Guidelines for Developing Digital Skills of Schools Administrators under the Buengkan Secondary Educational Service Area Office

Abstract

The purposes of this research were to: 1) study the current, desirable, and necessary conditions of digital skills among school administrators; and 2) study the guidelines for developing digital skills among school administrators. The sample comprised a total of 278 individuals, including school administrators and teachers working in schools under the Buengkan Secondary Educational Service Area Office. Employing stratified random sampling, eight individuals were selected from the target population using a purposive sampling method. The research instrument’s were a questionnaire assessing the desirable and necessary conditions of digital skills of school administrators under the Buengkan Secondary Educational Service Area Office and an interview and suitability assessment form to evaluate the appropriateness, feasibility, and usefulness of guidelines for developing digital skills of school administrators under the Buengkan Secondary Educational Service Area Office. Data were analyzed by content analysis, validated content analysis using triangulation, and statistical analysis using mean and standard deviation for quantitative data.

The research findings were as follows: 1) The overview of the study of the current condition of digital skills of school administrators was at high level. Overall, the expectation was for administrators to possess digital skills at the highest level. Regarding the necessary conditions for digital skills, overall, was found that the PNI_modified value ranged between 0.279 and 0.363. The highest necessary condition was proficiency in applying digital skills for the development and enhancing the potential of the organization, followed by the skills in using digital to manage and lead the organization, compliance with digital laws, respectively, and knowledge and use of digital technology. 2) The guidelines for developing digital skills consisted of four aspects: 1) Applying digital skills for developing and enhancing the potential of the organization, administrators should facilitate and support technology use to work efficiently and continuously. 2) Using digital skills for managing and leading organization skill, administrators should create visions, publish and implement visions into practice. Create a strategic plan that aims to create an image for the digital school, including, develop digital information systems to be used in performance monitoring and evaluating continuously. 3) Digital law compliance, administrators should formulate policies, guidelines, and organize information security systems in schools. 4) Digital knowledge and technology use, administrators should develop themselves through practicing and taking action until gaining skills and expertise in using digital technology. The assessment of suitability, possibility, and usefulness of digital skills indicated an overall average at the highest level.