The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
21st Century School Administrator Skills under the Office of Udonthani Primary
Educational Service Area 3
Praedao Sanongphan1 (praedaos@kkumail.com)
Saowanee Sirisooksilp2 (saotri@kku.ac.th)
Abstract
The objectives of this research were to study and recommend the guidelines for
developing the school administrators’ skills during 21st century, under the Office of
Udonthani Primary Educational Service Area 3. This study was Descriptive Research based
on opinion of 17 experts by Mini EDFR including 2 phases. Phase 1, was the development of
conceptual framework in basic research. Phase 2, was to interview the experts by Semistructured Interview and ask opinions by the Questionnaire as 5 Level Rating Scale.
The findings found that : the 21st century school administrator skills including 11 skills
as follows: 1) Technical Skill, 2) Human Skill, 3) Conceptual Skill 4 ) Educational and
Instructional Skill, 5) Cognitive Skill, 6) Administrative Skill, 7) Planning Skill, 8) Effective
Communication Skill, 9 ) Evaluation Skill, 10 ) Information and Communication Technology
Management Skill, and 1 1 ) Team Building Skill. In overall, found that the skill with “the
Highest” level of possible trend, and the first order of congruent opinion was the Team
Building Skill.
The guideline for developing the school administrators’ skills : 1) Technical Skill, the
adm inistrators had to learn new technique throughout the tim e. 2) Hum an Skill, the
administrators should have a good mood and friendly. 3) Conceptual Skill, the administrators
should study every aspect of information and determine the policy as strategy. 4) Educational
and Instructional Skill, the administrators had to have self-development as well as academic
leader. 5) Cognitive Skill, the adm inistrators should search for knowledge to help in
analyzing. 6) Administrative Skill, the administrators should search for supplementary
knowledge in administrative principle to apply in improving their work. 7) Planning Skill, the
administrators should have techniques in planning. 8) Effective Communication Skill, the
administrators should know the communicative techniques and appropriate speaking with
situation. 9) Evaluation Skill, the administrators should study different patterns of evaluative
criterion. 10) Inform ation and C om m unication Technology M anagem ent Skill, the
adm inistrators had to be the leaders of technology. And 11) Team Building Skill, the
administrators had to create awareness in team working.
Keywords: School Administrator Skills, 21st Century
Introduction
The 21st Century World was changed from industrial age into Information Age. The
future online society competed by using the information technology as Knowledge-based
Economy using knowledge and Educational Technology to constructing the competency for
competition. In 2015, ASEAN Community would play an important role in implementation of
every sector inevitably including Education. The Office of Udonthani Primary Educational
Service Area 3, aimed to develop the staffs under jurisdiction to obtain integral knowledge,
competency, and skill in order to be ready for ASEAN Community. So, the policy based on
annual budget plan 2013, was specified to be congruent with government policy as well as
Ministry of Education. One of the focus aimed to the administrators, and Educational Staffs
1
Master Degree Student in Educational Administration, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
Professor in Educational Administration Program, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
2Assistant
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
to have knowledge, competency, and skill for working based on professional standard.
According to the policy, the researcher viewed that the 21st skill would help the administrators
to work efficiently as well as serve the ASEAN Community. Therefore, the researcher was
interested in studying “the 21st Century School Administrator Skills, under The Office of
Udonthani Primary Educational Service Area 3” in order to use the research findings of this
study as guidelines for developing and enhancing the administrators’ skill in work
management efficiently as well as being ready for entering ASEAN Community further.
Research Objectives
1. To study the 21st century school administrator skills, under The Office of Udonthani
Primary Educational Service Area 3.
2. To recommend the guidelines for developing the school administrators’ skills during
st
21 century, under the Office of Udonthani Primary Educational Service Area 3.
Research Methodology
This research was Descriptive Research by interviewing 17 experts through Mini EDFR
)Mini Ethnographic Delphi Futures Research,(Choompon Poonpatarachiwin, 2009) including
2 Phases as follows:
Phase 1: the conceptual framework of basic research from the related document and
research literature, was developed.
