Beginning in 1999,81 public secondary schools have been transformed into "Smart Schools" in Malaysia. Smart schools utilise computers and technology based teaching and learning approaches. Tight public budget constraints mean the policy must also be cost effective in terms of academic and social outcomes. By using at the perspective of government and household expenditure, the study attempts to compare the cost effectiveness of students' progress in the Smart schools and the other secondary schools in the Northern State of Malaysia. 404 Form 4 students in year 2000 were randomly selected from 11 Smart and 11 Traditional secondary schools in Penang, Kedah and Perlis. School and individual students level data were collected by questionnaire survey. Recurrent costs, academic and social effectiveness and cost effectiveness ratios were estimated using an ingredients approach and multilevel modelling techniques. The findings show that Smart schools are more socially cost effective and less academically cost effective, except for English, than Traditional schools. There was no difference of cost effectiveness between rural and urban schools. Teacher costs dominated school costs. A characteristic of cost effective Smart schools for expansionw as suggested.F inally, directions for future researcha re discussed
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:274304 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Darus, Zabani |
| Publisher | University of Birmingham |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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