4. jilid 3 bil 1 jun 2011

LEMBAGA PENGARANG
JURNAL PENDIDIKAN DAN LATIHAN

Jilid 3 Bil.01 Jun 2011 ISSN : 1985-9597

PENAUNG

Ibrahim bin Ahmad
Ketua Pengarah
Majlis Amanah Rakyat MARA

PENASIHAT

Abd Rahim bin Abd Ghani
Timbalan Ketua Pengarah (Pendidikan)
Majlis Amanah Rakyat MARA

SIDANG EDITOR

Dr. Nor Aini binti Aziz
Puan Khairiah binti Hasbullah
Puan Samsiah binti Yahaya
Dr. Umi Kalthom binti Abd Manaf
Pn. Farizah binti Mohamed Onn

Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Latihan
Jilid 3 Bil. 01, Jun 2011

Diterbitkan oleh:

Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA)
No. 21, Jalan Raja Laut
50609 Kuala Lumpur

©Hak Cipta MARA 2011

Hak cipta terpelihara. Tiada mana-mana bahagian daripada penerbitan
ini boleh diterbitkan semula atau disimpan dalam bentuk yang boleh
diperoleh semula atau disiar dalam bentuk dengan apa cara, sekalipun,
sama ada secara elektronik fotokopi, mekanikal, rakaman atau
sebaliknya tanpa mendapat izin bertulis daripada MAJLIS AMANAH
RAKYAT (MARA).

Lembaga Pengarang Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Latihan Majlis Amanah
Rakyat MARA menjemput para pembaca untuk menyumbang artikel
dalam bidang pendidikan dan teknikal . Sumbangan artikel yang dihantar
mestilah ditaip menggunakan font Arial 11 dan langkau 1.5. Artikel yang
dihantar mestilah mengandungi abstrak tidak melebih 150 perkataan
serta mempunyai biodata penulis. Artikel hendaklah dihantar dalam
bentuk softcopy dan hardcopy kepada :

Lembaga Pengarang Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Latihan
d/a Unit Naziran Dan Kualiti Pendidikan MARA
Tingkat 8, Ibu Pejabat MARA
No. 21, Jalan Raja Laut
50609 Kuala Lumpur
Tel : (03) 26985903
Faks : (03) 26986140
e-mail : infoUNQ@mara.gov.my

ii

Kandungan Mukasurat

Dari Meja Sidang Editor v

Kurikulum Sejarah Ke Arah Pembentukan Perpaduan 1
Kaum di Malaysia
Ahamad bin Rahim
Azwani bin Ismail
Dr Abdul Razaq bin Ahmad
Prof Madya Dr Datin Zahara binti Aziz
Dr Sharifah Nur Puteh

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Intentions among MARA 19
Professional Colleges’ students
Dr Mumtaz Begam Bt Abdul Kadir,
Munirah Bt Salim,
Halimahton Bt Kamarudin

A Study of Relationship Between Leadership Practices and 41
Learning Organization Practices in Cluster Secondary
Schools
Fuziah Binti Mat Yakop
Dr Mohd Izham Bin Mohd Hamzah

Tahap Amalan Pengurusan Sumber Manusia dan 57
Kepuasan Guru di Sekolah Rendah Agama Negeri
Selangor
Othman bin Yahya
Nor ‘Azlin binti Salamun
Ahmad Nawawi bin Shaari
Jamalullail bin Abdul Wahab

Transformasi Pemikiran : Satu Pandangan dari Sudut 73
Fahaman Konstruktivis

Dr Nor Aini binti Aziz

iii

Dari Meja
Sidang Editor

Jurnal Pendidikan dan Latihan merupakan satu usaha oleh MARA untuk
memartabatkan budaya ilmu penyelidikan pendidikan dalam kalangan
warga kerja MARA khususnya, serta masyarakat pendidik umumnya. Di
samping itu, penerbitan jurnal ini bertujuan untuk mengenengahkan hasil
penyelidikan yang telah dijalankan agar dapat membantu warga
pengurus dan pemimpin pendidikan mengenalpasti inovasi yang boleh
diguna pakai dalam usaha untuk meningkatkan mutu pengurusan dan
kepimpinan dalam Pendidikan MARA.

Penerbitan Jurnal Pendidikan dan Latihan Jilid 3, Biilangan 1 kali ini
memuatkan sebanyak lima buah artikel yang disumbang oleh para
pendidik MARA serta penyelidik dari institusi pengajian tinggi di Malaysia.

Kurikulum Sejarah Ke Arah Pembentukan Perpaduan Kaum di Malaysia
oleh Ahamad bin Rahim dan rakan-rakan membincangkan peranan
pendidikan sejarah di sekolah menengah bagi membantu meningkatkan
usaha ke arah mempertingkatkan tahap integrasi kaum di Malaysia selari
dengan konsep 1 Malaysia. Kertas kerja ini meninjau dari aspek
permasalahan dalam pendidikan sejarah dan mencadangkan beberapa
langkah yang sesuai bagi menjadikan mata pelajaran Sejarah mampu
menerapkan nilai-nilai yang berkaitan dengan hubungan kaum dari aspek
kandungan, penerapan nilai dan aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran.

Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Intentions Among MARA Professional
Colleges’ students oleh Dr Mumtaz Begam Bt Abdul Kadir, Pn Munirah Bt

v

Salim dan Pn Halimahton Bt Kamarudin mengupas mengenai persepsi
pelajar Kolej Profesional MARA terhadap niat atau hasrat untuk menjadi
usahawan. Kajian ini dijalankan menggunakan model psikologi yang
berasaskan teori sikap yang dirancang iaitu Teori Ajzen. Dapatan kajian
menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan antara faktor sikap,
tingkah laku dan bantuan pendidikan ke arah merealisasikan hasrat atau
niat untuk menjadi seorang usahawan.

A Study of Relationship Between Leadership Practices And Learning
Organization Practices In Cluster Secondary Schools yang ditulis oleh
Fuziah Binti Mat Yakop dan Dr. Mohd Izham Bin Mohd Hamzah
menghurai tentang persepsi guru di Sekolah Menengah Kluster terhadap
hubungan antara amalan Kepimpinan Transformasi di kalangan
pengetua dengan amalan guru dalam organisasi pembelajaran tersebut.
Hasil kajian mendapati hubungan antara dua pembolehubah tersebut
adalah ditahap tinggi. Manakala, dapatan daripada analisis statistik
menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan positif secara
sederhana antara amalan kepimpinan transformasi dengan organisasi
pembelajaran.

Tahap Amalan Pengurusan Sumber Manusia dan Kepuasan Guru Di
Sekolah Rendah Agama Negeri Selangor oleh Othman bin Yahya serta
rakan-rakan mengkaji tentang tahap amalan pengurusan sumber
manusia dari perspektif guru dan tahap kepuasan guru berkaitan amalan
pengurusan sumber manusia di sekolah-sekolah rendah agama di
Daerah Hulu Langat dan Sepang, Selangor. Dapatan kajian
menunjukkan amalan pengurusan sumber manusia berada pada tahap
‘memuaskan’. Manakala, dalam aspek kepuasan guru, didapati bahawa
secara keseluruhannya berada pada tahap ‘agak puashati’.

vi

Akhir sekali, artikel Transformasi Pemikiran : Satu Pandangan Dari
Sudut Fahaman Konstruktivis oleh Dr. Nor Aini binti Aziz
membincangkan persoalan mengapa pemikiran yang sedia ada sukar
diubah dalam menjana Transformasi Pemikiran. Penulis telah
mencadangan beberapa strategi untuk mengatasi ketegaran
kefahaman ini berdasarkan dapatan kajian pendidikan sains dari sudut
fahaman konstruktivis.

Diharapkan jurnal ini sebagai satu wacana cendiakawan, mampu
membantu merealisasikan Tema Hari Guru 2011, “Guru Penjana
Transformasi Pendidikan Negara”.

Sebagai penutup bicara, sidang editor melahirkan penghargaan kepada
Dr. Uzi bin Dollah dan Prof. Madya Dr. Feridah binti Mohd. Nadzar, yang
telah sudi menjadi pewasit dan mengucapkan syabas kepada semua
yang terlibat dalam penerbitan jurnal pada kali ini.

Selamat Membaca dan Berfikir.

