‘With the TSP, there is greater parental involvement and cooperation covering various aspects, as well as support from stakeholders such as Petronas, all of them channelling impactful contributions, ” said Bahrin.
A NECESSARY part in ensuring that the country’s future talents are nurtured towards exceptional achievement is a collaborative focus on excellence in education.
Fostering brilliant minds means that the environment in which these young minds are cultivated must be supported by efforts from diverse stakeholders.
To this end, an initiative called the Trust Schools Programme (TSP), conceptualised and implemented by Yayasan Amir with support and commitment from Petronas, is driving a five-year sustainable transformation of schools with a focus on holistic student and learning outcomes, such as maximising student potential and improving the quality of learning.
Launched in 2015, this collaboration between Petronas and Yayasan Amir underscores and supports the aspiration outlined in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
As an extensive education whole-school transformation initiative generated through the public-private-partnership model developed under the 10th Malaysia Plan, the TSP contributes to the transformation of the national education landscape.
Engagement across the board
Since its establishment, 20 selected public schools in Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu are reaping the benefits of this transformation programme – thanks to both Yayasan Amir’s efforts and the significant financial assistance and value-added enrichment programmes by Petronas, a long-standing advocate of sustainable education improvement.
Additionally, schools under the TSP benefit from the implementation of the Trust School Improvement Plans and the delivery of extra-curricular and parent engagement programmes.
The core of the TSP is a co-constructive approach. Breaking down the TSP into components, both local and global advisors – with vast experience in education – are placed in each school where they provide interventions based on the needs of the school.
Interventions may take the form of providing instructional leadership and pedagogical change, making decisions based on data, providing tools, sharing ideas and learning methods with other Trust Schools – building processes within the school and working with the community.
Analysis, discussions, triangulation and communication with the leadership and advisory team, teachers, students and the community are very much ingrained in the transformation process.
In Sarawak, teachers and school leaders – such as headmaster Bahrin Tahir of SK Sampadi Lundu – are among those who benefit from TSP’s professional development programmes.
Bahrin, an early education specialist whose school is one of the five earmarked as a TSP-adopted school in Sarawak, is taking the valuable experience and positive impact of the programme one step further – by sharing the benefits of the programme with neighbouring schools.
The headmaster’s insight
Speaking to The Star, the 47-year-old Kuching native related the tangible improvements under the TSP, including changes to the way students learn collaboratively as well as higher student participation in various fields at the school, district and state levels.
“From my experience with the TSP, there is greater parental involvement and cooperation covering various aspects, as well as support from stakeholders such as Petronas, all of them channelling impactful contributions, ” said Bahrin who has served as SK Sampadi Lundu headmaster since 2018.
He added that the TSP had also brought about positive changes to classroom facilities and via the Quality of Teacher Teaching (21st century Learning) module.
Upon receiving positive feedback from parents, students and the community at large, Bahrin has taken the initiative to share the modules and components of the TSP’s best practices with neighbouring schools, including cluster schools of excellence (SKK), transformation schools (TS25), SJK(C) vernacular schools and regular day schools.
“The idea and the expected outcomes of sharing this content include improvements to leadership school management teams, performance management and assessment systems, lesson plan observations and lesson plan checklists, teacher workshops and action plans, ” said Bahrin.
“Just as importantly, it also helps improve student leadership at various levels through sustained student participation and involvement in the school’s transformation process, ” he said.
Bahrin is joined by dozens of other hardworking advocates who will push for greater awareness of the deep and long-lasting transformative benefits of the TSP.
Such dedicated, targeted and tireless efforts in transforming education from the ground up are made possible with resources pledged by organisations such as Petronas, Malaysia’s top energy conglomerate, in line with the company’s commitment towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
With collaboration across public-private communities and from the humble classroom to the offices of tomorrow, the TSP is an example of how much positive change can benefit so many people when great minds work together.
