Change Management Practices in the Implementation of Educational Policies in Schools

The Malaysia education policy has been detailed in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (PPPM) which calls for a transformation in the education system to realize the country's aspirations and produce talented human capital individuals (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2024). However, referring to several reports, the performance of the quality of Malaysian education is still at a moderate level (Jake Bryant et al., 2024; The World Bank, 2024; UNICEF, 2023). According to Bush et al., (2019), the implementation of PPPM is difficult to achieve with very complex aspirations due to weak implementation at the school level which was also acknowledged by the Ministry of Education Malaysia through the "Malaysia Education for All: End Decade Review Report 2000-2015" (Ministry of Education Malaysia, 2015). In the past, there are also good education policies that have become obstructed due to weaknesses in the implementation and inaccurate decision-makers (Saadon, 2010) such as the Smart School program, School of Excellence Cluster, and 1BestariNet (Mior Khairul Azrin, 2011; Borhan Abu Samah, 2020). To ensure that effective execution of new educational policies can be planned and implemented, change management such as the 'Hall and Hord Intervention Function Model' can be considered. This model acts as a structured approach in bringing individuals and organizations from current practices to new desired practices based on a clear vision and strategy tailored for schools and educational institutions landscape (Hall & Hord, 2015). JEL Codes: I28, H75, O15 Keywords: Change management, Intervention Function Model, Policy implementation, Malaysia education.