Amalan kepimpinan lestari pengetua dan hubungannya dengan standard kualiti sekolah berkesan di negeri Melaka

Abstract

Principal’s leadership plays an important role in school effectiveness. However, change in the leadership will influence the effectiveness of schools. One of the ways to maintain effectiveness is to practice sustainable leadership. In this study, a mixed-methods design (Explanatory Sequential) was undertaken to explore perceptions of school administrators towards principals’ sustainable leadership and their relationship with the quality standards of effective schools. This study was conducted in two phases involving twenty five secondary schools in Malacca. In the first phase, quantitative data was collected using questionnaires followed by a second phase of qualitative data collection through interviews and observations. A total of 575 school administrators were randomly selected as sample for the questionnaires and six principals were randomly selected to participate in the interviews and observations. Quantitative data were analysed using “Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 17.00” and qualitative data were analysed using Atlas.ti 7. Quantitative results indicated that school principals practiced all the seven dimensions of sustainable leadership and the most dominant ones were learning in depth and breadth; nurturing of school; effective usage of manpower and resources and leadership empowerment. The most dominant quality standards of effective schools were teaching and learning; educational programme management and leadership direction. Results of the Structural Equation Model indicated that there were significant predictors of principal sustainable leadership practice with regards to quality standards of effective school, comprising, educational programme management; organisational management and school direction. Qualitative results showed that empowerment should be upgraded through training and mentoring, identification of second level leadership potential through entrusted responsibilities, organizing improvement programmes with other schools and equipping schools with Information and Communications Technology resources. Based on the findings, a model of principal sustainable leadership for effective schools in Malaysia was developed and it is recommended that soft skills be introduced in the secondary school curriculum.