Comparing Students’ Perceptions on Quality of School Life: Voices from Malay and Chinese Ethnic Students

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Lei Mee Thien
Hui Min Low
Hazri Jamil
Mohd Zohir Ahmad

Abstract

While the quality of school life is expected to be cultural and context-specific, fewer studies have been conducted to investigate the conceptualisation of quality of school life in a multiethnic and multicultural context. This study aims to compare Malay and Chinese primary school students’ perceptions on the quality of school life in Malaysia. This study employed a quantitative crosssectional survey research design. Survey data were collected from 594 Grade 5 students. Findings revealed that both Malay and Chinese students ranked the highest score on the opportunity dimension and the lowest scores on the negative affect dimension. The Malay students scored higher means in all dimensions of quality of schools than the Chinese students, except the findings revealed cultural differences in the perceprions of quality of school life.

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References

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