This study aimed to determine the teachers' perception of their Senior Assistant of Co-curricular leadership style (consideration and initiating structure) in Kota Kinabalu secondary schools in relation to their job satisfaction levels. The finding showed that Senior Assistant of Co-curricular tend to apply consideration leadership style compared to the initiating structure leadership style based on the mean comparison of both results. The survey also revealed that the leadership style of Senior Assistant of Co-curricular is located in quadrant II in the Ohio Grid of Leadership which is high consideration leadership style and moderate initiating structure leadership style. The result found that secondary school teachers in Kota Kinabalu district have a moderate level of job satisfaction and there was a significant relationship between leadership style and job satisfaction. The correlation was positive and stood at a moderate relationship. Consideration leadership style had a higher correlation with job satisfaction compared to initiating structure leadership style. The regression findings of this study support the previous studies which stated that consideration leadership style more affected to job satisfaction compared to the initiating structure leadership style. Therefore, to improve the quality of teachers' work and their job satisfaction, it is proposed that the allocation of tasks by the school administrators or policymakers need to be more efficient and balanced to achieve optimum job satisfaction among teachers.

The instructional leadership of a principal has a positive effect on teacher readiness for change. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between three dimensions of principal instructional leadership and teacher readiness for change in implementing School-Based Assessment (SBA) among secondary school teachers in Selangor, Malaysia. A quantitative correlational design was used to collect the data using an adapted questionnaire to measure principal instructional leadership and teacher readiness for change. Data was obtained from 402 secondary teachers in Selangor, who were selected through stratified random sampling. Data was analysed using SPSS in the form of mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation analysis. The findings show that the level of instructional leadership of the principal as a whole is high with a mean of 3.68 and standard deviation 0.57. The overall level of readiness for change among the teachers is high with a mean of 3.72 and standard deviation of 0.51. Tests to determine the correlation between the dimensions of the mission of school (r = 0.321, p <0.05) and creating school learning climate (r = 0.371, p <0.05) with readiness for change among the teachers show a significant positive but low correlation. Meanwhile, the relationship between managing the teaching program (r = 0.470, p <0.05) with readiness for change among the teachers shows a significant positive but moderate correlation. Overall, the effect of principal instructional leadership on readiness for change shows that instructional leadership has a positive and significant correlation with the readiness for change. This study provides the basis for teacher readiness to face changes and strengthening the educational administration field in enhancing instructional leadership in schools.

The instructional leadership of a principal has a positive effect on teacher readiness for change. As such, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between three dimensions of principal instructional leadership and teacher readiness for change in implementing School-Based Assessment (SBA) among secondary school teachers in Selangor. A quantitative correlational design was used to collect the data using an adapted questionnaire to measure principal instructional leadership and teacher readiness for change. Principal instructional leadership was measured using “Principal Instructional Measurement Rating Scale” (PIMRS) by Hallinger, while teacher readiness for change was measured using “Readiness for Organizational Change Scale” by Holt et al. The data for this cross-sectional study was obtained from 402 teachers who were selected through stratified random sampling. Data was analysed using SPSS in the form of mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation analysis. The findings show that the level of instructional leadership of the principal as a whole is high with a mean of 3.68 and standard deviation 0.57. The overall level of readiness for change among the teachers is high with a mean of 3.72 and standard deviation of 0.51. Tests to determine the correlation between the dimensions of the mission of school (r = 0.321, p <0.05) and creating school learning climate (r = 0.371, p <0.05) with readiness for change among the teachers show a significant positive but low correlation. Meanwhile, the relationship between managing the teaching program (r = 0.470, p <0.05) with readiness for change among the teachers shows a significant positive but moderate correlation. Overall, this study provides the basis for teacher readiness to face changes and strengthening the educational administration field in enhancing instructional leadership model in schools.

Malaysian education system has come under public scrutiny and debate, their concern regarding not only the system but also the teachers and administrators to adequately prepared young Malaysian for the 21st century. The purpose of the study is to explore the knowledge base or the ideology about effective instructional leadership among the principals and with this ideology how they practice their instructional leadership on student achievement. The study also want to investigate is there any changes on principals instructional leadership practices due to the astonishing impact of ICT and globalization. This study is hoped to be able to assist the principals in reevaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their instructional leadership practices so that not only can increase student achievement in Malaysian Education System but also increase in global standard. The methodology is a qualitative study in which interviews were conducted with 3 purposive principals in Seremban district. Result indicated that purposive principals were understood instructional leadership as synonymous with clear vision and goal, be a role model, classroom supervision, supporting and listening but they not elaborated about school climate. However their goal and vision is not toward globalization but still answerable to the system of exam-oriented and lacking of culture on learning and professional behavior which been too long in Malaysian society.