Majlis Amanah Rakyat
Jun 2011

vii

FACTORS AFFECTING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AMONG
MARA PROFESSIONAL COLLEGE STUDENTS

Dr Mumtaz Begam Bt Abdul Kadir,
Pn Munirah Bt Salim,
Pn Halimahton Bt Kamarudin
Kolej Profesional MARA Bandar Melaka

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine MARA Professional College
students’ perception on entrepreneurial intention. The study was
build on psychological model based on Ajzen’s theory of planned
behaviour to identify the factors influencing the entrepreneurial
intention of these students. The study analyzes the factors
contributing towards entrepreneurial intention among Mara
Professional College students. Data were collected through
questionnaires obtained from 181 students of three different
programmes offered in MARA Professional Colleges. The study
utilized correlation and regression statistics to analyse the data.
The findings showed a significant relationship between attitudinal
factor(r=0.5324), behavioural factor (r=0.5668) and educational
support(r=0.6241) towards entrepreneurial intention. Educational
support contributed the most (39%), followed by behavioural factor
with 32.1% and attitudinal factor contributed 28.3% towards
entrepreneurial intention among MARA Professional Colleges. It is
suggested that educational support through professional education
in these colleges is an efficient way of obtaining necessary
knowledge about entrepreneurship. The result of the study has
valuable implications for policy makers in Higher Education Division,
college administrators and educators.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Intention; Entrepreneurship, Education;
Educational Support

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INTRODUCTION

Malaysia has begun to focus on educational practices through
educational institutions. These institutions have begun to study factors
associated with entrepreneurship (Norasmah et al, 2003).
Entrepreneurship has also captured the attention of policy makers in
MARA. The main reason for this concern is the growing need for
Bumiputera entrepreneurs to accelerate the economic development by
providing employment opportunity and increasing competitiveness
(Salmah, et al 2007). Mara Higher Educational programmes have
embraced entrepreneurship in its curriculum in Mara Professional
Colleges.. Significant amount of money has been allocated to design
and carryout a viable entrepreneurship education for students who
enrolled into these colleges. These colleges provide educational and
assistance programmes such as the Young Entrepreneur Programme for
practicing businesses.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Literature review on entrepreneurship education shows that there are two
schools of thought regarding the conceptual framework for teaching
entrepreneurship. One is the “new venture creation” and the other is
known as “innovation” (Saks & Ganglion, 2002). Entrepreneurship
education tries to develop in the participants the intention to perform
entrepreneurial behaviours, entrepreneurial knowledge and desirability of
the entrepreneurial activity (Liñán, 2004). There are various
entrepreneurial education scope and structure among higher education in
Malaysia.

College students are trained as preparation to enter the business world
according to their areas of study. However, whether they would be
officers or entrepreneurs after graduation would be determined by their
intent. An intention is an anticipated outcome guided by planned actions.
The theory of planned behaviour is linked between attitudes and
behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). Intentions predict deliberate behaviours
because behaviour can be planned. Intention is assumed to take hold of
emotional factors that influence behaviour and indicate one’s effort to try
to perform intentional behaviour. In the context of entrepreneurship,

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intension is identified as the important property for establishing an
organisation (Kantz & Gartner, 1988) and as a predictor of new reliable
enterprise (Krueger, Michael & Casrud 2000).

Many studies on college students’ intention to become entrepreneurs
have been conducted. Christian (2000), studied on Batak students’
intention to be entrepreneurs and found that 65% of the respondent had
intention to be entrepreneurs. Another study on Balinese students’
intention showed that out of 105 respondents, 39.5% stated their intent to
be an entrepreneur and 35% more stated their desire to be entrepreneurs
(Lie, 2004). Study by Christine (2004) on Chinese students’ intention to
be entrepreneurs found that out of 105 respondents, 33.66% stated their
intend to be entrepreneurs and 13.86% desired to be entrepreneurs.
Similar study done by Gerald (2006) on Javanese students’ intention to
be entrepreneurs found that out of 194 respondents, 30.4% stated their
intent to be entrepreneurs and 22% stated their desire to be
entrepreneurs.

Personality trait is becoming popular as an explanation of entrepreneurial
behaviors and intentions. Personality trait is described as constructs to
explain regularities in people’s behaviour. Contemporary theorist
identifies five fundamental personality dimensions which are
extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and
openness to experience. Traits predicting behaviour include risk taking,
achievement motivation and locus of control.

The concept of locus of control refers to a generalized belief that a
person can or cannot control his or her own destiny. Those who ascribe
control of events to themselves are identified as having an internal locus
and those who attribute control to outside forces are categorized as
having external locus of control (Spector, 1997). Gifford (2003), in a study
theorizes that the influence of locus of control on perceptual alertness is
the potential ability to see opportunities in the environment and explains
the influence of locus of control on entrepreneurs. He concluded a person
who has internal locus of control has greater amounts of perceptual
alertness which leads to spontaneous learning.

Curiosity has also been identified as a major motivator of behaviour in
domains such as educational, occupational and recreational areas (Reio

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& Wiswell, 2000). A study conducted by Kashdan and Roberts (2004)
found that highly curious individuals are more motivated to explore new
environments to obtain diverse cognitive, perceptual, or sensational
information to satisfy their curiosity.

An entrepreneur is a person who creates new business by taking risks
and uncertainties in order to gain some benefits and growth in business
by identifying the opportunities and combining different resources
required to establish the new business (Zimmerer & Scarborough, 2004).
Brockhaus (1980) identified that risk to tolerance or ambiguity tolerance
does not affect entrepreneurs differently. However, Ghosh and Block
(1993) identified that risk and ambiguity have distinguished effects on
entrepreneurial behaviour.

High creativity in running enterprise is a need for an entrepreneur. An
entrepreneur should be ready to keep thinking and finding new
opportunity in coping with problems and expanding the enterprise. Scott
(1999) conducted a study on 36 entrepreneurial start-ups addressing
specifically to the role of creativity in business start-ups. This study
summarized case findings of these thirty-six start-ups and determined
that where the fits are strong novelty generating components of creativity.
Study by Riyanti (2007) found that an entrepreneur’s creativity generally
leads to creative innovations.

The study by Autio, Keeley, Klofsten, & Ulfstedt, (1997) that investigated
entrepreneurial intention of university students in various cultural contexts
indicated that the encouragement from university environment affects the
entrepreneurial confidence of university students. Educational support
through professional education in universities is an efficient way of
obtaining necessary knowledge about entrepreneurship. This is
supported by the study done by Wang and Wong (2004) who pointed out
that entrepreneurial dreams of many students are hindered by
inadequate preparation of the academic institution. The school and
education system also play a critical role in identifying and shaping
entrepreneurial traits (Ibrahim & Soufani, 2002). Other studies have
pointed out that entrepreneurship education, especially education that
provides technological training, is crucial to enhance entrepreneurs’
innovation skills in an increasingly challenging environment (Galloway &
Brown, 2002 ; Garavan & O’Cinneide, 1994).

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Therefore, previous studies have shown variables that might affect
entrepreneurial intention. The area of this study covers behavioural,
attitudinal and educational support factors and how these influence the
intentions of students to become entrepreneurs.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

MARA has taken many steps to strengthen its education sector.
Entrepreneurial education is primarily the focus of Mara Professional
Colleges. Students from various academic programmes are required to
take courses in foundations of entrepreneurial knowledge, skills and
attitudes. However, it is unknown whether contextual founding conditions
or rather personality traits that drove students’ intention to self-
employment. In order to design an effective programme, policy makers
have to know the factors mentioned above that need to be emphasized
(Autio et al 1997). Currently, after 3 years of following the business and
entrepreneurship based programmes, students’ interests in pursuing self-
employment seemed to dissipate. Thus, There is a need to conduct a
study focusing on students’ perception of the entrepreneurial intention
and the factors affecting their decisions.

OBJECTIVE

This paper therefore has the following objectives:
1. To examine the relationship between attitudinal factors
(personality traits, locus of control, curiosity), behavioural factor
(risk taking and creativity) and educational support with intention
to be an entrepreneur.
2. To examine the contribution of attitudinal, behavioural and
educational support factor towards intention to be an
entrepreneur.

RESEARCH CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework for this study is built based on the Theory of
Planned Behaviour by Ajzen (1991) and previously presented model on
determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and behaviour by Bird (1988),
Krueger and Carsrud (1993) and Shapero and Sokol (1982). This

23

conceptual framework explains that entrepreneurial intention among
students is influenced by three main factor and they are attitudinal factor,
educational support and behavioural factors as shown in Figure 1. The
dependent variable in this research is intention of entrepreneurship.
Intentionality can be defined as a state of mind directing a person’s
attention, experience and action towards a specific path to achieve
something (Bird, 1988). Therefore, intention is a predictor of planned
entrepreneurial behaviour (Kruger & Carsud, 1993). The independent
variables employed in this framework are attitudinal factor (personal
traits, risk taking and locus of control); behavioural factors (creativity and
curiosity) and educational support (syllabus, pedagogy and co-
curriculum). The demographic factor is the controlled variables which
consist of gender, programme and family background.

