title: The Economic Impacts of Migrant Maids in Malaysia

authors: Tan, Peck Leong

subjects: Migrant Maids

abstract: Demand for migrant maids by households in Malaysia has increased rapidly as more married women choose to participate in the workforce. Simple comparisons of households with maids and those without suggest that hiring maids raises female labour force participation rates of their employers by 26 percentage points. But such comparisons are not of like with like because households that employ maids differ in many ways from those who do not. When propensity score matching (PSM) methods are used to estimate the treatment effect of having a foreign maid the rise in female labour force participation is estimated to be only 18 percentage points in 1993/94. Moreover, this treatment effect appears to have fallen to only 13 percentage points by 2004/05. This decline is not apparent when simpler but potentially biased methods are used to estimate treatment effects. The small impact of hiring maids suggests financial losses to the host households and higher leisure time for Malaysian women. Another side effect of hiring migrant maids may be that human capital formation is negatively influenced, since these foreign maids have lower education levels than the mothers of the children they are employed to look after. This is a feature in many households in Malaysia where the inputs into children‟s human capital formation include maids and private tutors, in addition to the more typical inputs of parents and teachers. Previous studies of these atypical inputs from other Asian countries ignore the cumulative nature of learning by just examining contemporaneous impacts of maids, private tutoring and maternal employment. In this thesis, especially collected retrospective data are used to examine impacts on academic performance of Malaysian children in Year 6 (ages 12 to 13). The results suggest children from households that have ever had a foreign maid have higher Year 6 results, with maid impacts having a long lag. Private tutoring in the three years prior to Year 6 has significant positive impacts on academic results but earlier tutoring is associated with poorer results. When effects at various quantiles are studied, the positive impact of maids and private tutoring is most apparent for students below the median. Hiring foreign maids in Malaysia also has impacts on the maids themselves and their families in their country of origin (which is predominantly Indonesia). To examine the effect of this temporary emigration to Malaysia on income levels of the emigrant and the migrant-sending households a survey of Indonesian maids and factory workers in Malaysia was conducted by the author of this thesis. Data from this survey were then combined with data from three rounds of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) to estimate that these young women may gain an additional US$80 to US$130 per month compared to earnings had they stayed in Indonesia. The decision to remit depends on duration and earnings in Malaysia more than on household characteristics in Indonesia. The main use of remittances is to accumulate fixed assets in Indonesia. Fixed effects models of household expenditure and assets using three rounds of IFLS data also confirm that the main impact of migration and remittances is on assets rather than consumption, and is more apparent for urban households than for rural households.

text: The Economic Impacts of Migrant Maids in Malaysia Demand for migrant maids by households in Malaysia has increased rapidly as more married women choose to participate in the workforce. Simple comparisons of households with maids and those without suggest that hiring maids raises female labour force participation rates of their employers by 26 percentage points. But such comparisons are not of like with like because households that employ maids differ in many ways from those who do not. When propensity score matching (PSM) methods are used to estimate the treatment effect of having a foreign maid the rise in female labour force participation is estimated to be only 18 percentage points in 1993/94. Moreover, this treatment effect appears to have fallen to only 13 percentage points by 2004/05. This decline is not apparent when simpler but potentially biased methods are used to estimate treatment effects. The small impact of hiring maids suggests financial losses to the host households and higher leisure time for Malaysian women. Another side effect of hiring migrant maids may be that human capital formation is negatively influenced, since these foreign maids have lower education levels than the mothers of the children they are employed to look after. This is a feature in many households in Malaysia where the inputs into children‟s human capital formation include maids and private tutors, in addition to the more typical inputs of parents and teachers. Previous studies of these atypical inputs from other Asian countries ignore the cumulative nature of learning by just examining contemporaneous impacts of maids, private tutoring and maternal employment. In this thesis, especially collected retrospective data are used to examine impacts on academic performance of Malaysian children in Year 6 (ages 12 to 13). The results suggest children from households that have ever had a foreign maid have higher Year 6 results, with maid impacts having a long lag. Private tutoring in the three years prior to Year 6 has significant positive impacts on academic results but earlier tutoring is associated with poorer results. When effects at various quantiles are studied, the positive impact of maids and private tutoring is most apparent for students below the median. Hiring foreign maids in Malaysia also has impacts on the maids themselves and their families in their country of origin (which is predominantly Indonesia). To examine the effect of this temporary emigration to Malaysia on income levels of the emigrant and the migrant-sending households a survey of Indonesian maids and factory workers in Malaysia was conducted by the author of this thesis. Data from this survey were then combined with data from three rounds of the Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) to estimate that these young women may gain an additional US$80 to US$130 per month compared to earnings had they stayed in Indonesia. The decision to remit depends on duration and earnings in Malaysia more than on household characteristics in Indonesia. The main use of remittances is to accumulate fixed assets in Indonesia. Fixed effects models of household expenditure and assets using three rounds of IFLS data also confirm that the main impact of migration and remittances is on assets rather than consumption, and is more apparent for urban households than for rural households.

