Special Education Teacher Leadership Practice: A Malaysian Study

By Tang Keow Ngang and Ching Mey See.

Published by The International Journal of the Humanities

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

A descriptive study using questionnaires was conducted in 2008 to assess the perception and the implementation of teacher leadership practice displayed by integrated special education program teachers in the four regions of Malaysia. Creating energy in the classroom dimension, building capacity dimension, securing environment dimension, extending the vision dimension, meeting and minimising crisis dimension, and seeking and charting improvement dimension were key variables as teacher leadership dimensions that guided the study. Respondents were 369 integrated special education program school teachers. Data were analyzed descriptively through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) program using frequencies, percentages, mean, and t-test. The results reveal that the integrated special education program teachers not only practising but also applying all the six dimensions of teacher leadership at high level. Based on the t-test analysis, there is a significant difference between the level of agreement and the level of implementing the teacher leadership practice. This study indicates the importance of studying teacher leadership as the information collected would help the integrated special education teachers to practise, implement, access and maintain high level of teacher leadership which in turn to promote better classroom management.

Keywords:	Special Education, Integration Program, Teacher Leadership Practice

International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 7, Issue 3, pp.93-106. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 1.261MB).

Dr. Tang Keow Ngang

Senior Lecturer, School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Minden, Penang, Malaysia

Tang Keow Ngang is a senior lecturer in School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has a B.Ed (Hons) in Malay Language and Commerce, a M.Ed and Ph.D in the fields of Educational Administration and Management. All the three degree, she obtained from Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. Earlier she worked in Primary and Secondary Schools for seven and five years respectively. Currently, she has been awarded as an ASIA Fellows of the Asian Scholarship Foundation (ASF), an organization funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. This grant is to enable her to undertake her program of study/research project on “Development of Teacher Leadership Style in Creating Special Education Classroom Culture between China and Malaysia” at College of Education, Huazhong Normal University, Wuhan, China for a period of nine (9) consecutive months. She has published a number of research papers and articles in national and international journals, and produced a few research monographs and reports. Her research interests revolve around teacher leadership and collaborative management. She has been research leader on two USM short term grants and co-researchers in several research grants funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia, Centre of Malaysian Chinese Studies, Penang State Government Economic Planning Unit and Department of National Unity and Interaction.

Prof. Ching Mey See

Professor, School of Educational Studies, University Science Malaysia, Minden, Penang, Malaysia

See Ching Mey is a Professor in the School of Educational Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has published five academic books and about 200 international and national academic journal articles. She is the chief editor of the Journal of Counseling by the Association of Psychological and Educational Counselors of Asia, and editors of six other journals. She has received 16 research grants.

In recent years, she has been invited to give keynote, plenary presentations, talks and workshops at national and international conferences. She has received several awards recognizing her contributions, including several Outstanding Leadership and Service Awards from the Lions Clubs International, the Pingat Jasa Kebaktian (Meritorious Service Award) from the Penang State Government; Maal Hijrah Excellence Award (For Academic Category), University Science Malaysia; Sin Chew Da Ai Award (Sin Chew Kind Heart Award), and Alumni Citizenship Award 2007 from the Ohio State University Alumni Association.

Reviews:

There are currently no reviews of this product.

Write a Review