Exploring the practices and effectiveness of exemplary leardership at selected secondary schools in Selangor :the perception of educational learders

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the practices and effectiveness of Exemplary Leadership as perceived by educational leaders from the selected sixty ( 60) secondary schools in Selangor which have attained high academic achievement particularly in the Penilaian Menengah Rendah in 2008 to 20 I 0. This quantitative study utilized a questionnaire consisting of forty two (42) items from five characteristics on Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by Kouzes and Posner (2003) and four characteristics on Islamic principles in educational administration by Syed Mahbubul Alam AI-Hasani (2009). All the nine characteristics which are (I) Model the way, (2) Inspired a shared vision, (3) Challenge the process, ( 4) Enable others to act), (5) Encourage the heart, (6) Responsibility, (7) Accountability, (8) Trust and (9) Self-confidence are used respectively to identifY the practices and effectiveness of Exemplary leaders. The sample comprised 223 respondents` consisting of teachers ( 43.5% ), assistant principals (29.1% ), principals (16.1% ), parent teacher associations (8.1 %) and district education officers (3.1 %). The survey analysis indicated that the principals practised the nine characteristics of Exemplary Leadership. In addition, it revealed that most of them have a high practice in "Responsibility" and "Trust". Furthermore, this study also discovered that there was no significant difference of Exemplary leadership practices among school leaders between above average (excellent) and under average (low) performance schools. The study also revealed that the Exemplary leadership has contributed a positive relationship with Islamic principles in educational administration whereby both dimensions have the ability to continuously increase the school development and performance.