Review article 77

This article investigated the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the management practices in 36 Malaysian schools. The questionnaire used for this study was the ‘School Management Team Questionnaire’ developed and validated by the authors. It was designed to be answered by the school principals or senior assistants of the schools that participated in the Smart Schools pilot Project (SSPP). The analysis revealed that the impact has resulted in changes that include the enrichment of the OCT culture among students and teachers, more efficient student and teacher administration, better accessibility to information and a higher utilization of school resources. This analysis also revealed that time constraints, higher administrative costs, negative acceptance/support from some untrained staff, abuse of the ICT facilities and problems related to the imposed rigid procedural requirements are among the challenges encountered by the schools. According to the authors, the key challenge remains the transformation of the traditional learning environment into a new learning environment that necessitates the teachers to change their teaching pedagogy from that of knowledge instruction to knowledge construction. While the head of each institution at the agency, federal, state, district and school levels is the driver of the implementation, the study shows that the success requires the full support of parents and the community.