Teachers’ Interpersonal Behaviour in Classroom: An Assessment of Teachers’ Leadership and Attitudes in Malaysian Secondary Schools

Abstract

Teachers use a seemingly limitless array of interpersonal attitudes to achieve academic goals. The broad conceptualization of behavioral characters of teachers in the classroom could be narrowed down to what is essential and existing in a positive learning environment. This research aims to evaluate school teachers’ leadership skills and their interpersonal attitudes with the students in a conducive classroom learning environment. In addition to the qualitative data from the interviews, this study sought the perception of 199 students on classroom environment and teacher’s leadership skills from national-type secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur. A sequential 36-item survey questionnaire was used to collect the data from students, and SPSS v23 was used for data analysis. The descriptive statistical analysis found that students perceive their teachers to have strong leadership skills, as well as high levels of understanding, friendliness, openness, and strictness. Inferential statistics rendered that teachers’ leadership has a significant relationship with teachers’ interpersonal attitudes. To further explore the quantitative results, qualitative findings from interviews with students revealed that being caring, humorous, patient, and fair were crucial aspects of teachers’ attitudes to consider in enhancing classroom learning environment. Hence, this study hopes to inspire schoolteachers to improve their attitudes and practices to create a better learning environment in multicultural urban schools to improve student learning outcomes.

Keywords: teachers’ attitudes; classroom learning environment; multicultural; secondary schools; Malaysia