Instructional leadership practice among headmasters in the southern region of Malaysia

This study aims to identify the level of instructional leadership practice among headmasters in three states in the Southern Region of Malaysia which are Negeri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor. This quantitative research uses survey research design by using instructional leadership questionnaire (ILQ). The alpha Cronbach value of the pilot study for this questionnaire is .962. 390 teachers were involved in this study and they were chosen through cluster sampling from simple random samples. Statistical analysis for this research had used the software IBM SPSS Statistics version 22. This research found that the headmasters in the Southern Region of Malaysia are practicing instructional leadership at medium high level, in which all three dimensions recorded the mean score value between 3.796 to 3.965. To conclude, instructional leadership has been practiced in the Southern Region schools in driving the school towards achieving the targeted vision and mission

Professional learning community in Malaysia

The professional learning community (PLC) is a platform for teachers to share their opinions and experiences especially with respect to the quality of teaching and learning processes (PdP). This partnership gives teachers more added value because they have the opportunity to improve their self-esteem and to keep in pace with the developments in the education world. This concept paper will discuss a number of issues related to PLCs such as PLC's background and development, PLC definitions, the development of PLC concept, PLC models and the issues and challenges that exist in implementing PLC. The analysis was done in the context of Malaysia and abroad. The paper is written based on extensive secondary data analysis. After examining all matters related to PLC, it can be concluded that PLC is a form of partnership that every school teacher needs to practice either in the context of education in Malaysia or anywhere in order to drive excellence in a school. With a lot of challenges nowadays regarding the implementation of PLC, this issue needs to be addressed so that the quality of teachers can be enhanced and will further influence the students' academic achievement

Instructional leadership in Malaysia

Leadership of school leaders regardless principals or headmasters is among the key factors that can affect the academic achievement of students directly or indirectly. Based on previous research, a strong relationship between student achievement and leadership of school leaders was proven. The Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE) has outlined three approaches to improving student achievement through the improvement of school leaders' performance. One of the approaches is school leaders should act as instructional leaders who are actively involved in teacher development activities by planning, coordinating and evaluating the teaching and learning process (T & L) at school. This concept paper will discuss several matters related to instructional leadership such as background and development of instructional leadership, instructional leadership definitions, the development of instructional leadership concepts, instructional leadership models and the issues and challenges that exist in implementing this leadership styles. The analysis was done in the context of Malaysia and abroad. The paper is written based on extensive secondary data analysis. After analyzing matters relating to instructional leadership, it can be concluded that instructional leadership is a form of leadership that every school leader needs to practice for excellence achievements in a school. With a lot of challenges nowadays, it needs to be addressed so that the direction of the school is on the right track and students' achievement can be enhanced

Validity of instrument to measure mathematics teachers’ perceptions towards problem-based learning activities

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a proposed method for teaching mathematics in primary education in the education 4.0 era. This method enables teachers to conduct effective instruction by allowing students to explore alternative solutions to problems. This study was conducted to develop and validate an instrument for evaluating primary school mathematics teachers’ perceptions of PBL activities. This research is quantitative, and a questionnaire was employed to collect data. The data obtained were analyzed descriptively utilizing Cronbach’s alpha and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). It is determined that Cronbach’s alpha is 0.885, with a factor eigenvalue greater than 1. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) value for each construct is 0.50, whereas Bartlett’s test value is statistically significant (<0.5). Each item has a factor loading of 0.50 or higher and a standard deviation of ≥60%. This study’s results indicated that this instrument can be used to investigate primary school mathematics teachers’ perceptions of PBL activities involving group division, generating ideas and learning issues, identifying problems, self-directed learning, synthesis and application, reflection, and assessment

Administrative stressors and psychological and physiological symptoms among novice primary school principals

This study was conducted to identify whether the administrative workloads led to the stress level among novice principals in their new schools. In addition, we also explore whether the principals are experiencing the psychological and psychological symptoms from their stress issue. The data collection consisted of two major phases. In the first phase, questionnaires were administered to 70 novice primary principals who were just being appointed at their new schools. It was followed by three sessions of interviews with purposely selected 10 novice primary principals as the second phase. From the quantitative data analysis, primary principals perceived their schools’ administrative stress caused them a moderate stress level from their heavy administrative workloads. However, principals reported having psychological and physiological symptoms from the quantitative findings and interview sessions

Combination of M-learning with Problem Based Learning: Teaching Activities for Mathematics Teachers

This study was conducted to identify elements (teaching activities) that teachers can engage with involving a combination of M-learning methods with Problem-Based Learning methods (M-PBL). This study was conducted using the Nominal Group Technique (NGT) involving 11 experts with various fields of expertise such as mathematics education, educational technology, M-learning, pedagogy and the curriculum as well as primary school mathematics education teachers. The analysis of the findings was carried out using descriptive statistics (percentages) to determine the priority and ranking for each teaching activity. The findings show that overall, there are 30 relevant M-PBL teaching activities that can be carried out by teachers. The findings also show that teachers sharing the learning objectives that the pupils need to achieve using learning applications that are available on mobile devices (98%) ranked first while the teacher classifying the information obtained from each group according to priority through learning applications available on mobile devices (75%) ranked last. In conclusion, this study shows that both methods can be combined to form a new teaching method in the current 4.0 education era

Professional learning community’s practices: exploring Malaysian primary school teacher strategies

This study aimed to explore the professional learning community strategies practiced by primary school teachers. This qualitative study used a multiphase case study design through interview and observation approaches. This study involved 15 teachers employed at eight selected primary schools. In addition, researchers also conducted a few observation sessions with the school administrators, teachers, and students within the schools. Findings indicated the studied primary teachers had accomplished four to five major strategies in implementing dimensions listed in Hard (1997)'s professional learning community's model- In summary, professional learning community has been practiced by teachers in the Southern Zone of Malaysia to improve the quality of teaching and learning and in turn improve the academic performance of students

The Instructional Leadership Practice Among Senior Leaders in Malaysia Primary Schools

The study intends to explore the instructional leadership practice among the Seniors Leadership Team (SLT) of five schools selected in Malaysia as pilot schools for the 21st Century Education. Four main dimensions underpin this study. The dimensions can, in essence, be translated into four leadership skills firstly to define and establish school goals, secondly to manage instructional programs, third to promote a conducive learning environment and fourth to create a friendly and cooperative school environment. The data for this study was obtained from a questionnaire survey involving 320 respondents comprising teachers from the five schools concerned. Data were analysed using SPSS. The results showed that practices of Instructional Leadership were evident among the Seniors Leadership Team (SLT) of all five schools. However, the results also seemed to point to the second dimension’s practice of managing instructional programs being low compared to the other three dimensions. The overall findings, however, support that the practice of Instructional Leadership among the Seniors Leadership Team (SLT) of the schools studied, was at a very high level