Accelerating Cluster School Excellence within Guided Autonomy Periphery: A Malaysian Case Ref 0022 Aziah Ismail (aziah@usm.

my) School of Educational Studies Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 USM PULAU PINANG, Malaysia Abstract The decentralisation of the Malaysian education system has given the autonomy to cluster schools to accelerate their organisational excellence. This autonomy is, however, guided by a set of particular standard for cluster schools in this country. Noor Rezan Bapoo Hashim (2009) proclaimed that the guided autonomy is the most difficult aspect to practice because cluster schools have to comply with the standards outlined by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE). This study is conducted to explore the meaning of decentralisation from the perspective of individual cluster school leaders in Malaysia and their efforts to accelerate their excellence within the autonomy periphery granted to them. Data was collected through interviews and document analyses on six cluster schools in Malaysia from different clusters of excellence. The finding shows that there is a consensus among respondents in relation to the meaning of decentralisation exercised by the cluster schools in Malaysia. Apart from that, the study also indicates that there have been numerous efforts planned and implemented by the cluster schools, particularly in enhancing their respective niche areas. These efforts incorporate programmes and activities to develop academic achievement and soft skills of students, and improvement of teachers' professional development and the schools management systems. However, these programmes and activities must gain approval of MoE before implementation by the schools. Thus, results obtained from this study proved that the cluster schools in Malaysia have the autonomy to plan and implement programmes as well as activities for enhancing their excellence, guided by standards set by MoE. These standards are not meant as barriers to the cluster schools; instead, they provide challenges to the schools to be more creative in conducting suitable programmes to achieve excellence. Keywords: decentralisation, cluster schools, guided autonomy, Malaysia

Theme: educational policy-making and the politics of change and improvement

Introduction The growth and development of schooling system around the globe was an evolution of the system to develop and adapt to the needs of the dynamic environment. On top of that, schooling system was developed in tandem with the changes in political, social and economic needs. According to Cole (2010) schools are partners in the process of problem solving and inspire innovation in the community. Therefore, schools should not be an isolated entity because the development and improvement of these organisations are urged by the social, economic and political forces. Decentralization in the Malaysian Education System Education is a priority of the Federal Government of Malaysia and it is committed to provide quality education to all. Thus, the education system structure in this country is centrally controlled and managed. Indeed, this centralisation becomes a vital mechanism to ensure that all government policies are implemented through education system (Malaysia, 1976). According to Fagerlind and Saha (1983), schooling in particular is seen as an important agent for instilling appropriate motives and aspirations for desired behaviour within every country. However, centralisation and bureaucracy in management system can restrict schools from creating innovations for improvement and become excellent (Walker, 2002). This situation will be worse if the school managers and administrators emphasise too bureaucratic rules and procedures that do not fit with the current situation. Hence, the practice of bureaucracy needs to be reformed by decentralisation of power from central to school authority. Decentralisation of schools management was started with the implementation of the Educational Development Master Plan (EDMP) 2006-2010 on 16 January 2006 which aims to provide quality education in Malaysia. The plan has outlined six strategic thrusts including the thrust of Accelerating Excellence in Educational Institutions Malaysia. Through this thrust, several excellent schools have been given recognition as cluster schools and obtained some degree of autonomy to accelerate their organisation excellence respectively (Ministry of Education, 2006). This action was in line with the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) from 2006 to 2010 which has placed great importance on education, training and lifelong learning (Malaysia, 2006). Although recently introduced in Malaysia, the concept of cluster schools has long been practiced in developed countries like the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand (Caldwell, 2005). Moreover, there are some developing countries in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia that have adopted this concept as a mechanism to develop their education systems which expanded after the Civil War ended in 1971. According to Dykstra & Kucita, (2008), the overall objective of cluster schools is to redress any imbalance in education by grouping schools that are located near each other into a cluster, mixing strong schools and disadvantaged schools in such a way that the latter benefit from the advantages of the former (p. 3)

Cluster schools of Malaysia, on the other hand, refer to selected potential schools with excellence in their cluster and fulfil the prerequisites set by the MoE. In the selection process, schools were assessed and evaluated based on their excellence in respective clusters, as follows:

