Benchmarking Malaysian Youth Work Practitioner Ethics

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Benchmarking Malaysian Youth Work PractitionerEthics

Ezhar Tamam, Turiman Suandi, Ismi Arif Ismail,Steven Eric Krauss, Dzuhailmi Dahalan,

Khairuddin Idris and Nur Fatihah Abdullah Bandar

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES http://www.SocialSciences-Journal.com First published in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia by Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd www.CommonGroundPublishing.com. © 2009 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2009 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables and maps. All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. ISSN: 1833-1882 Publisher Site: http://www.SocialSciences-Journal.com THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES is a peer refereed journal. Full papers submitted for publication are refereed by Associate Editors through anonymous referee processes. Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichannel typesetting system http://www.CommonGroundSoftware.com.

Benchmarking Malaysian Youth Work Practitioner EthicsEzhar Tamam, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaTuriman Suandi, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaIsmi Arif Ismail, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaSteven Eric Krauss, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaDzuhailmi Dahalan, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaKhairuddin Idris, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MalaysiaNur Fatihah Abdullah Bandar, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract: Ethics are a core component of professionalism in youth work, and yet little research has been done in this area.Given the growing demand for greater standards of youth work, there is an urgent need for research in work ethics amongcontemporary youth development workers. The current self-administered survey was designed to investigate self perceptionin the area of work ethics among 813 government and non-government youth workers from Malaysia. The results showedthat the samples fared well in terms of ethics as defined by respect for others, responsibility, and honesty, with respect forothers more pronounced than the other two. Comparative analysis by selected personal attributes revealed significant dif-ferences in visibility of these three areas of ethical behaviour. Recommendations for work ethics training and developmentare discussed.

Keywords: Ethics, Youth Work

Introduction

AS A FIELD of practice, youth work is notnew in Malaysia. A wide range of youthdevelopment initiatives have been imple-mented and will continue to be implemen-

ted by the government and non-governmental organ-izations to harness youth potential and capacity aspartners in national development. An increase in thedevelopment allocation in the Malaysia Plan foryouth work and programs testifies to the govern-ment’s concerns and commitment to the youth devel-opment agenda. According to the 9th Malaysia Plan,the total development expenditure and allocation foryouth development programmes (for years 2006-2010) of 5.46 billion Ringgit increased as comparedto the eighth Malaysia Plan, where it stood at 4.95billion Ringgit (Ninth Malaysian Plan, 2006)

While sufficient funding is necessary for imple-menting youth development programs, work ethicsof the people involved in planning, running, andmonitoring youth development programs is equallyimportant, if not more so. Therefore, the issue ofprofessionalization of youth work practitioners is animportant subject worth examining that will continueto grow in importance in light of the demand forgreater standards and accountability in youth work.

Who are Youth Worker Practitioners?A youth work practitioner is someone who works ina program directly with young people to facilitatetheir personal, social and educational development(Stone, Garza & Borden, 2006). Unlike other humanservice workers, those who work in youth programsare not necessarily full-time workers. Some are part-time workers and thus do not receive the benefits orearnings associated with a full-time job. Anothercharacteristic of youth work practitioners is that theyenter the profession through a number of differentpaths and, thus, have backgrounds in a range offields, including social work, education, public healthand community education. Other youth work practi-tioners enter the profession without any formal edu-cation and training and gain knowledge and skillson the job.

Youth work is a sector that has long been per-ceived as a voluntary field and has hardly been seenas a career. In many countries the occupational cat-egory does not even exist, or where it does, is notyet clearly defined or conceptualized by the majorityof stakeholders, including policy makers. In Malay-sia, there are two main types of youth work, namely,governmental and NGO-based. At the governmentallevel, the youth worker may be employed by a gov-ernment agency. In NGOs, the youth worker maywork for pay or as a volunteer. Regardless of the

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type and the status, youth workers are involved inthe human services and thus their work involvesethical decision-making; as such, they must be pro-fessional in their conduct.

Youth Work and EthicsYouth work is a distinctive field of practice thatcarries with it considerable responsibilities andpressures (Davies, Jukes, & Hodges, 2005). Youthwork is essentially about guidance, support, motiva-tion, education and training, and role modeling foryouth. Its purpose has been defined by Britain’sNational Youth Agency (2004) as “to facilitate andsupport young people’s growth through dependenceto interdependence, by encouraging their personaland social development and enabling them to havea voice, influence and place in their communitiesand society” (p. 3). A fundamental characteristic ofyouth work is the professional relationship betweenyoung people and the youth work practitioner inwhich young people’s issues are addressed withintheir social contexts. Youth work is diverse, holisticand responsive to the needs and development of in-dividual clients rather than focused on a specific is-sue (Bourke & Evans, 2000). Youth work practition-ers and their clients develop a contractual relationshipwhich may vary among clients but the boundariesof this relationship make it professional (Sercombe,1997). Like other human service workers, youth workpractitioners are involved in ethical decision makingon a day-to-day basis in their interaction with others(Edginton, Kowalski & Randall, 2005).

