PGT437E EBOOK

PGT437E

GENERAL SCHOOL
ADMINISTRATION

Weekly
Reflection

BY:
SHARON TIONG FEN YIN

(141071)

WEEK: 1
DATE: 27/10/2021

The first week of the lecture, I was nervous about it
because it's my final year. The lecturer, Dr Thien,
introduced herself to us and introduced the course
outline to us.

I wanted to take this course because I know this
course will be useful to me when I become a
teacher in the future. The course helps to expose
the students to the important aspects of school
administration and management.

Dr Thien was a very nice lecturer and she likes
to share the experiences she had with us so
that we can get to know more about how the
school system and the school management
works. It made the class a little interesting
because we got to share some of the
experiences with Dr Thien too.

When the lecturer introduced the assignments
to me, I was nervous and scared because I was
worried I could not do it well. I realized I have
to make some of my time wisely in order to
complete the tasks. Besides that, I know
working together in a group is important too
in completing the tasks. After the lecturer
divided us, I used a bit of my time to get to
know my group members so that we can have
good teamwork in helping out each other in
completing the works together.

WEEK: 2
DATE: 3/11/2021

The second week of the lecture is about Education
System in Malaysia and to show an overview of
Bureaucracy and Hierarchy.

The title is already making me dizzy because the
title seems complicated. It was a lot to take in
because I have no idea about it. Hierarchy is a
system of ranking various positions in descending
scale from top to bottom and it serves as lines of
communication and delegation authority.

Bureaucracy is an administrative system designed
to accomplish large-scale tasks by coordinating the
work of many individuals systematically. There
were advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy.

I got to know how the education system runs in
Malaysia. The Ministry of Education has its own
vision and mission to make sure the quality of the
education system can help to develop any
individuals to their full potential for a prosperous
nation.

Mission and vision play an important role in the
education system, They are often reliable
representations of what schools stand for, helping
keep the values of the school central to how it
operates. It can help keep the school on track with
its greater purpose by helping school leaders to
navigate competing interests.

WEEK: 3
DATE: 10/11/2021

For the third week, the lecture was about "School
Principal Leadership". I went to SMK Methodist
school in Sibu and I remembered how nice my
principal was. His name was Mr Yong and he was
respected by his colleagues. It was a cluster school
so I remembered I have extra classes everyday after
class and it was a must for those who have big
exams like PMR/PT3, SPM and STPM.

I know being a leader is not easy. Leadership is a
process of influence which the central concept is
influence rather than giving authority. I know for a
fact that being a school principal is always busy in
making sure the school system is running smoothly.

I remembered how the students or my classmates
always pretended to be nice or hardworking
everytime my school principal did his daily patrol
around the school. I also knew that my school
principal is very strict on students' academic
results. He wanted to make sure the students are
doing well in their academics and making sure the
teachers are using every resources available to
provide more learning materials for the teachers to
teach their students. Thanks to the principal's
leadership, I managed to get good results!

I think my school principal has the Instructional
leadership which he is a goal-oriented leader that
was able to define a clear direction for the school
and focused primarily on the improvement of
student academic outcomes.



WEEK: 5
DATE: 24/11/2021

In week 5, we got an invited lecturer to give us a
lecture on Financial Management. The invited
lecturer was Puan Shantanamary.

I learnt that finances are very important in our
lives or any organization and so does it is
important at the school level too. It is important in
schools because the government has allocated a
large amount of money to the education sector in
order to produce the highest quality of education
for Malaysian society.

I found out that it was the principal's responsibility
to manage the school's finance. I thought there
would be a person appointed to manage the
school's finance but I was wrong about it.
Systematic financial management depends on the
principal because effective financial planning and
effective control of money and expenditure of
funds must be given serious attention.

I also found out that there were a lot of strict rules
to obey, for example, teachers are not allowed to
collect any funds without permission from the
education sector. There will be disciplinary actions
or punishments given if the rules are not obeyed.
One of them is withholding of promotion and
withholding of increment of salary without
cumulative effect.

WEEK: 6
DATE: 1/12/2021

In week 6, I learnt about PLC which stands for
Professional Learning Community. PLC refers to
teachers who are committed and work
collaboratively and continuously doing inquiry and
action research to increase their students' results.
The purposes of this PLC is to improve instructional
practice, enhanced student learning and to provide
positive student outcomes.

PLC has its own uniqueness and it is encourageable
for the school to implement this method. PLC focus
on core business of learning and teaching where
the teachers gathered and discussed what are the
suitable learning methods and materials to engage
their students in the classroom. That is why PLC is
a systematic, structured and collaborative
approach where teachers worked together to come
up ways to provide meaningful lessons for their
students.

