Measuring Malaysia School Resource Centers’ Standards

Through iQ-PSS, An Online Management Information System

By:Fadzliaton Zainudin

&Kamarulzaman bin Ismail

Educational Technology DivisionMinistry of Education, Malaysia

Diversity Challenge Resilience: School Libraries in Action - The 12th Biennial School Library Association of Queensland, the 39th International Association of School Librarianship Annual Conference, incorporating

the 14th International Forum on Research in School Librarianship, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 27 September – 1 October 2010.

Introduction

School Resource Centers in Malaysia

iQ-PSS as KPIs

Findings

Recommendations

Conclusion

Outline

No. of SchoolsPrimary Secondary Total

7,685 2,237 9,922

Enrolment 3.06 mil 2.33 mil 5.39 mil

No. of Teachers

M 64,958 51,978 116,936

F 141,894 101,965 243,859

Educational Expenditure RM 2.5 bil

Schools in Malaysia

2001 - 2010

2011Standard Primary School Curriculum(KSSR)

1983New Primary School Curriculum(KBSR)School Libraries became School Resource Centers

1991 - 2000 2011 - 20201981 - 19901970 – 1980

Development of Education

1987New Secondary School Curriculum(KBSM)1988Formation of ETD and network

1993Integrated Primary School Curriculum(KBSR)

1997Introduction of Smart SchoolETD as lead agency

Quality teaching-learning processes = optimizing on the use of a variety of educational resources and teaching methods

Educational Technology Division and its network

School Resource Centers in Malaysia

Primary, 7685, 77%

Secondary, 2237, 23%

Indeks Kualiti Pusat Sumber Sekolah(School Resource Center Quality Index)

1

2

3

Introduced in July 2009

A tool to measure the quality or performance of SRC

What is iQ-PSS?(http://btp.tarantula.my)

iQ-PSS Main Focus

Process-based quality management system

iQ-PSS as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

KPIs as quantifiable metrics that reflect the performance of an organization in achieving its goals and objectives.

Characteristics

• KPIs reflect strategic value drivers to achieve organizational goals

• KPIs are quantifiable based on valid data and standards

• KPIs lead to positive actions and key to organizational success

iQ-PSS Features

• The system is built based on the open-source technology

• It can cater unlimited users

• The system can be accessed simultaneously

• The system is based on web-technology

• The system has high level of security features

• Data entry processing is done by TLs online instead of filling out the instrument manually.

• STEDs and TACs officers can monitor the data entered by TLs and update the data if there is a need. They can also give suggestions and comments on SRCs under their

administration

iQ-PSS Features (cont…)

• STEDs and TACs officers can observe the data of all schools under their administration

• At the headquarters, ETD can use the information from iQ-PSS to decide on SRCs strategic planning and future

directions

• iQ-PSS can be used to transform data into information useful for decision making. It can provide performance reports to assist in the planning, monitoring and implementation of strategy.

• iQ-PSS provides a valuable time saving benefit to the workforce of ETD and its network. Where in the past information on SRCs had to be manually processed for filing and analysis, it can now be entered quickly and easily online, allowing for faster decision making and quicker reflexes for the ETD as a whole.

Scope of iQ-PSS

iQ-PSS involves the following entities:

