教育公共責任的再界定：馬來西亞華文教育的挑戰與回應

Redefining the Public Responsibility of Education: Challenges and Responses of Chinese Education in Malaysia

在全球教育逐步從「人力資本導向」轉向「公共價值導向」的背景下，教育公共責任的內涵正被重新審視。尤其在多元文化社會中，教育所涉及的遠不止機會公平與資源分配，更延伸至文化認同、社會整合及公民培養等復合維度。馬來西亞華文教育作為具有深厚歷史根基及鮮明族群基礎的教育體系，其發展長期呈現出族群屬性與公共屬性之間的雙重取向。既有研究多聚焦於政策演變、制度發展或文化保存等面向，較少從教育公共責任的理論視角對其進行系統分析。本文採用文獻研究法，在梳理教育公共責任相關理論的基礎上，建構涵蓋公平正義、文化認同、社會凝聚與公民責任的四維分析框架，並據此檢視馬來西亞華文教育的公共責任定位及其所面對的結構性挑戰。研究認為，華文教育不宜被窄化為民族教育的延伸，而應視作嵌入多元社會脈絡中的公共教育實踐，其未來發展須在文化傳承與公共價值之間尋求更具平衡性的路徑。

Against the backdrop of a global shift in education from a “human capital-oriented” paradigm toward a “public value-oriented” one, the concept of the public responsibility of education is undergoing renewed scrutiny. In multicultural societies, education entails not only equity of opportunity and resource distribution, but also extends to complex dimensions such as cultural identity, social integration, and civic formation. Chinese education in Malaysia, as an educational system with deep historical roots and a distinct ethnic foundation, has long exhibited a dual orientation between ethnic particularism and public responsibility. Existing studies have largely focused on policy evolution, institutional development, or cultural preservation, with relatively limited systematic analysis from the theoretical perspective of educational public responsibility. This study adopts a literature review approach. Building upon a synthesis of relevant theories of educational public responsibility, it develops a four-dimensional analytical framework encompassing equity and justice, cultural identity, social cohesion, and civic responsibility. Using this framework, the paper examines the positioning of public responsibility in Malaysian Chinese education and the structural challenges it faces. The findings suggest that Chinese education should not be narrowly construed as an extension of ethnic education; rather, it should be understood as a form of public educational practice embedded within a multicultural social context. Its future development must seek a more balanced pathway between cultural transmission and public values.