Prof Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid
ABSTRACT
The paper celebrates the contributions of the first generation of educational leaders who were trained abroad in preparation for educational development after the independence of the country. The collective professional and personal memories of another time, another place, other realities and the fostering of common dreams are traced as the narratives of a generation of changemasters. The conceptual framework used in eliciting significant meanings of the contributions of a generation who were the strategic changemasters includes the following: Ambassadors of a nation being born; first global- generation with glokal characteristics; the renaissance generation; the generation of all seasons, contributing across the decades; the lifelong learning generation; the builders of a profession; the gentle revolutionaries, and the knowledge leaders. The paper analyses and discusses the dilemmas, paradoxes, and tensions encountered by the pathbreaking leaders as they confront multiple ideologies of nationhood and shifts in educational policies, practices and approaches while remaining steadfast in their focus of contributions in the interest of the students and the interest of the nation. The story of the critical mass of education leaders for change, creating multiplier effects when strategically attuned with other changemasters and leaders is poignantly evidenced by the stories of each individual as yet untold in print but known by family members, colleagues and sometimes students. Kirkbyites, all 1500 of them were the first /early generation which fostered the development of the teaching profession, “…the profession upon which all other professions rest”. Benchmarking, Best Practices and Best Habits regarding Personal Knowledge and Self Knowledge, Identity, Integrity and Authenticity are several of the foundational strengths of this Community of the Pioneering Generation of exemplary leaders. Notwithstanding the inspiring contributions of the Kirkbyian there are questions as to what they should have done but did not do, and, what, perhaps, they should have done differently or better. The paper suggests what the splendid gentle leaders could still do to contribute collectively and individually to mentor, coach, guide the new generations of educators. In sum, the paper commemorates the substantive and symbolic contributions of Kirkbyites to the development of education and the Malaysian nation during the last half century. The contributions of the Kirkbyites are assessed in the wake of contributions by other elites, other professions and the ordinary people. Also, the assessment of contributions of the pioneering generation of educators is narrated within the context of the contributions of other educators, without diminishing or exaggerating the splendid and specific leadership of any one group or generation or any individual educational leader[s].
Lead Anyway
A Critical Mass of Leaders
Every One A Person of Influence-Life Changers-Changemasters
Unique Perspectives
Masters of A Foreign Language
Leaders in Multicultural Education
The Flow -The Synergy –The New Turning Points in Malaysian Education
Holistic and Comprehensive
Continuity and Connectedness
Untapped Talents and Untold Stories
Pioneers-
Pathfinders
Developers
The Insights: Global Challenges and Global Trends
There is the exciting imagination that “with the new information technologies which we now have at our disposal, we can turn our cities into technopolis and scatter “electronic cottages” across our rural landscape. “ This is the notion of “info utopian idyll.”
The evolution of the information infrastructure promises profound changes are afoot because of “the propensity and ability of mankind to collect, collate, transmit, and analyze information…from which far-reaching changes in human life and the world order have become inevitable.” 29 Michael Connors, 1997
Constructing Wisdom from Experience
• 10 Paradoxical Commandments
• Al I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
• All I Really Nee to Know I learned in Star Track
• Organizing Genius -Warren Bennis
• Other 7 Habits
Types of Knowledge Capital
• Of Human Capital
• Of Knowledge Capital
• Of Social Capital
• Of Intellectual Capital
• Of Cultural Capital
• Of Values Capital
• Of Human Resources
From Atoms to Bits
The future arrives at such a pace that physical capital becomes more of a liability than asset. Increasingly, value resides in information and relationships-things you can’t see at all and often can’t measure. (Stan Davis and Christopher Myer)
Recognizing Knowledge Assets
Gender Oriented Knowledge
Culture Specific Knowledge
Multiple Intelligences
Adversity Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence
Moral Intelligence
Spiritual Intelligence
Business Intelligence
Universal Knowledge
New Frontiers and Fourth Generation Management
Home
Religious Places
Schools
Work Places
Communities
Management by Doing
Management by Delegating
Management by Results- Key performance Indicators
Management by the Total Quality Agenda
Why Malaysia Moves Towards a K-Based Economy
Erosion in Global Competitiveness
Increasing foreign Competition
The Impact of Globalization and Liberalization
The Need to Seek Higher Value-Added and Value-Created Producrts and Services
The need to move into more profitable and wealth generating stages of production
The need to seek new sources of growth
Meeting the challenge of enhancing total factor productivity (TFP)
(From Input-Driven towards Productivity Driven Strategy)
(The Knowledge Economy Master Plan pp.4-5, 2002).
Learning Traditionally and Learning in the K Economy
• Problem –Based Teaching
• Inquiry and Discovery Based Teaching
• Research Based Teaching
• Internet Based Teaching
• Socratic Teaching
• Imagineering
Understanding Maximum Learning
• The Nature of Learning
• The Nature of Power Learning
• The Nature of Accelerated Learning
• The Nature of Super Learning
• The Nature of Quantum Learning
• The Nature of Multicultural Learning
• The Nature of Reflective Learning
• The Nature of Relearning Through Sharing
• The Nature of Transformative Learning
• The Learning Rhythm
• The Learning Cycle
• The Learning Event
• The Drama of Learning
• The Arrival of Meaning
• The Joy of Learning
• Personal Construct Psychology.
Learning To Learn
• Learning how to Unlearn
• Learning How to Relearn
• Learning How to Integrate and Synthesize
• Learning How to Question
• Learning to Understand the Question behind the Question
• Learning to Generate Solutions and Solve Problems
Knowledge Asset Mapping
Learning and Knowledge
The Person
The Collectivities
The Communities of Practice
The Repository
The Modes of Transmission
Searching for Channels:
· Educational Institutions
· Home Learning
· School Place Learning
· Work Place Learning
· Religious Place Learning
· Learning from the Mass Media
· Learning from the Community
· Special Training Courses
Knowledge Sources and References
Revealed and Acquired Knowledge
Tacit and Explicit Codified Knowledge
Inappropriate Knowledge
Erroneous Knowledge
Scientific Research Indexes
Knowledge in Journals
Banned Knowledge
The Many Facets of Leadership
Understanding Minds
Understanding Cultures
Understanding Realities
Understanding the Past and the revisionist Preferred Past
Understanding Preferred Futures
Educational Leadership Agenda
Educational Leaders and Lifelong Learning
Educational Leaders and Lifewide Leader
Educational Leaders and the Quality of Life
Educational Leaders and the Quest for Truth
Stages of Promotion of Knowledge ICT (K-ICT) Agenda
9. KICT Leadership
8. Ensuring Generation of ICT Production & SME
7. Fostering Creative Use of Skills
6. Fostering Application of ICT Skills
5. Creative conditions for Advanced Literacy
4. Promoting ICT Literacy
3. Ensuring Access to ICT – creative incentives
2. Ensuring that Technological Infrastructure is in place
1. Creation of National Awareness
(the progression is not necessarily linear)
Eight Levels of Performance Benchmarking
8] Providing World Class Leadership
7] Meeting World Class standards
6] Providing best in Country Leadership
5] Taking on Industry Leadership
4] Meeting the Industry Standards
3] Being the Best Department in the Organization
2] Borrowing Good Ideas
1] Learning from the Past
Supportive Infrastructure: New Realities
World-wide Manufacturing Webs
Borderless Marketing Centers
Research and Development Clusters
Tele-Medicine
National Multi-Purpose Card
Electronic Government
Smart Schools
E-Sovereignty
E-Learning
E-Economy
E-Community
E-Public Services
E-Governance
E-Integrity
Change by Questioning
The greatest difficulty lies not in persuading people to accept new ideas, but in persuading them to abandon old ones - John Maynard Keynes
Cognitive Processes for Change by Strategic Questioning
· Definitional
· Empirical
· Evaluative
· Metaphysical
Questioning for Creativity;
CONTRIBUTES TO GOOD MENTAL HEALTHMAKES PEOPLE MORE OPEN AND FREE
INCREASES POSITIVE SELF-CONCEPT
BUILDS CAPABILITIES
CREATIVE ENTREPRISE
Characteristic of Creative Individuals:
Life History of Creative Response
Curious
Venturesome-likes to discover
Self-sufficient and independent
Prefers difficult tasks and challenges
Non-conforms
Enjoys solving Problems
Flexible Thinker
Fluent, Rapid and Unexpected Answers
Ability to Synthesize and Sees Implications
Usually well read
Likes varieties and the revising of things
Creative Process
Inspiration
Vision
Foresight
Intuition
Imagination
Insights
Premonition
Guidance
Hindsight
Originate Problems
Design Methods for Solving Problems
Hypothesize-Deductive Reasoning
Test Hypotheses
Infer
Produce Original Artistic-Scientific Works
Communicate in Unique Ways
Evaluate and Generate better approaches
Perceive Hidden relations
Invent New Uses for Objects
Resourceful
Products of Creativity
Sketch
Sonata
Song
Phrase
Poem
Mathematical Process
Idea
New Mental Synthesis
A New Invention
Fragments of the Whole…
Levels of Paradigms (Jim Wheeler (1998)-The Power of Innovative Thinking)
ANCHORING AWARENESS LEVEL (AHA, Safe, Danger)
MESSAGE CONTENT (Known and Unknown Information)
AWARENESS LEVEL (Unaware how much one knows, Aware, Unaware how much one does not know)
Ethical Self Management
Perspective
Purpose
Patience
Persistence
Pride
The Power of Ethical Management
(Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale- 1990)
Ability to Work with Others
Personal and Tacit Knowledge.