ATTITUDINAL
FACTORS
 Personality
Traits
 Curiosity
 Locus of Control
DEMOGRAPHIC
INTENTION TO
 Gender BE AN
 Programme EDUCATIONAL ENTREPRENEUR
 Family SUPPORT
Background  Syllabus
 Pedagogy
 Co-Curriculum

BEHAVIOURIAL
FACTORS
 Creativity
 Risk Taking

Fig 1 : Research Conceptual Framework
(Adapted from Bird (1988), Krueger and Carsrud (1993) & Shapero and
Sokol (1982))

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METHODOLOGY

This study was carried out through a survey method, using
questionnaires as the main instrument. This sample consists of
respondents among students from three programmes (Diploma in
Entrepreneurship, Diploma in Business Studies, Diploma in Accountancy
and Diploma in Islamic Banking and Finance) in MARA Professional
Colleges. A convenience sample was selected to obtain participant from
representative in terms of gender and programme. The profile of the
respondents is provided in the Table 1 below.

Table 1 Profile of Respondents
Number of Respondent
Type of Programme Male Female
Diploma in Entrepreneurship 45 43
Diploma in Business Studies 25 58
Diploma in Accountancy 27 69
Total 87 170

INSTRUMENT

The questionnaire consists of 2 sections to measure the studied
elements. Section A consists of 3 items on the demography information
i.e. gender, programme and family background. Section B contains 70
items firstly, to measure attitudinal factor (personal traits, curiosity and
locus of control), behavioural factors (creativity and risk taking) and
educational support (syllabus, pedagogy and co-curriculum). In order to
examine the personality traits, 9 items from five trait clusters which are
extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and
openness were used. The items were adapted from the structure of
phenotypic personality traits (Goldberg, 1993). and a very brief measure
of the Big-five personality domains (Gosling, Rentfrow, & Swann, 2003).
5 items were constructed to look into the internal locus of control and 10
items were to look into levels of curiosity of an individual. These items
were adapted from Traits and state curiosity in genesis of intimacy
(Kashdan et al 2004). The 10 items on risk taking were adapted from A
Domain-specific Risk-attitude scale. (Weber, Blais, & Betz, 2002). No
modification was made to measure creativity and innovation which was
taken from Entrepreneurial Leadership and New Ventures (Chen, 2007).

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The items for educational support were constructed by researches taking
into consideration of the present educational support given by MARA to
the MARA Professional Colleges. To measure the entrepreneurial
intention among students, 8 items were taken from The Proactive
Personality Scale as a predictor of entrepreneurial intention (Crant,
1996). 7-point Likert scale was used where ‘1’ indicates Strongly
Disagree and scale ‘7’ indicates Strongly Agree.

A pilot study was carried out using the questionnaire and for analysis of
item. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were measured.
Factor analysis was performed to determine the underlying factorial
structure of the scale. The result of the analysis revealed three factors
(behavioural factor, educational support and attitudinal factor) with Eigen
values greater than 1.0. The internal consistencies of scale were
assessed through computing Cronbach’s alpha. The components of
factor affecting entrepreneurial intention show the reliability value
between 0.813 to 0.930. Implication from these values indicates that all of
the items used for each component in the questionnaire have a high and
consistent reliability values.

FINDINGS

In this study, the relationships between attitudinal factors, behavioural
factors, educational factors and entrepreneurial intention were examined.
Table 2 shows the results of Pearson Correlation Analysis.

Table 2 Analysis of Pearson Correlation– Zero Order
Attitudinal Factor Educational Behavioural
Support Support
Entrepreneurial 0.532 0.624 0.567
Intention (181) (181) (181)
p = 0.00 p = 0.00 p = 0.00
Attitudinal Factor 1.000 0.639 0.551
(0) (181) (181)
p=. p=0.00 p=0.00
Educational 0.639 1.000 0.759
Support (181) (0) (181)
p=0.00 p=. p=0.00
Behavioural Factor 0.551 0.759 1.000
(181) (181) (0)
p=0.00 p=0.00 p=.
*p< 0.05

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1. Relationship between attitudinal factors (personality traits, curiosity
and locus of control) with intention to be an entrepreneur.

Ho1: There is no significant relationship between attitudinal factors
(personality traits, locus of control, risk taking) with intention to
become an entrepreneur.

The results showed that the correlation coefficients between attitudinal
factors and entrepreneurial intention is r = 0.53, n = 181, (p<0.05). A
significant positive correlation (p<0.05) was found between attitudinal
factors and entrepreneurial intention.

2. The relationship between behavioural factor (creativity and risk
taking) and the intention to become an entrepreneur.

Ho2: There is no significant relationship between behavioural
factors (creativity and risk taking) with intention to become an
entrepreneur.

As for the relationship between behavioural factors and entrepreneurial
intention the correlation coefficients is at r = 0.57, n = 181, (p<0.05). This
shows a significant positive correlation (p<0.05) between behavioural
factors and entrepreneurial intention.

3. Relationship between educational support (syllabus, pedagogy and
co-curriculum) with intention to become an entrepreneur.

Ho3: There is no significant relationship between educational
support (syllabus, pedagogy and co-curriculum) with intention to
become an entrepreneur.

The final relationship is between the educational support and
entrepreneurial intention with the correlation coefficients at r = 0.62, n =
181, (p<0.05). There is a significant relationship between educational
support (syllabus, pedagogy and co-curriculum) and entrepreneurial
intention.

The correlation coefficient value gained from this analysis shows a strong
relationship between the three elements (Davies in Baharom 2004).

27

Thus, Ho1, Ho2 and Ho3 are rejected. Whereby, this results show that
there is a relationship between attitudinal factors, behavioural factors and
educational support towards developing entrepreneurial intention among
students.

4. Contribution of attitudinal, behavioural and educational support
factor towards intention to be an entrepreneur.

The result from the correlation as shown in Table 2 fulfils the required
conditions for regression analysis. The correlation analysis shows that
the studied dependent variable does not have a high correlation.
Tabachnik and Fidell (1996) in Pallant (2001) stated that regression
analysis can only be done if the correlation value between the studied
enabler is < 0.7. Thus, the regression analysis can be carried out. Linear
regression analysis was used to determine the contribution of the
independent variable which is the attitudinal factor, behavioural factor
and educational support towards intention to be an entrepreneur among
students in MARA Professional College as stated in hypothesis Ho21
below.

Ho41: There is no significant contribution from independent variable
attitudinal factor towards intention to be an entrepreneur.

Ho42 : There is no significant contribution from independent variable
behavioural factor towards intention to be an entrepreneur.

Ho43 : There is no significant contribution from independent variable
educational support towards intention to be an entrepreneur.

Table 3 and 4 show the results of linear regression analysis for the
influence of attitudinal factor towards the entrepreneurial intention. The
linear regression analysis shows that the independent enabler which is
the attitudinal factor is the indicator with correlation (ß = 0.532, t = 8.461
and p = 0.000) (p<0.05) and the value of R² (R²=0.283) contributes 28.3
% towards entrepreneurial intention among Mara Professional College
students. Thus, Ho21 is rejected. When the score for attitudinal factor
goes up a unit, the score for entrepreneurial intention will also increase
up to 0.532 units.

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Table 3 Analysis of Linear Regression between Attitudinal Factors towards
Intention to be Entrepreneur.
Independent B Beta t Sig. -t R2 Contribution
Variable (ß) (%)
Attitudinal 0.590 0.532 8.461 0.000 0.283 28.3
Factors
Constant 2.280 5.901 0.000
R 0.534a
R squared 0.283
Adjusted R squared 0.279
Standard Error 0.853

Table 4 Analysis of Variance
Source Sum of df Mean F Sig (p)
Squared Square
Regression 52.140 1 52.140 71.589 0.000a
Residual 131.826 181 0.728
Total 183.966 182

The contribution of attitudinal factor towards entrepreneurial intention
among Mara Professional College students forms the linear regression is
as below :

Y = 2.280 + 0.5590 X1 + 0.853
Y = Entrepreneurial Intention
X1 = Attitudinal Factor
Constant 2.280

Table 5 and 6 show the results of linear regression analysis for the
influence of behavioural factor towards the entrepreneurial intention. The
linear regression analysis shows that the independent enabler which is
the behavioural factor is the indicator with correlation (ß = 0.567, t =
9.257 and p = 0.000) (p<0.05) and the value of R² (R²=0.321) contributes
32.1 % towards entrepreneurial intention among Mara Professional
College students. Thus, Ho22 will be rejected. When the score for
attitudinal factor goes up a unit, the score for entrepreneurial intention will
also increase up to 0.567 units.

