From Compliance to Development: A Grounded Framework for School-Based Instructional Supervision in Malaysian Public Secondary Schools
Abstract
School-based instructional supervision (SBIS) carries a formal legislative mandate in Malaysian public secondary education, yet its intended purpose of fostering teacher professional growth is not consistently realised. Documentation requirements frequently displace developmental intent, and supervision and evaluation continue to be conflated in ways that undermine formative practice. This qualitative multiple-case study examined SBIS implementation across two purposively selected urban public secondary schools in Selangor: one participating in the Transformasi Sekolah 2025 (TS25) programme, and one under standard national provisions. Fourteen participants comprised principals, senior assistant principals, heads of department, subject panel heads, and novice, mid-career, and experienced teachers. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Thematic analysis used Atlas.ti Version 23; intercoder reliability was confirmed via Fleiss' Kappa (κ = 0.775, p < .001), indicating substantial agreement. Seven themes addressed supervision implementation, professional growth, and systemic challenges. Findings reveal structurally divergent supervisory cultures despite shared policy frameworks: the TS25 school demonstrated a multi-tiered developmental approach embedded in Professional Learning Communities, while the non-TS25 school prioritised procedural compliance. Drawing on Glickman's Developmental Supervision Model and Knowles' Adult Learning Theory, the study proposes a PDDA (Plan-Do-Develop-Analyse) framework centred on professional growth. Three contributions are advanced: the first empirical comparison of SBIS between TS25 and non-TS25 Malaysian secondary schools; a reconceptualisation of the compliance-development tension as structural rather than individual failure; and a practice-derived framework actionable within existing policy constraints. Findings carry implications for teachers, school leaders, and policymakers seeking to move supervision beyond compliance toward dynamic, teacher-centred practice.
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