Ability to Manage Self-Learning Independently
Positive Attitude towards Learning
Civic Learning and Civic Consciousness
Conceptual Stages of Development of Virtues- Based Knowledge Society with High Culture
Knowledge Society
Heritage Culture
Documentation Culture
Research Culture
Thinking Culture
Writing Culture
Reading Culture
Learning Society
Learning Family
Learning Individual
Building A New Society
• Enlightened and Just Society
• Knowledge society
• Civil Society
• Learning Society
• Developing Society
Future Challenges
Change of attitudes and Mindsets
Change of Paradigms
Meeting the Global Challenge
Meeting the Technological Challenge
Simultaneously meeting the quantitative and qualitative challenge at all levels.
To meet the challenge of the Highly skilled and knowledgeable knowledge worker.
KIRKBYITES AS THE COSMOPOLITAN MALAYSIAN COMMUNITY
Cosmopolitans are rich in there intangible assets, three C’s that translate into preeminence and power in a global economy: concepts-the best and latest knowledge and ideas; competence-the ability to operate at the highest standards of any place anywhere; and connections-the best relationships, which provide access to the best resources of other people and organizations around the world. Indeed, it is because cosmopolitans bring the best and latest concepts, the highest levels of competence, and excellent connections that they gain influence over locals.
Cosmopolitans carry these there C’s with them to all the places in which they operate. As they do so, they create and become part of a more universal culture that transcends the particularities of place-and, in the eyes of some the locals, threatens the distinctive identity of groups and communities. And cosmopolitans argue for a “qualitocracy” –that the highest quality matters more than place of origin- because then cosmopolitans who tap into the best in the world automatically win out over those who are more restricted.
Educational Wisdom for Life: On Educational Connoisseurship
• PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE-CONSTRUCTIVISM
• LIFE-LONG LEARNING AND PASSION FOR LEARNING
• LEARNABILITY-EDUCABILITY
• ON CUMULATIVE DEFICITS AND STRENGTHS
• ON MAKING CONNECTIONS AND TRANSFER OF LEARNING
• ON MINDFULNESS AND THINKING
• ON VIRTUES
• ON CONTINUUM OF FOCUS
• ON ACTION
• The Joy Of Work
• The Joy Of Respecting and Loving Others
• The Passion for Profound Knowledge
• The Passion for Excellence
• Understanding the Covert-Beyond
Determining and Accomplishing the Significant
• THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO HAVE A LIFE OF PURPOSE-TO BE FOR A PURPOSE BEYOND ONESELF
• DRIVING HOME EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT.
• SHARING WITH THE COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE ACROSS DISCIPLINES.
• FROM KNOWLEDGE TO ADVOCACY
• MOVING WITH ENTHUSIASM.
• UNDERSTANDING URGENCY: NOT TOO MUCH TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
CHALLENGES OF FEEDING HUNGRY MINDS and CONFUSED HEART.
NOT QUITING IN TRYING TIMES-STAYING ON TRACK
DREAM ABOUT EDUCATIONAL FUTURES AND ACT BEFORE THEY OCCUR.
REVISITING WHAT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE YESTERDAY and WHAT IS TAKEN FOR GRANTED TODAY.
Thinking and Thought
OF EAGLES and CROWS
ON ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
• “NOT IN THE CLAMOUR OF CROWDED STREETS”... HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
• “THE BEST THINKING HAS BEEN DONE IN SOLITUDE. The WORST HAS BEEN DONE IN TURMOIL.” …THOMAS EDISON
• “ALL BIG DISCOVERIES ARE THE RESULTS OF THOUGHT.” …ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
Perceptions, Cognitions and Meaning Making
• Management of Knowing
• Management of Rituals
• Management of Routines
• Management of Time
• Management of Politics and Economics
• Management of (Difficult and Great) People
• The Management of Truth
Intellectual Capital (Jay Chatzkel, 2002)
Knowledge that can be converted into value or profit.
It is the value embedded in the ideas embodied in people,
processes, and customers/stakeholders.
