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In the ever-changing 21st-century landscape characterised by emerging global and technical trends, the search for relevant leaders in school systems relies on the premises of building a conducive, adaptive and inclusive learning environment. Thus, this article aims to examine the mediating effect of transformational leadership attributes of school leaders on their cultural intelligence and the organisational health of secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur. Using a quantitative design, a survey questionnaire was administered to 476 school leaders in Kuala Lumpur. The results from the survey were analysed using PLS-SEM technique with SmartPLS software, which established the direct effects of cultural intelligence on transformational leadership and organisational health. In addition, transformational leadership was determined to have a direct effect on organisational health. The evaluation of the structural model revealed that transformational leadership has a mediating effect on cultural intelligence of school leaders and organisational health of secondary schools. Aside from advancing the theoretical understanding of school leadership, the results of this article present reflection points for current and aspiring school leaders, opportunities for inclusion of cultural understanding in school leadership programs, and provisions in policies in organisational development in multicultural schools.

Over the last two decades, the rapid growth of ICT has become one of the most important topics discussed by the scholars in education. This is due to the capability of ICT in providing a dynamic and proactive teaching and learning environment. In line with the current digital era, teachers are required to integrate ICT in their daily teaching and replace their traditional methods with modern tools and facilities. The main focus of this paper is on effectiveness of ICT integration in education. More specifically, this paper aims at identifying the level of computer skills and knowledge of primary school teachers in the teaching and learning process. Moreover, the objective of this paper is to identify the level of ICT integration in teaching and learning process in classroom by primary school teachers. A total of 61 teachers from 10 public primary schools in Klang Valley, Malaysia have been selected randomly to complete this quantitative study's survey questionnaire. The findings illuminate that most of the teachers are normal users, and many teachers more frequently use ICT in the teachers' room for their work rather than using it in their classroom for teaching and learning. Moreover, results show that teachers should always be ready and well-equipped in terms of ICT competencies and positive attitude to provide ICT-based learning opportunities for students to improve their learning quality. Future studies need to consider other aspects of ICT integration specially from the management point of view such as strategic planning and policy making.

Financial literacy is a form of basic skills and understanding related to financial concepts. Individuals need to have a good foundation of financial literacy to face the increasingly complex and challenging global economic environment. Studies on the level of financial literacy of secondary school students, especially the B40 group, were not explored much. As a result, this research identified the need to develop a financial literacy model for Malaysian B40 secondary school students. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics based on percentages, mean values, and standard deviations. The findings indicated that school leaders perceived that the financial literacy model is needed and important for B40 Malaysian secondary school students. A strong foundation of financial literacy will provide the students with the knowledge and skills to confidently make financial decisions and manage personal finances efficiently and wisely in choosing the best financial products and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational leaders in the 21st century are under increasing pressure since they need to consistently upskill and reskill themselves so that they can adapt to rapid changes and be prepared to improve the quality of future education, as well as meet the demands of diverse stakeholders. Previous studies in the Malaysian context mostly focused on leadership training for newly appointed school principals, but there has not been much emphasis on continuous professional development for school leaders. This article provides an in-depth analysis of the appointment, preparation, and support system for Malaysian principals. In this study, a qualitative methodology has been applied, which involves document analysis based on policy documents, media, and previously published journal articles. The findings suggest that internal and external supports are currently being provided to principals. However, it proposes a wider framework of support for principals comprising internal and external support, including smart partnerships with diverse stakeholders such as industries, non-profit organizations, and international counterparts. The results provide insights to policymakers on the importance of consistently supporting school leaders to upskill with multifaceted skills to perform multiple functions, such as technological, economic, social, cultural, political, and learning leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to develop a competency model for staff of higher education institutions in Malaysia. The model involves the listing of the main features and implementation strategy for the development of academic competence. Specifically, this research aims to achieve the following research objectives: a) to identify if there is any significant difference between locally and internationally educated staff in terms of capacities, b) to identify if there is any significant correlation between the following demographics and levels of capacity, i. teaching experience, and ii. academic position; and c) to identify the level of capacity effectiveness among staff? This research applies a quantitative methodology through survey research. The sample includes 120 students in a public university evaluating 10 staff; 5 locally educated & 5 international. The instruments involves a modified questionnaire from an original instrument by Tengku Noorainun Tengku Shahdan (2011) The data analysis will use both statistical descriptive analysis--mean and standard deviation--and statistical inference analysis--Spearman's r correlation and Mann-Whitney U. This research found that there is no significant difference between locally and internationally educated faculties in terms of capacities when p = 0.267 (p > 0.05). For the second research question, this research found that there is no significant correlation between teaching experience with capacity level when p=0.314. On the other hand, there is a significant correlation between academic position with capacity level when p=0.032. For the third research question, this research found that both locally and internationally educated staff have a high level of effectiveness and satisfactory when the overall mean score is more than 3.80. The implication of this research is staff must pay more attention to developing themselves through scholarly works.

