I firmly believe that there is power in learning Sejarah.

An unpopular and uncommon opinion but if we dig deeper into what a Sejarah curriculum should entail and the skills we can develop if the subject is taught properly, Malaysians would have a better appreciation for the subject.

The philosophy and core objective of Sejarah education in the Malaysian classroom is “to cultivate the spirit of loyalty towards the nation and to instil a sense of pride to be Malaysians among students” (Ahmad, Rahim, Seman & Salleh, 2010).

Although the existing curriculum is focused on the shaping of Malaysia within a 500 year timeframe and taught in chronological order, research identified significant gaps in its pedagogy. These gaps can be divided into three main themes: i) teacher development (or lack thereof), ii) integration of active learning and technology, and iii) cultivation of historical thinking and historical literacy.

Teacher Development (or lack thereof)

It is unfortunate but studies have highlighted numerous unfavourable comments about our Sejarah teachers.

“The teachers are too indoctrinate, not creative, using one-way pattern … still maintaining traditional methods of teaching … lacking of expertise in delivering the latest pedagogy.”

“Negative attitudes of teachers failed the students to digest their minds to be more critical in nature …”

(Ahmad, Rahim, Seman & Salleh, 2010).

That isn’t all. Studies have also found that many of our Sejarah teachers are “back up teachers who do not fully understand the aims of Sejarah education” (Ahmad, Rahim, Seman & Salleh, 2010). The employment of “back up teachers” and/or teachers who do not have History and/or Archaeology qualifications supports the general assumption that just about anyone can teach Sejarah.

The employment of such teachers almost ensures that teachers will fail in fulfilling the core objective and philosophy of Sejarah education, set forth by the Ministry of Education.

Furthermore, majority of Sejarah teachers in the Malaysian government schools emphasise the lack of opportunity to upskill and reskill themselves. The lack of effort to provide professional teacher training courses for Sejarah teachers further exacerbates the issue that many of our Sejarah teachers lack the knowledge and know-how to teach the subject well.

This explains the lack of integration of digital tools in the Sejarah pedagogy and the absence of historical thinking and historical literacy skills amongst our government school graduates.

Digital Sejarah – what is that?

“Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualisation, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge”

(Rosenzweig, 2022)

Simply put, Digital Sejarah is a pedagogical approach that leverages new digital tools to create and share historical knowledge, and cultivate historical thinking and historical literacy amongst its learners. It is an under explored and underused approach by our Sejarah teachers.

Research has identified a few reasons why our teachers aren’t employing Digital Sejarah in the Malaysian classroom.

Firstly, the over-reliance on the Sejarah textbook. Teachers are expected to use the textbook as the primary teaching material however, the textbook has a “dull presentation” and the “topics and contents are separated” thus making it “difficult for students and teachers to relate these facts to the subject as a whole” (Ahmad, Awang, Seman & Abdullah, 2013).

Although we cannot form a direct correlation between the quality of textbooks with students’ interest in the subject, research has shown that teachers need to be better equipped to make “the contents and facts in Sejarah textbooks come alive” (Ahmad, Rahim, Seman & Salleh, 2010). Knowing how to use digital tools such as video games and social media platforms to support the use of textbooks in the Malaysian classroom is a vital skill that Sejarah teachers need to develop.

Yet, our teachers seem unwilling to explore beyond the usual Power Point and textbook. Before we conclude that it is the lackadaisical attitude of our teachers that is prohibiting the employment of Digital Sejarah, we need to consider the aforementioned issue – scarcity of teacher development opportunities.

Majority of teachers “complained about a lack of training in educational innovation” (Yacob & Zainol, 2014). They added that “the heavy workload at school limits their time to update themselves” and the lack of infrastructure serves as an additional barrier for them to “integrate technology into their teaching”.

Coupled with the over-reliance on textbooks, it is no wonder our Sejarah teachers seem unwilling to utilise Digital Sejarah in the classroom.

Transferable skills – historical thinking and historical literacy

George Santayana famously said “he who does not remember the past is doomed to repeat it.”

This expression can be found in the first few pages of the Sejarah Form 1 textbook. Whether it was intentional or not, Santayana’s quote set the tone for how Sejarah would be taught in the
Malaysian classroom.

Those of us who went to government schools will remember that the ability to memorise historical facts was a strong indicator and predictor that we would do well in Sejarah. Indeed, there was no room for dialogue or debate to better understand why and how an event unfolded – these were questions deemed unnecessary to our understanding of Sejarah.

Such a rote learning environment and exam-oriented education system earned Sejarah education a bleak reputation – “boring”, “tedious”, “irrelevant” and “unprofitable”. The reality is that, if taught properly, Sejarah education will unveil the truth behind what historians and archaeologists do for a living, and equip our students with transferable skills such as historical thinking and historical literacy.

“To think historically, students need to be able to i) establish historical significance, ii) use primary source evidence, iii) identify continuity and change, iv) analyse cause and consequence, v) take historical perspective, and vi) understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations”

(The Historical Thinking Project, 2022).

“Historical literacy … requiring coherent, conceptual and meaningful knowledge about the past that is grounded in the critical use of evidence”

(Downey & Long, 2016).

Historians and archaeologists actively employ empirical methods to identify, analyse and evaluate artefacts and fossils, to establish whether these primary source evidence have historical significance and are able to provide us with a better understanding of how the past unfolded as it did. Additionally, the fields of history and archaeology have evolved to include the scientific observation of Sejarah in the media – this subfield is better known as ‘reception studies’.

Yes, not all our school graduates want to become historians or archaeologists but when Sejarah is taught properly, our graduates can transfer their historical thinking and historical literacy skills to other industries. After all, who wouldn’t want an individual who is able to think critically and creativity, and able to make decisions based on sound evidence.

In summary, if we hire teachers who have experience in History and/or Archaeology and prioritise their continuous professional development including upskilling their digital skills, our Sejarah teachers are more likely than not equipped to cultivate a better sense of appreciation for historical events and a sense of pride of being a Malaysian, amongst our students.

It is also from my personal experience, as a former World Civilisation lecturer, that creating a student-first and play-led classroom enables students to experience for themselves why Sejarah is valuable and how Sejarah and technology are interdisciplinary.

Written by Michelle Low