Isolasi (pengasingan diri) dalam kalangan Pengetua Sekolah Menengah Negeri Johor

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the school principals in Johor are facing any syndrome of isolation. This case study also determined the factors causing this problem, steps taken by the principals to overcome it and the impacts of the problem on their performance in managing the schools. This study uses both quantitative and qualitative approach by means of questionaires and interview to collect the research datas. A set of questionaires used is based on translated version of UCLA Loneliness Scale created by Russell et. al. (1978). A total of 200 principals have participated as respondents. The datas collected were then analyzed using SPSS softwear version 11.0 to determine whether they felt isolated. To support the findings, qualitative datas were then collected by means of interview involving 12 principals from Johor Bahru, Kulaijaya, Batu Pahat dan Muar. All datas collected were grouped and coded before being analyzed manually using simple statistic (frequencies and percentages) in order to answer all four research questions involving the level of isolation among the principals, factors causing this problem, steps taken by the principals to overcome it and the impacts of the problem on their performances in managing the schools. Research findings from quantitative datas analysis revealed that the level of isolation among the principal in Johor is low. However, three items of isolation used recorded slightly higher mean scores (intermediate level). On the other hand, qualitative datas analysis shows that three out of 12 principals participated in the interviews (33.3%) admitted that they experienced the syndrome of isolation espesially during their early years of service as principals. Research findings involving factors causing this problem, steps taken by the principals to overcome it and the impact of the problem on their performances in managing the schools are also reported by the researcher in the study.