Master teachers as teacher leaders: evidence from Malaysia and the Philippines

The career paths of teachers in most countries lead to talented practitioners progressively reducing their classroom work to take on leadership and management responsibilities culminating in headship. Some education systems seek to keep good teachers in classrooms by offering alternative promoted posts, often described as master teachers. This article presents evidence of the role of master teacher in two underpublished Asia-Pacific contexts: Malaysia and the Philippines. Drawing on interviews with master teachers, and their principals and colleagues, the article provides a picture of the activities and role relationships of these senior practitioners. The findings show that the master teacher role largely succeeds in keeping talented and ambitious teachers in the classroom, but there is only limited evidence of a wider impact on colleagues, schools and the education system

Distributed leadership and the Malaysia Education Blueprint: from prescription to partial school-based enactment in a highly centralised context

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to present and discuss the findings from research on the relationship between leadership theory and policy reform in Malaysia. The research was conducted in two dissimilar Malaysian states. Research DesignThe research was a multiple case-study design, with 14 schools (seven in each state). Within each school, interviews were conducted with principals (secondary schools), headteachers (primary schools), teachers, middle leaders, and senior leaders, to achieve respondent triangulation.Findings The findings confirm that the Malaysia Education Blueprint prescribes distributed leadership. Most schools embraced an allocative model, with principals sharing responsibilities with senior leaders in a manner that was indistinguishable from delegation. Research ImplicationsA significant implication of the research is that policy prescriptions within major reform initiatives can lead to unintended consequences when applied in different cultural contexts. While distributed leadership is presented as ‘emergent’ in the international literature, it has been adapted for use in this highly centralised context, where structures assume a top-down model of leadership. Practical ImplicationsThe main practical implication is that principals and head teachers are more likely to enact leadership in ways which are congruent with their cultural backgrounds and assumptions than to embrace policy prescriptions, even in this centralised context. OriginalityThe paper is significant in exploring a popular leadership model in an unfamiliar context. It also has wider resonance for other centralised systems which have also shown interest in distributed leadership but have been unwilling to embrace it in the ways assumed in the literature

Middle leadership in international schools: evidence from Malaysia

This paper examines middle leadership of the heads of English, maths and science departments in four international secondary schools in Malaysia. It focuses on their roles, responsibilities, role relationships, instructional engagement and leadership involvement within the theoretical framework of instructional, distributed and teacher leadership. The study is a qualitative multi-method case study, involving observation, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews with 12 heads of department, 36 teachers, and four principals. With respect to the middle leaders’ roles and responsibilities, the findings illustrate cross-school and in-school differential developments, with contextual factors contributing to uneasy role relationships. The results also show that, while broad-based leadership opportunities are limited for the middle leaders and teachers, the most powerful and common feature of all these international schools is the centrality of teaching and learning

Oxidative stress in psychiatric disorders: evidence base and therapeutic implications

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathogenesis of diverse disease states, and may be a common pathogenic mechanism underlying many major psychiatric disorders, as the brain has comparatively greater vulnerability to oxidative damage. This review aims to examine the current evidence for the role of oxidative stress in psychiatric disorders, and its academic and clinical implications. A literature search was conducted using the Medline, Pubmed, PsycINFO, CINAHL PLUS, BIOSIS Previews, and Cochrane databases, with a time-frame extending to September 2007. The broadest data for oxidative stress mechanisms have been derived from studies conducted in schizophrenia, where evidence is available from different areas of oxidative research, including oxidative marker assays, psychopharmacology studies, and clinical trials of antioxidants. For bipolar disorder and depression, a solid foundation for oxidative stress hypotheses has been provided by biochemical, genetic, pharmacological, preclinical therapeutic studies and one clinical trial. Oxidative pathophysiology in anxiety disorders is strongly supported by animal models, and also by human biochemical data. Pilot studies have suggested efficacy of N-acetylcysteine in cocaine dependence, while early evidence is accumulating for oxidative mechanisms in autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In conclusion, multi-dimensional data support the role of oxidative stress in diverse psychiatric disorders. These data not only suggest that oxidative mechanisms may form unifying common pathogenic pathways in psychiatric disorders, but also introduce new targets for the development of therapeutic interventions.Felicity Ng, Michael Berk, Olivia Dean and Ashley I. Bus

Leadership preparation in China: providers’ perspectives

In China, accreditation training programme has been a compulsory programme for all the aspiring and new principals, which is also a part of National Training Plan. Under such hierarchical system, leadership preparation in China is supported, implemented, evaluated, and also, constrained by different levels of administrative organisations and various professional providers. The purpose of the study was to understand the role definition and task allocation of different levels of administrations and providers, as well as how they work as a whole for leadership preparation. The study features a qualitative design that combined data from policy document analysis and semi-structured interviews of people who directly involved in this procedure. Data collected in qualitative strand were coded and analysed thematically through discourse analysis. We identified a completed, but disintegrated system for leadership preparation. The results provided important practice and policy implications. We suggest the collaboration and appropriate supervision among different providers and develop a systematic mechanism for principal preparation and development

