Journey through older adulthood in Malaysia: the learning landscape
Mazanah Muhamad, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Paper presented at SCUTREA, 31st Annual Conference, 3-5 July 2001, University of East London
THE Malaysian population is undergoing an aging process. As it is a new phenomenon, questions are raised with regards to the situation of the older people. This includes their learning practice. An exploratory case study on Malaysian elderly by Muhamad and Merriam (2000) shows that they continue to learn in their old age. What is the elderly learning scenario like countrywide? This paper reports findings of an inquiry on the older people learning carried out as part of a larger study on the Malaysian elderly.
The focus is on profiling the older learners and their learning activities.
The map
Malaysia is made up of West Malaysia, a peninsular bordered by Thailand and Singapore, and East Malaysia, which is located in Borneo. It covers an area of 329,723 square kilometers. Seventy-seven percent of the country's 22 million population resides in West Malaysia. Malaysian comprises of three main ethnic groups: Malay constituting about 60% of the population, Chinese, 30% and Indian, 10%. The Malays are Muslim, Chinese predominantly Buddhist, and the Indian, Hindu. A small percentage of the population is Christian.
Older people in Malaysia refers to those 60 years and above. They constitute about six percent of the population.
This proportion is expected to double in the next twenty years. The changing demography and social-economic situation push for the need for an agenda for older people (Muhamad and Khamis 1999). To date, very little research has been done on older people in Malaysia. A study to evaluate program needs for older people revealed the need to move away from the welfare-oriented approach to one that encourages participation (Tan et al 1999). The change calls for learning.
Methodology
The study was carried out on 1794 Malaysians aged 60 years and above. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey individually administered by trained interviewers.
The questionnaire were prepared and administered in four languages, Bahasa Melayu, English, Chinese, and Tamil.
Respondents from both the urban and rural areas in four Peninsular Malaysia States (representing North, South, East and West) were selected through purposive random sampling. The data were analyzed for descriptive statistics by using the SPSS package.
Findings and discussion: the traveler
Fifty four percent of the respondents studied are urban dwellers while 46% lives in the rural area. Sixty two percent of them are 60-69 years old, 28.4 % are 70-79, and 8.5% are over 80. Fifty one percent of the elderly are male. Fifty five percent of the older people are married, 37.4% widowed, 5.6% single and 1.8% divorced. In terms of ethnicity, 54.8% are Malays, 35.1% Chinese, and 10.1% Indians. 54.9% are Muslim, 32.5% Buddhist, 9.2% Hindus, 1.8% Christian, and 1.5% others. About fifty nine percent of the respondents had received some form of formal education. Of those who had education, the highest percentage (39.5%) only completed primary (elementary) school.
In terms of health, the surveyed shows that the majority (67.6%) of the elderly are still healthy, 29% not so well, and 3.1% unwell. The older ones tend to have problem with their sight, hearing and mobility. A high majority (84.8%) of the respondents are contented with their present life.
They reported that they value most their health at this stage of their life. Table 1 shows what the respondent highly values presently.
Table 1: What respondents value
Frequency / %Health / 1120 / 62.4
Family happiness / 871 / 48.6
Well-being in the afterlife / 220 / 12.3
Love / 207 / 11.5
Worldly well-being / 112 / 6.3
Worldly belongings / 85 / 4.7
n= 1794
The learning landscape
Slightly over a quarter (25.4%) of the respondents still participate in learning activities at the time of the study.
The most frequently reported activity is that related to religion (86% of the participants). A small percentage (3%) participates in health and fitness related programs such as Tai Chi and exercise classes. Other learning programs reported (each less than 1%) are motivational, computer, business management, language, gardening and dancing.
A high majority (93%) of the older people who participate in learning activity do so by attending class/ course/training/lecture/talks (Table 2). Other means reported are watching television, reading, listening to radio, and through friends and relatives.
Table 2: Learning mode
Frequency / %Course/training/talk/ class/lecture / 422 / 92.7
Television / 84 / 18.5
Reading / 60 / 13.2
Radio / 27 / 5.9
Friends/relatives / 18 / 0.4
n= 455
A high percentage (85%) of those who are engaged in learning activities do so to meet the after-life religious needs (Table 3). Other rationales are to increase knowledge/skill, interest, meet others, and to occupy free time.
Table 3: Reason for participation
Frequency / %For life after death / 386 / 84.8
Increase knowledge/skill / 243 / 53.4
Interest in the field/subject / 79 / 17.4
Fill up free time / 48 / 10.5
Chance to meet people / 28 / 6.2
n= 455
The survey shows that only a small percentage (16.5%) of the respondents who are engaged in learning activity encounter learning problems. The constraints include difficulty in remembering (Table 4).
Table 4: Problems in learning
Frequency / %Difficult to remember what was taught / 28 / 6.2
Difficult to understand what was taught / 25 / 5.5
Difficult to hear what was told / 9 / 2.0
Difficulty to see what was written/shown / 8 / 1.8
Difficult to implement what was recommended / 5 / 1.1
n= 455
Most of the respondent who do not participate in learning activities cited lack of interest (Table 5). Other deterrents include health, time, and lack of encouragement.
Table 5: Deterrent factor
Frequency / %Not interested / 820 / 61.3
Health problems / 378 / 28.3
Lots of work / 220 / 16.4
Insufficient time / 214 / 16.0
Lack of encouragement / 187 / 14.0
Busy / 184 / 13.8
Priority is religious duty / 108 / 8.1
n= 1338
The traveler and learning landscape
The findings show that older people's participation in learning activity is low. Participation in learning declines with age. The young-old cohort group (60-69 years) shows the highest participation (66.2%), followed by the old (70- 79) (26.2%) and the old-old (80 and above) (6.4%). These findings are consistent with what is reported by Carlton and Soulsby (1999) and Tikkanen (1998).