Primary Schools: National Schools (SK), Chinese National Type Schools (SJKC), Tamil National Type Schools (SJKT) and the Indigenous Schools. Secondary Schools: Fully Residential School (SBP), Technical Secondary Schools (SMT), National Religious Secondary Schools (SMKA), Daily Secondary Schools, Premier Schools, Centennial Schools, Schools in Putrajaya and Cyberjaya and Special Model Schools. Special Education Primary Schools, Special Education Secondary Schools, and Special Vocational Education Secondary Schools. International Schools and Private Schools Matriculation Colleges and Institutes for Teachers Education. (Ministry of Education, 2006a, pp. 119 and 121)

Since there are different types of school in the country's education system, efforts to improve school performance is done by generating clusters of excellence in particular niche areas, namely academic, curricular and personality aspects (Ministry of Education, 2006b). Essentially, cluster schools in Malaysia are aimed at spurring outstanding schools to achieve world-class standard and become centres of excellence (Ministry of Education, 2006a). Thus, there are only a small number of schools selected because there are schools that have not been prepared and are still struggling with the issue of lack of basic facilities (Ministry of Education, 2006a). The implementation of cluster schools is based on the decentralisation process that involves the empowerment of schools through the provision of autonomy but guided by the following standards: a. b. c. d. Education Act 1996 National Education System Financial Procedure Act 1957, Treasury Circulars and Guidelines and Release Letters Malaysian Education Quality Standards (SKPM)

One of the fundamental aspects underlying the implementation of the cluster schools is the school-based management practices. In this practice, cluster schools acquire more power in managing the running of their schools from human resource to assets, funds and student intake (Ministry of Education, 2006a). Caldwell (2005) defined school-based management as: ... the systematic decentralisation to the school level of authority and responsibility to make decisions on significant matters related to school operations within a centrally determined framework of goals, policies, curriculum, standards and accountability (p. 1). Based on the above definition, school-based management (SBM) can be very closely related to the decentralisation of power from central to school authorities in decision making. This is done to ensure that all decisions made are focused towards achieving the vision and mission of the

Malaysian education system. Meanwhile, Walker (2002) proclaimed that the underlying assumption behind the concept of decentralisation, which is borrowed from the private sector, is that educational improvement is only possible if those closest to the point at which decisions are enacted become the architects of these decisions. On top of that, decentralisation gives schools more power in decision making and has proven to impart a positive impact in improving schools performance and effectiveness (Caldwell, 2005; Dykstra & Kucita, 2008). Previous studies indicate that SBM is viewed as a means to incorporate the voices of parents, teachers and the community in the management of their schools in a formal manner. Gamage (2003), in his findings from both the quantitative and qualitative methodologies, suggested that when compared with what schools experienced under centralised bureaucratic models, schoolbased management has created more autonomous, flexible, better quality, effective schools, accountable not only to the system managers, but also to school communities. Volansky (2007) in her study on School Autonomy for School Effectiveness and Improvement related that: The case of Israel argues that SBM is perceived by teachers as having a potential to increase their professional autonomy. Yet at the same time, it is perceived as an immediate demand to increase the effectiveness of the teaching processes which they conduct. In fact, much evidences show that staff members working with SBM feel encouraged and empowered to create many more education initiative, have a deeper internal locus of control in managing schools targets and a greater self efficacy alongside principals and senior school staff (p.352). However, the Cabinet Report (1979) asserts that the bureaucratic practices still need to be adopted in the education system in Malaysia because of it vital role in maintaining national unity. Schools, thus, still have accountability to meet the government needs even they get the autonomy in managing their organisations. According to Cuttance (1990), an important additional effect of devolving authority to lower levels has been to reduce the formal control that the system exercises over operational decision making. However, the requirement for accountability in the system is not reduced; hence, the increased role of audit to ensure accountability in devolved systems.

