Guidelines for Developing Strategic Leadership in the 21st Century for School Administrators under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5

Abstract

Background and Aims: Educational administrators are important in driving education towards success in this rapidly changing era. Administrators must be able to adapt and use strategic thinking skills to deal with challenges in the changing environment, in terms of technology, economy, and society leadership development This research aimed to 1) Study the current status, desired status, and needs for strategic leadership in the 21^st century of educational administrators under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5  and 2) Study the guidelines for developing strategic leadership in the 21^st century of educational administrators. Under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5

Methodology: This research is a mixed-methods research. The sample consists of 31 school administrators and 300 teachers, totaling 331 people, which were obtained by stratified random sampling using school size as the sampling stratum. The research tools used were questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Statistics used for data analysis included percentages, means, standard deviations, and the needs index.

Results: It was found that 1) The current status of strategic leadership in the 21^st century of educational administrators under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5 as overall and in each aspect, has a high average value. When considering each aspect, ranked from highest to lowest, it is as follows: having morality, ethics, and reason, followed by developing the organization's personnel, having a shared vision, being creative, and managing the organization's internal resources. The item with the lowest average value is strategic direction. The desired status of strategic leadership in the 21^st century of educational administrators under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5 has the highest average value when considering each aspect, ranked from highest to lowest, as follows: managing the organization's resources, having a shared vision, setting a strategic direction, being creative, and developing the organization's personnel. The item with the lowest average value has morality, ethics, and reason. As for the needs to develop strategic leadership in the 21^st century of educational administrators under the Khon Kaen Primary Education Service Area Office 5, overall, ranked from highest to lowest, it was found that managing the organization's resources has the highest need index value, followed by determining the strategic direction, developing the organization's personnel, being creative, having a shared vision, and having morality and ethics. There are reasons in order 2) Study the guidelines for developing strategic leadership of school administrators in the 21^st century. There are 6 main guidelines, consisting of 18 sub-guidelines. The appropriateness is at the highest level, the feasibility is at the highest level, and the utilization is at the highest level.

Conclusion: School administrators should focus on adapting to technological and social changes, developing clear planning and evaluation skills, promoting effective administration, and emphasizing the use of digital technology in teaching and learning development to meet the needs of the current world.