Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education (SHBIE)

The survey assessed the learning styles and study strategies used by 135 randomly selected Brunei secondary school students and compared them by educational level, math ability, and gender. Junior students (Forms 1-3) rely heavily on the use of the written-expressive learning style than their senior counterparts (Forms 4-5). In addition, the more able math students dominantly use the auditory-language learning style than their less able peers. Furthermore, high math achievers were better and more efficient users of the text book reading, note-taking, and memory study strategies than low achievers. Moreover, female students were more effective and superior users of the visual-language and auditory-visual-kinesthetic learning styles including the text book reading, note-taking, memory, test preparation, and concentration study strategies. These are perhaps some of the reasons why females perform better at math than males. Overall, the findings seem to have wide-ranging implications for teaching students with high support needs in mathematics.

We report on the findings from three social psychology survey instruments administered to78 randomly selected Brunei student teachers of both genders. Males scored significantly higher than females on the masculinity-femininity dimension of the personal attributes inventory. In addition, mean scores for males were also significantly higher than those of their female counterparts on the equal distribution of labor and equal social roles domains of the attitudes towards women scale. However, there were no significant differences among the participants by teacher training programs and race or ethnicity. These results suggest that men have no prejudices over women. The participants might be able to live and work together peacefully. This is important for promoting social harmony and stability in the Brunei teaching profession where more females than males are increasingly assuming positions of higher responsibility previously held by males. Further mixed-methods research was recommended to gain additional insights.

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti sama ada penggunaan bahan visual dalam pengajaran penulisaan karangan dapat meningkatkan pencapaian pelajar. Kajian kuasi eksperimen ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan 46 orang pelajar di sebuah sekolah menengah di Daerah Kuala Belait, Negara Brunei Darussalam. Mereka dibahagikan kepada dua kumpulan, iaitu kumpulan eskperimen yang diajar secara terancang, dan kumpulan kawalan yang diajar dengan menggunakan pendekatan konvensional. Dapatan kajian telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan ujian-t. Daripada analisis yang telah dijalankan, hasil kajian menunjukan terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan terhadap skor min pencapaian keseluruhan penulisan karangan antara pelajar kumpulan eksperimen dan pelajar kumpulan kawalan dalam ujian pasca. Min skor bagi pelajar kumpulan pasca eksperimen adalah lebih tinggi berbanding min skor kumpulan kawalan dalam ujian pasca.

A teachers’ practice cannot be characterised by a single lesson, hence comparison is best made with lesson sequences that better sample the diversity of a teacher’s practice. In this study, we video recorded lesson sequences in four Year 8 mathematics classrooms, as well as interviewed each of the four teachers in Brunei Darussalam. Because of our methodology and based on the findings from the richness in the data that was collected, there were some features in the video and interview data that emerged. One of the features is the significant short utterances made by the students as well as their respective teachers, and the extent of the teachers’ own and their students’ questioning behaviours in the lessons as perceived by the teachers themselves during the video-stimulated recall interviews. In the four Brunei classrooms that we studied, most of the lessons were so rushed, the teachers did most of the talking and when teachers and students do interact, it almost always involved faster-paced exchanges between them. Thus, restricting students to single words (“yes” or “no”) or short choral responses. Overall, the findings appear to indicate that short utterances implied that there were less (or even no) opportunities for fuller student participation in classroom discussions.

Brunei Darussalam. The Ministry of Education in Brunei introduced a 21st century education system (codenamed SPN21) in 2007 and one of the initiatives brought by SPN21 was the implementation of School Based Assessment for Learning (SBAfL). Prior to SBAfL, assessment in primary government schools was highly examination oriented, which placed a great emphasis on ‘assessment of learning’ rather than ‘assessment for learning’. The current study sought to explore teachers’ experiences in implementing SBAfL in government primary schools in Brunei. A qualitative approach to research using phenomenographic methodology was applied to provide in-depth insights into the ways in which these teachers applied assessment for learning in their lessons, having been teaching for many years in an education system that was highly examination oriented. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were used as the main data collection instrument. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed to form categories of description depicting the qualitatively different ways in which these teachers experienced assessment for learning (SBAfL). A total of four categories of description emerged from the data analysis, and the findings suggest variations in the ways in which assessment for learning is conceptualised by the teachers, which in turn, may affect the effective implementation of SBAfL in promoting a 21st century education system in Brunei.

Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti sama ada penggunaan bahan visual dalam pengajaran penulisaan karangan dapat meningkatkan pencapaian pelajar. Kajian kuasi eksperimen ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan 46 orang pelajar di sebuah sekolah menengah di Daerah Kuala Belait, Negara Brunei Darussalam. Mereka dibahagikan kepada dua kumpulan, iaitu kumpulan eskperimen yang diajar secara terancang, dan kumpulan kawalan yang diajar dengan menggunakan pendekatan konvensional. Dapatan kajian telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan ujian-t. Daripada analisis yang telah dijalankan, hasil kajian menunjukan terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan terhadap skor min pencapaian keseluruhan penulisan karangan antara pelajar kumpulan eksperimen dan pelajar kumpulan kawalan dalam ujian pasca. Min skor bagi pelajar kumpulan pasca eksperimen adalah lebih tinggi berbanding min skor kumpulan kawalan dalam ujian pasca.

This research was conducted at 15 religious schools in Tutong District. The objectives of this research are to identify leadearship style and its relationship to academic achievement. The “Leader Behaviour Description Questionnaire” (LBDQ) formed by Halpin (1966) was used. Meanwhile Academic achievement was measured using the “School Certificate Examination Results, Religious Primary School (SSSRU) from 2008-2011. A total of 191 teachers and 15 headmasters from religious school in Tutong District were randomly chosen. Pearson correlation was used to analyse the data. To support data obtained from questionnaire given 10 teachers were interviewed . The results showed that most of the school leaders adopt a democratic style of leadership. There was a significant correlation between the structure of task-oriented leadership style and students’ performance in the examinations. Correlation analysis also showed that headmasters practice task- oriented structure and consideration-oriented structure in relation to their work responsiblities. Furthermore, findings also showed that majority of the headmasters are more likely to practice consideration-oriented leadership style compared to structure-oriented leadership style.

This paper will discuss on how sand therapy (as one type of play therapies) can be applied as an additional technique or approach in counseling. The research questions for this study are to see what are the development, challenges faced by the therapist during the sessions given and how sand therapy can aid to the progress of the client. It is a single case design where one student from one of the secondary schools in Brunei Darussalam was involved as a client. The client was having family problems which led to various problems. Researcher used four methods of collecting data namely; interview, recording, photos and sand tray. Data was analysed through the techniques of sharing, exploring of issues through the organisation of objects in the sand tray. Results showed that the clients can be helped through several sessions of sand therapy in addition to individual counseling sessions.

Pemikiran Inventif tersenarai sebagai salah sebuah kemahiran Abad Ke-21 yang perlu ada pada setiap warga dunia abad ini baik dalam dunia pekerjaan mahupun dalam bidang pelajaran (NCREL, 2003). Dengannya, jika mereka berdepan dengan sesuatu masalah atau cabaran, individu yang mempunyai pemikiran jenis ini akan bersikap lebih positif selain mempunyai keupayaan untuk mengatasinya. Sebagai salah satu usaha Negara Brunei Darussalam untuk mempersiap rakyatnya agar menjadi tenaga kerja yang relevan dengan keperluan semasa dan akan datang, pengajaran dan pemelajaran kemahiran berfikir, antaranya Pemikiran Inventif, tidak ketinggalan diketengahkan dalam lanskap pendidikan tempatan. Justeru itu, kertas kerja/pembentangan ini mengongsikan pengalaman penyerapan Pemikiran Inventif dalam pengajaran penulisan di Negara Brunei Darussalam. Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 51 orang peserta kajian iaitu 33 orang pelajar Bahasa Melayu di peringkat prauniversiti daripadanya telah mengikuti Program Penyerapan Kemahiran Berfikir Inventif yang diadakan dalam kelas penulisan. Diharapkan melalui kajian ini satu kefahaman yang rinci mengenai kerumitan pengajaran dan pemelajaran Pemikiran Inventif dalam kelas bahasa dapat diperoleh selain akhirnya ia dapat membantu mempersiap pihak-pihak berkenaan dalam menyediakan satu program penyerapannya yang lebih serba lengkap dan lebih luas skopnya.