The terms 'method' and 'technique' in adult learning have often been used interchangeably. In this paper, learning modes engaged by respondent are also referred to as method. The most popular learning method identified in the study, attending course/training/talk/class/lecture, is consistent with what is reported by adult learning providers in Malaysia (Muhamad and Sulaiman 1997). Most of Malaysia's adult learning providers deliver their program in the conventional instructor led-classroom approach.
Course/training/talk/class/lecture reported by the elderly usually refers to non-formal and informal learning.
For example, religious learning is often delivered in terms of a talk on revealed knowledge by a religious leader/priest before/after performing a routine religious prayer at the local mosque/temple/church. The survey shows that some of the elderly go to their respective religious center both to pray and attend religious talks/classes (see Table 6). In this context, learning is embedded in their everyday practice.
Table 6: Respondent participation in religious activities
Purpose / Attendance / Prayer / Religious talk/classF / % / F / % / F / %
Mosque (Islam) / 616 / 34.3 / 549 / 30.6 / 57 / 3.2
'Surau' (smaller mosque) / 505 / 28.1 / 420 / 23.4 / 67 / 3.7
Hindu temple / 264 / 14.7 / 228 / 12.7 / 6 / 0.3
Buddhist temple / 185 / 10.3 / 178 / 9.9 / - / -
Church / 21 / 1.2 / 17 / 0.9 / 2 / 0.1
n= 1794
The majority of the elderly have attended some form of schooling. The highest level of schooling experience varies from primary school to university. After formal, institutionalized education, they continue to participate in various forms of non-formal and informal learning. Prior to mandatory retirement (at 55 years old), they mostly learn work-related matters (Omar and Muhamad 1999). The learning continues as they journey from working to retirement, from middle adulthood to late adulthood. The interest however shifts from employment-related to other matters that they perceive to be meaningful and relevant to their personal development at this stage of their life. Carlton and Soulsby (1999) also noted a similar trend among older people in the United Kingdom. Fisher and Wolf (2000) discuss in detail the idea of older adult's learning for meaning-making.
Since the majority of the elderly studied have met basic life necessities and are able to sustain their present lifestyle, their interest and concern now has to do more with spiritual development rather than worldly matters (see Table 1). This finding is consistent with the elderly report that they largely learn about religious matter (85% of those who reported to be engaged in learning activity). Religious matter is being pursued as a religious requirement for after-life preparation.
The interest in learning religious matters supports Bee's (1996) view that adults become more concerned with spirituality as they age. Merriam and Muhamad (2000) also found that the Malaysian elderly studied are driven by religious/spiritual concerns.
This study recorded some learning limitations claimed by a very small percentage of the elderly adult learners.
The data support Merriam and Caffarella's (2000) view that there is little effect on the elderly learning despite the physical aging process brought on by the natural mechanism of aging as well as environmental influences, health habits and diseases.
The majority of the older people do not participate in any learning activity. According to Henry and Basile (1994), the decision to participate in a learning activity is influenced both by motivation and deterrents. Lack of interest was given as the major deterrent. The National Organization for Adult Learning (NIACE) study in the United Kingdom also identified "not interested/don't want to" as major reason given by the elderly population for not learning (Carlton and Soulsby 1999). The survey on the Malaysian elderly shows that a high percentage (84.4%) were contented with their life situation. If learning is viewed as a strategy for the improvement of life, this may explain the lack of interest in learning. The lack of interest in participation may also be accounted for by the limited program available in Malaysia to meet the learning needs of the elderly (Muhamad and Merriam 2000). The commonly offered adult education program in Malaysia is work-related (Muhamad and Associates 2001).
Another deterrent identified in the study is health. Thirty two percent of the respondents rated their health to be not so good and not good. The percentage of older person reporting health as deterrent factor (22.2%) is quite consistent with their health status data. This study also identified religious obligation as deterring older people from participating in learning activities. This finding again reflects the concern among the elderly for religious matters in their life.
Epilogue
In the Malaysian culture, the word learning, or 'belajar' in Bahasa Melayu, is usually associated with attending formal education at the institution of higher learning or organized course/training/class. To capture as closely as possible the learning of the elderly in the local context through an inquiry that employs a quantitative method, the researcher starts with phrasing the question that translates into English as 'are you still attending class (including training)?' When the answer is positive, this is followed by an open-ended question on what the respondent is learning, and subsequently by closed-ended questions on how he/she goes about his learning. The approach tends to limit the study to identifying only organized learning activities. However, a qualitative inquiry employing in-depth interviews shows that the Malaysian elderly do actively learn in a non-formal, experiential way (Merriam and Muhamad 2000).This suggests the figure for older people learning identified in this study may be an underestimate.
Nevertheless, this inquiry revealed that Malaysian older people do continue to learn late into their life. Changing situation, interest and concern as they navigate through life passage is reflected in what and why they learn. From this perspective, their learning is contextual. The prime motive, learning for after-life preparation, also supports the earlier case study findings that learning among the elderly Malaysian is spiritually driven. The motive suggests that the elderly see their present life journey as nearing towards its final stage. This context framed lifelong learning as truly a lifelong journey.
References
Bee H L (1996) The journey of adulthood 3rd edn New Jersey: Prentice Hall
Carlton S and Soulsby J (1999) Learning to grow older and bolder: a policy discussion paper on learning in later life Leicester: NIACE
Fisher J C and Wolf M A (2000) 'Older adult learning' in Wilson A L and Hayes E R (eds) Handbook of adult & continuing education San Francisco: Jossey-Bass pp 480 - 492
Henry G T and Basile K C (1994) 'Understanding the decision to participate in formal education' Adult Education Quarterly 44,2, pp 64-82