THE STUDY ON THE MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION MODEL FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDONESIA AND MALAYSIA

This research is aimed to develop a model of multicultural education for elementary education which is appropriate to be applied in Indonesia. In the long term, particularly, this research aims: 1) to overcome the multicultural problems that happen in Indonesia until recently; 2) to find and apply a test on the multicultural education model which is suitable for elementary education in Indonesia; 3) to built a partnership with schools in Malaysia in the term of multicultural education for elementary education. This research used qualitative method to observe and analyze the multicultural education in elementary education in both countries. This research is done in two stages which will be held in two years term. The first year research activity will include the mapping of multicultural education model in Indonesia and Malaysia. The second year research activity will develop the multicultural education model which relevant for Indonesia. The subjects of this research were teachers, principles, and students of elementary education in Indonesia and Malaysia. Questionnaires and focus group discussion used to collect data. The data were analyzed using descriptive qualitative method. Results indicate that almost of subjects understood the meaning multicultural education, which is multicultural education as a process of developing multicultural competence and process of accommodating students’ socio cultural background. The implemented models of multicultural education were knowledge construction and prejudice reduction. They conducted through: thematic, integration, extra curricular activities, indirect teaching. sister school and parents’ participation. All of the models have not been well planed. Key words: multicultural education model, elementary educatio