Khoo Yin

The Demands and Infl uence of Leadership on Educational Changes (Tuntutan dan Pengaruh Kepemimpinan terhadap Perubahan Sistem Pendidikan)

Applied to grade 9 students in Jordan, this study aimed at examining the effi ciency of using the ‘learning cycle’ strategy in acquiring Arabic grammatical concepts. A sample of 124 students was approved, which was distributed over two schools (boys and girls) and in two groups. The experimental group was taught the subject instructional material through the learning cycle strategy with 29 males and 35 females, whereas the control group was taught through the same material through the traditional program with 32 males and 28 females. In terms of fi ndings, there were found statistically signifi cant differences in the subjects’ achievement in acquiring Arabic grammatical concepts, in favor of the experimental group. Statistically signifi cant differences were also found due to gender in favor of females. Whereas no statistically signifi cant differences were found due to the interaction between group/teaching strategy and gender.Additional Mathematics is an elective subject in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). However, it is treated as a core subject for almost all the science stream students. Many students who can perform well in Modern Mathematics since primary school cannot master the Additional Mathematics. They fail to understand the concepts in Additional Mathematics. This study seeks to identify the factors that affect students in mastering Additional Mathematics at five schools in an urban area. Bayesian network is used to identify the relationship between the factors in the study and to analyze the data as it is able to represent the variables as nodes and the relationships as directed arcs. Constraint-based algorithms and score-based algorithms are used to generate the networks into several categories to compare and identify the strong relationships among the factors that affect the students’ learning of the subject. It is concluded that the new symbols and sign learned in Additional Mathematics affects the students in mastering the subject. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/JPEN-2015-4002-11Substance abuse is a current and serious problem all around the globe. In fact, the number of substance abusers including school children and teenagers is growing. This study aims to identify challenges faced by secondary schools and the supports needed in the effort to curb substance abuse. A total of 18 high risk secondary schools were selected from Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Negeri Sembilan and Melaka. The questionnaire survey involved a total of 258 teachers from 18 selected schools. Data were analyzed descriptively using frequency counts and percentages. The results identifi ed the lack of student participation, time constraints and fi nancial problem as three main challenges in conducting drug prevention programmes in schools while the most crucial support needed by schools in organizing substance abuse programmes are material and fi nancial support, anti-drug talk/clinic and professional advice. It is recommended that substance abuse prevention programmes should involve the students’ families and the community to have better result. As for every substance abuse prevention programme held in schools, feedback from the participants should be obtained and analyzed in order to gauge the effectiveness and relevance of the programme. This study concluded that there are many challenges faced by schools in curbing substance abuse with lack of student participation, time constraints and fi nancial problem posed as the main challenges. Hence, involvement of all parties is needed to provide support needed to ensure the success of the implementation of substance abuse prevention programmes.This study examined the pattern of sexual harassment in higher institutions in Lagos state. Hypothesising, unlike researchers that there shall be a direct relationship between all identifi ed categories of sexual harassment behaviours thus: physical, verbal, non-verbal and quid pro quo and sexual harassment; and the report of sexual harassment is predicted by gender, physical sexual behaviour and quid pro quo. Six hundred students randomly selected from six higher institutions in Lagos State, responded to Pattern of Sexual Harassment Questionnaire (PSHQ). Results were analysed by the use of path analysis. The produced model adequately fi t the hypothesised model; the chi-square result χ2 (6) = 13.02, p = 0.043 0.9 all indicate suffi cient good fi tness of the model. Based on the fi ndings of the study counsellors are challenged to become more responsive than before to counselling needs of students in order to discourage sexual harassment and encourage reporting of sexual harassment.