29

Table 5 Analysis of Linear Regression Between Behavioural Factors Towards
Intention to be Entrepreneur.
Independent B Beta t Sig. -t R2 Contribution
Variable (ß) (%)
Behavioural 0.746 0.567 9.257 0.000 0.321 32.1
Factors
Constant 1.583 3.697 0.000
R 0.567a
R squared 0.321

Squared Square
Regression 59.108 1 59.108 85.686 0.000a
Residual 124.858 181 0.690
Total 183.966 182

The contribution of attitudinal factor towards entrepreneurial intention
among Mara Professional College students forms the linear regression
as shown below :

Y = 1.583 + 0.746 X1 + 0.428
X1 = Attitudinal Factor
Constant 1.583

The regression linear analysis in Table 7 and 8 show that the
independent enabler which is the educational support is the indicator
which has the correlation of (ß = 0.794, t=10.747 and p=0.000) (p<0.05)
and the value of R²=0.390 indicates the contribution of 39% towards the
entrepreneurial intention among MARA Professional College students.
When the score for educational support goes up a unit, the score for the
construction of vision, mission and goal will also increase to 0.794 units.
Thus, Ho23 is rejected.

30

Table 7: Analysis of Linear Regression Between Educational Support towards
Intention to be Entrepreneur
Independent Variable B Beta t Sig. -t R2 Contribution
(ß) (%)
Educational Support 0.794 0.624 10.747 0.000 0.390 39.0
Constant 1.358 3.481 0.001
R 0.624a
R squared 0.390

Squared Square
Regression 71.660 1 71.660 115.493 0.000a
Residual 112.305 181 0.620
Total 183.966 182

The contribution of educational support towards the entrepreneurial
intention among MARA Professional College forms the linear regression
as shown below:

Y = 1.358 + 0.794 X1 + 0.390
X1 = Educational Support
Constant 1.358

From the linear regression, analysis can be concluded that educational
support contributed the most, which is 39%, followed by behavioural
factor 32.1% and attitudinal factor contributed 28.3% towards
entrepreneurial intention among MARA Professional College.

DISCUSSION

The traditional research stream on entrepreneurial behaviour has
emphasized psychological and non-psychological factors to explain why
someone starts a new firm. The psychological factors, or traits
perspective, addresses several human attributes, such as the need for
achievement (McClelland, 1961) desire for independence (Cromie,
1987), internal locus of control (Cromie & Johns, 1983; Cromie, 1987),

31

and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). The non-psychological factors are
event based and determine the behaviour of the individual. Individual
acts,according to the constraints and possibilities of the situation they
found themselves in. The entrepreneurial event approach stresses that
intentions are a strong predictor of individual behaviour such as starting a
new firm (Ajzen, 1991; Krueger, 1993).

This study shows that purposeful education enhances students’
entrepreneurial intention by providing them with attitudes, knowledge and
skills to cope with the complexities embedded in entrepreneurial tasks
such as opportunity seeking, resource assembling and leading the
business to success (Wilson, Kickul & Marlino, 2007). Formal
entrepreneurial education provides students experience of mastery, role
models, social persuasion and support by involving them in hands-on
learning activities, business plan development and running simulated or
real small business (Fiet, 2000; Segal, Borgia & Schoenfeld, 2005).

Student’s participation in entrepreneurial training programmes has been
associated with changes in attitudes and intentions towards
entrepreneurship and these trainings need proper teaching strategies
compatible with the student-centred approach (Kuratko, 2005). This is
because the development of students’ entrepreneurial intention will be
affected by the entrepreneurial instructions they received such as team
oriented method and hands-on activities (Rasmussen & Sorheim, 2006 ;
Frank, Leuger & Mugler, 2005). Wood and Bandura (1991) suggested
higher education teaching and learning should focus on providing
mastery experience or repeated performance accomplishment.

The current study illustrated that proper entrepreneurship education
exposure will enable students to have positive attitudes towards choosing
entrepreneurship as a career. Entrepreneurship education, needs a
different teaching pedagogy in which entrepreneurship education is
linked to work-related learning (Dwerryhouse, 2001), experiential learning
(Kolb, 1984), action-learning (Smith, 2001) and entrepreneurial training
(Gibb, 1999). This is in line with the steps taken by Mara Higher
Education Division in offering entrepreneurship courses to all students so
as to improve their entrepreneurial intention as suggested by Peterman
and Kennedy (2003) and Souitaris, Zerbinati, and Al-Laham (2007) who
found that exposure to entrepreneurship education increases

32

entrepreneurial intention. Emphasize is also given to teaching pedagogy
and lecturers are sent for training to equip them with the pedagogical
knowledge.
Entrepreneurship education can be offered in many ways. If the
objective is to provide understanding of what entrepreneurship is about,
the most effective way to achieve this objective is to provide information
through public channels such as media, seminars or lectures. These
methods are effective to send the relevant information to a broader
population. If the objective is to equip individuals with entrepreneurial
skills, the best way to deliver the education and training is via industrial
training. However, if the objective of education is to prepare individuals to
act as entrepreneurs, the most effective technique is to facilitate
experiments by trying entrepreneurship out in a controlled environment,
such as business simulation or role playing (Hytti & O’Gorman, 2004).
This study also found that the industrial training programme made
compulsory for all programme and the changes made in the programme
by introducing students to business simulation by MARA policy makers
concurs with Hytti and O’Gorman (2004).

IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION

Although there is no consensus on the content and structure of
entrepreneurship education, the findings of current study showed that
Higher Education Institution should, at least, “encourage the
development of creative ideas for being an entrepreneur”, “provide the
necessary knowledge about entrepreneurship”, and “develop the
entrepreneurial skills” through educational support such as pedagogical,
syllabus and co-curricular activities. To develop human resources,
education and training are among the most important elements. The
previous studies in literature also indicate a link between education and
entrepreneurship. It has been found that the probability of entrepreneurial
recognizes opportunities to start up, have received specific information,
and perceives that their education institutions are giving support to
entrepreneurship (Galloway & Brown, 2002; Gorman & Hanlon, 1997;
Henderson & Robertson, 2000).

It is suggested that educational system which provides adequate
knowledge and inspiration for entrepreneurship develop the students’
intention to perform entrepreneurial behaviours and the possibility of

33

choosing an entrepreneurial career might increase among young people.
This supported Shapero’s (1982) findings where it was argued that
attitudes toward entrepreneurship should partly derive from prior
exposure to entrepreneurial activity and affect intentions through
changing attitudes. This study confirms the key role of educational
support in the development of entrepreneurial intention. Therefore, the
current study shows that entrepreneurship can be fostered through
learning process.

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A STUDY OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
AND LEARNING ORGANIZATION PRACTICES IN CLUSTER
SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Fuziah Binti Mat Yakop
SMK Bandar Tasik Selatan

Dr Mohd Izham Bin Mohd Hamzah
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

ABSTRACT

The aim of the research is to examine the relationship between principal
transformational leadership practices and teacher learning organization practices
in cluster secondary schools based on teachers’ perspectives. The purpose of
the research is also to a) identify the level of practices of principal
transformational leadership based on four leadership dimensions and b) identify
the level of teacher learning organization practices based on five principles of
learning organization. A quantitative research employing a survey method was
conducted using questionnaire as a research instrument. The research involved
285 teachers selected based on the stratified sampling method. The data
collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results
have shown that the level of transformational leadership of principals and
teacher learning organization practices are high. Meanwhile, the results of the
statistical analysis reveal that there is a moderate positive significant relationship
between the practices of transformational leadership and learning organization.
Based on the research, it is stressed that comprehensive knowledge and
understanding of the two concepts studied and how they could contribute to
school excellence is very crucial. The existing transformational leadership as
well as learning organization practices should be continuously improved and
enhanced to ensure the sustainability of schools as learning organizations. This
would enable schools to cope with educational change and lead them towards
achieving their school excellence.

Keywords: cluster schools; transformational leadership; learning organization;
school improvement; teacher learning

41

INTRODUCTION

In the era of globalization, an organization should become more flexible,
responsive and capable of adapting to change for its survival. The 21st
century seems to place a greater emphasis on every individual and
organization to be engaged with continuous learning so that they are able
to deal with the rapid change surrounding them. Globalization,
technological change and uncertainty have been identified as challenging
elements that an organization has to deal with and the success of the
organization in surviving change is measured by its capacity in becoming
a learning organization in which the learning of every individual is
sustained (Marquardt, 2002).

Other than globalization and change, the Malaysian education system is
also faced with demands of the country’s rapid development as well as
education reforms which aim at improving the quality and standard of the
education system through continuous improvement efforts carried out.
Therefore, there is definitely a very strong need for schools to change
and adapt to their surroundings, develop the school capacity and the
capacity of every individual in schools so that they are able to manage
change and realize the development of the country. According to Ishak
and Nor Asikin (2003), it is the responsibility of school principals to form
an organization in which all its members are able to learn new skills and
knowledge continuously so that they are capable of dealing with change
and meeting the ultimate goal of the country’s education system.