As a field of practice within the broader humanservices, youth work involves human relationshipswithin the bounds of a client-service provider arrange-ment. Unlike other fields, however, youth work en-tails the service provider being a social actor of ‘ap-propriate’ or ethical behavior, thus the need forstringent yet realistic ethical guidelines that do nothinder youth workers’ creativity and flexibility(Bessant, 2004). Youth workers rely much on inform-al and non-formal education to educate and supportyoung people. As most youth workers are not af-forded a professional education in youth develop-ment, many rely on their instincts and experiencesto guide them in their service delivery. Although in-stinct and experience are important aspects of youthwork practice, without professional training it is oftendifficult for youth workers to know the properboundaries of being and working with young people(Walker, Gran & Curiel, 2005). Thus, there is muchneed for formalized standards of ethics in youthwork, such as codes of ethics that exist in other, moreestablished fields. This has been acknowledged andeven acted upon in some countries, such as the UK,Australia, Gambia and others.

There are numerous reasons why ethics are import-ant in the practice of youth work. Youth work prac-titioner must understand the appropriate boundariesof what they do and the consequences of their ac-tions. Ethics refer to duties which an individualshould adhere to when interacting with others(Edginton, Kowalski & Randall, 2005). Ethics influ-ence youth work practitioners’ lives through relation-ships and policies. Some of the areas related to eth-ical behavior include: accountability, professional-ism, integrity, developing trust and social welfare,respect for others, responsibility, honesty and others.

Statement of the Problem and ObjectivesYouth development work must be approached in asystematic and professional manner. However, thesubject of professionalism in youth work in Malaysiahas not been empirically examined although its im-portance is widely recognized by many. Ethics inyouth work practices are among the domains ofprofessionalism in youth work. Malaysia is yet tohave a code of ethics in youth work (Rahim, 2007).Not only does Malaysia not have a code of conductin youth work, but not much is known about theethical practices of youth workers in governmentand non-governmental organizations. Therefore,there is a need for benchmarking ethics of Malaysianyouth work practitioners so as to begin to examinethe issue more systematically. Benchmarking in thisstudy refers to an assessment exercise of the currentpractice of youth work which will be used in estab-lishing initial ethical standards for Malaysian YouthWork. The lack of good information about youthworkers, what they do and their ethical practicesstands in raising the professional standards of youthworkers in the country. The present study thus aimsto fill this gap.

Specifically, the present study was carried out toaddress the following objectives:

1. To profile youth work practitioners with regardto selected personal attributes;

2. To determine the practitioners’ self-perceptionin the area of work ethics; and

3. To compare the practitioners’ self-perceptionin the area of work ethics by selected personalattributes.

The results of the present analysis will not onlyprovide descriptive information about youth workpractitioners but also provide information on thestrengths and weaknesses in ethics of the practition-ers. This understanding could be used as input forpolicy formulation, as well as training and develop-ment of practitioners. This benchmarking study isan important step in promoting and advancing pro-fessionalism in youth work in Malaysia and beyond.

THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES, VOLUME 3154

Methodology

DataThe findings reported here are part of a larger studyon professionalism among youth work practitionersin Malaysia. The data were collected using self-ad-ministered questionnaires. The questionnaires werepre-tested and refined based on the results of a pre-test prior to actual data collection. The questionnaireswere administered in a number of settings and man-ners. Some were administered in a group setting suchas in a class during a workshop session attended bythe respondents. They were asked to work on thequestionnaire independently after the instructionswere given. Most of the data were collected by dis-tributing the questionnaires with the help of trainedenumerators to relevant government and non-govern-mental organizations responsible for youth develop-ment. In this situation, the drop and pick-up tech-nique was employed. Data collection was carried outfor a period of four months. The questionnaire waspresented in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, andthe respondents took an average of 20 minutes tocomplete the questionnaire.

