It’s always interesting to note how Malaysians love coming up with their own definitions of what others are doing in the world and put their own spin on it. Cluster schools in other countries are characterised by a common factor or factors such as a common educational philosophy, geographical location, shared infrastructure, management system among others. Malaysian cluster schools are said to be models of excellence for other schools in terms of academic performance, curriculum delivery, assessment strategies and co-curricular activities at state, national and international level. Plus they have a niche speciality that makes each school unique.
As a parent and an interested observer in all things Malaysian especially education, I feel that all cluster schools should have the following pre-requisite conditions before they can make the quantum leap into model schools for aspiring principals and educationists from across the globe:
- Principals with a vision for the type of students they want to produce, the knowledge of how they will do it and the leadership (in curriculum, assessment and ICT) to motivate both teachers and students to pull it off
- A nurturing and stimulating school ethos where students love learning, experience success and learn from failures in an enviromenent that rewards effort, positive values and good interpersonal skills more than academic grades
- A learning environment that integrates ICT and the English language in rich learning activities so that the mastery of technology and language is built up step by step within the framework of cross-curricular learning tasks
- An enthusiastic, competent, knowledgeable, compassionate teaching force that equips their students with the knowledge, skills, values and discipline required to become independent learners who take responsibility for their own learning
- A management system characterised by the use of ICT applications for managing the school and demand for data by the MoE, library and financial management, tracking curriculum and assessment activities therby relieving the teachtres’ administrative burden and collecting valuable data regarding student learning for objective decison making
- A networked school with full utilisation of all computer and communication technology appropriate for both teaching and learning and management
- Collaboration with other classes, schools or classrooms from across the country and the globe to share resources, knowledge and experiences within a global and pluralistic context
- Partnership with the local community, industry partners both national and international for authentic resources and learning opportunities
These factors must be in place along with the niche speciality of all cluster schools before schools can consider themselves a model for others. The autonomy, extra funds and special teachers are the means towards achieving these goals. The product from these cluster schools would then be confident, capable, creative and compassionate individuals who are self-starters, thinkers and doers, worthy of a place in any university, local or abroad. The soft skills they developed from school will stand them in good stead when coupled with the hard skills required to compete in the global marketplace.