Silins (2002) stated that schools are facing new challenges when they
are expected to adapt to change and achieve continuous improvement.
Change requires schools to undergo reforms and adapt to the present
curriculum and instructional needs. Thus, learning organization is the
answer to education reforms. In line with the needs of education reforms
in Malaysia, schools should become learning organizations, increase the
leadership capacity and support the personal development of every
individual, particularly teachers in schools. As teachers have a very huge
responsibility in playing their role as change agents, it is very crucial that
they are involved with continuous learning. This is to ensure the
improvement of the quality of teaching which ultimately contributes to
school excellence (Rahimah, 2000).

42

In transforming schools into learning organizations, there are several
underlying principles which can be practiced by teachers and they are a)
personal mastery, b) mental models, c) shared vision, d) team learning
and e) systems thinking (Senge, 2006). These principles, if embraced
and practiced, are capable of transforming teachers into a group of highly
knowledgeable, competent and skilled individuals through the continuous
learning process taking place at all levels. This would eventually
contribute to school improvements as a whole.

However, the concept of learning organization can only be embraced by
teachers if school leaders particularly the principals are committed to
transforming their schools into a learning organization. The role of the
principals in a learning community is to promote learning to teachers and
students alike in which they themselves become learners. The school
principals should show a very strong commitment to the teachers’
continuous learning by giving them opportunities to develop personally
and professionally, build a collaborative learning culture, embrace a
collective vision and form a committed team in achieving school
objectives (Hughes & Kritsonis, 2006; Rahmad, 2007; Thompson et al,
2004).

Amin (2005) stated that school leaders who are able to transform schools
into learning organizations are capable of building a vision, accepting the
group goal and providing intellectual stimulation for all members in the
school. This view is clearly shared by many researchers on change and
learning organizations (Crawford, 2004; Rahmad, 2007; Stoll, 2002).
Thus, the focus on organizational improvement requires a paradigm shift
in school leadership (Cheng, 2005). Most education literature suggests
that transformational leadership as the most relevant type of leadership in
dealing with change. The leadership is said to be more sensitive to
organizational learning, building collected vision and practicing shared
leadership. These are very important elements in ensuring an
organizational excellence (Barnett et al. 2001; Sillins & Mulford, 2002).

In conclusion, learning has indeed become a critical issue nowadays due
to the rapid change in the era of globalization. It is imperative that school
leadership plays a significant role in promoting learning amongst students
as well as teachers in schools. School principal transformational
leadership styles are seen as the most effective in sustaining schools as
learning organizations. The practice of learning organization principles

43

by every individual in schools specifically the teachers are crucial in
meeting the goals; achieving school excellence and producing the type of
human capitals required by the nation. The principal transformational
leadership practices and teacher learning organization practices are the
two identified determinants in ensuring continuous school improvements
and excellence.

RATIONALE OF STUDY

As far as the Malaysian education context is concerned, studies on
relationship between principal leadership and learning organization have
not been extensively done. However, these two concepts of leadership
and learning organization have been quite extensively studied in the
West and other countries (Abu-Tineh, 2003; Fitriana & Siahaan, 2007;
Johnston & Caldwell, 2001; Silins & Mulford, 2002). These studies have
managed to highlight the significant relationship between the two
concepts and at the same time, contribute to the body of knowledge in
educational leadership and teacher learning.

According to Suseela (2008), it is still vague to see how principals play
their role in supporting the improvement of teachers’ instructional
practices with regards to providing support for the teachers’ professional
development as well as teacher learning. Despite the apparent value of
the reform agenda, little attention has been paid by the educational
management authorities and school administrators to issues of how
teachers learn and implement new instructional practices. Most
principals expect teachers to produce new innovative ideas but the
former are not engaged with the learning process themselves. Likewise,
teachers have high expectations on students getting excellent grades but
these teachers hardly promote themselves as learners. Other than that,
lack of time for interaction and collaboration, lack of focus on the core
business of teaching and learning due to various school programs held
and teacher isolation issues have directly affected the quality of teachers’
instructional practices (Waters, 2009). All these constraints have
apparently become a hindrance to the transformation of schools into
learning organizations which regard learning for every individual as
crucial and indispensable . This scenario seems to reaffirm the claim
made by Barth (1990) that learning does not really take place in schools.
Therefore, a research of this kind should be done to gather information
on the relationship between transformational leadership practices and

44

teacher learning organization practices especially in reputable schools
such as cluster schools.

RESEARCH SCOPE

The research is to examine the relationship between the principal
transformational leadership practices and teacher learning organization
practices in cluster secondary schools. Cluster Schools in the Malaysian
education context, are a brand name given to schools which have been
identified as being excellent within their cluster from the aspects of school
management and student excellence. The establishment of Cluster
Schools is aimed at propelling the excellence of educational institutions in
the Malaysian education system and developing model schools that can
be benchmarked against by other schools within the same cluster as well
as others outside its cluster.

The research was carried out based on the underlying assumption that
transformational leadership and learning organization practices in those
schools among the principals and teachers respectively do exist to the
extent that they are able to contribute to the continuous improvement of
the schools in order to sustain their excellence.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the research are to:

a. Determine the relationship between principal transformational
leadership practices and teacher learning organization practices.
b. Identify the level of transformational leadership practices based
on the leadership dimensions such as fostering idealized
influence, providing inspirational motivation, creating intellectual
stimulation and showing individualized consideration based on
teachers’ perspectives.
c. Identify the level of teacher learning organization practices based
on the principles of personal mastery, mental models, shared
vision, team learning and systems thinking.

45

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Ho: There is no significant relationship between principal transformational

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The conceptual framework for this research is based on the theoretical
framework of five principles of learning organization (Senge, 2006) and
model of transformational leadership by Slocum and Hellriegel (2007).
The five principles of learning organization consist of personal mastery,
mental models, shared vision, team learning and systems thinking.
Senge (2006) has outlined the five principles in order for an organization
to become a learning organization and be able to adapt to change and
achieve the goal of continuous improvement in the organization. The
research also focuses on transformational leadership practices among
school principals based on the four dimensions of transformational
leadership which are fostering idealized influence, providing inspirational
motivation, creating intellectual stimulation and showing individualized
consideration (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2007).

Learning Organization Practices
Transformational Leadership  Personal Mastery
Practices  Mental Models
 Fostering idealized influence  Shared Vision
 Providing inspirational motivation  Team Learning
 Creating intellectual stimulation  Systems Thinking
 Showing individualized
consideration

Schools as Learning Organizations

Conceptual Framework Based on Transformational Leadership Model (Slocum &
Hellriegel 2007) and Five Disciplines of Learning Organization Theory
(Senge 2006)

46

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The design of the research is quantitative survey. Since the research was
based on the teachers’ perspectives, the population of the study was
teachers from six cluster secondary schools in the states of Kuala
Lumpur Federal Territory and Selangor. The samples of the study
consisted of 285 secondary school teachers. The research instrument
used was a questionnaire which measured the teachers’ perspectives on
their principal transformational leadership practices and the teachers’
own learning organization practices. The reliability coefficients of the
instrument varied from .70 to .96.

The data collected were analyzed using the SPSS Version 16.0.
Descriptive analysis such as frequency, percentage and mean score
were used to explain the respondents’ background and the level of
transformational leadership practices and learning organization practices.
Meanwhile, inferential statistics Pearson Correlation was employed to
answer the research hypothesis.

RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

A. Respondents’ Profiles

Table 1.1 Respondents’ Profiles Comment [s1]: I’ve merged the cells
for “teaching experience” and “subject
Background Frequency Percentage specialization”
(%)
Teaching 5 years and below 88 30.9
experience 6-10 years 66 23.1
11 years and above 131 46.0
Total (N) 285
Subject Language 81 28.4
Humanities 63 22.1
specialization Science & Mathematics 84 29.5
Technical & Vocational 57 20.0
Total (N) 285

A total of 285 teachers responded to the questionnaires distributed to all
the six selected cluster secondary schools. Out of the figure, 88 teachers
(30.9%) have taught for 5 years and less in schools, 66 (23.1%) have 6-
10 years teaching experience and 131 (46.0%) have been teaching for
11 years and more. As for the teachers’ subject specialization, 81

47

teachers are language teachers, 63 of them are from the humanities
department and 84 teachers come from the science and mathematics
department. The remaining 57 have been identified as technical and
vocational teachers. The summary of demographic information is shown
in Table 1.1.

