Assessing Inclusive School Leadership Practices in Malaysia: Instrument Adaptation and Validation

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic profile of respondents.

Variable	Category	Number	%
School type	Primary school	369	61.1
	Secondary school	235	38.9
Gender	Male	109	18.0
	Female	495	82.0
Educational qualification	Diploma	15	2.5
	Bachelor’s degree	538	89.1
	Master’s degree	51	8.4
Teaching experience (SEN)	<5 years	119	19.7
	5–10 years	206	34.1
	11–15 years	178	29.5
	16–20 years	48	7.9
	>20 years	53	8.8

Table 2. Descriptive statistics for the questionnaire items.

Item code	Sample	Range	Minimum	Maximum	Mean	SD	Skewness	Kurtosis
IL_SIC1	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.972	0.782	−0.410	−0.136
IL_SIC2	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.859	0.828	−0.508	0.206
IL_SIC3	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.917	0.790	−0.319	−0.181
IL_SIC4	604	3.00	2.00	5.00	3.964	0.797	−0.289	−0.592
IL_SIC5	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.932	0.811	−0.363	−0.235
IL_SIC6	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.826	0.843	−0.461	0.050
IL_SIC7	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.906	0.854	−0.524	0.046
IL_SIC8	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.727	0.879	−0.379	−0.092
IL_SIC9	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.538	0.916	−0.256	−0.263
IL_SIC10	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.849	0.844	−0.374	−0.190
IL_SIC11	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.896	0.831	−0.481	0.112
IL_SIC12	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.868	0.814	−0.364	−0.063
IL_MTL1	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.856	0.784	−0.260	−0.276
IL_MTL2	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.778	0.839	−0.341	−0.079
IL_MTL3	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.858	0.828	−0.326	−0.283
IL_MTL4	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.742	0.854	−0.376	0.046
IL_MTL5	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.796	0.866	−0.456	0.142
IL_MTL6	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.901	0.817	−0.384	−0.173
IL_MTL7	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.632	0.872	−0.403	0.061
IL_MTL8	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.828	0.808	−0.414	0.086
IL_MTL9	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.874	0.801	−0.451	0.269
IL_MTL10	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.871	0.808	−0.479	0.273
IL_MTL11	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.853	0.818	−0.287	−0.385
IL_MTL12	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.786	0.863	−0.582	0.399
IL_MTL13	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.843	0.850	−0.473	0.021
IL_MTL14	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.861	0.829	−0.314	−0.227
IL_MTL15	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.906	0.798	−0.341	−0.163
IL_MTL16	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.886	0.782	−0.277	−0.281
IL_MTL17	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.922	0.828	−0.417	−0.200
IL_MTL18	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.914	0.808	−0.334	−0.341
IL_MTL19	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.919	0.778	−0.346	−0.168
IL_MTL20	604	4.00	1.00	5.00	3.886	0.793	−0.354	−0.182

Figure 1. Scree plot.

Table 3. Rotated factor matrix for two factors.

Item code	Item description	Factor
		1	2
IL_SIC1	My principal promotes initiatives that foster the participation of school community in the educational process		0.774
IL_SIC2	My principal establishes plans of action to promote student inclusivity, developed in collaboration with the school community		0.805
IL_SIC3	My principal promotes continuous collaboration to strengthen the school-industry relationship		0.811
IL_SIC4	My principal ensures adequate infrastructure and resources to cater for all members of the school community		0.764
IL_SIC5	My principal promotes collaboration with other schools to learn and share experiences		0.823
IL_SIC6	My principal initiates discussions on social inclusion topics among the school community		0.767
IL_SIC7	My principal promotes participation in programs on inclusive education organized by other schools or organizations in the community		0.792
IL_SIC8	My principal organizes programs to inform the school community on the importance and benefits of inclusion		0.800
IL_SIC9	My principal initiates educational activities outside the school to increase awareness on inclusion practices		0.636
IL_SIC10	My principal promotes social inclusion activities that foster harmony within the school community		0.732
IL_SIC11	My principal collects information on the needs of teachers, students, and other school staff	0.512	0.733
IL_SIC12	My principal promotes a shared vision on inclusive education among the school community	0.516	0.743
IL_MTL1	My principal encourages students to express their opinion freely (e.g. their educational process, learning, etc.)	0.720	0.501
IL_MTL2	My principal encourages action-research projects among teachers in order to guide inclusion processes	0.714
IL_MTL3	My principal encourages activities (seminars, courses, workshops etc.) to promote inclusivity in the school	0.719
IL_MTL4	My principal establishes protocols to address conflicts among the school community (e.g. dialogs)	0.708
IL_MTL5	My principal develops educational programs to prevent discrimination among students	0.666	0.515
IL_MTL6	My principal provides opportunities for all members of the school community to participate in decision-making	0.683	0.553
IL_MTL7	My principal conducts teacher orientation on the inclusive education policy	0.603	0.544
IL_MTL8	My principal conducts activities that promote mutual understanding among the students	0.735
IL_MTL9	My principal facilitates collaboration among teachers to improve their inclusive teaching strategies	0.784
IL_MTL10	My principal encourages teachers’ voices and views on student inclusivity	0.793
IL_MTL11	My principal promotes teachers’ reflection on inclusive educational practices in the school	0.783
IL_MTL12	My principal encourages teachers to communicate situations of discrimination that occurs in the school	0.666
IL_MTL13	My principal encourages teachers to have high expectations on all students	0.771
IL_MTL14	My principal ensures the planning of lessons is done with an emphasis on promoting student inclusion	0.803
IL_MTL15	My principal promotes a flexible curriculum for students with different learning needs	0.792
IL_MTL16	My principal promotes an evaluation of curricular materials to ensure the inclusion of all students	0.797
IL_MTL17	My principal ensures that all students are represented in the curricula of the school	0.821
IL_MTL18	My principal promotes activities that enhance empathy among students in the school	0.861
IL_MTL19	My principal ensures that teachers set appropriate criteria to assess students with different learning needs	0.838
IL_MTL20	My principal promotes the evaluation of teaching practices to foster the inclusion of diverse students	0.833

Extraction method: maximum likelihood, rotation method: varimax rotation converged in three iterations, variance explained: 77.52%

Table 4. Criteria for model fit indices.

Type of fit	Index	Criteria	Interpretation
Residual-based	RMSEA	≤0.05 (Browne & Cudeck, 1993)	good
		≤0.08 (Maccallum et al., 1996)	fair
		≤0.1 (Maccallum et al., 1996)	mediocre
		>0.1 (Maccallum et al., 1996)	poor
	SRMR	≤0.05 (Byrne, 2016)	good
		≤0.08 (Byrne, 2016)	reasonable
Parsimonious	CMIN/DF	≤5 (Wheaton et al., 1977)	reasonable
		≤3 (Byrne, 2016)	reasonable
Incremental	CFI	≥0.90 (Byrne, 2016)	cut-off
Reliability	CR	0.7 ≤ CR < 0.9 0.9 ≤ CR ≤ 0.95 >0.95 (Hair et al., 2017)	satisfactory acceptable undesirable
Validity	AVE	≥0.50 (Hair et al., 2017)	cut-off

Figure 2. CFA model A.

Figure 3. CFA model B.

Table 5. Assessment of validity: model B.

				Factor Correlations
Constructs	CR	AVE	√AVE	SIC
SIC	0.976	0.772	0.879
MTL	0.985	0.770	0.877	0.881

Figure 4. CFA model C.

Table 6. Assessment of validity: model C.

				Factor Correlations
Constructs	CR	AVE	√AVE	SIC
SIC	0.976	0.772	0.879
MTL	0.983	0.775	0.880	0.874

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