Phase 2: the 21st Century school administrator skills, under The Office of Udonthani
Primary Educational Service Area 3, was studied by interviewing the experts through Mini
EDFR research methodology based on conceptual framework from 11 skills as follows: 1)
technical skill, 2) human skill, 3) conceptual skill, 4) educational and instructional skill, 5)
cognitive skill, 6) administrative skill, 7) planning skill, 8) effective communication skill, 9)
evaluation skill, 10) information and communication technology management skill, and 11)
team building skill (for real interview didn’t focus on conceptual framework of basic research.
It was based on each expert to conjecture the future potential trend) by classifying into 2
spirals as follows:
- Spiral 1, the 21st Century school administrator skills, was studied by interviewing
the experts through the Semi Structured Interview. In this study, the researcher selected
expert group by Purposive Sampling based on appropriate principle for selection in order to
obtain adequate samples as specified by objective, considered their present position with
knowledge as well as experience. The criterion for selection included: they were administrator
group with power in determining the policy, the academic group or practitioner group. The
number of experts was depended on issues to be studied. Most of them, 17 experts and more
were specified so that the value of error would be very little or almost constant as 0.02
(Monchai Tientong, 2005) Therefore, in this research, the researcher determined 20 experts at
beginning since there was time limitation in conducting the study. In addition, the research
methodology was flexible. The researcher collected data from 17 experts from being
determined as 20 experts from beginning.
- Spiral 2: The Content Analysis was performed from the obtained findings from
expert interviewing in Spiral 1. The issues were concluded for constructing and developing
the Questionnaire as 5 Level Rating Scale. Then, they were returned to the experts, and
confirmed the interview statement. The expert group considered and expressed their opinion.
They presented their recommendations as well as Quantitative Data from Questionnaire in
Spiral 2, for analyzing and concluding in descriptive form.
1) Research Instruments
Spiral 1: The Semi Structured Interview asking the school administrators’ skill in
st
the 21 Century.
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
Spiral 2: The 5 Level Rating Scale.
2) The Validation of research instruments of Questionnaire in Spiral 2 was
performed for finding the Index of Congruence by 5 experts including the expert in Research
Methodology, the expert in Management, the administrators in the Educational Service area
and teachers. The criterion for consideration consisted of the Index of Congruence from 0.50
up. It was found that IOC of every question ranged from 0.6-1.0. Then, they were revised as
well as improved before being used.
3) Data Analysis
Spiral 1: The Semi Structured Interview, data were analyzed by Content
Analysis from the study of related document and research literature in Phase 1, as conceptual
framework for analyzing and synthesizing the similar and different opinions by organizing the
information obtaining from interview, and trying to maintain the experts’ statement as much
as possible, grouping, getting main idea, frequency, and trend.
Spiral 2: The Questionnaire as 5 Level Rating Scale was analyzed to find Median
from 3.5 up, and the Range between Quartile (QR = Q3-Q1) not more than 1.5 indicated that
the experts’ opinions were congruent.
Conclusions and discussions of research findings
The findings of data analysis
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
ทั21
กษะst Century
school
administrator
skills
Technical Skill
Human skill
Conceptual Skill
Educational and
Instructional Skill
Cognitive Skill
Administrative
Skill
Planning Skill
Effective
Communication
Skill
Evaluation Skill
Information and
Communication
Technology
Management Skill
Team Building
Skill
Md.
Mo.
Q3
Q1
QR
Possible
Opportunity
Congruence
4.44
4.64
4.40
4.46
4.44
5.00
4.40
3.08
4.61
5.00
4.90
4.77
4.06
4.32
4.00
3.96
0.55
0.68
0.90
0.81
High
Highest
High
High
Congruence
Congruence
Congruence
Congruence
4.50
4.14
5.00
4.14
5.00
5.00
4.00
4.07
1.00
1.07
Highest
High
Congruence
Congruence
4.50
4.17
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.92
1.00
0.58
Highest
High
Congruence
Congruence
4.63
4.00
5.00
3.83
4.94
4.58
4.00
3.83
0.94
0.75
Highest
High
Congruence
Congruence
4.67
4.89
4.89
4.28
0.61
Highest
Congruence
1) Conclusions of research findings
(1) The research findings found that there were 11 skills of school administrators
in the 21st Century including: 1) technical skill, 2) human skill, 3) conceptual skill, 4)
educational and instructional skill, 5) cognitive skill 6) administrative skill, 7) planning skill,
8) effective communication skill, 9) evaluation skill, 10) information and communication
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
technology management skill, and 11) team building skill. The most likely skill and most
congruent skill, was the Team working skill. On the contrary, the least likely skill and least
congruent skill, was the usage in information technology for communication and
management.