This article presents findings on the essential strategies required at the school site and the relevant people responsible for the effective implementation of school-based financial management in Malaysia. Many lessons have been learned since more than a decade of the school-based financial management reform in Malaysia through the establishment of school as Responsibility Centre or Pusat Tanggungjawab (PTj). The government of Malaysia has allocated an enormous amount of money for the education sector during last the few decades to ensure the highest quality of education for Malaysian society. Therefore school finance has to be managed strategically to confirm the best educational outcome through effective resource allocation. This study employed the qualitative approach using the interview method with ten selected principals heading schools with financial autonomy in Malaysia. The findings revealed a few essential strategies that need to be focused by schools both at individual level and school level in order to successfully manage school finances. The collaboration and mutual effort from all stakeholders are expected to bring transformation toward effective school based financial management in Malaysia.

The agenda for national development requires a persistent improvement in education as a tool for creating knowledgeable human capital, highly skilled labour, a high technology society and ultimately a highly civilized nation for the future challenging world. It requires considerable financial and technical investment as well as effective and efficient public administration to realize these aims. The persistent actions by the Federal Government and the Ministry of Education in Malaysia throughout the past decades to enhance the quality of school financial management were portrayed in the country's national master plans such as the Education Development Master Plan (PIPP) 2006-2010, the Tenth Malaysia Plan 2010-2015 and the Malaysia Education Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025. Among the strategies focused on upgrading education and curriculum delivery is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of educational financial management as a vital part of educational administration. The latest Tenth Malaysia Plan 2010-2015 was formed with the objective of revamping the education system in order to significantly raise student outcomes. As an innovative approach to realize the effectiveness of knowledge delivery, public-private partnerships have been established for pre-school and primary and secondary education which allow for significant autonomy for school managers.

The tide of globalization is moving so fast nowadays. Changes and its development are quite difficult to curb from spreading in our lives. These developments continue to have a positive impact on the community and no less giving various challenges to all of us especially to the world of education. The competency factor of the lecturer should increase in line with the changing environment. The opposite situation occurs in some educational institutions in Malaysia, such as vocational colleges (KV). Thus, the implementation of this study aimed to analyze the internal environment of vocational colleges involving information and communication technology (ICT) facilities as well as the effectiveness of ICT vocational colleges. Inferential analysis was used to identify contribution of exogenous variable to endogenous variable through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-AMOS). To achieve the objectives of the study, a survey - type quantitative study design was implemented. Questionnaire instruments were distributed to 388 vocational college lecturers in the central zone of Malaysia using stratified random sampling. Furthermore, the questionnaire data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 25. The findings showed that there is a significant relationship between technological facilities (such as computers) with ICT effectiveness when p<0.05. In terms of moderators, the demographics of lecturers, namely gender, age and computer usage practices of KV lecturers affect the effectiveness of ICT KV when the mean score exceed 8.50. Furthermore, the developed model also meets the model fit indices requirements with RMSEA value at 0.060, CFI=0.973, TLI=0.968, Chisq/df=2.380 and GFI=0. 901. The implications of the study indicate that the role of lecturers as educators is important in developing appropriate reforms in supporting the innovations that take place in educational organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dynamics of diversity and cultural competency are elements that run parallel with globalization. Appreciating diversity is part of global leadership competency. However, this assumption may not hold in a context in which multiculturalism diversity and competency are not an integral element for leadership competency for public sector educational leaders. Public organization should assimilate and practice appreciating diversity in the organizational leadership competency. Thus, the central aim of this study is to investigate and examine the appreciating diversity competency for educational leaders. The paper analyzed the appreciating competencies by using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) based on experts' consensus. The cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis ascertained and classified each competency based on their driving and dependent power. The hierarchical model developed through ISM yielded seven appreciating competencies divided into two dimensions for educational leaders. The model proposed could be adopted by stakeholders to upgrade the competency of educational leaders to practice and apply appreciating diversity. The ISM model could be adopted for the training and development of future educational leaders in preparation to administer and lead multicultural and multigenerational organizational communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective institutional leader is the crucial player to the successful or failure of an educational institution. However, the expectation to own an effective leader often in vain. The reason is because leaders lack of a standard guideline that based on the local context. Therefore, this study is to develop a proposed model of effective leadership for Malaysian higher educational institutions, in particular, higher educational institutions which are owned by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA). To achieve the research purpose, the questionnaires instrument were distributed to 240 academic staff from the selected higher educational institutions of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) in northern Perak, Malaysia. The data were analysed using a statistical method called Partial Least Square (PLS) to develop a proposed model of effective leadership. The effective leadership design model can provide guidelines and encourage leaders to enhance and bring positive change that helps educational institutions succeed and be effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]