This study aimed to present a practical framework for designing values teaching program in youth education system. The choice of content, the nature of the students with respect to learning and their perception about the selected content for teaching values were studied. The study follows a Needs analysis design which drew upon document analysis and questionnaire. There were 104 respondents consisting of students from Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) coming from different background and nationalities. Although qualitative paradigm was adopted, quantitative strategy was also used in order to gather views from a large sample size. Document analysis and questionnaire survey were used for data collection. The finding reveals that majority of respondents have strong interest in the selected content and exhibit most of Generation Y characteristics with respect to learning. Although they are technology addicts, they unexpectedly show a different approach to values learning; they preferred personal contact with teachers rather than online-based mode. Inferring from results, the authors recommend the content and method of teaching values in Universiti Brunei Darussalam and the need for further research on the effect of cultural and religious background on the adoption of global culture by students.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance of student achievement during comprehension lesson using metacognitive strategy and examine the effects of the strategy used in reading and understanding expository text lessons. Besides, this study also identified metacognitive strategy used by students in all three reading processes (before reading, during reading and after reading). The research applied a quasi-experimental design. Research sample involved Standard 4 students from a government primary school in Muara Brunei District. Samples were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. Each group involved 30 average-ranking students. Research results were analysed using independent t-test samples to assess the significant differences for mean of reading comprehension performance between control group and experimental group during pre and post-tests. Meanwhile One Way Ancova analysis was used to determine the effects of using metacognitive strategy during reading comprehension lessons. Based on the t-test analysis, there was a significant difference of reading comprehension performance between the score of experimental group and control group, t = 12.96, p < 0.0. The analysis of One Way Ancova data, p= 0.00 < 0.05 (F “ ratio = 493.22/2.25 = 219.41 p < 0.05) also proved that the significant effects of metacognitive strategy usage on comprehension lesson. Overall, the metacognitive strategy used by the students in this study has proven to enhance students’ understanding on the texts that they have read.

Educational attainment plays an important role in determining an individual’s future social and economic well-being. By pursuing higher education, students are able to pursue occupational opportunities that result in outcomes such as higher income, high-status job prospects and better life-style. Educational aspiration has been linked to occupational aspiration and is considered a valuable predictor of academic attainment and the first step in the process of career choice. Students’ educational and occupational aspirations are influenced and shaped by personal, family and community factors such as family involvement, gender, socio-economic status, parental level of education, school environment and peers. The varieties of influences on educational and occupational aspirations are acknowledged in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Hence, this systems theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study because it contributes to the understanding of the sociocultural environment that affects the development of an individual and highlights the importance of interaction between an individual and the environment progressively over time. Most research to date on students’ aspirations is derived from the Western context. Little is known about Bruneian students’ educational and occupational aspirations. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the educational and occupational aspirations of the Year 11 (those re-sitting their Brunei-Cambridge GCE O-Level) and Lower Six (those who passed their Brunei Cambridge GCE O-Level) students in Brunei Darussalam. To achieve the research aim, a mixed methods research design involving three studies was employed. In Study One, 10 school counsellors were involved in designing the Educational and Occupational Aspirations Survey Questionnaire (EOASQ). Study Two was a quantitative study where the EOASQ was administered to 815 students to examine their perceptions of influences on their educational and occupational aspirations. Study Three, a qualitative study, investigated the influences on students’ educational and occupational aspirations through focus-group interviews with 10 groups of students, and individual interviews with 10 school counsellors and nine parents. This study revealed that students had high educational and occupational aspirations. Most students wished to achieve Bachelor degrees, Higher National Diplomas and National Diplomas. The students aspired more to the occupational categories of ‘Professional’ and ‘Technical and i associate professional’. An interesting finding of this research was that male and female students aspire to similar occupations. Some female students were likely to venture into occupations traditionally held by males (e.g., Science and engineering’ professionals), while some male students aspired to the ‘College, university and higher education/religious teaching’ and ‘Legal, social and cultural’ professionals. This study also found little difference between the students’ occupational aspiration and occupational expectation. Parental total monthly income was not an important predictor of students’ educational and occupational aspirations. Academic involvement and support from parents, as well as support and encouragement from teachers, school counsellors, and friends influenced students’ aspirations. Though students viewed school counsellors as helpful and accessible, many still lack of information regarding educational and occupational options and consequently have limited understanding and awareness about the subjects and courses relevant to their occupational aspirations. The findings of this study provide new information for stakeholders such as policy makers, parents, teachers, school counsellors and the community about assisting students to shape their educational and occupational plans to achieve their aspirations. Effective programmes and initiatives need to be in place that includes collaboration between teachers and school counsellors, school and parents, school and the community, as well as the school and the government agencies and private sectors in an effort to raise awareness, shape and enhance students’ educational and occupational aspirations. Consequently, these efforts could help to enhance the country’s economy and competitiveness, and meet the aspiration of the Brunei Vision 2035 that Brunei Darussalam will be known for its well-educated and highly skilled people, its quality of life, and sustainable and dynamic economy.

