure, which was dominated by three different streams or pathways,

distinguishable in terms of producing the countrys workforce, namely: (1) higher

education; (2) technical and vocational education; and (3) skills training. The

different pathways are summarized in Table 2. He also noted that the

polytechnics, community colleges as well as technical and vocational schoolscame under the purview of the Ministry of Education, whilst skills training

institutions came under other Federal Ministries. Such a structure, according to

him, suffered from a severe lack of coordination, thus justifying his investigation

into the coordinating role of the National Vocational Training Council (NVTC). He

went on to argue that the key to ensure the system works effectively lies in the

existence of an efficient and influential coordinating body such as the NVTC ( ibid :

31).


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Table 1: Main Streams of the Education and

Training System in Malaysia.

Stream orPathway

Institutions Workforce Preparation

1. Higher

education

Universities and other

institutions of higher

learning, both public and

private

Professional and managerial

personnel such as engineers,

architects, and surveyors.

2. Technical and

vocational

education

Polytechnics, technical

colleges and (more

recently) community

colleges

Supervisory personnel such

as technical assistants and

supervisors

3. Vocational

skills training

Skills training institutions,

public and private

Skilled and semi-skilled

workers

Source: Paraphrased and tabulated from Ahmad (2003: 6)

A similar description of the Malaysian education and training system in

which skills training was a major component was later made by Rashid & Nasir

(2003), who highlighted that the mainstream secondary school system comprised

of three different pathways. One was a pathway that led to higher education(thus, called the academic pathway), whilst VET was segregated into two

distinct streams namely the technical and vocational education stream, as well as

the skills training stream. They basically distinguished between the three

pathways as follows:-


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i. Higher education in colleges or universities offering degree courses;

ii. Courses in polytechnics, technical colleges or agricultural colleges

offering diploma / higher national diploma qualifications;

iii. Teacher training;

iv. Various skills training programmes conducted outside the Ministry of

Education (refering to 2nd subsystem); and

v. Direct entry into the employment market

2nd subsystem: Comprised of technical and vocational training which did

not come under the purview of the Ministry of Education, but were administered

by other Federal Ministries such as the Ministry of Human Resources, Ministry of

Youth and Sports, and Ministry of Entrepreneurial Development (through its

agency MARA) as well as private training institutions? The training institutions

could be classified according to the level of occupational skill standards and the

certification system, based on the National Occupational Skill Standard (NOSS).

The qualifications involved were mainly the Malaysian Skills Certificate Levels 1-

3, diploma for Level 4, and advanced diploma/degree for Level 5.

3rd subsystem : The standardisation and certification of occupational

skills based on the National Occupational Skill Standards and Certification

System . It started with a three-level skill certification system (basic, intermediate

and advanced) but in 1992, a new 5-level skills qualification framework was

introduced, followed by the adoption of an accreditation approach in 1993. The

accreditation of training centres and their training courses was conducted by the

NVTC.

Another study known as the Strategic Review of Technical Education and

Skills Training (TEST) in Malaysia was undertaken by Australian consultants as

part of a Asian Development Bank technical assistance project, during the same


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period as the above-mentioned Basic Study (DEETYA, 1998: 1). In assessing

the position of TEST in Malaysia during 1998-1999 periods, the study confirmed

that vocational education under the purview of the MOE was one major

component of the Malaysian public sector VET system. It also found that training

conducted by the MOHR, MYS and MARA using NOSS as a basis, formed the

other major component of the national system. A more recent attempt at

describing the structure of the technical education and vocational training system

(TVET) system in Malaysia was made in 2005 for a study undertaken on behalf

the World Bank. Pillay (2005) categorised Malaysias TVET system into five main

pillars including a NOSS-based training system (2 nd . Pillar) which are briefly

outlined below:-

1st. Pillar: Public higher education system which caters mainly to SPM school-

leavers, that is those who do not take up pre-university studies. Excludes

universities and university colleges but includes polytechnics and community

colleges under the Ministry of Higher Education, technical schools under the

Ministry of Education as well as training institutions under the Ministry of Human

Resources, Ministry of Entrepreneurial Development and Ministry of Youth &

Sports.

