HPEM7063

MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

APPENDIX I
INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
I: INTERVIEWER
R1: HEADMASTER OF THE SCHOOL
VENUE: CAFETERIA
TIME DURATION: 30 MINUTES.
DATE: MARCH 16, 2016.
INTRODUCTION: (O.C: The headmaster of the selected school, Mr. Joseph (not real name). He
is a headmaster in Java Lane Tamil National Primary School, Seremban. He
also has 10 year working experience with the school headmaster itself. The
purpose of the interview was clearly explained to the headmaster earlier.
Then, I invited him to school cafeteria and he accepted. As a leader, it is
believed that he has more knowledge in implementing i-THINK
programmes for his teachers and students in the school. Therefore, the
following discussions are about the implementation, effectiveness and
sustainability of i-THINK Programme in the selected school as well as its
ethical considerations.
PART A: INTRODUCTION
I: Good afternoon, sir
R1: Yes. Good afternoon.
I: Sir, are you free to talk now?
R1: Yes. I got no class after this.

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

PART B: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF I-THINK PROGRAMME FOR TEACHERS IN

SCHOOL
I: What do you know about this i-think programme? Tell me briefly.
R1: What I know is, this i-think is a programme that introduced by Ministry of education (MOE)
of the purpose of...

education transformation to create thinking generation which focus on

students who can think creatively, innovatively and critically, as well as think out of the box
and resolve problems. And, I think this programme will help schools impart thinking skills to
students, allowing them to be lifelong learners. It is consider.. ha..ha.. new program that
implemented in primary and also secondary schools. And. every teacher and students in
school encourages using this i-think map in teaching and learning process.
I: Sir, what do you mean by i-think maps? Can you explain about it?
R1: Yes. I-think maps are consists of eight visual patterns. That is circle map, tree map, brace
map, flow map, bubble map, bridge map, multi-flow map and one more is wait ha is
ha.. double bubble map. These are the eight patterns. It is designed for students to... to use in
order to learn and retain information, by the process of ha..ha.. gathering and packaging their
information in a visual, creative way.
I: As a leader of this school, how could you introduced this i-think programme to the teachers and
students?
R1: First of all, I want every teacher has given exposure to this i-think according to subject matter.
Even, I had also organized ha ya..

i-think seminar by expert to give a speech and

workshop for my teachers to get to know i-think map in detail. The main motive was, I want
my teachers to clear and understand well about the i-think programme in this school first. For
students perspectives, teachers who familiar with i-think map, are tried to implement that into
their teaching and learning activities. Teachers are the one who introduced to the students in the
2

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

class. Some more, mmm. mmm for your information our school are also one the selected
school to run this i-think program effectively by KPM. Every year, we have i-think week of
innovation arranged by head of panel in my schools. And, students get exposure from it.
I: Does your teachers and students are comfortable with this i-think program? Why?
R1: Of course yes. They really comfortable enough with the use of i-think map in classroom or
subject matter because what I personally felt is, before we applied the thinking maps, students
would just listen or read the text but didn't know how to extract the information that was
relevant. With the i-THINK programme, the maps allow them to visually depict the important
information, making it easier for them to learn, remember, analyse and present it. See know
students are more motivated to learn using i-think map because it is a simple and creative
ways to get ideas and remember it. When I ask some teachers about their perception towards
using i-think map in the class, they said that the students are more interested in using i-think
map in teaching and learning. Students can easily identify the important points from the
passage and discussed about it.
I: What are the other initiatives taken to implement the i-think program to the teachers and pupils
at school?
R1: When asking about initiates, mmm mmm I I gave copies of documents i-think for all
teachers to keep in their fail. Teachers were provided with more exercise books which applied
i-think maps for every core subject. As I said earlier, my school also held i-think week, and
we have a competition also for teachers and students which is known as quiz i-think. So, they
get reward in the form of gifts. I also give moral support and motivation to the teachers who
need help in using the i-think in the class such as mmm. in form of resources and finances.
Then recently every students were provided with i-think rulers by our school PIBG. I mean
by Parents-Teachers Association. In short, I can said that the implementation of i-think
3

