EDUCATION TRANSFORMATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Dr Suseela Balakrishnan, Head of Design, Monitoring & Evaluation, Nina Adlan Disney, General Manager Education Development, Zulhaimi Othman, Managing Director of LeapEd and Brian John Ambrosio, Head of State Education Advisory Services)

Recently, I took some time off to attend a dialogue session titled 'Education in the 21st Century - Our Impact', which was organised by LeapEd Services (‘LeapEd’) and focused on their flagship Trust Schools Programme (TSP 1.0). It was an insightful session for all of us as we learned more about the efforts implemented for education transformation in Malaysia.

The Impact Study revealed that the programme has had an overall positive impact in Malaysia’s education sector

LeapEd was established as a Social Enterprise in 2010, and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad. They’re also Malaysia's first homegrown education service provider! LeapEd aims to enrich lives through capacity-building and education transformation and has impacted over 71,000 students in 160 schools through its various intervention models
such as the District Transformation Programme- AMAN ('DTP-AMAN'), Islamic School Enhancement Programme ('ISEP'), Group-up School Transformation ('GUSTO') programme, Program Sekolah Transformasi ('PreSTasi'), as well as the nation's first Trust Schools Programme (TSP 1.0) to date. Their Education Philosophy revolves around leaners, for them to realise their innate potential. This in return will add value to their communication skills as a whole.

TSP 1.0 is LeapEd's flagship programme designed to develop holistic students with 21st century capabilities, and is carried out in collaboration with Yayasan AMIR and the Ministry of Education.

TSP 1.0 looks at improving student outcomes and revitalising school culture. Since its roll-out in 2011, the TSP 1.0 has impacted over 5,300 parents and 65,000 students in 83 schools across 12 states in Malaysia. By empowering school administration and leadership team (school management, teachers, students and parents), TSP 1.0 hopes to develop schools that embed sustainable educational practices for the future.

Speaking at the dialogue session, Managing Director of LeapEd Services Sdn Bhd, En Zulhaimi Othman said, "The Trust Schools Programme was designed with the future generations in mind. Over the past 9 years, we have worked closely with our strategic partners such as the Ministry of Education and Yayasan AMIR to develop and implement the programme across schools in Malaysia, equipping students with the critical life skills they require as well as transforming schools in a holistic manner by adapting international best practices." This recent study was conducted to review the effectiveness of TSP 1.0, identifying opportunities to further enhance the model moving forward.

Brian John Ambrosio, Head of State Education Advisory Services, speaking at the dialogue session

Increase in professional competencies

The Impact Study was carried out via mixed methodologies involving surveys, interviews and observations with over 3,000 respondents including school staff, students and parents. The study
also revealed that 95% of secondary school teachers and 76% of primary school teachers moved by at least 1 level up the scale, of Starting to Developing or Enhancing to Extending.

Moving up the scale indicates a paradigm shift in the level of knowledge, skills, thinking, pedagogy and practice, showcasing growth in the teachers’ career. In many cases, professionals may not even experience one level of shift throughout their entire career as it requires continuous self-reflection and growth mindset.

Respectively, 86% of primary and 91% of secondary Middle Leaders observed a minimum progression of 1 level. As for the Senior Leadership team, 76% of primary and 83% of secondary Senior Leaders indicated a minimum progression of 1 level. Of the 124 Middle Leaders surveyed, 8% indicated a progress of 3 levels, equivalent to a very high level of teaching excellence. The study also showed that TSP 1.0 has had a positive impact on the professional competencies of school staff, allowing them to nurture students and provide quality learning in the classrooms.

High quality teaching and learning

Over 3,139 students and parents interviewed reported that students under TSP 1.0 received quality teaching. The study also shows that parents reacted positively to the programme as they observed an increase in opportunities for students to be involved in the life of the schools, as well as an increase in the frequency and level of interaction between schools, parents and the wider community. Furthermore, school climate is both a strong influencer of students' life satisfaction, well-being and student outcomes.

TSP 2.0 Underway

The TSP 1.0 approach focuses on working collaboratively with the school management team, teachers, students, parents and the community. In order, to ensure that the programme remains sustainable and scalable, the impact study also identified opportunities to further enhance the transformation model. An area that was identified is customising interventions depending on the individual need of each school. This will allow expansion of the model to better cater to groups with specific needs such as indigenous and minority groups, students with special needs, as well as to those in rural communities.

Zulhaimi added, "We believe that investing in education is the smartest decision one can make. Education provides opportunity which in turn empowers people, cultivates creativity and improves confidences and self-belief. Through the Impact Study, we have seen how the Trust School Programme has positively impacted the lives of teachers, students and parents. Leveraging on the success and learnings of this programme, we are committed to continue working with our partners to implement a new and enhanced model, TSP 2.0, which will be aligned to global trends and national aspirations."

The TSP 1.0 transformation approach focuses on  public-private partnership ('PPP') outreach model, working collaboratively with school leadership teams, teachers, students, parents and the community. 

To ensure that the programme remains transformative, sustainable and scalable, the research also identified opportunities to further enhance the programme. Some of the areas identified including customising interventions, depending on the individuals needs of schools. This will allow expansion of the model to better cater to groups with specific needs such as indigenous and other minority groups, students with special needs, as well as rural and under-enrolled schools.

Hence, TSP 2.0 is the next evolution of LeapEd's Trust School Programme, which leverages on the success and learnings of TSP 1.0 Designed as a model that is both sustainable and scalable, TSP 2.0 has been launched in 2019 in selected Malaysian public schools.

Zulhaimi added, "We believe that investing in education is the smartest decision one can make. Education provides opportunity which in turn empowers people, cultivates creativity and improves confidences and self-belief. Through the Impact Study, we have seen how the Trust School Programme has positively impacted the lives of teachers, students and parents. Leveraging on the success and learnings of this programme, we are committed to continue working with our partners to implement a new and enhanced model, TSP 2.0, which will be aligned to global trends and national aspirations."

With TSP 1.0, students will be able to thrive in the 21st century global environment through five critical life skills of confidence, communication, creativity, critical thinking and co-existence.
 This intervention model sees school administration teams, teachers and parents work together towards developing the potential of every learner. I sincerely hope that more corporations would come onboard and support this transformation journey as funds are very much needed in this public-private partnership. If you’re interested to find out more, do check out their website: www.leapservices.com