PENGENALAN KEPADA AMALAN KEPIMPINAN GURU DI MALAYSIA: CABARAN DAN CADANGAN

INTRODUCTION TO TEACHER LEADERSHIP PRACTICES IN MALAYSIA: CHALLENGES AND RECOMENDATIONS

Abstract

Artikel ini berdasarkan tinjauan literatur tentang kepimpinan guru yang banyak dikaji oleh penyelidik yang lainnya. Artikel ini ditulis berdasarkan dua kajian yang telah dilakukan tentang amalan kepimpinan guru di Malaysia. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan kapasiti kepimpinan guru adalah tinggi dan memuaskan. Walau bagaimanapun, beberapa faktor dalaman dan luaran menghalang perkembangan kapasiti kepimpinan guru secara efektif dan cekap, antaranya ialah beban tugas guru dan tugas pentadbiran, kekurangan peruntukan bagi perkembangan staf. Bagi mengatasi perkara ini dicadangkan kerangka konseptual oleh Frost dan Harris (2003) digunakan bagi pembangunan staf atau guru, mewujudkan suasana sekolah yang kondustif, struktur organisasi semula yang membolehkan dan menggalakkan guru membuat keputusan dan menggalakkan perkembangan potensi kapasiti guru sebagai pemimpin pelapis.

The article is based on literature review of teacher leadership which is an increasingly popular concept to be implemented and used by practitioners and researchers in theirstudies. Therefore, this article discusses two local findings which may give an early indication of the practice of teacher leadership in Malaysia. The conclusion of the findings reported that leadership capacity of teachers in Malaysia is high and satisfactory. However, certain internal and external environment factors are impediments to the effective and efficient development of leadership capacity among teachers. Among the findings were: the burden of administrative and teaching duties of the teachers and the lack of financial support for staff development programs. As an alternative to overcome these obstacles, this article suggests the framework by Frost and Harris (2003) on the development of teacher leadership capacity. It involves front-line leadership responsibility for creating the role of leadership to enable the performance of duties among the teachers, the establishment of a conductive school environment and teacher self-development capacity. Among them, the front-line leaders must change their organizational structures so that teachers can also be involved in decision making. They should also strive to create a positive school culture for the school to trust the actions of the teacher leaders. Teacher leaders also need to develop themselves with a certain capacity as leader.