INSTILLING STUDENT LEADERSHIP PRACTICES TOWARDS TEAMWORK THROUGH CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN SECONDARY STUDENTS

Abstract

The article describes a new understanding of how to instill student leadership practice towards teamwork through co-curricular activities in secondary students. The Malaysian Education Development Plan (PPPM) 2013-2025 specifies that students should be able to lead and work in a team as students are the frontrunners in future leadership. The study method used was a quantitative survey using a questionnaire to identify student leadership practices and their relationship with student teamwork in Malaysia. The study respondents comprised 446 students selected through random group cluster sampling. The findings showed a significant relationship between student leadership practices and teamwork based on gender aspects. The results also showed a strong and significant positive relationship between student leadership practices and teamwork among respondents (r = .760, p < .01) and student leadership variance of 51.3% in teamwork (r²=.513, F=155.253) This study also showed that only two dimensions of student leadership practices namely ‘setting shared vision’ (β = .446, p < .01) and ‘setting motivating action’ (β = .186, p < .01) acted as the predictor of teamwork for students participating in co-curricular activities. New research results from this study proved that the practice of student leadership in co-curricular activities had improved teamwork skills, especially in developing student's leadership potential, and it can also attract students' interest in active involvement. The implication of this study is to provide students with leadership practice and teamwork skills as they are essential for future human models' marketability.