School leadership theories and the Malaysia education blueprint: findings from a systematic literature review

PurposeThis paper provides a systematic review of the Malaysian literature on three prominent leadership models (instructional, distributed and transformational), linked to a major educational reform initiative captured in the Ministry of Education's Malaysia Education Blueprint.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is a systematic review of all relevant Malaysianliterature, in English and Bahasa Malaysia, on instructional, distributed and transformational leadership, and alternative terms linked to these models.FindingsThe findings show that there is an emerging literature on these leadership models and their prevalence in Malaysian schools but that they have been interpreted in ways that are distinctive to the highly centralised Malaysian context. For example, instructional leadership is prescribed, so there is some evidence of its practice, notably in respect of monitoring. Similarly, distributed leadership is allocative, rather than emergent, as suggested in Western literature.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings show that, while research on these models is emerging, much more research is required to establish whether and how leadership practice in Malaysia differs from that outlined in the normative Western literature.Practical implicationsThere is emerging evidence to suggest that instructional and distributed leadership, if enacted carefully, can have a positive impact on student outcomesOriginality/valueThis is believed to be the first systematic review of the Malaysian literature on school leadership models, linked to the Malaysia Education Blueprint. It is also distinctive in including both English language, and Bahasa Malaysia, sources

Ensuring Acceptability and Feasibility: The Challenges of Educational Policy Reform in Malaysia

This article reports research on the implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint, 2013–2025, drawing on 49 extended interviews with senior policy makers at federal, state and district levels, and school principals, informed by a systematic review of international and Malaysian literature. The findings show that the reforms are poorly understood by officials and school leaders, leading to partial and unenthusiastic enactment. The paper concludes that such ambitious reforms need to be acceptable, to ensure “ownership” of the reform agenda, and feasible, to avoid disenchantment by officials, school leaders and teachers

Master teachers as teacher leaders: evidence from Malaysia and the Philippines

The career paths of teachers in most countries lead to talented practitioners progressively reducing their classroom work to take on leadership and management responsibilities culminating in headship. Some education systems seek to keep good teachers in classrooms by offering alternative promoted posts, often described as master teachers. This article presents evidence of the role of master teacher in two underpublished Asia-Pacific contexts: Malaysia and the Philippines. Drawing on interviews with master teachers, and their principals and colleagues, the article provides a picture of the activities and role relationships of these senior practitioners. The findings show that the master teacher role largely succeeds in keeping talented and ambitious teachers in the classroom, but there is only limited evidence of a wider impact on colleagues, schools and the education system

Risk factors for hospital admission with RSV bronchiolitis in England: a population-based birth cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the timing and duration of RSV bronchiolitis hospital admission among term and preterm infants in England and to identify risk factors for bronchiolitis admission. DESIGN: A population-based birth cohort with follow-up to age 1 year, using the Hospital Episode Statistics database. SETTING: 71 hospitals across England. PARTICIPANTS: We identified 296618 individual birth records from 2007/08 and linked to subsequent hospital admission records during the first year of life. RESULTS: In our cohort there were 7189 hospital admissions with a diagnosis of bronchiolitis, 24.2 admissions per 1000 infants under 1 year (95%CI 23.7-24.8), of which 15% (1050/7189) were born preterm (47.3 bronchiolitis admissions per 1000 preterm infants (95% CI 44.4-50.2)). The peak age group for bronchiolitis admissions was infants aged 1 month and the median was age 120 days (IQR = 61-209 days). The median length of stay was 1 day (IQR = 0-3). The relative risk (RR) of a bronchiolitis admission was higher among infants with known risk factors for severe RSV infection, including those born preterm (RR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.8-2.0) compared with infants born at term. Other conditions also significantly increased risk of bronchiolitis admission, including Down's syndrome (RR = 2.5, 95% CI 1.7-3.7) and cerebral palsy (RR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.5-4.0). CONCLUSIONS: Most (85%) of the infants who are admitted to hospital with bronchiolitis in England are born at term, with no known predisposing risk factors for severe RSV infection, although risk of admission is higher in known risk groups. The early age of bronchiolitis admissions has important implications for the potential impact and timing of future active and passive immunisations. More research is needed to explain why babies born with Down's syndrome and cerebral palsy are also at higher risk of hospital admission with RSV bronchiolitis