Moral Commitment in Rabbani Leadership of National Islamic Secondary School Principals in Malaysia

Abstract

This paper examines Rabbani leadership among National Islamic Secondary School principals in Malaysia. Rabbani leadership rests upon Islamic values and the assumption that leadership practices are influenced by the leader’s moral commitment, the basis of which are concerns for godliness, concern for human development, and concern for professional development of their members, and their practices were focused on all aspects of the principalship functions. The results show that leadership practices of Malaysian National Islamic School principals were generally guided by moral commitment, but leadership practices varied in terms of their focus, depending on whether they were more focused on godliness, human development or professional development of staff, or a combination of the three concerns. When identified into four types, based on strength of leadership influence, it was found that leadership focus of Type I Rabbani principals was godliness, while their practices showed they were concerned with all aspects of principalship functions; Type II was more focused on concern for human development of individuals with practices concentrating on developing teacher leadership capacity. Type III was more inclined to focus on professional development, while their practices were apparently not much guided by moral judgment. Type IV, did not show an apparent focus on any of the three concerns of moral commitment, changing from time to time; and likewise their practices were not consistently apparent on any aspect of leadership practice identified as principalship functions, while their leadership was in general much weaker as compared to the other types.