The ability to transform knowledge and intangibles assets
into wealth-creating resources Knowledge.
Dynamically interacting Inputs of Intellectual capital:
Human Capital
Structural capital
Relationship or Customer Capital
The Autonomous Human Organization
• The Individual Order, The Interactional Order, the Institutional Order (Richard Jenkings, 2005. Social Identity).
• The Nature of Autonomy of Judgment
• The Nature of Autonomy of Choices
• The Nature of Freewill and Personal Will
• The Nature of Autonomy of Decisions
ENGINES of CREATION: (Profiles of the Possible, Predicting and Projecting)K. Eric Drexler (1990)
• Engines of Construction
• Engines of Abundance
• The Limits of Growth
• Thinking Machines
• The World Beyond Earth
• Engines of Healing
• Engines of Destruction and Strategies for Survival
• The Network of Knowledge
Understanding Peak Performance in Organization and Society
1. Understanding Paradoxes
2. Understanding Uncertainties
3. Understanding Contradictions
4. Understanding Ambiguities
5. Understanding Half Truths
Insights: No Pretensions
• We know what we are, but we know not what we may become... Shakespeare
• If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending we could then better judge what to do and how to do it.
• The trouble with our time is that the future is not what it used to be... Paul Valery
• All that’s different about me is that I still ask the questions most people stopped asking at age five... Albert Einstein
• A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity... Samuel Johnson
• If we open a quarrel between the past and present, we shall find that we lost the future. ...Winston Churchill
All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. (Fulghum, Robert, 1993)
Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain but there in the sand pile at Sunday school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything
Play fair
Don’t hit people
Put things back where you find them
Clean up your own mess
Don’t take things that aren’t yours
Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody
Wash your hands before you eat
Flush
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you
Live a balanced life – learn some and think some, and draw and paint and sing and dance, and play and work everyday some
Take a nap every afternoon
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together
Unsung Heroes in Education
Examples of Sung Heroes:
Tokoh Guru
Formal Positional Leaders in Bureaucracies and Academic
Leaders in Educational Political Bureaucracies
Union Leaders
Leaders of Professional Organizations including Parent-Teacher Councils
Writers and Journalists
Language and Religious Activists
Opinion Leaders
Suggestions for Managers (from Confucius)
• The perfect gentlemen demands it of himself, the mean, of others.
• The perfect gentleman reaches complete understanding of the main issues, the mean man reaches complete understanding of the petty details.
• The perfect gentleman gives his approval not to techniques but to the capacity for great responsibility. The mean man does just the opposite.
• If everybody dislikes it, it must be looked into. If everybody likes it, it must be looked into.
• Clever talk and domineering manner have little to do with being man at his best.
• Let the other man do his job without your interference.
• To be of high moral conduct when engaged in administration is to be like the North Star. As it remains in its one position, all the other stars surround it.
• Do not worry about not holding high position; worry rather about playing your proper role. Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.
The Kaizen Culture of Kirkbyites
• SEIRI (Straighten Up)
• SEITON (Put Things in Order).
• SEISO (Clean Up).
• SEIKETSU (Personal Cleanliness).
• SHITSUKE (Discipline).
THE Kirkbyites WAY OF THE SAMURAI.
( A Samurai’s Duty is to Serve).
The Way of the Samurai, Khoo Kheng-Hor (1999)
Do not harbor Sinister Design
Train Diligently
Be Acquainted with a Wide Range of Arts
Know the Ways of a Variety of Occupations
Be Discreet Regarding One’s Dealings
Nurture the Ability to Perceive the Truth in All Matters.
Perceive that which Cannot Be Seen by the Eye.
Be Careful Even In Trifling Matters .
Do Not Engage in Useless Activity.
The Centurion Principles: (In spite of Imperfections)
The Centurion Principles .Jeff O’Leary (2004)
• Moral Accountability As Foundation of Legacy
• Strong, Honorable and Courageous Leadership
• Wisdom From Failures
• Cause and Commitment
• Motivation From A Pure Heart
• Thinking Outside the Box-Burying the Box
• Persistence
• Loyalty
• Overcoming Unproductive Habits
• Stretching Limits of Mind
• Developing Creative Thinking
The Personal Educational Odyssey
· To be in a state of eternal unrest searching for new ideas, confronting and formulating ideas.
· To identify what is worth fighting for in education and schooling.
· To contribute to the compendium of best practices and best habits.
· To go beyond best practices into the terra incognita domain of intellectual finesse and educational connoisseurship.
· To be in quest of the Essences of the Human Mind and First Principles).
