The challenges of service-learning in Malaysia University from educators perspective

Abstract

In Malaysia, the current educational blueprint has included initiatives toward enhancing service learning, as this pedagogical approach is seen as the means to achieve the national educational goals of producing graduates with the necessary skills for employability. The implementation of service-learning is at the stage where it needs to be incorporated in a more structured and systematic manner into the academic program. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the educator’s knowledge and understanding in implementing SULAM in public university and to identify the common challenges surrounding service learning among the educators in the public university. The research was designed to be an exploratory qualitative with the respondents consisting of the lecturers of the Malaysia University. Based on the analysis of the perspectives from educators, most of the educators agreed that SULAM is as a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and most of the educators voiced their anxiety over the SULAM implementation in reality. The five issues rated as the most critical challenges to the implementation of SULAM in preservice educators included financial constraints, poor time management, virtual implementation barrier, lack of administrative issue and relationship with the community.