Sensitiviti Kepelbagaian Budaya dalam Kalangan Guru Pelbagai Etnik di Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan di Malaysia (Multicultural Sensitivity among Multiethnic Teachers at National Secondary School in Malaysia)

Abstract

This study aims to identify the multicultural sensitivity among multi-ethnic teachers in National Secondary Schools in Malaysia. Multicultural sensitivity among teachers was identified by ethnicity, gender, level of education, teaching field, teaching experience, the experience of teaching students from various ethnic and cultural background, and cultural courses or cultural training attended by teachers. Data collection method used in this study is quantitative method. A total of 514 teachers in the state of Kedah, Penang and Perak involved in answering the questionnaire. Quantitative data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 software. Descriptive analysis was used in this study to indicate the level of multicultural sensitivity among multi-ethnic teachers involved in this study based on mean for each characteristics namely ethnicity, gender, level of education, teaching field, teaching experience, the experience of teaching students from various ethnic and cultural background, and cultural courses or cultural training attended by teachers. The result of this study shows various findings of the multicultural sensitivity based on ethnicity, gender, level of education, teaching experience, the experience of teaching students from various ethnic and cultural background, and cultural courses or cultural training attended by teacher. This study are in line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint (20132025) which aims to produce teachers who are sensitive to the different backgrounds of the students and dealing with ethnic relations in a positive and proactive ways. The findings of this study have implications for educational and professional practice, especially to teachers it self, school administrators, Ministry of Education, Higher Education Institutions offering educational courses and Teacher Training Institute in playing role and take responsibility about the need to prepare pre-service teachers and in-service teachers to have a high level of multicultural sensitivity which is in line with the reality of the diversity of students in the school nowadays.