SampleA total of 813 youth work practitioners voluntaryparticipated in the survey. They came from govern-mental organizations such as the Ministry Youth &Sports, Malaysian Youth Council and Associatebodies of the Malaysian Youth Council who are in-volved in youth work activities. A list of potentialrespondents was created based on the informationgiven by the relevant agencies and NGOs. The re-spondents were selected from the list.

InstrumentationThe respondents were given a set of five-point Likertitems pertaining to work practices. They were askedto indicate how frequently they engage in the prac-

tices with a response category of never (1), rarely(2), sometimes (3), often (4) and always (5). Theitems were identified as items that relate to ethics inyouth work. The items were later subjected to factoranalysis. Three factors emerged from the factoranalysis and were labeled as respect for others, re-sponsibility, and honesty. Mean scores of the threescales were obtained to reflect self- perceived ethicalpractice. Scores for negative items were reversedprior to computing the mean scores of the scales.The higher the score on the scale the more pro-nounced the ethical practice. The reliability values(Cronbach Alpha) of the scales were 0.83 for respectfor others, 0.64 for responsibility, and 0.71 for hon-esty.

The questionnaire also contained closed-endedquestions on gender, ethnicity, type of youth work,job category, educational attainment and certificationin youth work, and open-ended questions on age,and years of involvement in youth work.

ResultsThe present analysis attempted to profile the govern-ment and non-governmental youth work practitionersin terms of selected personal attributes. The analysiswas done separately for the 473 government and 340non-governmental youth work practitioners particip-ating in the survey. Table 1 summarizes the selectedattributes examined. There were more male (59.7%)than female practitioners (40.3%) working for NGOs,while in the government sample, there were slightlymore females (52.6%). In terms of age, they werequite evenly distributed with more in the 30 year oldand below category. A majority of the respondentswere married and more were working in the govern-ment sector. The majority of respondents from gov-ernment agencies and NGOs were Malays, 73.4%and 62.4% respectively. In both samples, the majorityof respondents were permanent workers, 86.0% inthe government sample and 74.4% in the NGOsample, respectively.

155TAMAM, SUANDI, ISMAIL, KRAUSS, DAHALAN, IDRIS, ABDULLAH BANDAR

Table 1: Profile of Respondents

NGO % (n= 340)Government % (n= 473)Variable59.747.4MaleGender40.352.6Female44.133.230 and lessAge19.424.331-359.115.236-40

27.427.341 and above45.08.8SingleMarital Status55.071.2Married62.473.4MalayRace20.915Chinese15.09.9Indian1.80.8Others

74.486PermanentJob Status17.99.9Contract7.64.0Temporary

59.755.2Management/ProfessionalJob Category40.344.8Support Staff

Educational Attainment25.620.7PhD/Master20.938.7Bachelor28.831.7Diploma/STPM24.78.9SPM and Lower

Years of Involvement In Youth Work52.645.76 and less16.816.310-Jul8.210.115-Nov

22.427.9>16Certification in Youth Work

11.812.7Yes88.287.3No

With regard to qualifications, a majority of the gov-ernment sample (81.1%) and NGO sample (74.3%)had tertiary education with a substantial amounthaving some post-graduate qualification. A majorityof the respondents had been in the youth work fieldfor ten years or less, 62.0% from the governmentsample and 69.4% from the NGO samples, respect-ively. Despite this favorable level of educational at-tainment, a large majority had no certification inyouth work, 87.3% and 88.2% for the governmentand NGO samples, respectively.

The results on the item by item analysis of self-perception of youth work ethical behaviors are

presented in Table 2. The data showed that the re-spondents generally fared well on most of the eight-een work practices examined, with items meansranging from 3.22 to 4.49. The overall mean scorewas above the theoretical mid point of 3 on a fivepoint scale. Nevertheless, six items had a mean ofbelow 4, which is considered as less acceptableconsidering the fact that the subject is about ethics.The items are “If I cannot fulfill my responsibilities,I readily accept any consequences,” “I expect recog-nition when I conduct youth activities,” “I pay atten-tion to things that provide a return for me, “I spendtime building relationships with youth,” “I make


honest comments even though they may hurt some-body,” and “I speak the “youth lingo” when interact-

ing with youth.”

