Abstract

In education today, school heads rely on strategic planning to prepare and manage the school’s academic
excellence goals. The study employed a, qualitative longitudinal trend approach investigating the perceptions of the
selected heterogeneous primary school Heads in Malaysia toward continuous quality improvement (CQI) in the school
strategic planning (SSP) in sustaining quality education. The study involved a one-to-one interview with the selected
heterogeneous primary school Headmaster and Head- mistresses in thirteen schools, i.e., four from the northern region of
Peninsular Malaysia and nine in the Klang Valley area. The analysis of documents and on-site participant observation
accompanied the unstructured face-to-face interview with the respondents. A conceptual framework was designed and
applied to the interview responses. The finding of the study indicated that CQI is not a new concept but was already in the
school management systems structure known as added-value. As such CQI can be put into practice in the school
immediately since the similarities with SSP carried out in the school is very apparent. As a result, six themes emerge from
the SSP, namely, 1) Effective Planning Methodology, 2) School Vision and Mission, 3) Culture, Climate and Change, 4)
Strategic Outcomes (specifically the school programs), 5) Supportive Leadership, and 6) Broad Stakeholder Buy-in or the
involvement of not only the parents, the community but also the students and the school. And the four themes emerge
from CQI, namely: 1) Planning and Process, 2) Staffing, 3) Data Management, and 4) Leading. The SSP will act as a
compass to direct CQI in the school improvement plan that will bring in students’ academic excellence, high performance
school status (HPS) and internationalization contact.