(2) The guidelines for developing the 21st Century school administrator skills
were: 1) technical skill the administrators had to find new knowledge throughout the time, 2)
human skill, the administrators should focus on the Four Principles of Virtuous Existence, be
in a good mood and get along well with people, 3) conceptual skill, the administrators studied
all aspects of information, analyzed, collected, and applied for determining the policy as well
as strategy to be congruent with situation, 4) educational and instructional skill, the
administrators had to have self development and be academic leaders, 5) cognitive skill, the
administrators searched for knowledge by themselves based on knowledge, rationale, and
theories supporting their analysis which would make right decision making, 6) administrative
skill, the administrators should find the supplementary knowledge of rationale, approach, and
theories of management. They should learn from experience and apply for improving their
work, 7) planning skill, the administrators should have technique in planning, establishing the
work plan precisely, and monitoring, following up their work performance, 8) effective
communication skill, the administrators know verbal communication technique appropriately
with situation for increasing the communication channel to be relevant to present context and
situation, 9) evaluation skill. The administrators should develop and study the criterion of
evaluation in different forms including the formal and informal ones, 10) information and
communication technology management skill, the administrators had to be open-minded,
stepped to keep pace with changes as well as be leaders in technology, and 11) team building
skill, the administrators should develop awareness in team working, good relationship, and
cooperate into the same team.
2) Discussions of research findings
(1) The overall research findings, found that the school administrators’ skills in
the 21st Century, consisted of 11 skills as follows : 1) technical skill, 2) human skill, 3)
conceptual skill, 4) educational and instructional skill, 5) cognitive skill 6) administrative
skill, 7) planning skill, 8) effective communication skill, 9) evaluation skill, 10) information
and communication technology management skill, and 11) team building skill. It was
supported by research findings of Hoyle et. al., (2013) from textbook called “Skills for
Successful 21st Century School Leaders” consisted of the communication and relationship
with community skill, the organizational administration and management skill, the planning
and curriculum development, the knowledge management skill, the performance evaluation
skill, and staff management. In addition, it was congruent with research findings of Thi Mi
Loc’s (2013) study in the administrators necessary skill for establishing the curriculum and
developing the students’ skills in Educational Administration Students, National Vietnam
University which were important skills including: The ICT usage skill as a part of learning
climate, the learning and teaching management skill, and the human resource management.
Furthermore, it was also found that the research findings of Kanchana Klinlaor’s , (2008)
study in “The Success of Secondary School in organizing the Program at Kansas University,”
found that the administrators’ success was based on their skill, knowledge, and experience in
management. Moreover, the competency being important for working, was one’s skill in
technology and computer, human relation skill, communication skill, competency in
organizational management and supervision. It might be stated that the school administrators’
skill in the 21st Century which would be successful in work practice, consisted of 11 skills as
the above.
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
(2) According to the research findings found that the skill with the most likely to
be and congruent opinion, was the team building skill. It might be because the successful
work would be based on team working since only the administrators would not be able to
practice their various responsibilities. It was depended on collaborated work of team work.
The work would be efficient and accomplish the organizational goal. It was supported by
Wirote Sanrattana’s , (2012) statement that the leaders’ skill in the 21st Century was a very
important skill. Moreover, it was supported by Tongpanchang Pongwarin’ s (2009) statement
that the Team Building was the key of working. The collaborated work of group had to
develop ones’ trust, stimulate the unity and good interrelationship so that the members would
have commitment to work for accomplishment based on common objective or goal.
Therefore, it might be stated that the school administrators’ team building skill in the 21st
Century, was very important and necessary. Since the working had to be based on team
working so that the organization would be successful with potential for competition in 21st
Century. As a result, the expert group viewed that the school administrators’ team building
skill was important and congruent in “The Highest” level.