2nd. Pillar: Malaysian Skills Qualifications Framework, a five-tiered skills

certification system based on the NOSS which was introduced by the National

Vocational Training Council in 1993.

3 rd. Pillar: Company-based training which comes under the Human

Resource Development Fund established in 1993 to promote the training ofemployees.


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4 th. Pillar: Private higher education, largely under the purview of the Private

Higher Education Institutions Act 1996, and accredited by the National

Accreditation Board.

5 th. Pillar: Continuing education and training which caters to the demands of

employers, community or society at large for further education, skills upgrading,

retraining, career advancement and enrichment.

All the above descriptions of the structure of the VET system in Malaysia

by numerous researchers and commentators serve to emphasize that skills

training has increasingly made its presence felt since the 1970s, but it was only

after early 1990s that it became entrenched in the countrys education and

training system. The growing significance of skills training has been seen to

coincide with the introduction of NOSS-based training in the early 1990s.

LEGISLATIONS CONCERNING SKILLS TRAINING

The development of skills training in Malaysia can also be examined in thecontext of the countrys education and training legislations. During the mid-

1990s, the country engaged in massive legislative educational reforms, in part as

a response to the rapid growth of private higher education in Malaysia (Tan,

2002). Consequently, five pieces of legislation were enacted and they have

remained in force even up to today. The main federal legislation regulating the

education system in Malaysia is the Education Act 1996 (Act 550) which takes a

very broad view of education that clearly encompasses all forms of training

including skills, specialised, job-based and continuing training. This can be seen

from subsection 35(2) of the Act which stipulates that technical education

includes the provision of:

(a) Skills training;

(b) Specialised training related to a specific job;


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(c) Training for the upgrading of existing skills; and

(d) Such other technical or vocational training as may be approved by the

Minister of Education. (Malaysia, 1996a: 26)

Another piece of related legislation, the Private Higher Educational

Institution Act (Act 555) which has been enacted to specifically regulate private

higher educational institutions in Malaysia, also adopts the same broad view of

education. The Act 555 adopts several interpretations which show its intent to

treat training as a component of education, albeit higher education, in Malaysia.

As examples, the following terms are widely used in the Act:

Course of study includes a training programme. (Malaysia, 1996b: 11).Higher education means instruction or training on or teaching of a course

of study leading to the award of a certificate, diploma or degree upon the

successful completion thereof. ( ibid : 12).

Student means a person receiving education, instruction, training or

teaching from or in a private higher educational institution. (Malaysia, 1996d:

13)

The third piece of major legislation, the National Accreditation Board Act

1996 (Act 556) , confirms that the architects of educational reforms during the

1990s regard training as merely a part of education in Malaysia. The Act 556

emphasises that a course of study may include any training programme

(Malaysia, 1996c: 6), an interpretation which is similarly adopted in Act 555.

Therefore from the standpoint of the Malaysian legislative framework, up to

the 1990s and going into the new millennium, skills training had always been part

of and subsumed within education at large, including higher education. It was

only in the last few years that skills training began to assume a more distinctive

entity in relation to education in the countrys legislative framework. In particular,

skills training have been given a more prominent position in the countrys


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education and training system through two pieces of recently enacted

legislations. The legislations are:-

The Skills Development Fund Act 2004 (Act 640) which was officiallygazetted on 31 st December 2004 (Malaysia, 2006a: 2), thus

establishing the Skills Development Corporation to manage the Skills

Development Fund. The Fund has been established to grant skills

training loans to trainees of approved skills training programmes,

especially those based on NOSS ( ibid : 14).

The National Skills Development Act 2006 (Act 652) came into effecton 1 st September 2006 after it was officially gazetted on 29 th June

2006, with the following mandate:-

An Act to promote, through skills training, the development and

improvement of a persons abilities, which are needed for vocation;

and to provide for other matters connected therewith. (Malaysia,

2006b: 7)

The Act 652 is perhaps the most significant development because for the

first time in the history of skills training in Malaysia, a national legislation has

been enacted solely and exclusively for skills training and development. In

addition, the meaning and scope of skills training has been clarified and more

importantly, given a statutory interpretation which can be used to distinguish it

from other components of the countrys national education and training system.