Purpose of study The decentralisation of the Malaysian education system is a new policy taken by the government in realising the aspiration in improving quality education in Malaysia (Ministry of Education, 2006). This policy has given more power to cluster schools in managing the running of their schools from human resource to assets, funds and student intake, as compared to ordinary schools. In addition, it allows the cluster schools to become active learning organisations that are able to adapt with the changes in the needs of their organisational environments. Furthermore, the cluster schools are encouraged to be more creative in creating innovations to accelerate their organisational excellence. The power is, however, guided by a set of particular standard and known as guided autonomy. Noor Rezan Bapoo Hashim (2009) proclaimed that

the guided autonomy is the most difficult aspect to practice because cluster schools have to comply with the standards outlined by the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MoE). This study, therefore, is conducted to explore the meaning of decentralisation from the perspective of individual cluster school leaders in Malaysia and their efforts to accelerate their excellence within the autonomy periphery granted to them. In particular, the objectives of this study are: i. ii. iii. To examine the meaning of decentralisation from the perspective of cluster schools; To identify the actions taken by cluster schools to accelerate their organisational excellence within the autonomy periphery granted to them. To identify the mechanism used by the Ministry of Education to ensure compliance of the cluster schools to the standards.

Methodology Data were collected from interviews and documents analyses from six selected cluster schools in Malaysia with different excellence clusters. According to Fraenkel and Wallen (1996), the analysis of documents can help researchers to gain data objectively through the documents and does not require the presence of the informants. An interview, however, is used to gather information on the subject of individual experiences, views and reactions (Merriam, 2001). Six schools from different clusters of excellence have been selected as the units of analysis. Each school was given a different code to facilitate the data analysis process. The codes of the six cluster schools are as follows: SKK1 SKK2 SKK3 SKK4 SKK5 SKK6 Religious Schools Premier Boarding Schools Boarding Schools Special Education Schools Indigenous National Schools Tamil National-Type Schools

Findings The findings of this study are detailed in three research objectives, namely: i) the meaning of decentralization from the point of view of SKK; ii) SKK efforts to boost their schools performance by using the given guided autonomy; and iii) the monitoring mechanism by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. The acronym SKK refers to cluster schools of excellent (Sekolah Kluster Kecemerlangan). i. Definition of decentralisation from the SKK perspectives

The finding shows that there is a consensus among respondents in relation to the meaning of decentralisation exercised by the cluster schools in Malaysia. According to the respondents, the implementation of SKK is accompanied by slight changes in the school management and

leadership. They were introduced with the concept of decentralisation and obtained a certain degree of autonomy in certain aspects of the school management. Based on the interviews, findings illustrate that there is a low degree of decentralisation practiced in SKK. However, the respondents felt that these were early steps taken by the MoE to decentralise the power to the selected schools in managing their organisations. In other words, SKK are practicing school-based management. Since this is a new concept of managing schools, some recommendations in some particular spheres were provided by the MoE as guidelines in doing so. All of these recommendations were stated in official documents, for instance Certificate of Leadership and Management (Perakuan Kepimpinan Pengurusan), Management Certificate (Perakuan Pengurusan), Curriculum Certificate (Perakuan Kurikulum) and Niche Area Certificate (Perakuan Kebitaraan). In addition, the SKK ought to evaluate the feasibility of these recommendations in implementing the school-based management concept in their respective organizations. This is intended to gather their feedbacks, opinions and suggestions to improve the implementation of these certifications. Hitherto, the information obtained from the respondents portray that there was only a low degree of power decentralisation in the SKK. However, the respondents felt that these were early steps taken by the MoE to decentralise the power to the selected schools in managing their organisations. In consequence, they were not able to anticipate the level of power decentralised to them in the future. The success of the first stage of this implementation, furthermore, will determine the degree of power decentralisation in the next stage. In fact, the SKK1 believe that, in the future, the outstanding cluster schools would be given full autonomy in managing their own schools without control by the MoE in all aspects. Based on SKK1 response, "I think the concept of cluster by the government was that ... they do not want to restrict us anymore with bureaucracy procedure they were already tired of doing so ... that was the reason why they want to cluster the school, they also want to hand over to the school to move and develop by their own ... for the early stage they coach us first, practice a bit, show a bit, and after a long time may be the schools can managed themselves ...". (SKK 1) This measure is taken as an effort to increase innovation in translating the school curriculum which is formulated by the federal government. According to SKK3, there are many teachers who have the ability to create innovations in making the teaching approach more effective. Thus, the guided autonomy has given them the opportunity to show their talents and capabilities which were restricted before due to bureaucratic constraints.
ii.