The PLC Framework includes Plan, Do, Check and
Act. These 4 processes enables the teachers to be
able to identify the problems, doing research,
collecting data, create action plan, reflect on
mistakes and make improvements.

I learnt that PLC is important in schools because
different students have different learning needs.
Teachers are able to work together to come up with
a better lesson plan so that no students will be left
behind.

WEEK: 7
DATE: 8/12/2021

In week 7, the class was blessed with another appearance
of another invited lecturer, Dr Khor Mui Kim, who was a
"Nazir Kanan". Nazir Congregation, I was unfamiliar with
this term, but I learnt that it is a person who is a detector,
comparator and activator. A detector has to detect the
surroundings in the school to ensure the school system is
running well and smoothly.

Nazir Congregation has some of the functions and there
were being a guide, an examiner, an advisor and a reporter.
They have to follow the process of an examination and
there are prognostic, normative and prescriptive ways. The
prognostic way is that they have to create a Projection-
Based Assumption that might happen in school. The
normative way is that they have to survey the actual
situations based on the standard set by the school. The
prescriptive way is that they will give suggestions on how
to solve the problems by filling the gap between the actual
and the ideal. I realized they need to do a report too. A
report is a document that can give information, report
findings, put forward ideas and sometimes makes
recommendations on a specific subject for a specific
reader. The report is really important so it has to be
informative enough with relevant information and details.

WEEK: 8
DATE: 15/12/2021

Coming to week 8, I got to learn about the
Management of Student Affairs. Students' affairs
include guidance and counselling, scholarships,
textbook loan scheme and many more which
includes varieties of committee in the school. The
purpose of this is to be able to recognize the
potential of a student and to nurture that
excellence. I remembered I was the class monitor,
the EXCO in The Monitor Board and managed to
climb up as the Head Girl in The Monitor Board. The
Monitor Board was assigned to assist all the class
monitors in managing the classroom's cleanliness
and the system in a classroom running smoothly.
For example, every classroom's notice board must
have a complete set of the school's vision, mission,
the class's duty roster and many more.

As I was the Head Girl in The Monitor Board. My job
was to make sure the students in the school did not
cause any disciplinary problems by doing daily
patrol around the school which includes patrolling
the classroom, the school library, the toilets and
many more. Being a leader was not easy because I
sometimes got challenged by other students. I
knew I shouldn't confront them and brought this
matter to the teacher-in-charge which are the
disciplinary teachers and PK Hem.

There were a lot of rules and procedures to follow
when there's a disciplinary problem. Whether it's a
light, moderate or heavy offence, we shouldn't act
on our own and should be consulted with the
people in charge.

WEEK: 9
DATE: 20-26/12/2021

Week 9 is when the mid-semester break starts!

WEEK: 10
DATE: 29/12/2021

After the mid-semester break, the lesson continued
to Safety Management. Safety is always important
no matter where we are. As for schools, they have
legal responsibilities to ensure the safety of the
students under the common law doctrine of in loco
parents. I learnt that safety is really important no
matter you are a student or a teacher. Everyone has
to take care of their own safety whenever and
wherever they are. That is why school plays an
important role in educating not just the students
but also for all the teachers and staffs about safety
management in school.

Every school must have the standard safety
equipment which includes fire extinguishers, fire
alarm, water dispenser and many more. Every small
details should be taken seriously to ensure not just
the students' safety but also everyone. That is why I
realized there were school prefects and
disciplinary teachers doing their daily patrol just
to make sure the students are not doing anything
that could harm themselves. I found my
disciplinary teachers were very strict with students
running around in school because they might fall
and hurt themselves.

Besides safety, the school also provide health
service to the students and the teachers. The
School Health Service can be divided into three
main components and there are School Health
Service, School Dental Service and School
Environmental Health Service.

Health Education is important too because it helps
to educate the students and the teachers too to
priotise their health and not doing things that
could harm their own health. For example, the
school carried out a campaign to educate the
students about smoking and the wrong doings of
using drugs. With this campaign, not just the
students but the teachers and the staffs will be
educated.

Medical Examination is also part of the activity
during the school health visitation. This
examination is conducted by doctors and nurses to
provide the proper care for the students such as
eye examination, hearing screening and many
more.

Health is also important to all of us. In order for us
to be healthy, we need to have a healthy lifestyle.
That is there were a lot of safety and health related
programs organized by the schools so that the
students can be educated to take care of their own
safety and their own health and at the same time
to care for their parents' safety and health too.
Safety and health management in school is not just
the duty of school administrators, but it also
requires the cooperation of the community and
other people to ensure a safe place for everyone.