B. The level of transformational leadership practices based on the four
leadership dimensions

Table 1.2 Level of principal transformational leadership practices
Transformational Leadership Dimensions Mean Std dev Interpretation
Fostering Idealized Influence 3.74 0.617 High
Providing Inspirational Motivation 3.83 0.639 High
Creating Intellectual Stimulation 3.67 0.609 High
Showing Individualized Consideration 3.63 0.643 Moderate
Overall level of leadership practices 3.72 0.597 High

Table 1.2 above illustrates that the level of principal transformational
leadership practices, based on the teachers’ perspectives, is high. The
second dimension, providing inspirational motivation shows the highest
mean score. Among the leadership practices highlighted by the teachers
were that, the principals showed a very strong commitment to the school
mission and vision and consistently involved the teachers in achieving
those vision and mission of their schools. This is in line with the
importance of leaders possessing a clear vision which is embraced by
every individual in schools so that they can have a clear direction and be
able to channel the energy towards achieving the vision (Edaris, 2004;
Mumtaz, 2009; Rahmad, 2007).

Meanwhile, the fourth dimension studied, showing individualized
consideration has the lowest mean score. This indicated that this
particular leadership dimension has been practiced the least by the
principals. The moderate mean score for this leadership dimension has
shown that the principals gave little focus on the humanity aspect of the
leadership such as giving space for teachers to have different opinions
and taking into consideration the teachers’ individual needs, abilities and
ambitions. School principals should pay attention to this leadership
dimension because teachers need self achievement and growth. As
school principals, they can coach, mentor, facilitate or council the
teachers on how to handle their job and encourage them to be creative

48

and innovative. On the other hand, for the same dimension being
discussed, the teachers perceived that their principals supervised the
teachers’ work so that they could always improve on their teaching and
learning process. This has actually portrayed the practice of
transformational leadership in which that the supervision carried out by
the principals is able to benefit and motivate the teachers (Sidhu & Chan,
2010). The teachers also agreed that principal supervision is a form of
additional support given to them so that they are able to improve their
instructional practices and have the opportunity to develop professionally.

C. The level of learning organization practices based on the five
principles of learning organization

Table 1.3 Level of teacher learning organization practices
Learning organization principles Mean Std dev Interpretation
Personal Mastery 3.88 0.462 High
Mental Models 4.12 0.412 High
Shared Vision 4.05 0.413 High
Team Learning 4.15 0.429 High
Systems Thinking 4.15 0.406 High
Overall learning organization practices 4.07 0.371 High

Based on the Table 1.3 above, the level of teacher learning organization
practices is high for all the learning organization principles studied. This
means that the five principles of learning organization were frequently
practised by the teachers in cluster secondary schools. The results have
also implied that the concept of learning organization which is more
commonly related to the context of management and industry can also be
applied in school settings. The findings are found to be consistent with
the qualitative findings of Park and Rojewski (2006) and Retna and Ng
(2004) which concluded that the concept of learning organization by
Senge (2006) can be applied in the Asian cultural and educational
context.

The practice of personal mastery by the teachers has shown that they
were consistently involved with the learning process and improved their
knowledge and skills. This is probably due to the fact that the teachers
were aware of the importance of being learners themselves and looking
for strategies to improve their instructional practices. According to
Thompson et al. (2004), the personal mastery possessed by teachers
can actually in turn help increase the student learning. The mental

49

models practices show similarly high mean score. The teachers were
willing to change their old teaching methods and carry out reflective
sessions so that they were able to synthesize ideas for creating new
learning (Glickman et al. 2003). In addition, the teachers also learned
and changed through feedback from students in class and their
colleagues respectively. The next learning organization practice studied
is shared vision which also displays a high mean score. According to
Senge (2006), shared vision is also capable of providing focus and
energy for learning in an organization.

Likewise, the fourth principle which is team learning, also shows a high
mean score. The findings have been able to support the many
arguments in literature that team learning is crucial in creating a learning
organization. Senge (2006), Goh (2003) and Coppieters (2005) have
respectively outlined team learning or team work as one of the strategic
building blocks in creating a learning organization. The teachers studied
claimed that they were being open and honest about sharing their best
practices and shared information about each other’s evaluation on their
students’ performance. These practices have been stressed to be
important in improving students’ performance and teachers’ teaching
methodology (Crawford, 2004; Hughes & Kritsonis, 2006). The research
has also highlighted the practices of collaboration, collegiality and how
the teachers perceived their principals to be encouraging in creating a
collaborative climate in schools. The last principle of learning
organization which is systems thinking has also shown a high mean
score. The teachers have a positive perception when they were able to
perceive their schools as an organization with its own systems. The
teachers were also capable of considering their every action and how it
may affect their students and colleagues alike in schools.

50

D. Relationship between principal transformational leadership
practices and teacher learning organization practices.

Table 1.4 Relationship between principal transformational leadership practices
and teacher learning organization practices
Transformational Learning
Leadership Organization
**
Transformational Pearson Correlation 1 0.573
Leadership Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000
N 285 285
Learning Pearson Correlation 0.573** 1
Organization Sig. (2-tailed) 0.000
N 285 285
Significant level at 0.05

Ho: There is no significant relationship between principal transformational

The table 1.4 above shows that there is a moderate positive significant
relationship between the principal transformational leadership practices
and teacher learning organization practices. Therefore, the null
hypothesis has been rejected. This shows that when the teachers
perceived their principals to be transformational leaders, they would
practise the learning organization principles even more. When further
analyzed according to the leadership dimensions, it was found that all the
dimensions showed the same moderate positive significant relationship
with teacher learning organization practices (see Table 1.5). The
dimension of providing inspirational motivation had the highest correlation
and fostering idealized influence showing the lowest. The findings clearly
show that the principal transformational leadership is the most relevant
type of leadership practised in the context of change and is able to
contribute to the successful learning organization practices among the
teachers.

51

Table 1.5 Correlation between principal transformational leadership practices
and teacher learning organization practices
Dimensions of principal Teacher Learning Organization Practices
transformational r Sig Interpretation
leadership practices
Fostering Idealized 0.525 0.000 Moderate
Influence
Providing Inspirational 0.560 0.000 Moderate
Motivation
Creating Intellectual 0.545 0.000 Moderate
Stimulation
Showing Individualized 0.552 0.000 Moderate
Consideration
Significant level at 0.05

CONCLUSION

Learning organization is a management approach that is capable of
transforming an organization into a more competitive and adaptive in
response to change. In school contexts, the existence of teacher
learning organization practices which are consistently supported by
transformational principals would enable the schools to achieve
continuous improvement and excellence in terms of teaching and
learning aspects as well as student learning. The findings of the
research have concluded that there is a significant relationship between
the principal transformational leadership practices and teacher learning
organization practices in cluster secondary schools. On top of that, the
high level of transformational leadership and learning organization
practices as perceived by the teachers has successfully portrayed and
matched the level of excellence and recognition of the schools involved in
the research. School leadership particularly principals play a very
significant role in ensuring that the existing learning organization
practices among teachers is further enhanced and sustained for meeting
the school improvement goals. The least practiced leadership dimension
which is showing individualized consideration should be given more
emphasis and the other leadership dimensions should be continually
improved so that schools can be sustained as learning organizations.
Thus, a certain amount of knowledge and comprehension from relevant
stakeholders is required in order for them to understand the relationship
between the two concepts studied. Aspects of teachers’ professional
development focusing on their continuous learning in terms of improving
their instructional practices should be given priority by relevant parties.

52

Similarly, school principals should be consistently exposed to the best
theories and practice of school leadership through courses, workshops
and seminars.

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Universiti Malaya.

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Learning Organization Philosophy in a Singapore School.
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Senge, P. (2006). The Fifth Discipline:The Art and Practice of the
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Silins, H. & Mulford, B. (2002). Schools As Learning Organizations: The
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Silins, H. (2002). What Characteristics and Processes Define a School as
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Behaviour. USA: Thomson South Western.

Stoll, L. (2002). Enhancing Internal Capacity:Leadership for Learning.
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Thompson, C. S., Gregg, L. , & Niska, M. J. (2004). Profesional Learning
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Thesis, Walden University.

