Developing Contextual Pedagogical Leadership Indicators for Malaysian Pre-Service Teachers: A Decolonial Perspective Using the Modified Fuzzy Delphi Method

Purpose This study introduces Contextual Pedagogical Leadership (CPL) as a construct that reflects culturally grounded leadership practices among Malaysian pre-service teachers. It aims to develop and validate a set of CPL indicators aligned with Malaysia's cultural, educational and policy contexts to guide leadership development within Malaysian teacher education programmes. Research Methods A Modified Delphi design was employed across three phases. Phase 1 involved qualitative interviews with six Malaysian education experts to generate initial CPL themes and indicators grounded in teaching practice. Phase 2 utilised an open-ended expert review process to refine the indicators through addition, removal and revision. Phase 3 applied the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), involving 27 local experts comprising teacher educators, school leaders and ministry officials. Consensus was established using defuzzification and threshold analysis (d ≤ 0.2), with a minimum agreement level of 75%. Findings The study yielded 72 validated indicators across three core themes of Contextual Pedagogical Leadership: (1) planning teaching and learning in alignment with school direction, (2) enacting leadership through adaptive, reflective and student-centred instructional practices and (3) fostering a supportive, inclusive and ethically engaged learning environment. These findings affirm the need to move beyond universalist leadership models by developing frameworks rooted in national education priorities and cultural realities. Implications This study contributes to decolonial educational leadership discourse by offering a rigorously developed, context-specific model for pre-service teacher leadership in Malaysia. The CPL indicators hold practical significance for teacher educators, policymakers and curriculum developers across the Global South who seek to foster pedagogical leadership that is locally meaningful, socially responsive and epistemologically just.