The Act defines skills training as:

work based and industry oriented activities which aim to provide the

knowledge, skills and attitude required for effective and efficient

performance of a task or job, and includes refresher, further, updating

and specialized job-related training. (ibid: 8).


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The Act provides for the establishment, review, variation and use of

National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS), which till then has never been

covered in any national legislation. Thus, it can be said that NOSS has finally

come of age after about thirteen years (that is, since 1973) of existence in

Malaysia - that it has finally been given a statutory standing and position in the

countrys education and training system. The Act 652 also provides for the

implementation of a Malaysian Skills Certification System, leading to the award of

five levels of national skills qualification, namely Malaysian Skills Certificate Level

1, 2 and 3; Malaysian Skills Diploma; and Malaysian Skills Advanced Diploma.

These provisions collectively represent a watershed in the development of skills

training in Malaysia because in essence, a legislatively-backed skills pathway

has been provided for within the countrys national qualification framework. Thisdevelopment is expected to give fresh impetus to the skilled workforce

development and the promotion of skills-based careers in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION AND PROVISIONING OF SKILLS TRAINING BASED

ON NOSS

The notion of occupational skills standards in Malaysia can be traced as far back

as 1969, when it was deemed necessary to establish some form of standards to

support trade testing and apprenticeship training in Malaysia. With the assistance

of an International Labour Organisation (ILO) expert on teaching technique, a

Trade Instructors Training Programme was undertaken in 1968 during which 72

instructors were trained. The programme was expanded with the signing of a

Plan of Operation agreement between the Malaysian Government and the United

Nation Development Programme in June 1969 to include, amongst others,

establishing trade skill tests and the strengthening of apprenticeship standards

(MOLM, 1973: 45). However, it was not until 1972 that the development of

occupational skills standards known as trade standards at that time received

greater attention from the government. In early 1972 the Central Trade


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Standards and Testing Committee (CTSTC) was established, consisting of 10

members of whom 2 represented employers organisations and another 2

represented employees organisations (MOLM, 1974). The tripartite composition

of the committee was indicative of the ILO experts influence at that time. As its

name suggests, the CTSTC was charged with the responsibility of developing

trade standards and testing for the country at large for the first time. This was

affirmed by the expressed functions of the CTSTC which included:-

To determine the trades for which testing is to be carried out for

purposes of common certification; and

To establish, apply and review standards for certification atvarious levels of performance. ( ibid : 79)

The establishment of the CTSTC, accompanied by the formation of seven

adhoc trade standards committees in 1972 quickly bore fruits in terms of trade

standards development. By the end of the same year, National Trade Standards

for the Basic, Intermediate and Advanced grades had been approved by the

CTSTC for three trade skills areas, namely Motor Vehicle Mechanic,

Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Mechanic; and Earth-moving Equipment and

Constructional Machinery Mechanic ( ibid :79). These standards represented the

earliest form of occupational skills standards established in Malaysia at the

national-level.

The term National Occupational Skills Standards (NOSS) was first

introduced following the decision of the National Vocational Training Council

[Majlis Latihan Vokasional Kebangsaan, MLVK] at its No. 4/92 meeting onDecember 9, 1992 to agree to several measures that sought to improve the

national vocational training and certification system in Malaysia (MLVK, 1992;

MLVK, 1993). The decision led to the implementation of two major policy thrusts:

The first was to adopt the accreditation approach in the implementation of the


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national skills certification system; and the second, was to enhance the

competency-based training approach in the countrys training system.

Consequently, a new framework and methodology was adopted for developing

the skills standards which would provide the basis for accreditation. These

standards became known as NOSS.

Over the years, the development of occupational skills standards in

Malaysia experienced many more changes until it reached a major milestone

with the enactment of the National Skills Development Act 2006 on June 29,

2006 (Malaysia, 2006b). Under the new Act, for the first time ever, NOSS

development in the country has been provided for by the countrys legislative

framework. The Act contains provisions specifically for the establishment ofNOSS (Section 20), its review and variation (Section 21) as well as the use of

NOSS for curriculum development, assessment and certification (Section 22).