In the education arena, teachers are the front line education workforce who educate the young people and bring positive impact to the new generation in a country. The roles of the teacher are pertinent in ensuring the success of students in pursuing their tertiary level from their common primary and secondary school education. With a high teacher efficacy level, a teacher is committed to teach more effectively and efficiently (Coladarci, 2010). Teacher’s efficacy research has been widely conducted in various international education settings but it is still important to revisit the validity and reliability of teacher efficacy in Malaysia context. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess the uni-dimensionality, validity, reliability and fitness of teacher efficacy model. The teacher efficacy items have Cronbach’s alpha value greater than 0.70 for the reliability of three sub-constructs. The convergent and discriminant validity were also established as they fulfilled the criteria. Lastly, the teacher efficacy measurement model fulfilled the criteria for the goodness-of-fit in SEM and it is fit to embark to the structural modelling in SEM.

To achieve educational excellence, Malaysia has implemented various changes in the educational system. Globalisation, liberalisation, and advancements made in information technology have impelled national education policy makers to implement improvements in education policy. School-based Assessment (SBA) was introduced by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) in an effort to enhance the quality of teaching and learning processes in schools. This initiative is in line with the National Transformation Programme to produce human capital that can compete at the international level. Principals as instructional leaders are agents for pedagogical change that create a school environment conducive to learning. Past studies of organisations under reform have shown a relationship between leadership and a readiness toward change. Hence, this paper discusses the concept of principal instructional leadership and teacher readiness toward change in relation to education reform, and specifically the transition to SBA.

This study provides an insight of the relationship between principals’ transformational school leadership practices and teacher efficacy among Malaysian secondary school teachers. Data was gathered from teachers of secondary schools in the central region of Peninsular Malaysia. The self-administered questionnaires, totalling 160 copies were distributed to the respondents. Valid samples stood at 137 teachers, resulting in a response rate of 85.6 percent. The data was analysed using descriptive, correlation and multiple regression analyses to evaluate the relationship between transformational leadership practices and teacher efficacy. The analysis revealed a significant relationship between the dimensions in transformational school leadership and teacher efficacy. The findings concur with the studies done by Leithwood (1994) that there is a significant relationship between the dimensions of transformational school leadership practices and teacher efficacy. These findings are also in line with past research (Kristine & Hipp, 1997; Peagler, 2004; Ross, J. A, Gray, 2006) that the said transformational leadership contributes toward teachers’ self-efficacy. Therefore, this study strengthens the findings by engaging in similar relationship.

Pencapaian akademik pelajar merupakan agenda reformasi ke arah pendidikan yang berkualiti seperti yang dirancang dalam Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia 2015-2025. Justeru peranan kepimpinan pendidikan di sekolah dari pelbagai peringkat dilihat amat penting bagi mewujudkan pendidikan berkualiti. Selain kepimpinan pengetua di sekolah, kepimpinan guru tidak seharusnya dipinggirkan kerana kepimpinan guru merupakan agen perubahan yang penting dalam usaha melahirkan sekolah yang berkesan. Para sarjana mendapati kepimpinan guru mampu memberi impak kepada pencapaian akademik pelajar di sekolah. Namun di Malaysia, isu kepimpinan guru ini masih lagi dianggap baharu dan kurang mendapat perhatian. Fokus utama kajian adalah untuk melihat hubungan kepimpinan guru dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar. Selain itu, kajian juga turut melihat tahap kepimpinan guru berdasarkan enam dimensi kepimpinan guru yang dicadangkan oleh Katzenmeyer dan Katzenmeyer (2004) iaitu kesedaran kendiri dan membawa perubahan, komunikasi, kepelbagaian, kemahiran pengajaran, penambahbaikan yang berterusan dan organisasi kendiri. Model yang digunakan dalam kajian ini ialah berasaskan Model Pembangunan Kepimpinan Guru atau Leadership Development for Teachers Model (LDT) oleh Katzenmeyer dan Moller (2009). Data diperolehi melalui soal selidik Teacher Leadership Self Assessment (TLSA) oleh Katzenmeyer dan Katzenmeyer (2004). Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 387 orang guru dari 40 buah sekolah menengah harian di negeri Johor yang dipilih secara rawak mudah. Data soal selidik dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan inferensi menggunakan perisian SPSS IBM Version 20.0. Secara keseluruhannya dapat dirumuskan amalan kepimpinan guru di sekolah menengah harian berada pada tahap tinggi (min = 4.28, SP = 0.43). Terdapat hubungan positif signifikan pada tahap lemah antara kepimpinan guru dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar dengan nilai r = 0.173 dan sig = 0.000 (p<0.05). Hasil kajian ini mempromosi peranan kepimpinan guru di sekolah yang boleh membawa kepada perubahan yang positif terhadap pencapaian akademik pelajar. Dengan adanya maklumat tentang kepimpinan guru ini dan hubungannya dengan pencapaian akademik pelajar, diharap pihak KPM, JPN mahupun PPD dapat merancang dan menyediakan kursus perkembangan profesionalisma untuk pemimpin guru bagi mempromosi, melatih dan membimbing guru-guru menjadi pemimpin di sekolah dalam usaha meningkatkan kualiti profesional guru dan pencapaian akademik pelajar di sekolah.

