No abstract

Academic dishonesty has become a global issue and this threatens the academic world from time to time, as listed in findings worldwide. This study aims to provide some insight into the activities of academic dishonesty among higher education students in four selected Malaysian public universities. A survey was conducted on 453 Muslim students in 2014, 365 students in 2015 and 320 students in 2016. The data analyzed using SPSS version 20 to detect validity and reliability of findings. The result shows that 47% of students had committed academic dishonesty at least once in 2014; this was prevalent in 51% of students in 2015 and 49% in 2016. Analysis also indicates that the dominant aspects of academic dishonesty include plagiarizing references while completing assignments and accessing information through digital resources. These outcomes could be used by stakeholders and academic institutions to raise the ethical awareness of plagiarism and academic dishonesty among students pursuing further studies. Nonetheless, further research and academic practices are tentatively proposed.

The management of role stress is becoming more dominant issue in the career life of teachers due to various roles that teachers need to play in their job. Among the factors of role stress are role conflicts, role ambiguity and role overload. The main purpose of this research is to study the influence of selected factors such as role conflict factor, role ambiguity and role overload on role stress among the Malaysian National Primary School teachers. This study was designed by utilizing the quantitative approach. The instrument used was a questionnaire which has been adapted from various relevant researchers. A total of 150 teachers were randomly selected as respondents and the data obtained were analysed using SPSS for descriptive statistics and Smart PLS for the inferential statistics. The findings show that the level of stress was at moderate level. In addition, the findings indicate that there is a significant relationship between role conflicts (ß=0.212, t=2.640, P=0.009), role ambiguity (ß=0.219, t=2.701, P=0.007) and role overload (ß=0.372, t=4.364, P=0.000) to role stress. As a conclusion, this study demonstrates that role conflicts, role ambiguity and role overload have a major impact to the role stress of teachers in Malaysia. It is hoped that through this study, various stakeholders such as schools, the district education offices as well as the Ministry of Education will be able to assist in planning and organizing efforts to address the role stress issues in order to produce highly qualified teachers.

The Malaysian government has always prioritised investment in education by providing quality education as one of the aspirations envisioned in the Malaysian Education Blueprint. Quality education is often associated with better learning environment, adequate resources, and quality teachers. Previous studies in Malaysia were mainly focused on socioeconomic factors that determine students' performance and were consistently focused on students' performance in national schools. This study aims to identify school level factors that determine National Type Chinese School students' performance in UPSR examinations. This study also analyses whether there are gaps in school level resources between higher performing and lower performing Chinese schools. Questionnaires were distributed to two hundred teachers in National Type Chinese schools around the area of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. Data were then analysed using inferential statistics such as multiple regression analysis and t-test. Results indicate that band of school, number of teachers, small class size, average parents' income, fund allocated, instructional materials, science laboratory, teacher shortage and leadership are important school level factors that determine students' performance in UPSR examinations. The findings show that teachers perceive that there are significant differences between higher performing and lower performing schools in terms of school resources such as books, internet connections, teachers' leadership, classroom management. These findings provide insights to policy makers on the necessary policy interventions that need to be taken to ensure quality education regardless of the performance of schools.

The Malaysian government has always prioritised investment in education by providing quality education as one of the aspirations envisioned in the Malaysian Education Blueprint. Quality education is often associated with better learning environment, adequate resources, and quality teachers. Previous studies in Malaysia were mainly focused on socio-economic factors that determine students' performance and were consistently focused on students' performance in national schools. This study aims to identify school level factors that determine National Type Chinese School students' performance in UPSR examinations. This study also analyses whether there are gaps in school level resources between higher performing and lower performing Chinese schools. Questionnaires were distributed to two hundred teachers in National Type Chinese schools around the area of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, Malaysia. Data were then analysed using inferential statistics such as multiple regression analysis and t-test. Results indicate that band of school, number of teachers, small class size, average parents' income, fund allocated, instructional materials, science laboratory, teacher shortage and leadership are important school level factors that determine students' performance in UPSR examinations. The findings show that teachers perceive that there are significant differences between higher performing and lower performing schools in terms of school resources such as books, internet connections, teachers' leadership, classroom management. These findings provide insights to policy makers on the necessary policy interventions that need to be taken to ensure quality education regardless of the performance of schools.