Malaysia has evolved from a production-based to knowledge-based economy in order to stay relevant and compete in the global marketplace. Thus, the purpose of this article is to discuss current trends in Malaysian higher education and how these affect education policies and practices. Four main trends are discussed in this study: Globalization, Teaching and Learning, Governance, and the Knowledge-Based Society. These are followed by four elements that affect education policy and practices: Employability, Quality Assurance, Academia, and English Language Competency. The transformation that has taken place will surely contribute to the success of Malaysia's Vision 2020 policy of becoming a fully developed nation in the near future.

Teachers play an important role for teaching science process skills in class through planning and arranging learning activities and teaching how to reach scientific information. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the teaching aproaches used in the teaching and learning process of a science class are able to provide the opportunity to inculcate science process skills and to identify which science process skills were inculcated (if any) during the lesson without actually planning to teach science process skills. This is a qualitative case study in two Smart Schools in Malaysia. 24 students aged 14 years old and two science teachers were the sample of this study This study revealed that the process of teaching and learning science that uses various teaching approaches in one science lessons has additional advantages in terms of providing opportunities for the inculcation of science process skills. It also managed to provide the students with the opportunity to learn independently in acquiring some of the skills. The use of various teaching approaches is in juxtaposition to each other. Science teaching and learning process is a dynamic process, where the movement from one teaching approach to another occur and not necessarily always occur in an orderly sequence. Hence, the use of various teaching approaches in a single lesson can create more opportunities for inculcation and acquisition of science process skills in the classroom.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has forced an immediate implementation of online learning. However, little is known about its effectiveness and challenges faced by the students. Thus, this study is aimed at examining the effectiveness of online learning and the challenges that it presents to pupils’ abilities to learn. This study employed a case study design using a survey questionnaire, administered to 99 students from a secondary school in Jasin, Melaka. Data were analysed descriptively (calculation of percentage and frequency). Generally, the findings indicated that the students have computers or smartphones and an internet connection at home. Besides, it was found that that the ability and comfortability to use computers was high (>93%). However, their motivation in online learning was low (41.5%) and ability to work in a group was at a moderate level (66.7%). They also agreed that conventional teaching (face-to-face) was important for their learning (98%). These findings are valuable for the government, school administrators, teachers and parents to acknowledge the importance of well-equipped facilities and a stable internet connection for effective learning. However, it is recommended for future researchers to utilize a larger sample size and students from various backgrounds to better understand this issue.   Keywords: COVID-19; online learning; students’ challenges; remote learning.