Take home test

a) Based on the above text, you are required to discuss the type/s of leadership
style showed by teacher K and relate her leadership style \with the theories.
Leadership styles are very important to be practiced by an organizer in an
organization. As a teacher, we should know different types of leadership styles
that we should have in ourselves especially while we are dealing with the
students in the classroom. The right leadership styles used in the classroom will
bring a big impact to the students for a lifelong learning. Based on the text
above, I could identify two types of leadership styles portray by teacher K. the
two types of leadership styles are autocratic and transformation.
According to (Syed Ismail & Ahmad Subki), an individual with autocratic style
believe that the power of making decision is based on the leader only. The
leaders tell their followers what they want to be done and how they want it to be
accomplished, without any input or advice from their followers. Teacher K follows
the autocratic leadership style where she plans her lessons based on the
syllabus and the textbook. The teaching and learning materials frequently used
by her are worksheets from a workbook available from commercial publishers
and exercises from the textbook. This teacher shows a good attitude where she
neatly plans her lesson based on the syllabus. This kind of teacher focuses more
on the end product as she followed strictly the syllabus. She believed by the end
of the lesson, the objectives mentioned in the lesson plan should be achieved. At
the same time, the teacher did not care of using various sources of teaching and
learning materials. As for her, as long as she followed the syllabus then the
lesson should be okay. This teacher is concern more on the end product rather
than how the process is going on. Furthermore, the autocratic leadership could
be seen in the text where most of the time the teacher uses lectures in her
teaching and provides information to the students. Basically, this tells me that the
teacher will recognize and decides first on what she wants to teach and how the
lesson should be done in the class. The students need not to find or bring other
sources to the class as she will provide all the information to them and the

lectures are all from her. The students act as a good listener and need to pay full
attention during the teaching and learning in order to grab the input given by the
teacher. If the students miss out the lectures, it will lead them to have problem in
understanding the lesson and comprehending questions based on the topic.
Therefore, I could conclude that an autocratic leadership is more towards teacher
centered rather than student centered. The students were depending on the
teacher only as all the input was given by the teacher and they acted as a
passive recipient during the lectures. Apart of it, this teacher also follows
autocratic leadership style in term of dealing with the students during the learning
activities. The autocratic leadership is very particular about the time constrain.
Therefore, the students are rarely given ample time to answer the questions. This
teacher also seldom pays attention to the weak students and often she provided
the answers to the questions. Basically, teacher with this autocratic style is very
particular about the time. For her, she should act according to the plan and time
stated in the plan. There should not be less or more in time spending for the
particular stage in the lesson plan as it will affect the other steps. Hence, the
lesson could not run smoothly and the objectives could not be achieved by the
end of the lesson. This teacher is more towards achieving on the syllabus and
did not take care about the performance of weak students in the class. The most
important thing is the product and the plan should act accordingly from the
beginning to the end (Jenk, 1990). Basically, autocratic leadership involves
absolute, authoritarian control over a group (Keith & Girling, 1991). Based on this
leadership style, I could relate it with the behaviour theory. Behaviour theory
focuses on how a leader behaves in the process of leadership especially in
dealing with his/her students (Noriati, Boon Pong Ying & Wong Kiet Wah (2010).
There are various types of behaviour theory. The suitable theory with this
leadership style is theory X (Dauglas MacGregor, 1960). In this theory, the leader
behaves more autocratic where he/she will direct and control his/her followers in
working process. This can be seen in the text where teacher K controls over the
information and lectures given during the learning process. The students were
needed to listen carefully to the lesson and answer Yes or No questions

prompted by the teacher. Apart of it, this theory is highlighted on the product.
Hence, the teacher should provide friendly environment where the harmonious
atmosphere could be created in the classroom. Based on the text, the teacher is
a friendly person and has a personality that is favoured by students. The
students did not feel threaten during the lesson even though the teacher uses
autocratic leadership. Meanwhile, they show interest in their learning because
they have a good social rapport with her. Basically, the relationship build enable
the teacher to create unthreatened environment besides capture students
attention to learn during the lesson.
The second type of leadership styles that can be seen in the text is
transformational leadership. There are four components in transformational
leadership which are charisma/idealized influenced, inspirational motivation,
intellectual stimulation and personal/individual attention (Bass & Avolio, 1994).
Based on the four components, there are only two components of
transformational leadership that are related with teacher Ks personality. The first
one is inspirational motivation. Inspirational motivations refer to the managers
who motivate associates to commit to the vision of the organization. Managers
with inspirational motivation encourage team spirit to reach goals of increased
revenue and market growth for the organization. Based on the text, the
inspirational motivation could be seen where the teacher is a friendly person and
has a personality that is favoured by students. Therefore, her students always
show interest in their learning because they have a good social rapport with her.
Basically, a teacher who builds a good rapport with students will develop
inspiration in his/her students to be focused during the lesson. At the same time,
it will encourage her students to show interest in their learning. Therefore, it leads
the students to pay full attention and comprehend the lesson well. The second
one is in term of intellectual stimulation. Intellectual stimulation refers to the
managers who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the
normal beliefs or views of a group. Managers with intellectual stimulation
promote critical thinking and problem solving to make the organization better.
Based on the text, I could see teacher K uses intellectual stimulation during the

lesson. This can be seen clearly in the text when she poses Higher Order
Thinking (HOT) questions to the students. Before asking HOT questions, she will
ask basic questions where the students need to answer Yes or No questions
only. The HOT questions enabled the students to think creatively and critically
because the answers are not an exact answer and they need to justify it based
on their understanding. Therefore, there is no definite answer of right or wrong
because as long as the students could justify it, then the answers will be
accepted. Generally, this transformational leadership style is related with the
transformation theory. According to James MacGregor (1978), transformational
leaders capable of mobilizing his followers to act according with the specific
goals based on values and motivations, needs and desires, aspirations and
expectations by both leaders and followers. These leaders were very good and
capable in using their powers to persuade their followers to bring changes in their
organization. Basically, transformational leaders is a catalysts for change,
challenging the thinking among his followers to see a problem from different
perspectives, consult before acting and raise awareness and concern for the
followers of the importance and the goals of the organization. Teacher with
transformation leadership is a teacher that can enhance the motivation, increase
self-awareness and influence the students to complete the tasks in order to
achieve the goals. Basically, the relationship between the teacher and the
students were good. This can be seen clearly in the text where her students
always show interest in their learning because they have a good social rapport
with her. Based on this theory, the teacher was able to portray the image of a
leader who can be a source of inspiration for students to be followed.

b) Analyse the above scenario. Create an action plan on how you could improve
yourself as a beginning teacher if you were teacher K.
Focus

Action plan

To create interactive and fun learning

environment
To cater the lesson and the activities with

different levels of achievement

To create student centered environment
Be more creative in designing and
choosing

Impact

the

teaching

and

learning

materials.
Should not rely on the textbook and the

exercises on the textbook book only.

Choose variety of materials in teaching

and learning.
Provide guidance to the weak students.
Create activities to suit the students with

different levels of achievement

Create student centered environment in

the classroom
Students will understand more the lesson
Students will engage with the lesson
Fun learning environment will be created
Students will feel encourage to complete
the worksheets given as it is accordance

Issues
Suggestion for improvement

with their levels of achievement

Autocratic leadership
Transformational leadership
Be more creative in designing the lesson
Allow the students to discover the
knowledge

The table above shows an action plan on how I could improve myself as a
beginning teacher if I were teacher K. First of all, I will identify and clearly stated
my focus so that I know what I want to achieve by the end of the lesson.
Basically, I could identify three focuses based on the problems faced by teacher
K.The focuses are to create interactive and fun learning environment, to cater the

lesson and the activities with different levels of achievement and to create
student centered environment.
The action plan that I would like to suggest are teacher should be more
creative in designing and choosing the teaching and learning materials, teacher
should not rely on the textbook and the exercises on the textbook book only,
teacher should choose variety of materials in teaching and learning, teacher
should provide guidance to the weak students, teacher should create activities to
suit the students with different levels of achievement and teacher should create
student centered environment in the classroom. Based on the text, teacher was
not creative and innovative in choosing materials for teaching and learning
material. She just took exercises from the textbook. This kind of material quite
boring and cannot capture students attention much. In this era of globalization,
teacher should use variety of teaching materials in order to get students
attention. Teacher should integrate the lesson with Informational Communication
Technology (ICT) because students nowadays were more towards digital
citizens. If the materials are outdated, it will not capture students interest and at
the same time it will make the students downgraded the teacher. Apart of it, the
lesson should be more students centered where students are the one who
actively involve during the discussion activities. Students are encouraged to take
part and explore the knowledge and find the sources rather than just being
passive recipient. Therefore, the teacher just acted as a facilitator and mentor to
the students. Meanwhile, the teacher also should create activities that suits with
the levels of the students. Therefore, the students could engage with the learning
activities and were able to complete the work given without having too much
difficulty as the questions created based on their Zone of Proximal Development
(ZPD).
Based on the action plan carried out, it will bring a big impact to the
students. The impact can be seen in term of students understanding towards the
lesson, students engagement during lesson, fun learning environment will be
created and students will feel encourage to complete the worksheets given as it
is accordance with their levels of achievement. When teacher can bring these

kinds of impact to the students, the lesson will be more meaningful and will be
remembered for a long term memory. Therefore, the lesson is not just temporarily
for short period but for a lifelong learning.
As a conclusion, teacher should have action plan in dealing with students
with different levels of achievement and create more interactive and fun learning
environment. When teacher could create this kind of environment, the students
will not feel stress and easy to absorb the lesson taught by the teacher.
Therefore, the lesson will be more communicative and interactive.

References
Bass, B. M. & Avolio, B. J. (Eds.). (1994). Improving organizational effectiveness
through transformational leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Burns, J. M. (1978) Leadership. New York. Harper & Row.

MacGregor, D. (1960). Conditions of effective leadership in the industrial organization.

Journal of Consulting Psychology 8, no. 2: 55-63.
Noriati A. Rashid, Boon Pong Ying & Wong Kiet Wah. (2019). Asas Kepimpinan &
Perkembangan Profesional. Selangor: Oxford Fajar.
Syed Ismail Bin Syed Mustafa & Ahmad Subki Bin Miskon. (2010). Asas Kepimpinan &
Perkembangan Profesional. Selangor: Penerbitan Multimedia.