55

KURIKULUM SEJARAH KE ARAH PEMBENTUKAN
PERPADUAN KAUM DI MALAYSIA

Ahamad bin Rahim
IPG Kuala Terengganu

Azwani bin Ismail
Bahagian Sumber Manusia MARA

Dr Abdul Razaq bin Ahmad

Prof Madya Dr Datin Zahara binti Aziz

Dr Sharifah Nur Puteh

Abstrak

Masyarakat Malaysia merupakan masyarakat yang berbilang kaum
yang majoritinya terdiri daripada kaum Melayu, Cina dan India.
Pelbagai usaha telah dilakukan bagi mengeratkan perpaduan kaum
di Malaysia sama ada oleh pihak kerajaan ataupun badan-badan
bukan kerajaan. Oleh itu, kertas kerja ini akan membincangkan
peranan pendidikan Sejarah di sekolah menengah bagi membantu
meningkatkan usaha yang ada ke arah mempertingkatkan tahap
integrasi kaum di Malaysia. Pendidikan Sejarah merupakan satu
mata pelajaran yang dianggap relevan dalam menerapkan nilai-nilai
perpaduan kaum dalam masyarakat multietnik di negara ini. Kertas
kerja ini meninjau dari aspek permasalahan dalam pendidikan
Sejarah dan mencadangkan beberapa langkah yang sesuai bagi
menjadikan mata pelajaran Sejarah mampu menerapkan nilai-nilai
yang berkaitan dengan hubungan kaum dari aspek kandungan,
penerapan nilai dan aktiviti pengajaran dan pembelajaran.
Seterusnya kertas kerja ini juga mencadangkan langkah-langkah
yang perlu dilakukan di sekolah dan pihak Kementerian Pelajaran
Malaysia (KPM) bagi memantapkan aplikasi pendidikan Sejarah ke
arah mencapai matlamat pendidikan Sejarah dalam membentuk
sikap toleransi, patriotisme, kewarganegaraan dan nilai-nilai murni
ke arah melahirkan masyarakat yang bersatu padu selari dengan
konsep 1 Malaysia.

Kata Kunci : Kurikulum, Pendidikan Sejarah, Integrasi Kaum

1

PENGENALAN

Konteks Masyarakat Majmuk di Malaysia

Furnivall (1965) mengatakan masyarakat majmuk merujuk kepada
penduduk pelbagai kaum yang tinggal di suatu kawasan tetapi
mengamalkan kebudayaan, agama, bahasa dan adat resam yang
tersendiri. Beliau menjelaskan masyarakat Malaysia sering ditakrifkan
sebagai masyarakat majmuk dengan komuniti Melayu, Cina dan India
yang hidup sebelah-menyebelah tetapi berbeza dari segi kepercayaan,
budaya dan bahasa. Walaupun mereka hidup sebelah-menyebelah tetapi
mereka terpisah dari segi perbezaan bahasa, budaya dan kepercayaan.

Malaysia adalah sebuah negara yang terdiri daripada pelbagai bangsa,
keturunan dan agama. Mengikut Jabatan Perangkaan Negara (2006),
komposisi jumlah penduduk di Malaysia adalah seramai 26.64 juta orang.
Daripada jumlah tersebut, 24.8 juta orang merupakan warganegara
Malaysia manakala bakinya 1.84 juta orang merupakan bukan
warganegara Malaysia. Kaum Melayu mewakili 54% daripada populasi
penduduk iaitu seramai 13.48 juta orang. Kaum bumiputera selain
daripada Melayu seramai 2.93 juta orang yang mewakili 11.8%. Oleh itu,
kaum Bumiputera mewakili 65.8% daripada jumlah keseluruhan
warganegara Malaysia. Kira-kira 25% daripada penduduk Malaysia ialah
kaum Cina iaitu seramai 6.22 juta orang, 7.5% terdiri daripada kaum
India seramai 1.86 juta orang, manakala kaum lain pula mewakili 1.7%
iaitu seramai 318.9 ribu orang.

Masyarakat yang pelbagai etnik ini hidup dengan aman dan
mengamalkan kepercayaan dan budaya masing-masing secara bebas
dan saling menghormati antara satu sama lain. Menurut Faridah et al.
(2008) hubungan etnik yang merujuk kepada interaksi antara etnik yang
berbeza (interetnik) atau interaksi dalam kumpulan etnik yang sama
(intraetnik), kepelbagaian kelompok etnik di Malaysia telah diterima oeh
semua rakyat dan ini merupakan sumber kekuatan perpaduan di
Malaysia. Dari segi sejarah, kerjasama dan ikatan perpaduan pelbagai
bangsa dan kaum di Malaysia bermula dengan apa yang dinamakan
sebagai kontrak sosial antara etnik terbesar di Malaysia. Kontrak sosial
adalah satu persetujuan dalam kalangan masyarakat berbilang kaum
melalui proses muafakat dan musyawarah ke arah peralihan kuasa

2

pemerintahan sendiri daripada pihak Inggeris dan dimanifestasikan
melalui kemenangan Perikatan dalam pilihan raya 1955. Semangat
kontrak sosial ini berasaskan semangat kerjasama dan setia kawan serta
perkongsian kuasa yang kemudiannya terjelma dalam perjuangan
menuntut kemerdekaan dan penggubalan Perlembagaan Persekutuan.
(Anuar dan Nur Atiqah, 2008).

Jika dilihat dari data yang dinyatakan oleh Jabatan Perangkaan Negara
(2006), maka tidak hairanlah isu perpaduan kaum menjadi suatu agenda
yang diberi perhatian serius oleh kerajaan. Kepelbagaian ini seharusnya
diurus dengan baik kerana kita tidak mahu peristiwa 13 Mei 1969
berulang kembali, ekoran sifat masyarakat yang heterogen. (Azwani &
Zahara, 2009). Oleh yang demikian, perpaduan menjadi perkara utama
bagi sesuatu dasar, pelan dan perancangan yang dibentuk oleh
kerajaan.

LATAR BELAKANG KURIKULUM SEJARAH DI MALAYSIA

Pendidikan zaman penjajahan British mencerminkan kepentingan
penjajah. Ini jelas digambarkan melalui mata pelajaran Sejarah yang
dijadikan saluran propaganda British yang amat berkesan. British
memperkenalkan kurikulum Sejarah yang berbeza-beza antara sekolah
aliran British dan sekolah aliran Melayu. Sekolah-sekolah Cina dan Tamil
pula menggunakan kurikulum Sejarah dari negara China dan India.
Sejarah British diberi tempat yang penting dalam kurikulum Sejarah
(Khoo Kay Kim, 1992). Ini diakui oleh Abdul Razaq (2007) yang
menjelaskan kurikulum Sejarah lebih menceritakan latar belakang
masyarakat Eropah ataupun sejarah England itu sendiri. Bagi Jamaliah
(2005), sebenarnya inilah yang menyebabkan wujudnya jurang dalam
pendidikan sejarah antara murid sekolah aliran Inggeris, Cina dan Tamil.
Hal ini mengakibatkan identiti dan nilai kerjasama tidak wujud dalam
kalangan masyarakat ketika itu.

Pada peringkat awal pendidikan Sejarah yang diperkenalkan di sekolah-
sekolah aliran Melayu lebih berbentuk kepada Kesusasteraan Melayu
Klasik. British tidak menekankan pendidikan Sejarah tempatan dalam
kalangan masyarakat di Tanah Melayu kerana dikhuatiri boleh
menggugat kepentingan politik dan ekonominya. Hanya selepas negara
mencapai kemerdekaan, pengaruh kurikulum British dilihat semakin

3

berkurangan (Maharom Mahmood, 2001). Sementara pengaruh
kurikulum Sejarah negara India dan Cina tamat apabila Laporan Razak
1956 dikemukakan untuk memastikan satu sukatan pengajaran dan
peperiksaan yang sama dilaksanakan demi perpaduan kaum di negara
ini.

Selepas Perang Dunia ke-2 kurikulum Sejarah mula memberi penekanan
ke arah perpaduan dan integrasi kaum. Pada tahun 1973, terdapat
perbincangan untuk mengkaji semula kurikulum Sejarah. Kurikulum yang
sedia ada dilihat terlalu luas dan tidak bersifat tempatan (Siti Zainun Mat,
1998; 1990). Beberapa forum seperti Kongres Kebudayaan Malaysia
1971, Seminar Sejarah Malaysia 1 dan 11 yang diadakan dalam tahun
1973 dan 1974 (Siti Zainun Mat, 1988 dan 1990) telah diadakan untuk
membincangkannya. Dapatan seminar telah menggesa pihak
Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia menggunakan pendekatan ‘berpusatkan
ke-Malaysiaan’ dalam menggubal sukatan pelajaran dan penulisan buku
teks Sejarah (Siti Zainun Mat 1988, 1990).

Hanya pada tahun 1989, Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia telah
menjadikan mata pelajaran Sejarah sebagai subjek teras yang wajib
diambil oleh semua pelajar. Bagi Aini Hassan (2008) perubahan ini
merupakan satu anjakan besar dalam falsafah dan konsepsi pengajaran
dan pembelajaran Sejarah di sekolah. Falsafah, matlamat dan objektif
pengajaran dan pembelajaran telah dinyatakan dengan jelas. Fokus
terhadap sejarah tempatan telah diterapkan dalam kurikulum.
Pembahagian tajuk pula dilakukan mengikut tema-tema (PPK, 2002).
Perkembangan kurikulum Sejarah pra dan pascamerdeka telah
mengalami perubahan pesat, selari dengan tuntutan semasa.

