Exploring Digital Leadership Competencies among School Administrators and Digital Maturity in Sarawak, Malaysia: From Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

Digital technology is evolving rapidly, offering new opportunities, particularly in the educational settings. However, the adaptation of these technologies has been slower prior to Covid-19 in Malaysia compared to some other Southeast Asian countries. In addition, school administrators in Malaysia exhibit limited digital competencies, and there is a dearth of research on digital maturity in the context of Malaysian education. The aim of this paper is to investigate school administrators’ competencies from teachers’ perspectives and categorize the digital maturity of selected schools in Malaysia. Utilizing qualitative method, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted among six Malaysian teachers through an online platform. The results reveal that digital leadership competencies among the school administrators encompass Vision and Mission, Digital Culture, Digital Professional Development, digitally go-forward, Digital Safety and Digital Resilience. Based on the evidence, the digital maturity in these selected schools, as indicated by the Educational Process-Capability Digital Maturity (EP-CMM) framework, falls under Level 3, labelled “Management” which it supports a continuous development process but not yet to continuous enhancement process. Thus, empowering and upgrading the competencies of school administrators can contribute to the development of policies and initiatives in Malaysia. This can be achieved by understanding the level of digital maturity through integrating digital technology into daily administrative tasks, while leading the digital cultural changes in their schools.