• All schools in Malaysia

• 367 Teacher Activity Centers

• 15 State Educational Technology Divisions

• Educational Resources Management Sector

• Educational Technology Division

Workflow of iQ-PSS

FindingsiQ-PSS Status No. of SRCs

1. TLs’ Action Required 2604

2. Updating School Profile by TLs 259

3. Self-evaluation by TLs 722

6. Endorsed iQ-PSS 6258

Total 9843

Overall Status

Findings

Status At State Level

iQ-PSS Status

STEDs No. of SRCs

1.TLs’ Action

Required

2.Updating

Info by TLs

3.Self-

evaluation

6.Endorsed

iQ-PSS

Johor 1129 252 47 88 742

Kedah 700 700

Kelantan 551 19 32 63 437

Melaka 304 304

Negeri Sembilan 458 156 14 59 229

Pahang 707 13 8 13 673

Perak 1083 431 124 528

Perlis 101 5 4 92

Pulau Pinang 392 392

Sabah 1271 839 83 109 240

Sarawak 1440 630 34 139 637

Selangor 907 123 8 29 747

Terengganu 481 72 27 62 320

WP Kuala Lumpur 293 64 6 32 191

WP Labuan 26 26

Total 9843 2604 259 722 6258

Findings

SRCs & Locations

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

Primary

Secondary

Urban 1295 739

Rural 6357 1452

Primary Secondary

Findings

SRC Infrastructure

Modified rooms40%

Not mentioned2%

Specially designed rooms

42%

Modified buildings8%

Specially designed buildings

8%

Findings

SRC Rating

214

799

1135

2015

2095

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

5-star

4-star

3-star

2-star

1-star

Findings

SRC Rating Based on Categories

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

A

B

C

D

E

5-star 4-star 3-star 2-star 1-star

A - Physical, equipment and materials facilities (15%)B - SRC Management (15%)C- SRC Usage (40%)D - Management of NILAM Reading program (20%)E - SRC Improvement Programs (10%)

Findings

Library Automation

7959, 99%

120, 1%

Findings

Book Collection

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Primary

Rural Primary

Urban Primary

Secondary

Rural Secondary

Urban Secondary

Target Achived Target Not Achieved

Findings

Teacher-Librarians’ Competencies

5917

1246

131

70

61

32

2026

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

Basic

Intermediate

3-month Course

1-year Course

Bachelor

Master

No Course

Findings

Teacher-Librarians’ Experiences

1783

1801

1602

2893

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

> 16 years

11 - 15 years

6 - 10 years

0 - 5 years

Findings

Teacher-Librarians’ Grades

34

626

2286

15

2836

1897

385

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

DG 48

DG 44

DG41

DGA 34

DGA 32

DGA 29

Not mentioned

Findings

Teacher-Librarians’ Workloads

3284

1756

2402

439

198

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

> 20 periods

16 - 20 periods

9 - 15 periods

6 - 8 periods

< 6 periods

Findings

Teacher-Librarians’ Appointments

Appointed by the school heads,

4678, 58%

Appointed by the State Education

Depts, 3401, 42%

Recommendations

• TLs should be honest in giving the information on their respective SRCs.

• School administrators should support their respective TLs as these teachers are the main players for the enculturation of ICT through the Smart School concept and, the inculcation of reading habits and life-long learning.

• At the district level, TAC officers should monitor and assist the progress of iQ-PSS implementation.

• At the state level, STED officers should coordinate the implementation of iQ-PSS with the TAC officers. They should monitor and evaluate the performance of SRCs and give appropriate supports in the programs and activities.

• ETD as the headquarters should ensure that the information highway runs smoothly by providing access to the Internet to all schools 24x7and lay a strong foundation in ICT infrastructure. The information from iQ-PSS should be reported to the top-level officers and used to propose preventive and corrective actions to ensure continuous improvement of SRCs

Conclusion

iQ-PSS, first introduced in July 2009, is a tool to monitor and coordinate the development of the School Resource Centers throughout Malaysia. Using ICT as an enabler and open-source technology as cost-optimizer, iQ-PSS has successfully achieved a new terrain in supporting effective delivery of public services, mainly in education.

With this systematic monitoring, it is hoped that any decision relating to the development of SRCs can be made accurately and meet the needs of users.

Conclusion (cont…)

Even though there are several hiccups in the implementation of all initiatives such as ICT knowledge and readiness among TLs, commitment of administrators of all levels and financial factors, the embodiment of the spirit to change is there.

It just needs a spark to ignite the fire of transformation as Malaysia is fast approaching 2020. Smart School concept, world-class education system and Vision 2020 can be achieved not by being rhetoric but they need shared vision, flexible organization of implementers at ground level, well-defined deliverables, performance-based management, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction which act as puzzle pieces of quality management standards.

Moving Forward

iQ-PSS has opened up new horizon in embracing the School Resource Centers of the future. By applying the same concept as iQ-PSS, SRCs can be linked together all over the country, and their educational resources can be explored, accessed and shared among teachers and students, anytime anywhere, ubiquitously.

At the moment, the ETD is implementing new initiatives based on the same framework:

i-NILAM, an online student-reading activity databases

ps-Sentral, an online library automation

online educational resources portal

online newspaper archive (education articles)

online Dewey classification system both in Malay and English languages

ICT Initiatives - Integrated Educational Resources

Management

ThankYou