The National Professional Qualification for Headship (NPQH) programme for secondary school headteachers in Malaysia: an evaluative case study

The current focus on school leader preparation around the world is based upon the belief that school leaders make a difference in both the effectiveness and efficiency of schooling (Hallinger and Snidvongs, 2008). This study is an evaluative case study on the NPQH programme in Malaysia and it sought perceptions of eighteen incumbent secondary school headteachers who are graduates from the Masters degree group of the programme to determine the effectiveness of the programme in their headship practices. The study is a qualitative dominant mixed methods research which used semi-structured interview as its main method and adopted a mixed approach of evaluation models. Overall perception on the NPQH training programme was sought with strengths and weaknesses identified and influence of school context considered. The extent of leadership learning from the time of graduation was also sought from those who were not appointed straight into headship. As NPQH in Malaysia was acknowledged as the proper national level programme in preparing heads, further improvements were indicated in this study. A tentative model for headship preparation in Malaysia, derived from the findings of this study, is presented alongside contribution of this study to the knowledge of school leadership preparation.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

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Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

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Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Birmingham

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Bishen Singh, Gurcharan Singh

• LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools