A Case Study In Chinese Independent Secondary Schools Education Essay

A Case Study In Chinese Independent Secondary Schools Education Essay This study is to examine the role of leadership in teacher professional development in Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Klang Valley. The specific variables that will be investigated include teachers’ perceptions of teacher professional development; teachers’ expectations as well as the principal’s role in facilitating teacher professional development. Developments in leadership will lead to changes in the ways teachers work. These will subsequently increase the need to review teacher professional development. The purpose of this research is to establish how the dual of the principal and the teachers manifests itself in professional development. This research will be significant as it will examine the voices of teachers on how leadership contributes to teacher professional development. The research will be conducted using qualitative methodology. It will be based on a case study of two Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Klang Valley. Data will be c ollected using questionnaires and follow up interviews which will be administered to elicit responses from principals, deputy principals and teachers in both schools. The findings will reveal the need for teachers in Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Klang Valley to engage more in teacher professional development programmes in order for them to have a better understanding of the concept. This study will also demonstrate if teacher professional development should be the core work of both the principals and teachers in order to create a learning environment in their schools so that both can develop professionally. Based on the results obtained in this study, we will determine if Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Klang Valley need more awareness in teacher professional development and how it will influence the leadership. Keywords: Leadership, Principals, Teachers, Teacher Professional Development, Teaching and Learning 1.0 INTRODUCTION Having been a teacher for ten years and now majoring in educational management, I am very much interested in finding out the effects of school leadership on the professional development of the teachers in the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools in Selangor. Chinese Secondary Independent Schools are solely governed by The United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (UCSCAM) which coordinates the curriculum used in the schools and organizes the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) standardized test. Generally teachers are not employed through the professional teachers training colleges in Malaysia rather they are appointed through individual school administration which is governed by the directors (share holders) of the school as they are not governed by any central system therefore school management is based on the individual school superiors. As a teacher from a Chinese Independent Secondary School, I had been involved in various professional development programmes in school. These programmes were mos tly conducted during school hours and often during the school holidays. Thus it is my interest to find out how the school leadership contributes in molding and producing teachers who are as competent as the trained teachers by the Teachers Training Colleges under the Malaysia Education System. This is because this will determine whether the Chinese Secondary Independent Schools are producing individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonic, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God, in line with the goals of the Malaysian National Philosophy of Education.

Performance Analysis and Improvement in Sports Development and Assignment - 1

Performance Analysis and Improvement in Sports Development and Coaching - Assignment Example That is where the relatively new performance analysis discipline comes in. Well known over the last decade and made possible by digital photography and advances in IT, (PA) performance analysis is now recognized as an assistance to performance improvement at every level (Jones, Hughes and Kingston, 2009). Essentially, performance analysis is about forming a reliable and a valid performance record by systematic observations’ means that can be examined with regard to facilitating modification. Alike methods are used by the two disciplines in data collection and both depend on IT for data examination. However, the most salient thing they commonly have is measured observation use after or during an event to enumerate performance in a valid, reliable and accurate way (Hylton and Bramham, 2007). Trainers may desire to question Performance Analysis’ need as an isolated activity, given that analysis and observation clearly create a crucial component of the process of coaching as outlined in example 1 below. The actuality is though that even as trainers are likely to be experts at analyzing and observing performance, the study has pointed to harsh human limitations contained by these processes. Two significant studies have drawn attention to problems on memory retention, with trainers able to remember only 30-50 percent of principal performance issues they had observed, even with exceptional observational training (Hughes and Franks, 2004). The process of coaching itself is not flawed necessarily, but it is apparent that the analysis phases and observation of this procedure have severe restrictions. Although several skilled trainers are capable of anticipating events and make suitable changes for performance influences, even the finest are prone to human mistake, leading to incorrect decisions; hence the requirement for an organized PA approach within the practice of coaching, use of valid and dependable performance data to evaluate and monitor performers.  

Energy savings Entrepreneurship in Singapore Essay

Energy savings Entrepreneurship in Singapore - Essay Example ing companies’ horizon has grown vast with the realisation that investment made on the energy saving technologies would be a profitable deal in the long run. ESCOs provide a complete package of services starting from the appraisal to the project financing, guaranteeing the success of the project besides providing equipment maintenance and servicing. Only accredited ESCOs can provide energy saving technology services; Energy Sustainability Unit (ESU), a division of the School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, runs an accreditation programme to introduce quality and standard in the services of energy saving companies (E2 Singapore) 1. Before discussing the ESCOs in detail, let’s have a good view of energy sector in Singapore. Energy sector in Singapore involves electricity consumption, energy consumption, energy intensity, energy statistics, and energy efficiency policies. Electricity consumption as per 2005 stats given in the National Energy Policy Report includes power generation sector consuming 51% fuel to generate electricity for different sectors namely transport, buildings, household and others, as shown in the chart below. The Energy Market Authority governs the business of awarding licenses to private companies to generate electricity. The graph below depicts the electricity consumption and electricity consumption per capita from 1990 to 2007, as given by the Energy Market Authority and the Singapore Department of Statistics (Eugene, May 14, 2009). 4 The graph shows ever-increasing level of consumption, culminating to 2.6 times from 1990 to 2007 but consumption per capita went up at a slower pace of 1.8 times, showing no movement between 2005 to 2007 (Eugene, May 14, 2009). 4 In the matter of energy consumption and energy intensity, stats of the two organizations -- the Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are different while comparing Singapore’s energy intensity with America

Practical 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Practical 1 - Assignment Example Annealing process effects on mechanical properties of the sample’s test strain properties. The material loses its ductility during the cold rolling process. Anneal strengthening effect or toughness of the material under investigation (copper) increases in degree of prior cold work and the corresponding annealing. The ability of crystalline material to plastically deform depends on the ability for dislocation movement within copper. When the movement of dislocations is impeded, the material is strengthened. This is achieved through a number of ways such as; Strain hardening or work-hardening or cold working is a process that makes copper harder and stronger through plastic deformation. As it is plastically deformed, dislocations move as additional dislocations are produced. As dislocation within the material increases, the grains interact and become pinned or tangled. As a result, there is decreased grain mobility of dislocations as the material is strengthened. Ductility increases with the grain size, as the strength decreases. Atomic diffusion occurs as temperature increases and it releases internal strain energy. Since atoms are not fixed in a position but move once they have enough energy to break their bonds, diffusion increases rapidly with the increase in temperature. This allows the atoms to move to unrestrained positions and recover a normal position in lattice structure. This is the recovery phase and leads to adjustment of strain. In the annealing process, the test sample was performed in 1000Â ºC capacity furnace. It was observed that the hardness of the copper sample increased with gradual increase in reduction in cross-sectional area. This is due to strain hardening. The maximum value of hardness was obtained at 117HB 40% reduction in area. Understanding of mechanical deformation properties ensures efficient stress relieving procedures. Thickness of material affects the hardness of the material. It is observed from the experiment that

Accounting assignment ( memo to the manager ) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting ( memo to the manager ) - Assignment Example The market it covers expands from Middle East to North Africa and all the way up to North America. The company has its offices in a number of countries including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey,  China, USA, Canada and United Kingdom. Emaar has consistently maintained its financial position and stability. The numbers on the financial statement indicate a slight decline in revenue from 30th September 2007 to 30th September 2008 (1.62%). Although the revenue has declined slightly, the net profit has gone up by (0.4%). This indicates that the cost of revenues has gone down. From the company’s perspective, this shows that they have controlled on their costs. However, an interesting feature to note in the financial statements is that ‘selling, general and administrative expenses’ form a considerable portion of the overall expenditure both in 2007 and in 2008. Moreover, the ratio of selling and administrative expenses to the gross profit stands out to be (29.5%) and (29.1%) in 2007 and 2008 respectively. This indicates a very high proportion and is reducing the profitability considerably. In order to control these expenses, we first need to analyze the composition of these expenses. Selling, general and administrative is the sum of all direct and indirect selling expenses and all general and administrative expenses incurred by a company. Selling expenses are of two types, direct and indirect. Direct ones are those which can be linked with the sale of a specific unit. This would include warranty, advertisement or credit expenses. Indirect ones are those which cannot be allocated to a sale of a specific unit but is applied to all units in proportion. This would include telephone and postal charges. Whereas, general and administrative expenses include other expenses such as rent, heating, lighting and salaries of non-sales personnel (Investopedia). High SG&A expenses can be

Organizational Behavior in a Negative or Positive Manner Essay

Organizational Behavior in a Negative or Positive Manner - Essay Example Organizational behavior helps to draw the organizational as well as industrial psychology. Key elements of organization’s behavior are people, structure, technology, environment and many other external elements. This is required for improving job performance, increasing job satisfaction, encouraging leadership, promoting innovation etc. Management will adopt various techniques to evaluate the performance, modify salary and compensation structure by using this method. There are positive and negative sides also. Benefits of organizational behavior are it is systematic study of attitude and action of people within organization. Managers can do proactive work in effective and efficient way by using this method etc. on the other hand managing work force diversity, improving quality and productivity through the existing manpower, responding to globalization etc are few challenges for using this method. Culture can be defined as such kind of behavior that is cultivated and transmitte d socially. It includes knowledge, values, religion, beliefs, relation, roles, meanings, concepts of the universe, material possessions etc. Different types of culture are pluralism, dualism, salad blow, pragmatic culture, normative culture, academic culture, club culture etc. For example it can be said that in pragmatic culture management will focus only on the customer’s satisfaction. In normative culture management of the company is strict and rigid about the company’s guidelines, rules and regulations. Three major types of culture are discussed below: Pluralism- In this culture smaller groups of individuals try to maintain their unique culture identity and their value, culture, identities are related to broader culture and tradition.

Entrepreneur Reflection Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneur Reflection - Research Paper Example The need to meet the specific demands of the clients is one of the most important indicators of success. Another issue that appears to engage the substance of the information is the value of communication within the discourse of entrepreneurship. In the course of doing business, situations arise that will require the judgment and communication ability of the entrepreneur to resolve (Kuratko, 2008). From the interview, it might be deduced that entrepreneurship generally involves a high element of risk. The case of Efendy Susanto brings into perspective the various challenges that relate to the entire aspect of entrepreneurship. As a Customer Service Representative, Efendy finds himself with the difficult task of ensuring the satisfaction of the customers without compromising on the company’s profits (Efendy, 2012). As he explains, some mistakes can cause enormous loses and might have lasting negative impacts to the stability of the customers and the retention of their levels of trust. Efendy gives the example of a wring shipment, which would have double negative consequences on both the organization and the clients. Normally, according to his explanation, shipments take about two months to reach the customer. This would imply that a wrong delivery would cost the customer two months of waiting and that the company would have to incur yet another shipping expense as it attempts to deliver the correct product. Ultimately, this would mean that the deliveries require utmost attention in order to eliminate possibilities of losses and customer dissatisfaction. One of the issues that come to the fore from this information is that the art of entrepreneurship is delicate and must involve the engagement of a vast network of skills in order to be successful. For instance, Efendy cites the difficulty in making customers to understand some aspects of business such as changes in prices. Occasionally, the company finds itself in a position in which it must change its pri ces in order to accommodate the effects of some unforeseen developments on the market. Communicating such changes must be done in a manner that is understandable to the customer in order to avoid losing him or her to competitors. It might be argued that the effects of the changes on the market are necessarily brought about by certain forces that may not be easily predictable to the company (Baron & Shane, 2007). The findings from this interview are consistent with various studies that have argued in favour of a strategic combination of speed and skill as some of the factors that determine the success levels of entrepreneurship. The corporate world is largely controlled by these variables. Efficiency is determined by the manner in which a business manages to meet its targets within a given time frame (Baron & Shane, 2007). This time frame may encounter challenges that expose the processes to delays and other commercial inconveniences. This exposes the business to the risk of lawsuits from dissatisfied customers and other forms of damages. In order for businesses to avoid such inconveniences, it is important for them to develop a systematic structure