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics of Ethical Behavior Items

PercentageSDMean54321Item

0.704.4958.833.26.80.70.5I try to develop positive attitudes suchas responsibilities with youth

0.664.4956.936.25.81.1-I emphasize positive values like caring,respect and responsibility in my workwith youth

0.694.4554.538.05.81.50.2I am respectful toward individuals whohave different backgrounds from me

0.894.3351.736.87.02.02.6I implement safety procedures for parti-cipants in my program

1.054.3261.720.210.53.93.7I expect something in return when I helpsomeone*

0.944.2950.137.97.50.54.1I fulfill the responsibilities given to me0.834.2645.838.612.91.51.2I encourage youth to make suggestions

during discussions1.174.2665.310.613.06.94.2I will break the rules if it brings higher

reward*0.854.1538.941.915.52.61.1I care for the welfare of youths0.764.1536.343.719.40.20.4I produce quality work0.824.1435.248.013.42.21.2I apply my organization’s values and

mission in my work1.174.1253.820.912.98.24.2I cheat to preserve my organization’s

reputation*0.943.9832.341.519.94.22.1If I cannot fulfill my responsibilities, I

readily accept any consequences1.313.9447.824.611.26.99.5I expect recognition when I conduct

youth activities*1.173.9140.129.018.36.95.7I pay attention to things that provide a

return for me*0.973.8931.136.524.46.41.6I spend time building relationships with

youth1.143.3317.227.833.014.97.1I make honest comments even though

they may hurt somebody1.253.2219.122.930.815.511.8I speak the “youth lingo” when interact-

ing with youth5 point scale (1= Never, 2= Rarely, 3= Sometimes, 4= Often, 5= Always)* Negative Items. Scores for the negative items are original scores

The items were subjected to factor analysis. Theanalysis yielded three factors. Table 3 presents theresults of self-perception on three areas of ethicalbehaviors. The overall sample mean for respect for

others was 4.12, for honesty 4.11, and for responsib-ility 4.04. The respondents seemed to perform betterin terms of respect for others and honesty as com-pared to responsibility.


Table 3: Overall Mean Scores for Respect for Others, Responsibility and Honesty

SDMeanRangeAspects of ethical behavior0.604.121.88 -5.00Respect for others0.584.041.80-5.00Responsibility0.824.111.00-5.00Honesty

Comparative analysis was performed on three areasof ethics derived from the factor analysis accordingto selected personal attributes. Table 4 and Table 5summarize the results. The results of the comparisonof means tests reveal that there was a significantdifference in respect for others by educational attain-ment, years of involvement in youth work, gender,and certification in youth work. Females, thosewithout tertiary degrees, those with less than sixyears experience in youth work and those withoutcertification in youth work had significantly lowermeans on the respect for others ethic. With regardto responsibility, again females, those without tertiary

degrees, and those with less than six years experiencein youth work had significantly lower mean scores.In addition, it was also found that temporary workershad significantly lower responsibility mean scoresas compared to permanent workers. Finally, in termsof honesty in work practices, no significant meandifference was found except across type of institu-tion. The mean score for the NGO sample was signi-ficantly lower than the government sample, althoughboth had a mean above 4 out of a maximum 5, sug-gesting the government samples seem to be morehonest in their work practice.

Table 4: ANOVAofMeanDifferences for Respect forOthers, Responsibility, andHonesty by EducationalAttainment, Race, Job Status and Years of Involvement in Youth Work

HonestyResponsibilityRespects for OthersF (p)MeanF (p)MeanF (p)Mean

Education Attainment0.733 (0.533)4.176.784 (0.000)4.05 ª7.667 (0.000)4.11 ªPhD/Master

4.124.11 ª4.22 ªBachelor4.104.07 ª4.13 ªDiploma/STPM4.033.84 ь3.91 ьSPM & Lower

Race1.461 (0.224)4.130.817 (0.485)4.060.281 (0.839)4.11Malay

4.004.004.11Chinese4.173.984.16Indian3.864.064.23Others

Job Status0.072 (0.930)4.114.875 (0.008)4.04 ª0.311 (0.733)4.13Permanent4.104.13 ª4.11Contract4.083.81 ь4.06Temporary

Years of Involvement in Youth Work0.520 (0.669)4.087.526 (0.000)3.9520.000 (0.000)3.96 ª6 and less

4.134.094.21ь7 – 104.094.094.33ь11 – 154.174.174.29ьMore than 16


Table 5: T-test of Mean Differences for Respect for Others, Responsibility, and Honesty by Type ofInstitution, Gender, Job Category & Certification in Youth Work