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

programme in our school is more effective because we have provided with moral supports
and financial support from the school teachers, parents and also PPD.
I: Sir my next question is, does your school have i-think facilitators who have expertise in
conducting this program? Describe about it.
R1: Yes. I have two i-think facilitators who have attended i-think course organized by JPNS for
one week. They are the one who conducting this program for teachers and students in our
school by doing LDP and workshops for them to share the knowledge and skills that they get
from the course with the other teachers and students. When my school teachers, facing problem
in using ithink map for particular subject, then they straight away refers to the facilitators
involved.
I: Basically, what are the roles of i-think programme facilitators in school?
R1: As I know, they are conducting in-service training of i-think in school, and save reports in
the file, responsible in record keeping of i-think fail. And, keep follow up with i-think program
in school. And then, they are also in charge doing i-think week of the school every year by
planning activities for teachers and students together with the help of head of panel. And, lastly
they will send the report to the PPD.
I: Sir, what kind of training activities provided for your teachers regarding this i-think
programme? Explain about it.
R1: As is said, in-service training which involves group activities and presentation, fun games to
think creatively, find solution from problem based learning, creating i-think lesson plan, using
ICT to generate i-think and so on..
I: Sir, what is the planning process involves implementing i-think programme? Were you
involved?
4

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

R1: So far, mmm planning process on having training programme for teachers will be
conducted by i-think facilitators in my school. And, when it comes to i-think week systematic
planning will be done by all the head of panel. There is an i-think committee in school to
ensure that the i-think week conducted as planned. Mmm from this year onward, all
planning activities for the i-think the program was included in our school calendar in
accordance with their respective panels. It is to make sure that all the panels fulfilling its
responsibilities as planned. Thats all.
I: Sir, personally do you think this i-think program will fruitful? Why?
R1: Yes. I think that this i-think programme has contributed towards improving the quality of
education in our schools especially when it comes to teaching and learning where teachers get
improve their teaching using i-think map and students also gain exposure on the use i-think to
generate ideas. Now, students communication skills also improve using this i-think programme
where students able to describe or explain their ideas in the map and discuss with their friends.
Teachers are to create knowledgeable students through critical thinking and teachers also can
exchange ideas on i-THINK programme with other school teachers
I: To what extent this i-think programme affects your teachers professionalism?
R1: This programme has changed the mind-set and skills of our teachers. Besides that, i-think map
also helps our teachers to focus more on the important information. Teachers also exchange
their ideas on i-think programme with other teachers in other schools. They can also cultivate
collaborative learning in the classroom.
I: Sir, how do you ensure or recognise that your teachers have basic knowledge or skills of using ithink map in teaching and learning?
R1: Thats a good question. As requested by our Ministry of Education (MOE), every teacher in
primary school has to sit for i-think online course which they need to complete 32 module
5

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

regarding i-think and every each set of module will have test questions to be answered.
Finally, teachers who scored 60% and above, they eligible to get one voucher and this
voucher has to been submitted to PPD to get certificate from the PPD saying that those
teachers are accomplish online i-think course and pass the i-think test. This evaluation done
by PPD. And, in school we run i-think in-service training that also consists 50 of test
questions where the teacher need to score 45 out of 50. Then, teachers will give school level
i-think accomplishment certificate. Furthermore, my teachers also make their classroom
available with i-think map every time.
I: So, how do you encourage your teachers to use i-think map in the classroom?
R1: Its simple. I used humanistic approach to get into my teachers heart and sharing and caring
is my main concern. However, sometime I will also use psychological approach such as give
motivation when there is a lack of self-confident in teaching and learning.
I: Do you think, this program will give benefit to your students academic achievement?
R1: 100% yes. Teachers who want their students to succeed will certainly accept the i-think
programme and I find it to be an effective tool for students to enhance their thinking. With
this i-think map, Im sure that students can develop their critical creative and innovative skills
because find the ways to execute their thoughts. After implementing i-think map into students
learning strategies, the entire summative test in our school has covered some i-think map and
HOTS questions.
I: I: Sir, what are the challenges that you have faced when implementing the i-think programme in
school?
R3: The first challenge I would have say is my teachers readiness to accept this new program.
First, first they felt that this programme will give them more workload and failing works. It
6

