Operational Skills of School Administrators in the Digital Era Affecting the Administrative Effectiveness in Educational Opportunity Expansion Schools under Sakon Nakhon Primary Educational Service Area Office 2
Abstract:
The purposes of this research were to examine, compare, and determine the relationship, identify the predictive power, and establish guidelines for developing operational skills of school administrators in the digital era affecting the administrative effectiveness in educational opportunity expansion schools under Sakon Nakhon Primary Educational Service Area Office 2, as perceived by school administrators and teachers. The sample consisted of 278 participants, including 61 school administrators and 217 teachers in the 2024 academic year. The research instrument included a 5-point rating scale questionnaire. The data collection tools included a set of questionnaires on the operational skills of school administrators in the digital era, with discrimination values ranging from 0.841 to 0.958 and the reliability of 0.970, as well as another questionnaire on administrative effectiveness, with discrimination values ranging from 0.880-0.944 and the reliability of 0.963, and structured interview forms. Statistics for data analysis were frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test for Independent Samples, One-Way ANOVA, Pearsons product-moment correlation coefficient, and Stepwise multiple regression analysis.
The findings were as follows:
1. The operational skills of school administrators were overall at the highest level.
2. The administrative effectiveness in schools was overall at the highest level.
3. The overall operational skills of school administrators, classified by participants positions, revealed significant differences at the 0.01 level. However, no significant differences were found in terms of school location and work experience.
4. The overall administrative effectiveness in schools, classified by positions, showed significant differences at the 0.05 level. However, no significant differences were observed regarding school location or work experience.
5. The school administrators operational skills and the administrative effectiveness had a positive relationship at the .01 level of significance with a high level of correlation (rXtYt = 0.805).
6. The three aspects of the school administrators operational skills- good communication skills in the digital era, interpersonal skills and teamwork of modern administrators, and visionary skills in school administration in the digital era- could predict the administrative effectiveness at the .01 level of significance, with the predictive power of 66.40 percent.
7. The proposed guidelines for developing the operational skills of school administrators in the digital era focus on three aspects affecting the administrative effectiveness in educational opportunity expansion schools: 1) Good communication skills in the digital era, including the ability to communicate important information, concisely, transparently, and promptly; 2) Interpersonal skills and teamwork for new-age administrators, fostering cooperation and collaboration among teams; and 3) Visionary skills in school administration in the digital era, involving the formulation of clear goals aligned with the organization's context, mission, values, beliefs, and circumstances.