Addressing Recent PISA Rankings: The potential role of preschool physical environment design quality in Malaysia

Abstract

Recent PISA assessments revealed unsatisfactory cognitive abilities among Malaysian children. Poor cognitive development, stemming from inadequate preschool cognitive school readiness (SR), is an underlying factor. Well-designed preschool physical environments (PPE) could potentially enhance cognitive SR and subsequently improve childhood cognitive development. This study aims to highlight the importance of PPE design quality on children’s cognitive SR in Malaysia. A cohort study involving 336 children at 16 Ministry of Education (MOE) preschools was conducted. PPE design quality demonstrated a significant positive association with cognitive SR. Conclusively, better PPE design is hoped to improve cognitive development by ensuring cognitive SR among Malaysian preschoolers.Keywords: Preschool Physical Environment; Cognitive School Readiness; Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development; PISAeISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v5i13.2057