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

makes them more afraid to change. Another challenge is to access ha the IDT problems
such as taking a long time to access, internet services and server unsatisfactory weak and
slow internet. Other than that. ha.. ha.. oh yeah, this i-think courses have been given the
time constraints to monitor the on-going follow-up courses in our school and under
supervision and guidance of i-think, every time, the PPD send different people to evaluate
effectiveness of i-think programme in school. In addition, the 21st century learning and HOTs
programme also gives challenges to the teachers and students to practice it in the classroom.
I : After seen these challenges, as a leader how would you manage these?
R1: To solve the challenges with access to ICT tools, I advised my teachers to gain information on
i-think use their home wifi connection. I also provide more resources of i-think such as i-think
rulers, chart and workbooks for teachers use. I always believe my teacher that they can do the
best for the school and students. So, what I do is, I will give some time for the teachers to get
improve or familiar with some programme implemented in school and so on.
I: Sir, after implementing this i-think programme, what is the effectiveness of this programme
that you have seen?
R1: When asking about the effectiveness of the i-think programme. Mmm both sides have
strength, I mean on teachers and students. In student perspective, i-think map help them to
learn and develop thinking skills as well as learn how to become self-directed, independent
and interdependent. It has become so popular with.. with the students that they not only use
it for their lessons but also for their co-curricular activities. And,.. and the weak or
unmotivated students are not idle anymore as they have a chance to participate in finding the
information to fill up their maps and help to solve the kinds of problems that are messy and
complex. The thinking maps also engage students as they help them to visualise what the
teacher is imparting. Strengths in teachers side are, this program helps teachers to shift from a
7

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

teacher-centred to a student-centred classroom and the maps help lighten their workload as
they don't have to constantly feed information to students, just facilitate their learning.
I : In future, to what extent these programs can be used in non-educational institutions?
R1: This i-think programme not only applicable in primary or secondary schools teachers and
students. But also can be used in colleges and universities to enhance adult students thinking
skills. This i-think map also can apply in private sector firm to make the employee or top
management team to execute their thoughts and solve their complex problems. It will also
build a collaborative work and good interpersonal communication skills among one and
another.
I: Sir, what is your suggestion to sustain this i-think program in the future?
R1: To sustain this program, the strategic planning for i-think program by PPD or JPNS or KPM
need to update with tactical planning and operations in more detail. And then, it is better if the
i-think maps integrated into 21st century learning and also apply into all the elective subjects.
Besides, the involvement of parents and community to expose the i-think map to their child is
able to help their child to improve academic achievement. And, the entire teachers need
training program on ICTs to get more skills and knowledge to apply computer based i-think
maps. And, it is easy for them to integrate i-THINK using animation, PowerPoint, creating
blogs and internet.
I: Sir, what is the ethical consideration that you have seen in implementing i-think programme in
your school?
R1: Ethical consideration mmm all students have the rights to use the i-think maps in
learning. Students are encouraged to create ideas using variety of i-think maps. Students who
familiar with applying i-think maps will coaches the other students who still weak in using
the maps. The same thing goes to teachers as well.
8

HPEM7063
MANAGEMENT IN EDUCATION

HUMAN RESOURCE

I: I think we are at the end of our interview session sir. Here, I would like to thank you because
you willing to spend your time to answer my questions patiently. Thank you, sir. Thank you so
much.
R1: Its okay. You are welcome, teacher.