WEEK: 11
DATE: 5/1/2022

For week 11, the lesson is about Loco Parentis or A
teacher as a predator in the classroom. When I saw
this topic, honestly, I was a bit uncomfortable and
not ready for this lesson but I had to get myself
ready for this lesson because I know it is a valuable
lesson for me.

I watched the video posted and it was about Ms
Zamora being the predator in the classroom. She
sexually harassed her student and from that
moment I knew she failed her responsibilities as a
teacher. I couldn't imagine a teacher sexually
harassing an underage student. It is totally the
wrong thing to do. Giving the students your phone
number or email address is to only ask for
homework and not for other things such as
chatting. A teacher should set their boundary and
not cross the boundary of a teacher and a student.

When parents send their children to school, it is
the teachers' responsibility to keep watch of the
students and make sure they are safe on the school
grounds. A teacher shouldn't neglect his or her
duties in school. Negligence can occur in situations
where a teacher deliberately does not engage or
intervene in a situation even though he or she is
aware of the dangers of the activity. For example, a
teacher should intervene if he or she sees a
bullying happening on the school grounds.

WEEK: 12
DATE: 12/1/2022

Week 12, it's about human resource management.
Human resource refers to the personnel of a
business or organization, regarded as a significant
asset in terms of skills and abilities. Human
resource is the department of a business or
organization that deals with the hiring,
administration, and training of the staff.

Human resource in education section serves the
purpose in ministry level responsibilities tend to be
based on administrative and financial concerns,
regardless of the extent to which management is
decentralized.

As a future teacher-to-be, I knew about the posting
part but it's not clear. For this lesson, I found out
that there were grading of posts which provides
the needed structure to the career system. Finding
a job is not easy. I was worried about what my
future might hold. As we can't predict the future, I
can only do my very best to have a better future. In
order to have a better future, of course, I would
need to have good human resources.

WEEK: 13
DATE: 19/1/2022

For week 13, I got to learn about the Management
of School Co-Curriculum Activities. It refers to any
activity that is beyond the limit of the curriculum. I
remembered my school always forced their
students to take extra-curricular activities. A
student like me who is not active in these activities
would think it is a waste of time.

When I was in Form 6, I had to retake my co-
curricular activities and be serious about it
because I need the points when I apply for the
university that I want. So, I took LEO Club, Girls
Brigade and Badminton Club when I was in Form 6.
It was hard because I had to juggle my time to do
co-curricular activities and had to arrange a time
for my form 6 studies too. The club took up most of
my time and it always exhaust me physically and
mentally.

I realized joining extra-curricular activities can
help us a lot. It can train students to control
themselves when they are under stress and foster a
sense of a desire to compete and succeed. It also
affects the quality of leadership, involvement and
the relationship between race and social skills. I
was chosen as The President of The Leo Club. It was
hard at first because I need to lead my members
and conduct monthly meetings too.

Overall, it provides the avenues of socialization and
collaboration which I think are really important
when you step into society.

WEEK: 14
DATE: 26/1/2022

In Week 14, an invited lecturer, Dr.
Shirley Tay gave us a talk to share
her experiences and some of her
expertise on school administration.

Dr Shirley Tay shared some of the
aspects in a school administration.
Her journey from a teacher to a
principal is really interesting. I
knew the journey must be hard and
not roads are covered in roses and
gold. Everyone will face difficulties
along their journey.

But, Dr Shirley Tay remained strong to continue her
journey even though it's hard and tiring. I admired her for
that. I realized it is easy to give up but it's hard to get
back up again. To be able to see how Dr Shirley Tay able to
get back up from all these toughness inspired me. I always
wanted to become a teacher when I was young. Along the
journey, I realized being a teacher is not easy. It takes a
lot of responsibility for just one role.

Besides that, I was quite shy and not really a sociable
person too. One of my fellow coursemates asked the same
question I had in mind to Dr Shirley Tay. She said it wasn't
easy too to be able to mingle and be social to your
colleagues. But, you need to be able to adapt to your
surroundings and adapt to the culture around you too.
Getting all these meaningful advices from Dr Shirley Tay
inspired me to continue my journey so that I can be a
successful teacher just like her one day.

Overall, I got to learn a lot of things from this
course. Throughout the semester, I hope I can use
the knowledge and the information I gained from
this course for my future use.

A big thanks to Dr Thien Lei Mee and Assoc. Prof. Dr
Aziah Ismail for all the lectures and meaningful
information you are willing to share with us.
Almost every day I got to learn something new from
this course because there were so many things I did
not know.

I am slowly getting an idea of how the school
administration works. This course really helps to
expose to the students, like me, the important
aspects and concepts of school administration and
management. This course also incorporates topics
like how education is administered at the national,
state and district levels. It is really important for
the students to know all these because they will be
the next teachers to teach the new batch of
students.

Once again, thank you to the respected lecturers.