Supporting the Policy Implementation Performance of Public Primary School Leaders in Malaysia: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) of Public Leadership

Policy implementation requires the act of translating the goals and objectives of policy into actions. Policy implementation is a difficult process because how policy actors and implementers act on the policy on a large scale may decide whether it succeeds or fails. There is a growing recognition that policies do not succeed or fail on their own, but instead due to a lack of leadership qualities in policy implementation. The study aims to develop and validate the instrument for measuring the public leadership construct of school leaders in Malaysia. The instrument was adapted from the previous study and modified to suit the current study. The study also added ten new items to complement the original instrument of public leadership initiated by Tummers and Knies (2016). The target population is school leaders in the national-type primary schools in Malaysia. A simple random sampling method was utilized to select a random sample of 381 participants from the sampling frame of eligible school leaders in the country. Content validity and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on the instrument before the confirmatory factor analysis. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) procedure confirmed the existence of four sub-constructs of the public leadership construct that are accountability leadership, rule-following/lawfulness leadership, political loyal leadership, and network governance leadership. The CFA process has deleted four items due to poor factor loading (less than 0.6). The fitness indexes for all fit categories have achieved the required level of a model fit. Meanwhile, the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) and Composite Reliability (CR), which reflect the convergent validity and construct reliability, respectively, have also achieved the required level of a model fit. Hence, the revised instrument for measuring the public leadership construct of school leaders in Malaysia is valid and reliable for use to determine the policy implementation performance of the public primary school leaders in Malaysia.

How Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) Correlates with Students’ Learning Creativities

This research aimed to investigate whether or not there was an effect of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) model towards the improvement of students’ learning creativities. A total number of 40 students of 4th grade of Public Primary School Lengkong Karya, South Tangerang, Indonesia, participated in this study. This was a quantitative research with descriptive quantitative method. The hypothesis of the study stated that there was an influence of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) model towards 4th grade students’ learning creativities improvement. The results of the research revealed that there was a significant influence of CTL towards students’ learning creativities in which in the significant level of 5%, there was a significant correlation between variable X and Y. Additionally, in the significant level of 1%, rtable was lower than rxy (0.376<0.468), hence, at this level, there was a significant correlation between variable X and Y. Based on the statistical test, it was concluded that learning model of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) had significant influence towards the learning creativities of 4th graders of Public Primary School Lengkong Karya. South Tangerang. Indonesia.

Teachers Perceptions about Reward Systems in Classroom

A Reward system is used to influence the people in any organization. In education, teachers are used rewards to influence students learning outcomes. Therefore, the present study was conducted to find out the teacher's perceptions about rewards in the classroom. All the teachers of the public primary school of district Toba Tek Singh were considered for the population of the study. A questionnaire was used as a research tool for collecting the opinion of respondents, including a five-point rating scale. A total of 200 teachers (100 male and 100 female) were selected as a sample from 100 public primary schools in Toba Tek Singh. Data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) through t-test, mean and standard deviation. It was concluded that most of the teachers agreed that reward encourages the students to move forward. It was also proved that the rewards system was significantly better towards learner’s achievement. It was also confirmed that most teachers improved their performance regarding their rewards system; therefore, it had a positive impact on achieving the targeted objectives.

Relationship between Workload and Occupational Stress among Teachers in Public Primary Schools in Kasarani, Nairobi, Kenya

The goal of this study was to determine the association between workload and occupational stress among public primary school teachers. The study's goal was to see if there was a link between workload and stress at work. The Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress provided the theoretical underpinning for this study (CATS). Questionnaires were used to collect, analyze, and interpret data in this study, which followed quantitative research technique. The study took place in Kasarani, Nairobi County, Kenya. All Kasarani public primary school teachers were the study's target group In order to pick the sample, the researcher employed a basic random sampling method. Using Nassiuma's formula, the sample size was estimated (2002). 155 teachers from six schools were studied out of 728 teachers in 25 public schools. A random sample of eight respondents was surveyed at two public primary schools in Kasarani, Nairobi County, which were not part of the study region. The correlation research design was used in this study. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation, as well as inferential analysis, were used for descriptive and co-relational analysis. There is no significant association between workload and occupational stress among public primary school teachers, according to the null hypothesis examined. The chi-square test was used to evaluate the hypothesis. The data demonstrated that a high level of occupational stress is connected with a high level of workload, with a significant connection of p = 0.001. The study concluded that primary school teachers should be relieved of their severe workload. Counsellors should collaborate with Head teachers to develop advice and counseling programs to assist teachers in reducing occupational stress. Teachers will be protected from emotional and cognitive injury as a result of this, and will be more effective in their jobs.