(3) The least likely skill was the skill in using the information technology for
communication and administration and management. It might be because most of the
administrators were not aware of the significance of technology. According to the survey of
The Office of Deputy of Ministry of Education (The Office of Deputy of Ministry of
Education, nd) in establishing the model scheme for information technology and
communication for Education, the situation of ICT usage and need were analyzed as well as
the strong point, weak point, opportunity, and threat affecting the ICT development OF
Ministry of Education, were evaluated. For the administrator, found that there was Weakness
as the high executives lacked of confidence on ICT use. Some administrators might not see
the importance of ICT use. So, they didn’t understand how to use technology correctly. In
addition, the Office of Udontani Primary Educational Service Area3, most of schools were
small sized schools, and situated in distance. They were lacked of modern media, equipment,
and technology which might be a cause viewed by the experts that the trend of administrators’
skill in the 21st Century in using information technology for communication and
administration and management, was the least possible.
(4) The notice from research findings of efficient communication skill of school
administrators in 21st Century, in the item “the administrators could communicate English
Language as well as languages in ASEAN countries very well,” was in “Moderate” level.
According to the report from survey of EFEFI (2012) the leaders in further their studying in
foreign countries and sharing their culture around the world, revealed the ranking of English
Language Competency Skill from 54 countries around the world in non English Language
Use, found that Thailand was ranked in the 53 as the second last from Libia. Besides, Surin
Pidsuwan (2011) the former secretariat of ASEAN specified that he wanted the Ministry of
Education emergently made plan for solving the problem of Thai People’ English Language
Usage since it was in crisis compared with the other countries, and might affect the ASEAN
and global society participation since the English Language was the key for competition as
well as creation in cooperation with world economy. It might be stated that Thai People’
English Language Communication was in very low level. Although every sector tried to
solve this problem, it was very difficult to be improved for communicating English Language
as well as language of ASEAN countries very well in order to serve ASEAN community in
2015. It might be the reason the experts to have common viewpoint that the possibility was
in “Moderate,” level.
According to the study of school administrators’ skill in Education and Teaching
in the 21st Century in the item “the administrators promoted research for developing
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
individual student continuously,” the experts had incongruent opinion. According to research
findings of Pidsanu Konsue ’s (2007) study in “Role for Enhancing the Classroom Research
of Administrators, Sangsan Temple School, under The Office of Patoomtani Educational
Service Area 2,” in overall, found that the administrators played their role in “Moderate”
level. It might be due to the administrators paid attention to this issue in lower level than the
other kinds of work. In addition, the teachers didn’t understand the classroom research.
Furthermore, according to the study of Rosdee Kowautu’s (2008) in “Relationship between
Teacher Factors, and Classroom Research in Islam Private Secondary School, Yala Province,”
found that most of teachers never conduct classroom research, In conducting the classroom
research, the teachers. In addition, the school administrators were not aware in enhancing the
classroom research for individual student development continuously which might be the
cause of the incongruent research findings to be occurred.
Recommendations
1) Recommendations for application of research findings
(1) According to research findings, found that the most likely skill and the most
congruent opinion, was the Team Building Skill. Therefore, the Office of Udonthani Primary
Educational Service Area 3, should use the findings of this study as guidelines for developing
the skill of school administrators under jurisdiction, for instance, creating the administrators’
awareness in seeing the importance of team working.
(2) The least likely skill was the skill in using information technology for
communication, administration, and management, although it tended to be least possible, all
of 11 skills were necessary for school administrators in the 21st Century leading to work
success. Therefore, the Office of Udonthani Primary Educational Service Area 3, should use
the findings of this study for developing the administrators’ skill under jurisdiction, for
instance, determining the strategy and creating the administrators’ awareness in seeing
importance of technology as well as establishing the action plan for developing this aspect of
skill.
(3) The Office of Udonthani Primary Educational Service Area 3, should use all
of 11 skills in constructing and developing the administrators’ skill development model to be
congruent with and serve for the changes in 21st Century, and using it as criterion for
evaluating the administrators’ efficiency and effectiveness in work practice which would lead
to skill development truly.
(4) The school administrators should use research findings for establishing their
own self developmental plan.
2) Recommendations for future research
The additional studies the least likely skill as the skill in using information
technology for communication, administration, and management, , should be conducted in
order to see what would be the cause, and how could the skill in this aspect be performed.
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