SCHOOL textbooks must be improved for accuracy and efficacy.
While acknowledging that enhancements have been made, Universiti Malaya Faculty of Education Department of Educational Foundation and Humanities head Dr Azni Yati Kamaruddin said publishers must be responsible for the quality of what is being put out.
“They should prioritise quality over profit as the content of textbooks is an important source of knowledge for students,” she told StarEdu.
Urging publishers to allocate a bigger budget for editing and proofreading, she said it is crucial to pay close attention to details, like the writing technique and style, to prevent errors.
Publishers, she added, should also interview the writers to ensure they have the knowledge and skills needed to create the content.
“Writers should keep abreast of current issues and anticipate what’s coming as school textbooks will be used for a few years before the next edition enters the market,” she said, stressing that it is crucial to have a panel of experts sit on the evaluation committee.
The committee members, she added, must be vigilant in their vetting.
“Don’t ignore mistakes however small. Every issue of concern with regard to the content must be voiced,” she said.
Azni Yati, who formerly chaired a primary school textbook committee in charge of quality, said writers, together with experts and the editor, are required to explain the rationale behind every unit in the book.
“During this process, any issue or information that is unclear will be discussed and solutions given. But, of course, mistakes can still happen during editing and proofreading as the editor rushes to meet the deadline,” she explained.
The very fact that errors persist shows that there are quality concerns, said UCSI University Faculty of Social Sciences dean Prof Dr Chan Nee Nee.
Inaccuracies, she said, are a result of a breakdown in the quality control and checking system. Not having enough time could also cause the writer to not thoroughly check the credibility of their sources, she added.
“The errors highlighted in recent years suggest that these may have been made by those who were revising the textbooks. Errors go public when fact-checkers and the review panel fail to spot them.
“We can only speculate in trying to find out what went wrong and where the errors originated from.
“Only the Education Ministry would know what transpired based on the findings of the post-mortem.
“Was it the case of the revision process going south? Was it the lack of fact-checking? Or was it both?”
Highlight on history
Prof Chan, who received her honours degree in history from the National University of Singapore, said history textbooks have a higher risk of containing errors because of their “shorter adoption cycles”.
“Updates need to be done more regularly to account for more recent events, milestones and developments.
“The dynamic nature of Malaysia’s political landscape since 2018 makes a good case in point,” she said, explaining how after each update is done, changes are made to the existing curriculum to ensure that textbooks do not become too thick and heavy.
Prof Chan suggested engaging the country’s “most qualified historians” to oversee any revision of the curriculum.
Experienced sub-editors and fact-checkers with a strong grounding in history must also be part of the process, she added.
“This is the only way to spot and rectify any errors that may surface in the process. There must be a strict adherence to quality protocols and checklists,” she said.
Prof Chan also called on independent publishers to perform stringent checks on their reference books.
“However, as all reference books are based on the national curriculum, it is better to nip the problem in the bud and make sure that our school textbooks accurate,” she said.
While errors are worrying, there is public concern that the contribution of the country’s ethnic minorities are being downplayed, she noted.
“As a relatively young nation, it is important for all Malaysians to have a shared identity and narrative that we can be proud of.
“It would be good to focus our content on the things that unite us and the values that have taken this nation forward thus far.
“History is all about preserving the knowledge of the past so it is unacceptable for factual errors and wrong photographs to appear in textbooks,” she said.
Getting it right
The ministry’s Education Resources and Technology (BTSP) Quality and Production Policy Cluster senior deputy director Ab Aziz Mamat said it is not an easy process to develop a textbook.
“It has to match the different learning levels of students in all the different types of schools in Malaysia,” he said, adding that textbooks need to cover their cognitive, psychomotor and affective skills.
The students’ thinking styles are also taken into account in ensuring the content is systematic, easy to use, and does not contain elements that bore the students.
The ministry, he said, also needs to take into account the different levels of teaching and learning – from easy to hard, and from abstract to concrete.
“We emphasise higher order thinking skills (HOTS), 21st century learning, and elements that span the entire curriculum,” he said during an interview with DidikTV on Dec 3.
Textbooks also need to contain illustrations that are captivating and functional, added Ab Aziz.
And more importantly, contents in the books must be accurate, correct and from credible sources.
Despite these efforts, errors still crop up but most of these are in reference books which are outside of the ministry’s control.
Curriculum change
The curriculum, said National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Fouzi Singon, needs to be revised.
Cases in point, he said, are the Bahasa Melayu textbook, which lacks examples, and the Mathematics textbook, which contains too much HOTS content.
Educationist Datuk N. Siva Subramaniam said while school textbooks have improved over the years, more can still be done.
Most subject books have become better but the History textbooks need better vetting.
“Facts need to be checked based on books published previously,” he said, adding that more interactive digital content should be included as we transition to digital textbooks.
“Books are the backbone to any subject taught in school so publishers need to get this right,” said the former NUTP secretary-general.
THE VIEWS
What parents say
However minimal, mistakes should not be found in school textbooks or reference books because the ministry has a department that checks and proofreads the copies.
If errors still occur, stern action needs to be taken to prevent a recurrence. It is very unprofessional and irresponsible to change the facts, especially in the History subject.
Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education (Magpie) chairman Mak Chee Kin
As parents, we hope the new Education Minister will review and make the necessary amendments to rectify whatever content that is wrong.
Inaccuracies in textbooks have been brought up every time a new minister is appointed, yet they exist.
This is despite townhalls and other engagement sessions being done with stakeholders.
Until now, there is no concrete solution to preventing mistakes from popping up in our textbooks.
SMK Cochrane and SMK (P) Bandaraya parent-teacher association chairman Faizal Mohammad Arshad
