Chapter 6: Developments in Teacher Education in Malaysia: Policy Borrowing and HE Marginalization

This chapter explores the educational policy borrowing of Malaysia from England in two key areas, the school principal preparation program, National Professional for Headship (NPQH) in England into Malaysia’s National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL) and the emergence of trust schools in Malaysia based around academy schools in England. Cross nation policy bowing is a global phenomenon, it has grown significantly in recent decades as policy levers are driven by the neoliberal agenda of performativity fueled by each nation resulting in international large scale assessments such as the OECD’s PISA. Policy borrowing however, is problematic; it often misses the cultural context from which the original policy arose and has unexpected consequences. It is argued that HEI involvement in the development of teachers has been marginalized in England, whilst this is a deliberate act in England, the resulting policy borrowing also creates this marginalization for Malaysia as an unexpected consequence.