· To reclaim the supremacy of scholarship and prevent the betrayal of the intellectual.
· To develop a passion for Received Wisdom
· To develop a passion for “Depth Understanding” and “Profound Knowledge” by looking for alternative perspectives and alternative voices.
· To be vigilant against philosophical mistakes, mistaken certainties, falsehood, hoaxes and self constructed obstacles.
· To integrate ideals and ideas from across different times arid cultures and develop capacities for universal stewardship or vicegerency.
· To be inspirational and motivational, developing human potentialities to the fullest working to achieve the World Class agenda).
· The Era(s) of Dearth and Wealth of Literature and Learning Materials
· The Educational Odyssey
· Millennium Opportunities: Symbolic Turning Points for Renewal
· The Challenge of Relevance in the Transmission of Knowledge
· The Challenge of Thought Leadership
· The Challenge of Values Clarification
· The Quest for Wisdom
· For Believers of Various Religious Traditions: Eliciting Best Habits and Best Practices
· The Application of Education Knowledge
· The Utilization of Education Research Findings
· Alternative Perspective and Different Voices
· Leadership Dilemma and Challenges
· On Foundational and Specialize Knowledge
· The Quest for Best Practices and Best Habits: The Malaysian Story
· Learning From Educational Leaders: Four Decades of Experiences
· Facing the Future Bravely.
Stages of Life Long Learning Philosophy and Practice by Individuals
8. The Joy of Life Span and Life Wide Learning
7.Readiness for National and Global Competence
6. Competence-Based Self-Confidence and Self-Worthiness
5. Constructing cumulative Personal Knowledge and Skills
4.Further Learning How to Learn
3. Knowledge of Attitudes. Motivations and Incentives
2. Knowledge of Mechanisms and Know-How
1. Awareness of the LLL Philosophy
Applying Roth Smith’s …
1. Effectiveness-Doing the Right Things.
2. Efficiency-Doing the Right Things Right.
3. Improving-Doing Things Better
4 Cutting –Doing Away with Unnecessary Things
5. Adapting-Doing Things Other People are Doing
6. Different-Doing Things no one else is Doing
7. Impossible-Doing Things that Cannot be Done.
ORGANIZING GENIUS:
The Secrets of Creative Collaboration (Warren Bennis, 1997)
Greatness starts with superb people.
Great Groups and Great Leaders Create Each Other.
Every Great Group has a Strong Leader.
The Leaders of Great Groups Love Talent and Know where to find it.
Great Groups are full of Talented People who can work together.
Great Groups think they are on a mission from God.
Every Great Group is an Island-but an Island with a bridge to the mainland.
Great Groups see themselves as winning underdogs.
Great Groups always have an enemy.
People in Great Groups have blinders on.
Great Groups are optimistic, not realistic.
In Great Groups the right person has the right job.
The Leaders of Great Groups give them what they need and free them from the rest.
Great Groups Ship.
Great Work is its own reward.
The Courageous Followers:
Standing Up To and For Leaders.(Ira Chaleff [1998])
The Five Dimensions of Courageous Followership:
1] The Courage to Assume Responsibility
2] The Courage to Serve
3] The Courage to Challenge
4] The Courage to Participate in Transformation.
5] The Courage to Leave
DEATH OF HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY and Personal JOURNALS-Diaries/Logs: Reclaiming Higher Ground
• ON NECESSARY LESSONS FROM HISTORY, HISTORICAL AMNESIA and NOSTALGIA.
• ON THE PLAUNDITS OF THE PRESENT.
• ON THE PAST and FUTURE that IS HERE.
• ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP.
• GRACEFUL LEADERSHIP
• THE HEART of A LEADER
• DISCIPLINES of GRACE
• ELEGANT LEADERSHIP
Building Deep Understanding…
· From This Moment On…Exciting Futures…
· Another Time…Another Space…After Loss…Parting…
· The Age Heresy…Been Here, Been There-I did It My Way…What Will We Do The Next Level-The Next Threshold?
· All for One and One for All : The Reflowering of a National Knowledge Force
· Meaning Of Gratefulness
· Colleagial Trust
· The Single Most Important Contribution in the Field of Malaysian Education
ANYWAY
The Paradoxical Commandments
Kent M. Keith (2001)
People are illogical,
Unreasonable, and self-centred.
Love them anyway.
If you do good,
People will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win
false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today
Will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness
Make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with
The biggest ideas can be shot down
By the smallest men and women
With the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
People favour underdogs
But follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building
May be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People really need help but may
Attack you if you do help them.
Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have
And you’ll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.
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