KEDUDUKAN MATA PELAJARAN SEJARAH

Matlamat pendidikan Sejarah bagi peringkat menengah rendah dan
menengah atas ialah memupuk semangat taat setia kepada bangsa dan
negara serta berbangga menjadi warganegara Malaysia. Kandungan
kurikulum yang disediakan, memberikan fokus kepada pemahaman yang
menyeluruh tentang sejarah negara yang merangkumi jangka masa lima
ratus tahun dan dibuat secara kronologis iaitu mengikut susunan tahun.
Pengajaran dan pembelajaran Sejarah seharusnya memberi tumpuan
kepada pemerolehan pengetahuan, perkembangan kemahiran dan

4

pemupukan nilai-nilai. Kedudukan mata pelajaran Sejarah dijelaskan
seperti yang berikut:

“ mata pelajaran Sejarah dalam KBSM, merupakan mata
pelajaran teras yang wajib dipelajari oleh semua pelajar
sekolah menengah.”
(Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia, 2002)

Langkah Kementerian Pelajaran menjadikan subjek Sejarah sebagai
subjek wajib lulus pada tahun 2012 di peringkat SPM dilihat sangat
signifikan dalam konteks semasa. Seterusnya menjadikannya sebagai
subjek teras untuk sekolah rendah mulai 2014. Ini selaras dengan
transformasi dalam sistem pendidikan negara dengan perubahan KBSR
kepada KSSR mulai tahun 2011. Ini secara tidak langsung akan
memartabatkan lagi kedudukan mata pelajaran ini di kaca mata
masyarakat. Shakila Yacob (2010) melihat langkah mewajibkan subjek
Sejarah ini bertujuan untuk memartabatkan ilmu sejarah di Malaysia,
menonjolkan kepentingan dan kerelevanan ilmu sejarah dalam setiap
aspek kehidupan rakyat Malaysia dan memperkasakan legasi sejarah
Malaysia yang mencerminkan kepelbagaian masyarakat selari dengan
perjuangan 1 Malaysia.

Berdasarkan kenyataan di atas, dapatlah disimpulkan bahawa pembuat
dasar negara sangat peka terhadap kepentingan mata pelajaran ini
sebagai wawasan masa hadapan dalam membina perpaduan bangsa
dan negara. Dasar mewajibkan pelajar sekolah menengah mempelajari
sejarah adalah menepati kehendak Falsafah Pendidikan Kebangsaan
(FPK) yang inginkan perkembangan jasmani, emosi, rohani dan intelek
pelajar secara serentak dan bersepadu. Sebelum ini mata pelajaran
Sejarah dianggap sebagai mata pelajaran kelas kedua dan dikaitkan
dengan pelajar-pelajar aliran sastera (Omar 1992 dan Abdul Ghani
2008).

MATLAMAT PENDIDIKAN SEJARAH

Pendidikan Sejarah bertujuan memupuk semangat setia negara dan
perasaan bangga sebagai rakyat Malaysia melalui pengetahuan dan
penghayatan sejarah tanah air. Di peringkat menengah rendah,
kurikulumnya meliputi jangka masa selama lima ratus tahun dan disusun

5

secara kronologi. Kurikulum ini bertujuan untuk memberi pemahaman
menyeluruh dan satu gambaran yang lengkap tentang sejarah negara.
Dalam rentetan peristiwa ini dimasukkan pula sejarah negara luar yang
mempunyai kaitan dengan sejarah negara. Sejarah negara luar ini
merupakan asas bagi pelajar untuk mengetahui dan memahami
hubungan dan kaitannya dengan Sejarah Malaysia (PPK 2002).
Pendidikan Sejarah dilihat dapat mewujudkan ingatan bersama terhadap
sejarah sebagai rangka rujukan kesedaran kebangsaan dan
persefahaman antara bangsa (PPK 2002) kerana tujuan pendidikan
Sejarah itu adalah untuk memupuk semangat setia negara dan perasaan
bangga sebagai rakyat Malaysia melalui pengetahuan dan perasaan
bangga sebagai rakyat Malaysia.

ISU-ISU DALAM PENDIDIKAN SEJARAH

Sering kedengaran pembelajaran Sejarah yang berpusatkan guru kurang
memberi kesan sebagaimana yang diharapkan. Pengajaran guru yang
bersifat indoktrinasi dan tidak kreatif, bercorak sehala, tidak mewujudkan
peluang interaksi antara guru dan pelajar. Hal ini menyebabkan proses
pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P & P) Sejarah menjadi begitu kaku dan
membosankan pelajar. Guru masih mengekalkan kaedah tradisi di bilik
darjah. Guru kurang mempunyai kepakaran dalam menyampaikan
pedagogi terkini. Kaedah “chalk and talk” yang menekankan interaksi
sehala serta teknik hafalan terhadap sesuatu fakta telah menyebabkan
Sejarah dilihat sebagai “the dead man of curriculum” (Abdul Razaq,
2009). Sikap negatif guru menyebabkan mereka gagal mencerna minda
pelajar supaya lebih bersifat intelektual dan ini menyebabkan pelajar
kurang memberi tumpuan semasa P & P dijalankan.

Kandungan kurikulum Sejarah amat padat dengan fakta-fakta dan tahun-
tahun yang perlu diingati oleh pelajar. Mempelajari subjek Sejarah
bermakna terpaksa menghafal fakta-fakta dan tahun-tahun yang begitu
membebankan. Perkara ini menjadikan subjek Sejarah kurang menarik
minat pelajar. Bagi pelajar, subjek ini lebih banyak bercerita tentang
peristiwa yang sudah lapuk dan mereka tidak nampak apa yang harus
dinilai dalam mempelajari Sejarah (Hartini Husain, 2006). Tambahan
pula, terdapat ibu bapa yang melihat mata pelajaran ini tidak penting dan
merupakan subjek kegemaran pelajar aliran sastera (Robiah Sidin,
1994). Kurikulum Sejarah lebih menjurus kepada penghafalan fakta dan

6

berbentuk stereotaip. Menurut Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom, mantan
Ketua Pengarah Pelajaran Malaysia, pendekatan menghafal sejarah
perlu diubah kepada cara yang lebih menarik dan boleh menyebabkan
pelajar berfikir secara kritikal terhadap sesuatu peristiwa.

Di samping itu, kandungan kurikulum Sejarah juga perlu dinilai kembali.
Janganlah terlalu bersifat “melayu centric”. Peranan semua kaum dalam
menuntut kemerdekaan dan memakmurkan negara perlu diberi
penekanan. Sejarah yang diajar seolah-olah sejarah orang Melayu dan
bukan sejarah Malaysia. Sumbangan dan pengorbanan kaum lain juga
perlu dilihat dan dimasukkan dalam kurikulum Sejarah agar mata
pelajaran lebih menarik, bersifat universal dan mempunyai nilai tambah.
Setiap kaum mempunyai tokoh-tokoh yang telah berjuang untuk
kemerdekaan dan kemajuan negara. Sumbangan kaum, masyarakat dan
tokoh yang terlibat dalam perkembangan sejarah negara harus dicakupi
secara menyeluruh dan bukannya dipilih (selected). Peranan ikon
pascamerdeka seperti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Dr. Ismail, Tun Tan
Siew Sin, Tun Tan Cheng Lock dan Tun Sambanthan perlulah dilihat dari
sudut perbincangan 1 Malaysia.

Sering kedengaran subjek Sejarah boleh diajar oleh sesiapa sahaja
walaupun mereka bukan opsyen Sejarah. Masih terdapat jumlah
peratusan yang besar dalam kalangan guru Sejarah di sekolah tidak
mempunyai latihan ikhtisas dalam bidang berkenaan (Rahim Rashid,
1999). Ini menyebabkan guru yang mengajar subjek Sejarah kurang
mempunyai pengetahuan daripada aspek pedagogi. Mereka tidak
mendapat pendedahan dan latihan yang mencukupi. Guru Sejarah juga
jarang dipanggil berkursus untuk meningkatkan tahap profesionalisme
mereka dalam pengajaran Sejarah. Mereka kurang didedahkan dengan
amalan pedagogi terkini di bilk darjah. Ketika ini ramai guru yang
mengajar Sejarah terdiri daripada guru-guru sandaran yang tidak
memahami matlamat pendidikan Sejarah. Malah ada antara mereka
yang tidak menguasai isi kandungan yang disampaikan yang
mengakibatkan penyampaian maklumat kepada pelajar kurang tepat.
Kesemua ini akan membantutkan lagi usaha untuk mewujudkan
perpaduan kaum melalui mata pelajaran Sejarah.

Penggunaan buku teks dalam pengajaran dan pembelajaran tidak
menimbulkan suasana pembelajaran yang menarik. Penggunaan buku
teks yang berlebihan menjadikan pengajaran bersifat stereotaip, kurang

7

4. jilid 3 bil 1 jun 2011

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