Participation in Co-Curriculum Activities and Students’ Leadership Skills

Abstract

The article describes a new understanding of how active participation in co-curriculum activities enhances students’ leadership skills. The social capital theory states that active participation in social activities promotes various qualities of human beings, including leadership skills and networking. The study employed a survey research design involving 237 students aged 16 years from a rural area of Malaysia. A structured questionnaire that had gone through a reliability test and validation process in a pilot study was used. Results revealed moderate involvement of students in outdoor school activities. Results also demonstrated that students’ participation in Uniformed Units is higher if compared to clubs, associations, and sports. Due to the moderate level of student participation in these activities, correlation analyses revealed that it is interrelated with their leadership skills (at a moderate level as well). The results from this study illustrated a significant relationship between active participation and leadership skills; therefore, we propose an interesting module package to encourage students’ involvement in co-curricular programs as a mechanism to promote leadership abilities. An interrelationship between these two variables was confirmed by Pearson correlation analyses, which found that the significance level was less than 0.05, with a relationship strength level (r-value) of 0.723. New research results obtained from this study can be used to improve the current practices in co-curricular management, especially to ensure all activities can attract students’ interest in active involvement.