In Malaysia, skills training based on NOSS is today offered by a wide

variety of public and private training institutions. As at May 2007, a total of 1,151

different training institutions have been accredited to offer 6,575 training

programmes based on NOSS, of which 363 centres are administered by public

agencies and authorities, whilst the remaining 788 are privately run (Thomas,

2007). Within the public sector, 26 accredited centres (478 accredited

programmes) come under the Ministry of Human Resources ; 165 centres (744

programmes) under the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development ;

15 centres (322 programmes) under the Ministry of Youth and Sports ; 66 centres

(366 programmes) under the Ministry of Education ; 10 centres (31 programmes)

under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industries ; 16 centres (55

programmes) under the Ministry of Home Affairs ; 15 centres (158 programmes)

under the Ministry of Defense ; 2 centres (25 programmes) under the Ministry of

Rural and Regional Development ; 4 centres (8 programmes) under the Ministry

of Family, Women and Community Development ; 1 centre (2 programmes) under

the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities ; 42 centres (460


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programmes) under various state authorities . In the private sector, skills training

are provided by a multitude of training institutions that are operated by

employers, associations, companies or enterprises.

CHANGING DEMANDS: INTRODUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DUALTRAINING SYSTEM

Rapid changes in technology and increasing complexity of work processes in

Malaysian industries have created new demands on the skilled workforce,

namely for knowledge-workers or k-workers . Realising that the training for k-

workers must utilize the workplace as the prime learning environment, the

Government of Malaysia decided on 19 May 2004 to implement the National Dual Training System (NDTS) commencing in 2005 to produce 31,500 skilled

workers by 2010 (MLVK, 2005a). The NDTS has evolved from the Dual Training

System Project (DSP) which was formulated with the purpose of strengthening

technical education and vocational training in Malaysia by incorporating the dual

training system practiced in Germany (DSP, 2001). The DSP started with a study

known as Basic Study on the Design of a Dual Vocational Training Scheme in

Malaysia , undertaken by German consultants during 1997-1999 (Blumenstein,

1999).

The NDTS involves a two-year training programme carried out at two

learning environments, namely 70-80 percent in workplaces and the remaining

20-30 percent in selected training institutions. In terms of training delivery, self-

reliant learning , action-oriented teaching as well as learn and work assignments

have been adopted as the fundamental teaching and learning approaches

(MLVK, 2005). The notion of training occupations was also introduced for thefirst time in Malaysia to designate the training programmes to be selected for

NDTS implementation. With regard to curriculum design and development,

National Occupational Core Curriculum (NOCC) was introduced as the basis for

training and assessment (ibid). The NOCC is a new form of training


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documentation and it differs from training resources used in the existing NOSS-

based training because its development has been premised on the work process

orientation.

SOME FINAL WORDS

The introduction of the NDTS marks another important milestone in the

development of skills training in Malaysia. It has been touted as a new national

training initiative which has an extra edge over the existing NOSS-based

training system in Malaysia by virtue of its focus on the development of k-

workers, its application of new delivery and methodological approaches such as

the NOCC and LWA, as well as its adoption of work process orientation(Hoepfner & Koch, 2004; MLVK, 2005; Spottl, 2004). Nevertheless, the

emergence and development of the NDTS as another component of the national

training system, alongside the existing NOSS-based training system has become

a source of concern to training providers, employers and other stakeholders.

Many have raised reservations on their training outcomes, qualification being

awarded, delivery and operational aspects as well as policy implications.

In the light of such concerns, it is vital that the respective roles and

positions of both the NOSS-based training system and NDTS in meeting the

countrys skilled workforce requirements are clarified. It is also crucial that the

future direction of the NOSS-based training system in relation to the newly-

introduced NDTS is determined. Answers as to whether the NOSS-based

training system is fundamentally any different from the NDTS should be obtained.

Analysis can then be made to ascertain whether the NOSS-based training

system should remain as a separate entity from NDTS, be subsumed, or even be

supplanted entirely by the NDTS. Clearly, deep and comprehensive insights are

required before leaders and policy-makers are able to make informed decisions

on shaping the future direction of skills training in Malaysia.


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Documents

A Historical Account of Skills Training in Malaysia