Professional learning community (PLC) studies in the Asian Chinese nations remain scarce despite the emerging interest in the practice of PLC beyond the Western context. This study attempts to provide an understanding of the practices of PLC and challenges in implementing PLC in a Malaysian Chinese culture–dominated secondary school. This qualitative study used a phenomenological constructivist approach as a strategy of inquiry. Semi-structured interview data were collected from six middle leaders and ordinary teachers in a national-type Chinese secondary school in the northern region. Findings informed three existing PLC practices at the school level, namely, (a) peer coaching, (b) sharing of personal practices, and (c) professional development courses. However, the practice of PLC encounters various challenges, including excessive workload, teachers’ passive attitudes, unsupportive conditions in the school, poor execution of PLC by the school community, and a vague understanding of PLC. Interestingly, this study identified two uncovered challenges hindering the development of PLC: misconception about PLC and lack of supervision from the authority. Implications and future studies are presented.

Today's workplace needs highly skilled workers and work readiness is important as it is used to predict how much students perform in the future in terms of competency. Life satisfaction is a measure of quality of life and many studies show that it influences work readiness. As for academic achievement, the more students scored in the examination, indicating that they attain more knowledge and skills learned. In Borneo, there is still a lack of studies being carried out to investigate these three factors. Thus the aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between life satisfaction and work readiness; and academic achievement and work readiness. Two measures were used, i.e. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLC) and Work Readiness Inventory (WRI). As for academic achievement, cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of the past semester was used. The participants were 265 undergraduate students. Results showed that life satisfaction has a positive correlation with all aspects of work readiness except self-view. Results also showed that there was no significant correlation between academic achievement and work readiness with all the 6 aspects of work readiness. Academic achievement no doubt is important, but it does not have a correlation with work readiness in this study, suggesting that there are other variables, probably like on-site training such as practicum and internship are important to get students ready for work.

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Background: The study provides a comprehensive analysis of trends of global scientific research, comparing pre-coronavirus disease (COVID 19) and during COVID-19 research in happiness and satisfaction, from 2014 up to 2021. Methods: The study period of the current research was divided into two phases, before the COVID-19 pandemic (1998 documents) and during COVID-19 (2020 until December 18, 2021). The Scopus database was comprehensively searched on relevant publications on Happiness and Satisfaction. Only articles published in English were retrieved. Bibliometric indicators were analyzed using Bibliometrix, an R package, and VOSviewer. Var1.6.6. Bibliometric indicators include the year of publications, authors, region, subject areas, countries, institutions, journals, country collaboration. Authorship productivity was presented in the final analysis. Results: A total of 3069 documents were extracted from Scopus. Overall, articles retrieved were written by 5220 authors before COVID-19 (2014-2019) and 3520 authors during COVID-19 (2020-2022), published in 2593 journals, with 83 counties represented before COVID-19 and 84 during COVID-19, and 21.66 average citations per document before COVID-19 and 30.4 average citations per document during COVID-19. Journal of Happiness Studies led in the number of articles produced. University of California was the most productive institution both before (number of publications [NP] = 42) and during (NP = 19) the COVID-19 pandemic. The US was the most productive country on multiple metrices; firstly, based on the most productive country both before (NP = 341) and during the pandemic (NP = 145), and secondly, based on the multiple country publications metric both before (NP = 34) and during the pandemic (NP = 34). Conclusions: This bibliometric study demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic has not significantly affected the productivity of happiness and satisfaction researchers; however, there are subtle changes in thematic evolution that will probably inform the direction of happiness research in the coming decade.

The purpose of this research is to look into the level of social support among counselling students at seven Malaysian public universities (N = 299). The findings of the study show that the mean score of counseling students' social support is high which is 5.34 (SP = 1.41). Social support from the family aspect shows a higher score compared to the aspect of friends and the aspect of significant people. The statement most agreed by the participants in the aspect of social support is item 3 "My family really tries to help me," agreed by 41.8% of the participants. While the second most agreed upon statement is two, item 4 "I get the emotional help and support I need from my family," and item 11 "My family is ready to help me in making decisions," marked by 35.1% of the participants. This shows support from family is the main social support for counseling students in Malaysia. Social support from family members is a source that always provides help during a crisis. As for the difference in social support between genders, the findings of the study show that there is no significant difference in social support between genders t(297 )= 2.42, p>.05. This finding shows that both genders are equal in social support. The findings of this study are expected to help the parties concerned such as educational policy makers or the higher learning institutions to prepare appropriate programs to establish social support relationships especially in terms of family. This is because this study shows that the family aspect is the most important aspect in the social support of students.