Efforts to accelerate school performance within the guided autonomy periphery

As a type of an open system organisation, the cluster schools should be expanded and developed in tandem with the development needs of the environment. This study indicates that there are numerous efforts that have been planned and implemented by cluster schools in enhancing their respective niche areas. These efforts incorporate programmes and activities to develop the students academic achievement and soft skills, teachers' professional development and the

management system. In spite of that, all of these programmes and activities must be approved by the MoE before they could be implemented by the respective schools. The efforts and actions can be divided into the following four aspects, namely: a. Creating innovations in school management sphere Based on the interviews, all SKKs agreed that they enjoy autonomy in making decisions on particular matters. One of them is creating innovations in their school management and administration sphere. It involves the process of translating national curriculum contents into various teaching approaches. This refers to the methods that can be used by schools to facilitate the delivery of the national curriculum to the students. For example, the university style of learning will be introduced in the SKK1 beginning 2011 with the objective of reducing the system of existing classrooms. In this practice, each subject will be provided with a specific room and the particular subject teacher will be waiting in the class. Students will come to the class on the lesson slot. This practice is different from the present system, where students remain in their particular classes and wait for different teachers come to teach them for different subject slots. However, this is still in the planning stage and requires approval from the State Education Department of Penang. This is because there are not enough resources to ensure this idea to be implemented successfully. Apart from that, there are schools that had taken a step ahead by using online system in planning and recording their daily lessons. This step was an innovation in managing teaching processes in the school and eliminates the usage of the record books commonly used by teachers. By using the online lesson planner, teachers can plan, share, manage, and record daily lessons in a matter of minutes. In fact, the routine of weekly records of lesson plan submission to the Principal for review on Fridays could be done via e-mail. This mechanism facilitates the Principal to do the reviewing and monitoring processes regardless of his whereabouts. Moreover, this finding shows that schools are given autonomy to facilitate the management of their schools. Nevertheless, all activities implemented in cluster schools must have the permission and approval of the MoE. On top of that, this finding indicates that the cluster schools also have autonomy in selecting trainers in their niche areas to accelerate their excellence. All respondents concurred that they have chosen their own coaches, especially in the areas which require outside expertise. Our experienced teachers are often our school coaches. They are commonly handling all these things. If we feel we need other experts to train our student, we will import them from outside may be foreign coaches. Especially in the area which we dont have any expertise "(SKK2). The authority of selecting external expert trainers is one of SKK effort to accelerate their niche area performance. This was due to the autonomy of SKK in planning their schools own activities. For example, SKK3 invited coaches from outside to train their debating team and to strengthen their school debating team, and invited music experts from Melaka to conduct a threeday music workshop which was organised by SKK3 for the students.

Finding which points to the experience of SKK6 in conducting programmes in their niche area also supports the autonomy acquisition of the cluster schools in choosing their own coaches. According to SKK6, their school has chosen three external trainers to train their 200 students and a few teachers in badminton. The trainers were paid RM2000.00 for four times training every month at a nearby stadium. This remuneration was paid with the special financial allocation provided by the MoE to the cluster school. SKK6 explanation also indicates that the coaches who were invited by the school assisted to train not only the students but teachers who are directly involved in the niche area as well. This is because teachers ought to continue the training as the hired trainers will only come at certain times. In addition, the proportion of students to the expert trainers was huge and caused difficulty on the trainers to provide the best training. Hence, only the selected talented students were trained under the expert trainers, whereas other students will be trained by the SKK6s teachers. b. Collaboration with external institutions Based on the interviews, findings show that one of the significant autonomy components of the SKK is developing collaboration with external entities, particularly higher education institutions (HEIs) from home and abroad. The fundamental of this networking is to obtain views and inputs from the experts to enhance the students excellence, particularly in particular niche areas. According to respondents, external expertises were gained through memorandum of understanding (MoU) between cluster schools and HEIs. Several of these MoUs were initiated by MoE. Once identified, the selected institutions will be required to help propel the cluster schools excellence in their respective niche areas. As stated by SKK1, the MoU with external entities such as RECSAM (Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics) provide many benefits to them with the intention of improving the skills of students and teachers in the particular areas. This is because the HEIs will provide assistance in the form of expertise, resources and facilities to schools without imposing charges. This finding was concurred by the SKK3, which has collaboration with a few HEIs, with the aim of getting advices on the management of SKK3 cafeteria. As reported by SKK3, the MoUs with private colleges such as Damansara Utama College and SEGi College bring benefits to the school co-operative management, which is one of their niche areas. Expertise from these private colleges provided them with inputs and ideas on many aspects of business management, especially related to the management of the school cafeteria and other activities, including on cultivation using the fertigation system, the marketing of their horticultural products, e-tourism and entrepreneurial kiosk. Similar report was given by SKK6, which had organised many programmes with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). According to SKK6, their school is in the process of planning to collaborate with international HEIs, for instance from Singapore and India. However, some SKKs faced difficulties in their collaborative networking, especially with the institutions suggested by the MoE. As experienced by SKK4, the HEI that was paired to them does not have expertise in vision problems as requested by SKK4. Therefore, they seek to collaborate with other institutions that can provide the expert in that area.

Besides experts from local HEIs, cluster schools also obtained advice and inputs from international HEIs experts. As reported by SKK1, a group of experts from Australia, UK, New Zealand and Singapore came to their school and shared ideas and experiences and conducted related research as well. The visit provided the school an opportunity to obtain feedbacks from the experts regarding the management practices of the school as well as innovations on teaching and learning. In fact, the collaboration between Malaysian cluster schools and overseas HEIs are linked to agreements between Malaysia and the foreign governments. All cluster schools agreed that: . the MoU between Malaysia and other countries (government to government - G to G), such as Australia, Thailand and Indonesia play an important role in building cooperation between the cluster schools in Malaysia with the schools and institutions of higher learning abroad. Apart from MoUs, collaboration can also be developed through events organised by students, as practiced by SKK2, which organised the Malay College Youth Summit, at international level. Organising such event is a major platform for SKK students to share their ideas with other teenagers from around the world. According to the SKK2, this programme exposed the students to plan, manage and operate their events and activities with the assistance of teachers who acted as facilitators. This event was attended by participants from many countries, like Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and India. The notification of this seminar was distributed through various means, including the schools website, brochures and advertisement. SKK2 teachers who attended the international conference also played their role in distributing the notices to others abroad. In addition, SKK2 explained that the organisation of the event used the special financial allocation for cluster schools that focus on the niche area of student leadership development. The experience in organising the event provides students with opportunities to develop their leadership skills and enhances their schools excellence. c. Teachers' professional development Finding of this study shows that the efforts for ensuring the success of cluster schools are not only focused on the development of students but also on the professional development of teachers and school heads. The professional development is on the understanding of their main roles to enhance the schools performance as they are the key players' of the process. According to the respondents, the programme on staff development was done by inviting external experts to schools to provide them training in the areas as requested by the schools. The respondents explanations indicate that the success of the implementation of cluster schools programmes and activities in heightening their performance desperately need the support of the teachers of the particular school. Thus, the teachers need to develop their professionalism continuously. However, these activities need to be approved by the Ministry of Education. The results show that the professional development of cluster school teachers was conducted in two ways: 1) training and lectures through in-service training programme, and; 2) 'benchmarking' visit. Usually, the training is conducted by invited external experts and the emphasis is on the niche area of the school. As reported by SKK6:

for professional development, we have invited external expertise, like recently we have invited lecturers from the teachers training college to give the latest input on Tamil language teaching methods, and for next year we have plan; I want to invite experts from a university in India. We want to invite some people who are experts in the field of Tamil language, to give a talk to teachers in my school (SKK6) However, trainings are not only given to the teachers who are in the niche area, but to all the teachers of the school as well. It is necessary that the performance of the cluster schools not only depends on a few teachers, but requires cooperation from everyone in the school. Through the training, all teachers become more sensitive to the aspirations and goals of excellence of the school. Training sessions, nevertheless, are also conducted through the In-Service Training (IST) programme, which is usually organised for all Malaysian schools. According to the respondents, the in-service training programmes are held at least four times per year. However, there are also trainings that take place during staff meetings. These trainings are considered as a platform to provide knowledge to all teachers regarding to the development of schools and raise awareness among them. Knowledge and sensitivity are very important in helping teachers to be involved and play their significant roles in all school activities. d. Benchmarking visits For management skills, the finding indicates that cluster schools have done some benchmarking visits amongst them, especially to outstanding ones or to other institutions abroad. Usually, these visits from the schools that are newly recognised as cluster schools to the schools which have long been recognised as cluster schools (first or second cohorts) and have excellent records. During the interview, the SKK1 explained that he has just received a call from the principal of a newly recognised cluster school who intended to come over and learn about the management and administration of the cluster school. This statement was confirmed by SKK6 who had also taken the similar action immediately after get their cluster school recognition. According to SKK6: Ive already brought all my 70 teachers to visit two cluster schools, one is SJKC Li Hang in Kuala Lumpur and the other one is National School of Simpang Lima, Klang. We have already visited these two schools and already took some references and we can get some pictures about the cluster schools management. We got a lot of inputs from the trip and we tried to learn from them" (SKK6) Exposure derived from benchmarking visits gives the visitors a clearer picture of the cluster school management and will help them in managing their own schools.

iii) The monitoring mechanism by the Ministry of Education of Malaysia Based on the interviews, findings show that the progression of all activities and programmes in cluster schools will be monitored from time to time by certain sections of the MoE. However, based on the respondents descriptions, the process of monitoring can be divided into two types i.e. (1) regular monitoring, which is usually carried out on all schools in Malaysia such as by the Inspectorate General, and State Auditors; and (2) special monitoring for cluster schools only by the Cluster School Division. Cluster schools, in addition, are also responsible for submitting reports of their programmes and activities implementation on their niche areas for monitoring purposes. This action is aimed at ensuring cluster schools comply with the guided autonomy standards set by the MoE. Discussion and Conclusion Decentralisation of power through the creation of cluster schools in the Malaysian education system is a new policy implemented to enhance the schools excellence. This reform has given a certain degree of autonomy for selected schools to achieve world-class standard and be centres of excellence, as envisaged by MoE of Malaysia (Ministry of Education, 2006). Decentralisation is a reformation in managing education institutions in this country. The practice of this concept has given space for the selected schools to make efforts to facilitate enhancement programmes for organisational excellence through school-based management. Previous studies have also found that the autonomy in decision making through school-based management practice provided a positive impact in improving the school efficiency and performance (Caldwell, 2005; Dykstra & Kucita, 2008). Based on the findings, many efforts have been planned and implemented, at national and international levels by the cluster schools in Malaysia to enhance their organisational excellence. On top of that, these efforts involve all members of the schools, especially students and teachers. Although the cluster schools have the opportunities to improve their excellence, there are limitations in the implementation of the programmes and activities. All programmes and activities planned by the cluster schools must gain approval of the Ministry of Education Malaysia before implementation. The schools have to prepare a report for each activity planned. It is a prerequisite to the cluster schools, since the autonomy granted to them is a guided autonomy (Ministry of Education, 2006). This concept is different from the autonomy obtained by cluster schools in other countries such as Cambodia (Dykstra & Kucita, 2008), the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand (Caldwell, 2005). According to Noor Rezan Bapoo (2009), the implementation of guided autonomy is difficult to be executed by the cluster schools in Malaysia because of the limitations imposed on the schools in implementing their programmes of excellence. In summary, results obtained from this study prove that the cluster schools in Malaysia obtain the autonomy to plan and implement programmes and activities to enhance their excellence although bound by standards set by MoE. These standards, nevertheless, do not serve as barriers to the cluster schools; instead, it challenges them to be more innovative and creative in conducting programmes for excellence.

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