CONSTRAINTS AND CHALLENGES OF STEM EDUCATION IN MANJUNG DISTRICT’S SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

: As the trend indicates that students are becoming less interested in pursuing STEM fields in school, concerns over student involvement and participation in STEM education at schools are growing. This is made worse by the fact that 72.1 percent of SPM students decide against continuing their education in the future. Due to this circumstance, the nation's capacity to give expertise in STEM and vocational training won't be able to keep up with market demand and the advancement of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. The constraints and challenges faced by the Science teachers had been investigated from this study. A total of 168 secondary school teachers teaching in the field of Science in the Manjung district had been chosen as respondents in this study to identify the challenges faced by them in conducting STEM education. The descriptive analysis showed that 62.5% respondents agreed that school infrastructure is the main issues faced by these teachers in implementing STEM education. Good internet coverage and working equipment to help teachers in delivering STEM activities through online platform is still lacking in many schools. Research findings also have shown that the constraints and challenges faced by teachers in STEM education is at an average level (M: 3.176, SD:0.5264).