Quality leadership is key to improving the standard of education. With that in mind, ECM Libra Foundation is supporting the efforts by Pemimpin GSL to equip selected school leaders with skills to achieve that aim.
Over the next two years, 88 heads from 44 schools in the Gombak, Sentul and Petaling Utama regions will be imbued with best practices in leadership and education to help them improve teaching and learning quality, set performance goals and strengthen management skills.
They will undergo a series of 14 workshops and coaching lessons by Pemimpin GSL, a not-for-profit venture that has been conducting school leadership training in Malaysia since 2017. The lessons are aimed at improving school performance and student learning.
These will be second cohort of school leaders to be trained by Pemimpin GSL following the successful graduation of the first batch consisting of 48 heads from 22 schools in the Klang and Klang Valley regions in December 2019.
Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching, who launched the event on January 17, said that the transformation of the education system does not rely solely on one party, and emphasised the importance of Public Private Partnership in ensuring the sustainability of the education system.
ECM Libra Foundation is sponsoring the training of leaders from 17 primary and seven secondary schools in the Gombak region for this second cohort.
Leaders who are motivated and well-equipped with teaching know-hows can be effective agents of change, and we like it that Pemimpin GSL addresses school leadership to bring about the much-needed transformational change in our education sector.
For instance, two leaders from SMK Tengku Idris Shah in the first cohort worked on a programme to promote leadership among students with disciplinary issues. The students were entrusted with leading a project, resulting in higher participation in school-led activities and lower absenteeism, among other marked improvements.
School heads from the second cohort will be attending 40 hours of workshop and 28 hours of coaching this year and the next. Workshop contents are centred on the themes of strategic leadership, instructional leadership, human resource leadership, community leadership and operational leadership.
Pemimpin GSL founder Cheryl Ann Fernando said she is confident that the new batch of school leaders will grow by leaps and bounds with the training. “We’re excited to see their progress, all for the betterment of education in Malaysia.”