There is lack of student engagement noticeably among secondary schools. Willms, Friesen, & Milton (2009), studied that disengagement typically becomes a concern in middle school and high school. The study involved student engagement in the classroom, with three specific interests firstly, to look at the perception of teachers on student engagement, where teachers conceptualized student engagement as only behavioral dimension and both agreed that cultural context is a factor in student learning. Secondly, to look at the degree students exhibiting engaging behaviors and thirdly, to explore the factors that affect student engagement. From the analysis, students did exhibit engagement as they were engaged to do the activity (behavioral engagement) and excited to do a group work (affective engagement). Positive body language, consistence focus, verbal participation, student confidence, fun and excitement play deterministic roles in conceptualizing students’ level of engagement. Hopefully, the study will generate outcome that are beneficial to teachers to be aware on the importance of engaging students in learning especially in Social Studies.

Changes in the business world have resulted in the rise in demand for individuals who have successfully acquired the 21st century skills. Consequently, it is essential for the 21st century learning to take place in the classrooms. This study investigated the effectiveness of an assessment task in enhancing the students’ understanding in mathematics through collaboration. The assessment task came in the form of a project in which the two main objectives were to create a model using recycled materials and a series of questions based on their model. The mathematics topic on Mensuration was selected for this project and the theme was the ‘Go Green Project’. The task itself was designed to promote active learning environment, and to foster creative learning in mathematics where the designed model was used to elicit the students’ understanding on finding the total surface area and the volume of solids. The task was spread over six mathematics lessons requiring the 25 Year 10 students to work in groups. Thus, enabling the assessment of collaborative skills to take place. Data were collected by means of rubric, students’ questionnaires, and pre- and post-tests. The results of the investigation revealed that effective level of collaboration had taken place among students when using the designed assessment task. When students collaborated with one another, their communication skills had improved, fostered their critical thinking and encouraged them to share ideas.

Mentoring has a longstanding history and is being hailed as an important strategy for teacher professional development. Anderson and Shannon (1988) mentoring model summarised three major components on the roles of mentoring. In this qualitative study, we focused on two mentoring relationship, which are as a ‘Care Giver’ and a ‘Nurturer’. We then explored these components from two different perspectives, the senior mentors and the junior mentors. Both groups were tasked to mentor teacher candidates from the graduate initial teacher education programme known as the Master of Teaching or MTeach, offered at a university in Brunei Darussalam. The three senior mentors were categorised as the more experienced while the four junior mentors were the less experienced and categorised as new graduates from the MTeach programme. Data were collected from an open-ended survey aimed in obtaining their views and experience in their journey as an MTeach mentor. The findings revealed that both groups gained mutual benefits from the mentoring despite the differences in their experiences, such as both were able to have time to reflect on quality of teaching and learning, gained a new enthusiasm for teaching, learnt new ideas and gained new perspectives on teaching and learning.

Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an appealing framework for teaching and learning not only within the subject of geography but also across other disciplines. It promotes a healthy environment for active learning with its diverse sets of activities, helping students carry out investigative inquiry in the learning processes. This study examines the potential benefits of adopting a PBL approach in teaching and learning in secondary geography classrooms. It takes into account the inputs needed from both teacher and students in determining the success of the approach implementation. The study shows how, through careful planning and preparation, PBL activities can effectively enhance students’ engagements and improve their grasp of geographical content knowledge. However, the teacher’s shortcomings in performing the role of facilitator did highlight a limitation for the research, which hindered the success of the implementation. Future research should continue to actively examine experiences from teachers in PBL applications, discussing the circumstances to identify the conditions necessary for successful implementation of PBL within a variety of contexts.