Microscopic and Molecular Detection of Entamoeba histolytica in Selected Public Primary School Pupils of Bwari Area Council, F.C.T Abuja, Nigeria

This study evaluated the prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica using microscopic detection and confirmed by DNA analysis using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique by taking samples of some public primary school pupils within Bwari Area Council of Abuja, Nigeria. Microscopic and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis targeting only a small portion (228 bp) of the adh112 gene. Results showed that out of three hundred and twenty (320) stool sample screened, twenty six 26 (8.1%) were found to be positive of the parasite. The prevalence was high among pupils in school 4 with 7 (11.2%) follow by school 5 with (11.1%), school 3 with 5(8.3%), school 1 with 5(7.3%) and the lowest school 2 with (2.9%) P<0.05. The prevalence was high among male with 18 (13.2%) than the female P<0.05. The prevalent was high among age 4-9 had more E. histolytica than other age group with 16 (12.8%) P<0.05. The prevalence of E. histolytica was high among those that use Open space system toilet with 11 (14.4%) than the other risk factors examined P<0.05. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism showed that the entire twenty six parasite were E. histolytica as given on the Agarose gel electrophoresis with adh112 gene band of 228bp. The sources of contracting amoebiasis include drinking of contaminated water, poor sanitation in living quarters, lack of or improper use of toilets, contact with flies and items contaminated by flies, among other hygiene related issues.

Influence of Implementation of the Government Policies on Transition Rate of ECDE Children from Public Preschools to Public Primary School in Kapseret Sub County; Uasin Gishu County

A child’s transition from public preschool to primary is not a single event of change that has only immediate consequences but has its effects on transition rate. The purpose of this study was to assess influence of implementation of the government policies on transition rate of ECDE children from public preschools to public primary school in Kapseret Sub County; Uasin Gishu County. The study was guided by Jean Piaget’s Construvist theory. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The researcher sampled 171 respondents; including 86 Grade one; two; three teachers; 57 preschool teachers; and 29 headteachers. The research instruments used were questionnaires and interview schedule. The analysis of data was done using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. Data from questionnaires was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative method involved descriptive and inferential analysis. Descriptive analysis such as frequencies; percentages were used to present quantitative data in form of tables. Qualitative data from interview schedules were analyzed thematically based on the content of qualitative data and then presented in prose form. The findings were presented in frequency distribution tables. The study findings indicated that implementation of government policies has a positive and significant influence on leaners transition. The study concluded that free primary education policy has improved learners’ transition rate to Grade one. Adoption of Early Years Education Policy has influenced transition to Grade one. Finally; free primary education policy has increased the number of learners in public pre-primary school. The study recommends that primary schools should implement all the government policies by preparing Early Child Development (ECD) children in terms of classrooms; toilets; furniture and adequate qualified teachers.

Gingival health status of primary school children in a Nigerian community

Background: Gingival status is a part of periodontal health. Periodontal health may be defined as absence of gingivitis, periodontitis or other periodontal conditions. Objective: To assess the gingival health status of 11 year old primary school children in a rural community in south -east Nigeria Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study of 11 year old primary school children was done in a public primary school in Nkanu -West local Government Area of Enugu State. Ethical clearance for this study was sought and obtained. Socio-demographic data was obtained using interviewer-administered questionnaire. Gingival examination was done by a single examiner (k= 0.76), intra examiner calibration (five children per session) was done prior to data collection, The gingival status was assessed according to the gingival index of Loe and Silness. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS Version 20. P values < 0.05 were accepted as being statistically significant Results: 22 (46.3%) females, 28(53.7%) males were seen and examined, giving a female to male ratio of about 1:1.3. 2(4 %) had healthy gingiva, 47(94 %) had mild gingivitis , 1(2 %) had moderate gingivitis and none of the participants had severe gingivitis. Mild gingivitis were seen more in males than females. Majority of the school children duration of tooth brushing was about two minutes. Conclusion: Gingival status is a part of periodontal health. In this study, gingivitis were seen more in males than females, only marginal gingivitis were seen among the school children and none had severe gingivitis. Update Dent. Coll. j: 2021; 11 (1): 16-19