ABSTRACT
This chapter will present to readers the key questions and conceptual lenses that guided the inquiries which eventually led to the culmination of this book. These questions include: what are the patterns of instructional practices carried out in Malaysian public school classrooms? Are there variations within this highly centralized education system? And, what systemic forces shaped these patterns of practices? Two primary system studies, and a comparative analysis of these studies, are introduced to address these questions. The underlying conceptual lenses that guided the series of inquiries that formed the foundation of this book are also introduced in this chapter. A background of Malaysia’s education system is also discussed to provide a broad historical thread that basically shaped the centralized structures of today. The final part of this chapter will provide a brief roadmap, so that readers can plan how they can go about reading the book.
