SEAMEO SEPS Centre Director Ms Duriya Amatavivat highlighted the importance of enhanced leadership skills and mindset, including the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy (SEP), in transforming education during her keynote speech to school principals, teachers and other education practitioners at the 3rd International Conference on Educational Leadership and Management (3rd ICELAM) on 3-5 October 2023 organised by the Aminuddin Baki Institute in Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. The conference featured the theme “Sustaining and Retaining Human Dignity in Educational Leadership and Management.” With over 800 participants onsite and 2,000 online, the conference attracted school leaders, teachers, researchers and education specialists from all over Malaysia as well as other countries including Indonesia, the Maldives, Singapore and Australia. Malaysia Education Minister H E Fadhlina Sidek officiated the opening ceremony of the conference.
Consistent with the theme, SEAMEO SEPS Centre Director shared the emerging global education agenda on transforming education including the skills set and outlook that educators need in order to cope with the inevitable changes that are happening in the world now. Along with the existing frameworks such as the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Global Citizenship Education (GCED), the SEAMEO SEPS Centre Director presented the concept of SEP as a viable tool to help promote sustainable development. She also shared opportunities for educational leadership enhancement in light of the United Nations’ global call for transforming education.
As a follow up session, the SEAMEO SEPS Centre Director led a masterclass of 60 school principals, teachers and practitioners on the second day of the conference. The interactive meeting focused on the implications of transforming education particularly to the school, the teaching profession and the community. The participants concluded that transforming education is a must and educators need to cope with the changes. Suggested areas of priority in education transformation included school environment, involvement of parents and community, and use of technology. Discussions also tackled important issues such as pursuit for academic excellence and the need to get students to love learning. Gaining deeper interest from the conference participants, the SEAMEO SEPS Centre Director also responded to various inquiries on the integration, practice and research on the SEP in schools in Thailand.
The ICELAM is an international conference that focuses on the latest advancements and knowledge sharing in the field of educational leadership and management. It has been organized biennially since 2009. The Aminuddin Baki Institute is the main educational management institute in Malaysia which trains people to be in the school’s top management. The institute is under the Ministry of Education Malaysia.