The Reductionist Implications of Outcome-Based Education in Malaysian Architectural Education
Downloads
Architecture is a discipline that requires the integration of a wide spectrum of knowledge. This holistic nature of architecture is reflected in earlier architectural education. However, the recent trend in pedagogical development in education is characterized by the admiration of a positivist outlook that favour a reductionist approach in education, specifically the introduction of Outcome-Based Education (OBE). The need to maintain a higher education status by architectural education providers in Malaysia requires adherence to the standards stipulated by the public higher education authority and the Malaysian Quality Agency (MQA). This paper argues that there is a reductionist tendency in the standards, specifically in its stipulation on the use of OBE and its mapping process, a trend in the 1990s arising out of a positivist outlook. The reductionist undertone of this mechanism affects the quality of architectural education, resulting in undesirable outcomes. The most pressing concern is the effect of a reductionist mindset on creativity and a holistic view.
MQA (2009). Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) Implementation Guidelines. Kuala Lumpur: MQA. Retrieved from MQA: https://www.mqa.gov.my/
Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context. Westview Press.
Barnett, R. (1994). The Limits of Competence: Knowledge, Higher Education and Society.
Biesta, G. (2010). Why 'What Works' Won't Work: Evidence-Based Practice and the Democratic Deficit in Educational Research. Educational Theory, 60(1), 1-17.
Biggs, J. (2003). Teaching for quality learning at university: What the student does. Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Blaikie, N. (2007). Designing Social Research: The Logic of Anticipation. Polity Press.
Bloom, B. S. (1968). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain. David McKay Company.
Brandon, M., & Platt, A. (2014). Design Matters: Critical Study of Architecture. Laurence King Publishing.
Bransford, J. D., Cocking, R., & Brown, A. L. (2000). How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. National Academy Press.
Cuff, D. (1991). Teaching Architecture: Curriculum & Method. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Davis, M. (2013). Critical examination of Outcome-Based Education in architectural studio pedagogy. International Journal of Education & Practice, 1(3), 37–44.
Eisner, E. W. (2000). The arts and the creation of mind. Yale University Press.
Entwistle, N. (2009). Teaching for understanding at university: Deep approaches and distinctive ways of thinking. Palgrave Macmillan.
Entwistle, N. (2009). Teaching for understanding at university: Deep approaches and distinctive ways of thinking. Palgrave Macmillan.
Forest, B. (2004). Outcome-based Education: Critical Perspectives. Teachers College Press.
Fuller, R. (2005). Science, Education, and the Rise of Modernity. Cambridge University Press.
Giere, R. N. (2004). Understanding Scientific Reasoning. University of Chicago Press.
Gipps, C. (2005). Review of Assessment in Education. London: Office for Standards in Education.
Goh, M., & Yeo, L. (2012). Critical review of outcome-based education implementation in Malaysian higher education. International Journal of Educational Management, 26(6), 559-574.
Guidelines on Engineering Accreditation and OBE. (2009). Retrieved from Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM).
Harden, R. M. (2012). Becoming a medical educator: Learning teaching from the experts. Elsevier.
Ismail, H., Abu Bakar, A., & Rehman, S. (2013). Challenges in implementing outcome-based education in Malaysian higher education institutions. Asian Social Science, 9(19), 203-211.
Jansen, J. D. (1998). Curriculum reform in South Africa: A critical analysis of outcomes-based education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 28(3), 321–331.
Jansen, J. D. (1998). Transforming Higher Education in South Africa. UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning.
Jarvis, P. (2009). The getting of education: Development from childhood to adulthood. Routledge.
Kamaruddin, S., & Ching, T. H. (2014). OBE in Malaysia: A critical analysis. Malaysian Journal of Education, 39(2), 1-11.
Killen, R. (2000). Effective Teaching Strategies: Lessons from Research and Practice. Social Science Press.
Kitano, H. (2002). Systems biology: A brief overview. Science, 295(5560), 1662-1664.
Kvan, T. (2000). Collaborative environments for design education. Automation in Construction. 10(3), 285-294.
Lander, E. S. (2020). The genomics revolution: Recent advances and future opportunities. Nature, 580(7801), 347-356.
Linder, D. (2020). The role of reductionism in biology education: Opportunities and limitations. Journal of Biological Education, 54(3), 245-258.
Malaysian Qualification Agency. (2011). MQF Implementation Guidelines.
Malaysian Qualification Agency. (2012). Malaysian Qualifications Framework (MQF) – Policy and Guidelines. MQF.
Mazur, E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual. Prentice Hall.
Mohd Yusof, A. H. (2005). Implementation of Outcome-Based Education in Malaysian Higher Education. Asia-Pacific Educational Researcher, 14(2), 91-106.
Copyright (c) 2026 MOHAMAD FAKRI ZAKY JAAFAR
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal which is under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
