Validating Professional Learning Communities Practice Model in a Malaysian Context

<p style="text-align: justify;">Despite the ubiquity of professional learning communities (PLCs) among researchers, studies on PLCs have widely differed in terms of dimensions used to conceptualise them. Thus, the study aimed to validate the conceptual model consisting of PLCs practices. The study employed a quantitative method using a survey. Firstly, a pilot test was conducted in which 103 school-teachers were involved in completing a questionnaire. The Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) had determined six dimensions and 20 elements of PLCs practices. Then, the field study was conducted using the new questionnaire. The survey involved 386 school-teachers from 25 High Performing Schools (HPS). The result revealed that: I) Based on the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), multidimensional PLCs practice model is evidence in the Malaysian context. They are operationalised in six dimensions including visions, missions and values, professional leadership, collective and collaborative culture, sharing of best practices, conducive school climate, and strategic alliances among stakeholders and, ii) The level of PLCs implementation in HPS is high for all the dimensions. The practical implications from the study and future research recommendations were also discussed.</p>

Coaching and Mentoring as a Teaching Supervision Approach in Secondary School

Teaching supervision is an effective assessment tool to ensure effective teaching and learning in the classroom. Effective teaching supervision refers to the appropriate approaches taken by supervisors to supervise teachers in the classroom. In this light, the coaching and mentoring approach is a form of teaching supervision that increases the effectiveness of teaching supervision in schools. However, this approach requires an in-depth understanding of aspects related to coaching and mentoring. Thus, this study aims to examine the implementation of coaching and mentoring as a teaching supervision practice among Secondary School principals. This study focuses on two main objectives, first, examining supervisors’ understanding of coaching and mentoring, and second, identifying the extent of supervisors’ readiness towards implementing the coaching and mentoring approach as a teaching supervision practice. This study adopted the qualitative exploratory research design and involved eight samples selected by purposive sampling. Interviews, observation and document analysis were used as the main tools in collecting the study data. The data collected were analysed using i) in-depth reading, ii) open coding, and iii) axial coding. The study’s findings indicate that ineffective teaching and learning practices have contributed to declining student academic achievement. In this regard, ineffective teaching and learning practices are attributed to teachers’ failure to adopt effective teaching techniques and the lack of curriculum mastery. Thus, coaching and mentoring could enhance the competence of teaching supervisors, especially school leaders, particularly in high-performing schools. In turn, this approach will increase the commitment, satisfaction and professional development of teachers leading to improved performance.

PEDAGOGICAL INFLUENCE IN THE INTEGRATION OF SOFT SKILLS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Soft skills are non-academic competencies that complement a student's academic achievement to face the world of work in the future. This study aims to identify ways of implementing soft skills and the kind of soft skills emphasized in the teaching and learning of the Malay language among secondary school students in nine selected schools in Kedah, Penang, and Perak. The study involved focus group interviews and individual interviews consisted of 119 students and 26 Malay language teachers. The findings show that soft skills apply directly and indirectly through various learning activities in Malay Language subjects. Respondents from normal schools received less exposure to soft skills compared to respondents from high-performing schools (HPS). Among the soft skills identified in this study are teamwork skills, self-confidence, communication, critical thinking, leadership, influencing skills, critical and creative thinking skills (CCTS), and problem-solving skills. Communication skills and teamwork skills were among the most detected soft skills in the three high-performing schools involved in this study. Meanwhile, the activities carried out to apply soft skills are group discussions, presentations, acting, poetry recitation, storytelling, public speaking, forums, and question and answer. Although this study is not comprehensive in terms of the number of schools and respondents, the findings of this study are important to explain the real scenario of the level of mastery and integration of soft skills, especially in the nine cases of this study.

INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES OF HEADS OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN GHANA

A non-experimental survey was conducted to investigate the instructional leadership practices of senior high school heads in Ghana. Data were collected using a closed-ended Likert type items from a simple randomly selected sample of a defined population of school heads of senior high schools in Ghana. Data collected were analysed using rank-ordered means and independent samples test of differences of means. The study findings revealed that the school heads frequently adopt major key practices of instructional leadership. However, the school heads most frequently adopt the practice of communicating the school’s goals. The study further revealed that differences exist the frequency at which heads of high performing schools and those of non-high performing schools adopt instructional leadership dimensions of defining the school’s goals and promoting a positive school learning climate.

Understanding Digital Public Relations Practices among Exemplar School Principals in Malaysian Schools

In recent years, Digital Leadership (DL) has been recognised as an important practice for school principals. DL focuses on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in support of school principals’ leadership practice. This qualitative study was undertaken with the aim of understanding DL among principals from four High Performing Schools (HPS) in Malaysia, particularly from the perspective of public relations. Semi-structured interviews were employed involving four exemplar school principals as the main respondents and 12 school staff as the secondary respondents of the study. The findings indicate that social media has become the contemporary public relations conduit among exemplar Malaysian school principals. The findings also suggest that third parties, such as students, parents, and alumni, enhance school principals’ public relations practices via their social media accounts. The aforesaid findings have meaningful implications for other school principals in similar school settings and contexts to better integrate social media in their public relations practice, especially by leveraging third-party social media accounts.