HonestyResponsibilityRespects for OthersF (p)MeanF (p)MeanF (p)Mean

Type of Institution3.420 (0.001)4.190.144 (0.885)4.04.443 (0.658)4.13GOV

4.004.044.11NGOGender

-1.799 (0.072)4.063.393 (0.001)4.115.783 (0.000)4.24Male4.173.974.00Female

Job category-2.00 (0.046)4.060.878 (0.380)4.061.302 (0.193)4.14MGT

4.184.024.09SSCertification in Youth Work

-1.692 (0.091)3.980.462 (0.644)4.073.516 (0.000)4.59Yes4.034.044.09No

Note:Two-tailed test of significance.MGT= Management SS= Support Staff

Discussion and ConclusionThe present analysis provides useful information onselected attributes of government and NGO youthwork practitioners. In profiling the youth workers,one key characteristic is that most of them are youththemselves with many aged 30 years or below, sug-gesting that those involved in youth work in thecountry are primarily young people. Another import-ant feature is that most of them are permanentworkers. Since they are young workers and perman-ent, their career path should be clear, well structuredand there should be adequate opportunities forgrowth and advancement in youth work as a career.The proportion of Malays, Chinese and Indian ap-proximates the ethnic ratio in the country, implyingthat the three main ethnic groups are well representedin youth work. Additionally, there seems to be nogender bias in the number of male and females in-volved as youth work practitioners. In terms ofqualification, while most of the practitioners sur-veyed had a tertiary degree qualification, a largemajority had no certification in youth work. It is alsoimportant to note that among the many that had atertiary degree, the study could not ascertain howmany of them actually had formal education andtraining in youth work. Since a majority of them areyoung with no formal and certified qualification inyouth work, there is a clear need to provide trainingand development programs to promote and advanceprofessionalism of the practitioners.

The present study argues that given the growingdemand for greater standards and quality of youthwork, there is an urgent need to examine work ethicsamong contemporary youth development workersin the country. In general, the survey reveals that therespondents were ethical in their practices. Theywere found to be respectful of the youth they serve,honest and responsible in carrying their tasks. Whilethis is a positive finding, there is room for improve-ment particularly with regard to responsibility as theresponses were moderate (not on the high end of thescale). Overall, the findings suggest that to someextent they demonstrate integrity in their work asyouth work practitioners.

A disparity in performance in the three ethicalbehaviors discussed above was observed. It is clearthat those who had been involved in youth work forsix years or less and those without a tertiary degreeseem less pronounced in their ethical behavior ofrespecting others and responsibility in performingtheir tasks. This gap needs to be adequately addressedin an effort to promote and advance professionalismin youth work in the country. Training and develop-ment to advance professionalism in youth work needsto target more to the females as they are relativelyless pronounced in their practices of respecting othersand responsibility in their task. Additionally, suchtraining and development initiatives should also betargeted more among the temporary practitioners.The patterns of findings suggest that in order fortraining and development in youth work profession-


alism to have an impact, it must be tailored to thegaps in various aspect of professionalism.

The present analysis has only examined three areasof ethical behavior in youth work, which are respectfor others, responsibility, and honesty, among gov-ernment and NGO youth work practitioners. Thegovernment and NGO practitioners do not signific-antly differ with regards to values toward respect forothers, responsibility and honesty in carrying outtheir work. As other aspects of ethical behavior werenot covered in the analysis, this constitutes an import-ant limitation of the present study.

In conclusion, the present survey has indicatedthat there is a clear need for enhancing the qualifica-tions and ethical behavior of youth workers in thecountry. As part of strengthening ethical behaviorof the youth workers and further professionalizingthe field of youth work, a code of ethics must be de-veloped and implemented. The present survey is aninitial effort to benchmark the ethical practices ofyouth workers and provides a basis for more researchin this area.

ReferencesBessant, J. (2004). Youth work: the Loch Ness monster and professionalism. Youth Studies Australia, (23)4, 26-33.Bourke, L., & Evans, P. (2000). Doing a lot with a little: Youth workers in Sydney. Youth Studies Australia, 19(1), 38-43.Davies. L., Jukes, J., Hodges, C. (2005). Rural life of us: Young people and workers with young people in country Victoria.

In L. Davies, J. Jukes, & C. Hodges (Eds.), Youth Studies Australia (pp. 1-40). Melbourne: The Centre for Adoles-cent Health, Youth Affairs Council of Victoria.

Edginton, C.R, Kowalski, C.L., & Randall, S. W. (2005). Youth Work: Emerging Perspectives in Youth Development.Champagne, IL: Sagamore.

Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010 (2006). The Economic Planning Unit Prime Minister Department, Putrajaya.Rahim, A. S. (2007). Generasi Belia: Satu Cetusan Pandangan. Putrajaya: Institut Penyelidikan Pembangunan Belia

Malaysia.Stone, B., Garza, P., & Borden, L. (2006). A national professional development system for youth workers. Journal of Youth

Development, 1(1). Retrieved September 18, 2008 from:http://www.nae4ha.org/directory/jyd/jyd_article.aspx?id=e64d8afe-a598-4101-81c3-d9100d12a1eb.

The National Youth Agency. (2004). Ethical conduct in youth work: a statement of values and principles from The NationalYouth Agency. Retrieved September 21, 2008 from:http://www.nya.org.uk/shared_asp_files/GFSR.asp?NodeID=106790.

Walker, J.A., Gran, C.F., & Curiel, A.C. (2005). Shaping ethics: youth workers matter.NewDirections for Youth Development,108, 19-30.

About the AuthorsDr. Ezhar TamamDr. Ezhar Tamam completed his formal secondary education at King George V, Seremban, Malaysia. He obtainedhis PhD in Communication in 1994 from University of Oklahoma, USA. He is the Deputy Dean for Researchand Innovation at Faculty of Modern Language and Communication, Universiti Putra Malaysia. His researchinterests cover media and intercultural communication.

Dr. Turiman SuandiDr. Turiman Suandi, has dedicated himself in the area of youth development and volunteerism as a field ofspecialization for more than 20 years. His significant and scholarly contributions and involvements in buildingthe capacity of people in the community, especially the younger generations are highly acknowledged nationallyand internationally.

Dr. Ismi Arif IsmailDr. Ismi Arif Ismail, has dedicated himself in the area of continuing education and joined UPM in 2000. Hissignificant and scholarly contributions and involvements in building the capacity of people in the community,especially in the field of continuing education, human resource development and leadership are highly acknow-ledged nationally and internationally. Dr. Ismi Arif Ismail completed his high school at Sekolah MenengahSultan Abdul Halim, Jitra, Kedah. He obtained his honours degree in TESL from UKM in 1993. Due to hisstrong interest in continuing education, he decided to pursue his higher education in the area of extension edu-cation at the master’s levels. He was appointed as a lecturer with Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2000. Since then,his contribution in teaching, research and services has been focused on continuing education covering the areasof extension education, youth development and leadership. Dr. Ismi Arif Ismail obtained his doctoral degreein 2005 in Continuing Education from the University of Warwick, UK. Currently he serves as the Advisor of


the Human Resource Development Student Association at Department of Professional Development and Con-tinuing Education, Faculty of Educational Studies. He has been involved in research and consultancy work,both nationally and internationally in the area of continuing education, extension education, human resourcedevelopment and youth development. He has also been involved in advisory and community services both na-tional and internationally.

Dr. Steven Eric KraussDr. Steven Krauss @Abdul Lateef is a lecturer in the Faculty of Educational Studies in Universiti PutraMalaysia. He teaches Leadership and Qualitative Research Methods.

Dzuhailmi DahalanMr. Dzuhailmi Dahalan, has dedicated himself in the area of human resource development and joined UPM in2004. Mr. Dzuhailmi Dahalan completed his high school at Sekolah Agama Menengah Sg. Merab Luar Kajang,Selangor. He obtained his degree in Human Resource Development from UPM in 2002. He was appointed asa Social Research Officer with Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2007. Since then, his contribution in research andservices has been focused on youth studies.

Prof. Khairuddin IdrisKhairuddin is a senior lecturer and an associate professor at the Faculty of Education at the Universiti PutraMalaysia. His research interests focus on topics of knowledge management, organizational learning and man-agement. He is the author of several management books, particularly the management and human resourcemanagement and his research article was published in the Journal of International Business Studies. Since 1994,Assoc. Prof. Dr. Khairuddin has received numerous research funding from the Ministry of Higher Educationand Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia for more than a dozen projects.

Nur Fatihah Abdullah BandarNur Fatihah Abdullah Bandar is a research assistant attached to Institute of Social Science Studies, UniversitiPutra Malaysia. Majoring in Human Development, Nur Fatihah graduated from Universiti Putra Malaysia in2006.


EDITORS Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA. EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Patrick Baert, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK. Norma Burgess, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY, USA. Vangelis Intzidis, University of the Aegean, Rhodes. Paul James, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. José Luis Ortega Martín, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Francisco Fernandez Palomares, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Miguel A. Pereyra, Universidad de Granada, Spain. Constantine D. Skordoulis, University of Athens, Athens, Greece. Chryssi Vitsilakis-Soroniatis, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece.

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Benchmarking Malaysian Youth Work Practitioner Ethics

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