year: 2011

title: Initial teacher education and the development of teacher identity

authors: Cobb, Donella J.

subjects: Associate teacher

abstract: Teacher identity is recognized as an important factor in teacher quality. Research indicates that teacher identity influences teachers’ resilience, efficacy, motivation, commitment, and job satisfaction (Day 2018). However, widespread interest in the field of teacher identity has also revealed the importance of developing teacher identity prior to entry into the teaching profession. Pre-service teachers who develop teacher identity during their teacher preparation program actively strengthen their pedagogical content knowledge, develop an early understanding of the teachers roles and responsibilities, build positive relationships with students and colleagues, and are motivated to enhance their teaching practice (Cobb et al. 2018; Harlow and Cobb 2014). Furthermore, teacher identity is also believed to be a key factor in supporting pre-service teachers’ transition into the teaching profession. Given these benefits, the past decade has seen an explosion of interest in understanding identity development, particularly in pre-service teachers. This entry explores how teacher identity is developed in pre-service teachers and considers the role that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) plays in supporting this identity development.

text: Initial teacher education and the development of teacher identity Teacher identity is recognized as an important factor in teacher quality. Research indicates that teacher identity influences teachers’ resilience, efficacy, motivation, commitment, and job satisfaction (Day 2018). However, widespread interest in the field of teacher identity has also revealed the importance of developing teacher identity prior to entry into the teaching profession. Pre-service teachers who develop teacher identity during their teacher preparation program actively strengthen their pedagogical content knowledge, develop an early understanding of the teachers roles and responsibilities, build positive relationships with students and colleagues, and are motivated to enhance their teaching practice (Cobb et al. 2018; Harlow and Cobb 2014). Furthermore, teacher identity is also believed to be a key factor in supporting pre-service teachers’ transition into the teaching profession. Given these benefits, the past decade has seen an explosion of interest in understanding identity development, particularly in pre-service teachers. This entry explores how teacher identity is developed in pre-service teachers and considers the role that Initial Teacher Education (ITE) plays in supporting this identity development.

year: 2020

title: Researching the Process of Auahi Kore for Marae

authors: Masters-Awatere, Bridgette

abstract: • The current report is piece of a qualitative research exploring issues relating the development of Marae Auahi Kore. Such aspects as; factors that aid or impede the process, resources available or required by marae, and people's perceptions of the Auahi Kore brand were explored.

• Interviews were conducted with people from a variety of backgrounds. Research participants included: Marae Trustees, Public Health Workers, Runanga Staff as well as Kaumatua and Kuia. These people were identified as key informants for the current project. A total of 25 people were interviewed during March and April using an open interview schedule.

• Exploration into the Smokefree policies of marae was not pursued within the current project as this was not the focus nor the intent of the research. Project constraints such as time and budget meant there was a limit to what could be undertaken for the current piece of research.

text: Researching the Process of Auahi Kore for Marae • The current report is piece of a qualitative research exploring issues relating the development of Marae Auahi Kore. Such aspects as; factors that aid or impede the process, resources available or required by marae, and people's perceptions of the Auahi Kore brand were explored.

• Interviews were conducted with people from a variety of backgrounds. Research participants included: Marae Trustees, Public Health Workers, Runanga Staff as well as Kaumatua and Kuia. These people were identified as key informants for the current project. A total of 25 people were interviewed during March and April using an open interview schedule.

• Exploration into the Smokefree policies of marae was not pursued within the current project as this was not the focus nor the intent of the research. Project constraints such as time and budget meant there was a limit to what could be undertaken for the current piece of research.

year: 2000