Article history: Received 30 September 2014 Received in revised form 17 November 2014 Accepted 25 November 2014 Available online 6 December 2014

Background: Instructional leaders are responsible for organizing, creating, and ensuring a positive attitude toward change. This role is very important for ensuring the success of any reforms. Objective: The main objective of this paper is to establish the validity and reliability of the twenty-two item version of the “Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale” (PIMRS-22) instrument to measure the level of instructional leadership behaviors of principals in implementing the educational policy change of School-Based Assessment (SBA). This twenty-two item instrument was developed by Hallinger (2013) and is based on the Instructional Leadership Model which included three dimensions; determine school mission, management of an instructional program, and creating a learning culture within a school. This instrument was validated by experts and its reliability tested within a pilot study conducted with a total of 60 teachers from 3 secondary schools. Results: The overall reliability coefficient of this instrument was determined to be .94. The determination of school mission had a coefficient of .85, the management of the instructional program .88, and the creation of a learning climate .90. Conclusion: Based on the Cronbach alpha coefficient results, this instrument has content validity, as well as good reliability for quantitatively measuring instructional leadership qualities of principals when implementing educational reform.

In this study the researchers explored the effects of teacher attrition in Niger state, Nigeria. The study examined how attrition is affecting the educational development of the state from the teachers' perspective. A qualitative method was used with the aim of extracting the inner feelings of the participants regarding the effects of attrition. Five serving teachers were purposively selected. An in-depth interview, non-participatory observation and document analysis were used as means for data collection. The findings discovered; cost implication, increased in workload, poor students' performance and burden on school administration, as the major effects of teacher attrition. The paper therefore recommends that, the state government needs to improve the condition of service of teachers with the aim of reducing the rate of attrition so as to improve the educational standard of the state.

The purpose of this research was to explore additional causes of teacher attrition different from the conventional causes as identified by many literatures around the world. A qualitative method was used. Six serving teachers in two urban secondary schools in Niger state, Nigeria were purposively sampled, an in depth interview and document analysis was used as a means of data collection. The findings discovered; late payment of salary, irregular promotion, and Language problem among students, as the additional causes of teacher attrition. The paper concludes that teacher attrition is affected by the three major factors identified from the studyand these factors give the impression that teaching profession is not respected as other government profession in the study area hence their welfare was not given a due consideration.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the levels of job satisfaction and to determine the effect of demographic factors on levels of satisfaction among secondary school teachers in Bangladesh. The study utilized a descriptive correlational research design. Job satisfaction instrument by Spector (1997) was sent to 367 participants. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. independent t-test and ANNOVA. The teachers were moderately satisfied with their job. The construct work itself was ranked highest and benefit was ranked as the lowest of the examined constricts. The findings of this study revealed that no significant difference was found in the job satisfaction based on gender and education. The other two demographic variables age and year of experience at current organisation do influence the level of jobs satisfaction. The result of the study can help teachers and administrators to take action to increase the satisfaction level teachers.

Academic staff's performance plays a vital role in higher education institutions to enjoy high quality research and excellent teaching. It can be stated that academic staff's job satisfaction has influence on their quality of performance. Hence, the factors which may affect their level of job satisfaction is critical to higher education institutions. This research is an attempt to examine the differences in the job satisfaction among academic staff in terms of their demographic characteristics. The total population was 3430 academic staff working at three Malaysian Research Universities, whereby out of this number, 400 were surveyed, making up a response rate of 74.5%. Using Wood Faculty Job Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction Scale, results are revealed in terms of intrinsic, extrinsic, and overall job satisfactions, whereby the academic staffs were found to be at the moderate satisfaction level. Gender, academic rank, and age were identified as the influencing factors for academic staff job satisfaction, while their level of education was not.

This study attempts to investigate factors that influence the psychological empowerment with work motivation and work withdrawal intention of school principals in Malaysia. The sample population comprised school principals. A total of 101 self-administered questionnaires were analysed. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients (Pearson r's) or Point bi-serial (rpb) coefficients were computed between the psychological empowerment total scores and those of the independent variables (or subvariables). Total scores from the four psychological empowerment dimensions and the PE-Overall were correlated individually with scores from the independent variables of Work Motivation and Work Withdrawal Intention. Results indicated all five aspects of psychological empowerment (PE-Overall, PE-Meaning, PE-Competence, PE-Self-determination and PE-Impact) correlated positively and significantly with the Intrinsic Work motivation domain. This study also proves that when withdrawal intentions increased, the dimensional component levels of psychological empowerment decreased correspondingly.

The purpose of this study was firstly to identify the extent to which Iranian secondary school principals used computers and secondly to explore the relationship between a number of variables related to the use of information and communications technology (ICT). Findings indicated that four factors played a role in explaining the level of computer use by principals. These factors included high level of computer access, strong perceptions of the attributes of ICT, high level of computer competence, as well as the high level of transformational leadership behaviors, all contributed significantly to the level of computer use by principals. All four constructs are equally important but have varying impacts on computer use. Therefore, all four constructs should be viewed in an integrated manner in accordance to the conceptual model proposed in this study.