Inventive Thinking has been identified as one of the core skills needed by the workforce in the 21st Century. As a result, there have been numerous efforts to develop various teaching and learning programmes that could empower students’ ability in thinking inventively. This study aimed to (1) record and explore, that is by using a series of inferential statistical analyses by means of the Solomon Four-Group Design, of any shift in the participants’ Inventive Thinking abilities and dispositions after the introduction of an intervention programme; and (2) give insights thus, to evaluate the ‘effectiveness’ of the developed intervention programme which was incorporated in the Bahasa Melayu classes. A total of 125 students enrolled in the Bahasa Melayu Brunei-Cambridge GCE A Level in Negara Brunei Darussalam participated in the study. In this study, their Inventive Thinking abilities and dispositions were measured by using The Inventive Problem Solving Quiz and The Inventive Thinking Survey Form pre and post interventions. As a result, the intervention programme contributed to the poorer performance at the quiz by the participants in the experiment group (M = 42.2, SD = 8.9) as compared to those in the control group (M=45.8, SD = 5.9), F (1,121) = 5.5, p = .02). Interestingly, it was the experiment group who outperformed the other group in The Inventive Thinking Survey Form (M = 2.8, SD = .29, as opposed to M = 2.7, SD = .4; F (48, 1) = 5.9, p = .02).

This study examined the use of flipped classroom in geography lessons in one of the pre-university colleges in Brunei Darussalam. The benefits and challenges of using the flipped classroom as a pedagogical tool in geography were also investigated. Data were collected through action research adopting the use of a flipped classroom approach. This meant that learning geography as subject content was done outside the classroom. The findings of this study revealed that it was not necessary to apply flipped classroom for every lessons. Yet, this study found that flipped classroom was most beneficial when students worked on the application of geographical concepts where they learned to analyse and evaluate given scenarios. A significant improvement in the students’ academic achievement was also observed where through the interactive classroom activities, students developed a deeper understanding of the subject concepts. On the other hand, there were challenges in conducting a flipped classroom, for instance, some students had problems in accessing the lessons outside the classroom. This was one of the crucial elements conveyed in order to successfully implement a flipped classroom and to create an active learning environment during the class time. Without learning the concepts before the class time, the students reported the feeling of being lost, and thus could not fully participate in the classroom activities. Furthermore, a significant amount of time was wasted during the class time in teaching the students the concepts since they were supposed to have learned them prior to the lesson itself. Finally, the flipped classroom was also found to be a challenge to implement in a classroom known to have a passive learning environment.

Education is important for every Muslim society as the Prophet made it incumbent on all Muslims. However, the issue of what category of knowledge is permitted for Muslims, the method for imparting this knowledge, and what to impart (content) are arguably the main challenges in Islamic education. Many Muslim scholars have looked at the concept of knowledge from various perspectives. In his monumental work, Ta‘līm Al-Muta‘allim, the classical Muslim scholar, Al-Zarnūjī, expounds the basic principles of education in Islam, which, indeed, have been used as the teaching methodology by many scholars throughout the Muslim world. Using content analysis, this article evaluates the concept of knowledge and its imperatives in Islam from the perspective of Al-Zarnūjī. It was found that Al-Zarnūjī classified knowledge into two main categories. One is perceived as the core of society’s survival and is thus seen as binding on the entire society. This is known as fard.u kifāyah. The other is individually required and is called fard.u ‘ayn. He argues that both should be guided by the Islamic religious values. Therefore, Al-Zarnūjī considers knowledge as a means for advancement and the perfection of the individual and the society both in this world and the hereafter. This makes his concept of knowledge inseparable from the Islamic ethical values. Al Zarnuji’s contribution to knowledge lies in the packaging and dissemination of the Islamic academic heritage, particularly, the methodology for teaching and learning which is relevant to all the levels of the education ladder.

Brunei started implementing its two main reformed teacher education programs, MTeach and MEd, in 2009. The reasons for these innovations included upgrading the standard of teacher training, increasing teaching effectiveness, and improving the quality of education in the country. The purpose of this study was to determine how student teachers coped with and sought help on the challenging programs.