Projek Murid Luar Biasa, SMK Tarcisian Convent, Ipoh & SMKA Sheikh Abdul Malek, Terengganu

Summary of Project:

Projek Murid Luar Biasa (#muridlurabiasa) is an initiative to help students recover from learning loss. We believe that self-actualization is one of the approaches to recover from learning loss, because one cannot succeed in learning recovery if they don’t have the initiative to do it by themselves.

Self-actualization is the realization or fulfillment of one's talents and potentialities, especially considered as a drive or need present in everyone.

Project Murid Luar Biasa is tied closely to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We wish to fulfill the third level (sense of connection) and fourth level (feeling of accomplishment) of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Problem Statement:

Our target group is secondary students aged 15- and 16-years old who struggle with recovering from learning loss due to a lack of motivation as they have way too much syllabus to recover from.

This group (15-16 years old) was the most neglected during the pandemic since they were in lower form and not the school's highest priority at that time. We believe that motivation is the core desire needed to recover from learning loss.

We believe that students are powerful and capable of recovering a year’s worth of syllabus if they are determined to do so, it is just that they are not dedicated nor motivated enough to do it. However, recovering from a year’s worth of learning loss needs long-term motivation (continuous), not just a cliche motivational talk.

This is why we believe in self-actualization; we want these students to realize their capability and potential in becoming the best version of themselves.

Participants Demographics:

The participants consisted of 17 students from SMK Tarcisian Convent and 14 students from SMK ‘A’ Sheikh Abdul Malek; bringing the total to 31 students.

Our main priority when choosing participants was having a diverse range of respondents. As such, we took into account the students' age and subject streams for SMK Tarcisian Convent; whereas for SMK ‘A’ Sheikh Abdul Malek, the students differed in age, B40 status, boarding or non-boarding, and the gender they were assigned to.

Project Impact & Impact Measurement Method:

We use quantitative and qualitative impact measurements. We collect data by questionnaire (Quantitative) and in-depth interview (Qualitative).

Before the workshop only ~4 out of 10 people felt good about themselves (36%), however after the workshop it increased to almost ~8 out of 10 people (77%).

Those participants who fell into the bottom 2 (Scale 1-2) and fence seater (Scale 3:Neutral) before the workshop shifted into a much higher scale (Scale 4 & 5) which proved that the workshop has a positive impact on the students.

Before the workshop, only ~3 out of 10 people (refers to Scale 4 and 5) had a positive motivation (29%), however, it increased to ~8 out of 10 (81%) after the workshop.

Changes Observed In Participants (Improvements/Progress):

The participants noted they felt less likely to face learning loss in the future as they discovered most of the solutions from our Session 2 "Stick Your Insecurities".

This was an important lesson for them, as they learned how to present their solution concerning a learning problem. Some of the results we did not expect to observe were participants from different backgrounds and ages getting along, as we expected some shyness and awkwardness.

However, the participants were able to be friendly with one another. Moreover, engagement was better than we expected as we perceived the participants to be disinterested.

As such, the participants were able to voice their thoughts clearly as they had a suitable environment and words of affirmation to participate freely.

The overworked students, such as the boarding students, seemed to have a calm and relaxed demeanor throughout and after the workshop. It appeared that the reassurance of their chosen paths and goals helped relieve their anxieties about the uncertainties of the future.

Challenges/Setbacks Faced:

The biggest challenge is the distance between the teammates. Our group is very unique as we are the only group that came from different schools with contrasting school backgrounds, cultures, and communities, and the fact that both of us are individual applicants for the YEC 2022!

It was hard at first for us to interact with each other but now we’re inseparable! We come from different backgrounds and we see things from different perspectives.

We faced difficulties agreeing on a solid decision initially, however, we overcame it by acknowledging each other and being as truthful as we can.

We communicate every problem and try to see things from different points of view. We realized such differences were also an opportunity for us to test Projek Murid Luar Biasa’s workshop concept across a diverse background of extraordinary respondents.

Prior to the pilot of the workshop, we had doubts to define the context of the workshop as the spirit was always to ensure inclusivity, practicability, and scalability of such a workshop's objective. Yet in the end, we managed to reframe the context and the flow of the workshop to be applicable and adapted to both schools.