Khadijah Daud

The Benefits of Headship Mentoring An Analysis of Malaysian Novice Headteachers’ Perceptions

In this article we examine the mentoring program for novice headteachers and what they perceive as its purposes, as well as the constraints to successfully implementing it in Malaysian schools. Using a survey research design we analysed responses from 200 newly appointed headteachers from two state departments of education, and interviewed six headteachers through two focus group interview sessions. As expected, headteachers revealed that mentoring had significantly improved their professional values as a school leader, and had led to the creation of a knowledge sharing culture that boosted their confidence level and improved their practical knowledge related to school leadership. However, headteachers also revealed that time constraints negatively impacted on the effective implementation of mentoring. The study also offers practical suggestions for the headship training system in Malaysian context.

Academics transformational leadership: an investigation of heads of department leadership behaviours in Malaysian public universities

Presently, the role and the function of universities in Malaysia have been described as being in a state of change. Several strategies have been adopted to assist in the re-branding of higher institutions of learning. As a consequence, an effective model of leadership practices, particularly at the Malaysian academic departmental level, has to be generated in order to replace the traditional leadership practices in meeting the national aspirations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between department heads’ leadership behaviour with academics’ organisational commitment. Survey responses from 430 academics from Malaysian public universities were received and analysed. The main finding of this study reveals that the adoption of encouraging leadership behaviour (Kouzes and Posner’s Transformational Leadership) shows a 55% direct positive relationship with academics’ organisational commitment, with demographical factors playing no role as a moderator with either variable. This reinforces the rationalisation for adopting the model within the Malaysian academic setting, where department heads should indeed lead the academic organisation.

Organisational climate as a predictor of workforce performance in the Malaysian higher education institutions

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether organisational climate (OC) predicts academic staff performance at Malaysian higher education institutions (HEIs). The study equally aims at validating the psychometric properties of OC and workforce performance (WFP) constructs. Design/methodology/approach Survey questionnaires were administered to 800 academic staff of eight selected HEIs. Principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, full-fledged structural equation modelling and multiple regression analysis were performed to explore the underlying factors and test the factorial validity of the constructs. Findings The analysis yielded a five-factor index for the OC construct, whereas the WFP construct comprised two factors. The findings reveal a strong predictive causal effect between OC and WFP. These results suggest that establishing a positive OC enhances academic staff performance. Furthermore, the hypothesised model adds new knowledge to the literature of OC, from the Malaysian context, which could be used to predict WFP at the tertiary level. Practical implications The study concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings for HEIs. Originality/value This paper makes a significant contribution to the understanding of how OC could be used as an effective instrument in improving academic staff performance in the context of Malaysian HEIs.

Headteacher-teacher relationship and its effect on teacher’s trust in Malaysian high performing schools

Purpose This study examines the relationship between headteachers and teachers and its effects on the role of trust in Malaysian high performing schools through the dyadic relationship theoretical approach. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey questionnaire, a total of 199 teachers from five high-performing schools were selected as respondents for data collection. Before proceeding with inferential statistical analysis, teachers were separated into the ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’. Findings The findings revealed that teachers from both groups perceived that their facets of trust are strongly associated with the type of relationship they have with their school leaders. The results also demonstrate that quality of dyadic relationships between headteachers and teachers moderately influences teachers’ trust. Practical implications The findings suggest that headteachers should always build good relationships with teachers to gain teachers’ trust for sustaining school effectiveness. The findings encourage t...