Page 12 - Jurnal Kurikulum BPK 2020

world is, the more and faster things change. Uncertainty refers to the extent to which we can
confidently predict the future. Truly uncertain environments are those that do not allow any
prediction, also not on a statistical basis. The more uncertain the world is, the harder it is to
predict. Complexity refers to the number of factors that we need to take into account, their
variety and the relationships between them. The more factors, the greater their variety and the
more they are interconnected, the more complex an environment is. Ambiguity refers to a lack
of clarity about how to interpret something. A situation is ambiguous, for example, when
information is incomplete, contradicting or too inaccurate to draw clear conclusions. More
generally it refers to fuzziness and vagueness in ideas and terminology. The more ambiguous
the world is, the harder it is to interpret. He further specifies, in practice, the four terms are
related. The more complex and volatile an industry is, for example, the harder to predict and
therefore more uncertain it will be. Yet, all four represent distinct elements that make our
environment - the world, a market, an industry - harder to grasp and control.
Curriculum developers need to take into account the VUCA world that we are living
in, as an important tenet in planning for a curriculum taking into consideration the rapid
changes that is happening in the world today and prepare our future generation to cope with
challenges. “What is our changing landscape, our VUCA? Teaching. Learning. Governance.
Policy. Funding. Leadership. Careers. Technology. …As strategic leaders, how do we buffer
the effects of the changing landscape on our principals, teachers, students, parents and
community? How do we make the space for innovations to happen in a VUCA environment?”
(Ziegenfus 2014). Clearly envisioned by OECD in its Education 2030 document, “In the face
of an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world, education can make the
difference as to whether people embrace the challenges they are confronted with or whether
they are defeated by them. And in an era characterised by a new explosion of scientific
knowledge and a growing array of complex societal problems, it is appropriate that curricula
should continue to evolve, perhaps in radical ways”. As such, curriculum developers should
reflect and find essential ways to equip children with the necessary skills and values as well as
means of gaining knowledge to cope in the future. This paper will explore the viability of an
eclectic way forward for curriculum and considerations made in the development of a new
curriculum for the benefit of children of tomorrow to cope with challenges, which we are not
able to envision now.

CENTRALIZED AND DECENTRALIZED

Malaysia has always subscribed to a centralized curriculum from the inception of the
Curriculum Development Centre in 1973. The decision of the subjects to be taken by pupils in
the country, to the type of curriculum is decided centrally. This is clearly defined in the
Education Act, Act 550, item 18 which reads “Kurikulum Kebangsaan hendaklah digunakan
oleh semua sekolah. (1) Menteri hendaklah menetapkan suatu kurikulum yang dikenali sebagai
Kurikulum Kebangsaan yang, tertakluk kepada subseksyen (3), hendaklah digunakan oleh
semua sekolah dalam Sistem Pendidikan Kebangsaan. (2) Kurikulum Kebangsaan yang
ditetapkan di bawah subseksyen (1) hendaklah menentukan pengetahuan, kemahiran dan nilai
yang dijangka akan diperolehi oleh murid-murid pada akhir tempoh persekolahan masing-
masing dan hendaklah termasuk mata pelajaran teras yang dinyatakan dalam Jadual dan apa-
apa mata pelajaran lain yang ditetapkan. (3) Dalam hal sekolah swasta, subseksyen (1)
hendaklah disifatkan telah dipatuhi jika mata pelajaran teras Kurikulum Kebangsaan yang
dinyatakan dalam Jadual diajarkan di sekolah itu. MOE is instrumental in disseminating
instructions from time to time, channelling funds and determining the type of assessment to be
carried out at schools. A centralized system allows authorities for easy management of money,
resources and personnel with the assistance of the State and District Education Departments.
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