National Character Practices through History Education in Primary School

National character is a rather complex issue to be discussed as we are a multiracial country and comprises of various religions, cultures and as well as languages. History Education aims to nurture and strengthen the nation spirit and promote the citizen identity as Malaysian and a part of world’s citizen. This study aimed to examine the level of Malaysian national character practices through History education among primary school students in peninsular Malaysia. The national character practices that were observed is in the aspects of understanding human behaviour, causality in history, country uniqueness, patriotic citizens and democratic practices. This research survey was conducted using questionnaire instrument. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling techniques involving 1920 pupils of 5 primary schools in peninsular Malaysia. The results of the entire constructs from pilot study are at a high validity level and hence valid to be used in actual studies. The data was analysed using SPSS version 23.0 to analyze descriptive data (mean and standard deviation). The results of the study show that the level of identity practices in terms of understanding human behaviour, homeland uniqueness, patriotic citizens and democracy practices are at moderately high levels. The national character practice in term of cause and effect in History on the other hand is at moderate level. Effective History Education is capable to implement the skill and appreciation of historical values into the soul of the student, which they will always willing to sacrifice their life to defend the nation and further strengthen the national ideology and make Malaysia a developed nation as well as embraced the principles contained in the pillars of the nation.