Role of School Principals’ Technology Leadership Practices in Building a Learning Organization Culture in Public K-12 Schools

Abstract

A principal’s technology leadership (TL) practices can facilitate information and communication technologies (ICT) integration into K-12 schools, alongside a drastic change in teachers' organizational behaviors to accompany this technological and cultural transformation process. However, there is little evidence of which TL practices contribute to such a holistic change in school culture; that is, the learning organization (LO) culture stimulating teachers' individual and collective professional learning orientations in tandem. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to identify distinct profiles of LO culture in schools, based on teachers’ professional learning orientations. The second is to explore how a principal’s TL practices are related to teachers’ endorsement of these LO profiles. Data were drawn from 1105 teachers and 58 principals in 69 K-12 schools in Turkey. Multilevel latent profile analysis was used to uncover latent LO profiles with similar professional learning orientations. The resulting profiles were regressed on principals' TL practices, measured against the International Society for Technology in Education-Administrators (ISTE-A) standards. Teachers' professional learning orientations fell into high, moderate, and low-level LO profiles. The “systemic improvement” ISTE-A standard, including TL practices such as a principal’s data-driven decision making, school benchmarking, and technology-oriented staff employment, proved to be a significant predictor of a high-level LO profile. The school stage and teacher’s age were also found to be associated with that profile. Overall, we conclude that TL practices may have far-reaching implications for teachers’ professional learning orientations and school culture.

Elevating Teachers’ Professional Digital Competence: Synergies of Principals’ Instructional E-Supervision, Technology Leadership and Digital Culture for Educational Excellence in Digital-Savvy Era

“…This implies that effectively implementing the principal's technology leadership in schools can foster an environment where teachers actively seek information, communicate, and collaborate, leveraging technology tools as facilitators. In addition, these findings align with previous studies highlighting the impact of principals' digital leadership on cultivating a digital learning culture and integrating technology into instruction [26,45,47,48,68,120].…”

“…Similarly, McConnell et al [70], observed that virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) utilizing video-conferencing tools necessitated teacher technology skills, fostering relationships and collaboration among teachers to enhance the teaching and learning process in the 21st century. Furthermore, several studies consistently emphasized the impact of school culture, specifically in terms of organization learning, on teachers' technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK), team communication, and support learning mediated by technology tools teachers' technology integration capabilities in the instruction [48,[62][63][64][65][66][67][68]86,87,[89][90][91].…”

“…In addition, multiple studies have also shown that the technology leadership practices of principals play a crucial role in improving the skills and effectiveness of teachers when it comes to integrating technology into the learning process [18,[43][44][45][46]. Similarly, evidence demonstrates that the principal technology leadership notably influences fostering a digital learning culture [34,45,47,48]. Conversely, some studies found no overt relationship between principal technology leadership and teacher technology integration [49,50].…”

Uluslararasi Standartlar Yönünden Eği̇ti̇m Yöneti̇ci̇leri̇ni̇n 21. Yüzyil Beceri̇leri̇ Doğrultusunda Bi̇lgi̇ İleti̇şi̇m Teknoloji̇leri̇ Yeterli̇li̇kleri̇

“…Eğitim yöneticilerinin görüşleri doğrultusunda yapılan çalışmaya göre standartların Türkiye'de uygulanabileceği ancak bazı düzenlemelere ihtiyaç duyulduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Banoğlu (2011) çalışmasında ISTE (2002 standartları doğrultusunda ilkokul, ortaokul ve lise okul yöneticilerinin teknolojik liderlik yeterliklerinin belirlenmesi amacıyla hazırlanan ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirlik çalışmalarını yapmıştır.…”

“…Araştırmaya göre müdürlerin ISTE, NETS-A standartlarından vizyoner eğitim teknolojisi liderliği sağlamaya hazırlıklı olmadıkları tespit edilmiştir. Yine Banoğlu (2011) araştırmasında "Okul Müdürlerinin Teknoloji Liderliği Ölçeği"ni kullanarak okul müdürlerinin "önemli oranda" teknoloji liderliği yeterliğine haiz olduğu ancak "liderlik ve vizyon" boyutunda en düşük yeterliğe sahip olduğunu belirlemiştir. Ancak alanyazında bu durumun tam aksi sonuçlar da mevcuttur.…”