Abstract
Teaching values in modern schools is a new phenomenon. Malaysian national curriculum at both primary and secondary school levels ensures that students develop desirable attitudes and behaviors based on human, religious, and spiritual values. The inculcation of the values is made possible through various subjects and non-academic subjects and students’ activities. However, knowledge about values education remains limited because there is no measurement device to assess the extent of values teaching in school. To fill this gap, the present study was designed to develop and examine the psychometric properties of an instrument measuring values teaching schools. Using data from 400 high school students, the study developed and validated a measure called Malaysia School Values Scale (MSVS) tailored to high school students in Malaysia. A robust analysis of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) in Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) provides a rigorous analysis of the model power in relation to construct and content validity, confirming the dimension and analyzing the fitness of the data collected in the hypothesized model. This paper provides insight construct and content analysis using the CFA approach to consider the 15 school values constructs. To achieve the intended research objective, the 15 school values were explored. The results provide evidence that the MSVS achieved sound psychometric properties. The overall reliability value of Cronbach’s Alpha was acceptable. The CFA results showed that the goodness-of-fit indices for the hypothesized model were as follows: x2 (182) = 627.269, p = 0.00, x2/DF = 3.409, GFI = 0.852; AGFI = 0.814, CFI = 0.92; IFI = 0.921, RMSEA = 0.077. Each of the indices was above the threshold value. Results imply that MSVS is a valid measure to describe the school values among high school students. However, more studies are recommended to further validate the scale.
Highlights
Teaching values in modern or western oriented school is a rather recent phenomenon, as values were regarded as exclusively the domain of families and religious institutions; schools, assumed a values-neutral role
Descriptive Analysis This study examines the Malaysian School Value Scale with three sub-scales: School Inculcated value scale, belief scale, and practice scale, with a total of 92 items
School inculcated values are measured through 45 items comprised of 15 dimensions: belief in God, honesty, selfesteem, responsibility, politeness, tolerance, independence, diligence, love, justice, rationality, moderation, hygiene, health, and safety
Summary
Teaching values in modern or western oriented school is a rather recent phenomenon, as values were regarded as exclusively the domain of families and religious institutions; schools, assumed a values-neutral role. The debate in the international arena subsided as policymakers decided to introduce a set of universal values to be taught in public school; The Character Education Partnership, Inc., 1996; The Council for Global Education, 1997 (Lovat & Toomey, 2009). After this development, later studies focused on the impacts of value education in schools. The values education policy was translated into three stand-alone subjects: Islamic education (Islamic conduct), moral education (for non-Muslim students), and local studies.
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