The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
Full Paper for the ICER 2014
Title of the Paper: Leadership Soft Skills of the Administrators under the office of
Secondary Educational Service Area 25
Warisa Prasoetsong ( warisa.p@kkumail.com)
Dr. Wallapha Ariratana ( wallapha@kku.ac.th)
1. Abstract
The objective of this research were to 1) study the leadership soft skills of school
administrators, 2) study guiding of development the leadership soft skills of school
administrators under the Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25. The samples
were administrators and teachers in schools ,total of 477 people. There were two phases. The
first phase was quantitative data collection. The instrument used a questionnaire as rating
scale 5 levels. The statistical analysis were percentage, mean and standard deviation. The
second phase was qualitative data collection by using focus group discussion. Analysis data
by synthesis contents then presented as an essay.
The research findings found that :
1. Leadership soft skills of school administrators found that the overall level of “ high”. The
highest average is relationship skills ,and the lowest average is communication and
presentation skills.
2. Guidelines leadership soft skills have guided of the following five aspects.
1) The human resource development should develop administrators and teachers
about soft skills in performance , communicating English to prepare for ASEAN community,
improve the using information technology and create a learning community.
2) The management should encourage school administrators and teachers to use
technology in administration and teaching , monitor and evaluate strategies work of teachers,
promote research professionals, and create shared values to work as a team.
3) The planning strategy should mobilize resources for financing , develop the
technology with the community to solve problems, create an atmosphere of academic
knowledge sharing and use the principles of good governance in educational administration.
4) The morale and enhancing should build good relations between people in schools,
reduce conflict, praise and honour colleagues, including the administrators must be an
exemplary leadership.
5) The monitoring should change attitudes and behaviours teachers about using
technology, monitor and evaluate of performance, promoting mentoring system and
supervision to use their schools.
Keywords: Leadership, Leadership Soft Skills
2. Introduction
The educational management in the present, was emphasized on students with quality,
knowledge, competency, skill for learning, readiness for learning, good life skill, adjustment
with obstacle, and competency in using the information technology.(Prasert Palitponkanpim,
2011) The students learned how to collect their experience for their vision. The Educational
Management had to consider the individual differences since each student had different
aptitude or intelligence. Therefore, the teachers had to design various learning activities so
that the students would be cheerful and have learning habit, and participate in social activity.
(Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel, 2012)
Consequently, the educational management should be congruent with social need.
Wijan Panich stated that the human’ major skill for living in the 21st century was the learning
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
skill and innovation, problem solving as the experts, communication and cooperation,
creative thinking, critical thinking, information technology and communication skills in order
to access the information quickly, occupational skill, life skill, social skill, cross cultural skill,
leadership and responsibility skill. Furthermore, the school administrators’ duty was to
develop theses skills for school staffs as best as it could be. (Wijan Panich, 2012)
For.school..management,.the school administrators had to use their major skills in
organizational management including the technical skill, the conceptual skill, and the human
skill for integrating and associating their implementation for work efficiency. (Katz, 1974)
Wijan Panich (2012) stated that the recent work management, the administrators had to have
skill in administering the human beings as well as the work. The “soft skill” was related to
human skill focusing on the competency in working with the other persons. It was supported
by Wilaipan Wiwek’s (2013) statement that the “hard skill” was basic factor for human better
work, for instance, thinking skill, interpersonal skill, and motivation skill. Specifically, the
educational management was emphasized on progressive management to be ready for
changing with cooperation by all of school staffs. As a result, the administrators had to use
their knowledge as well as modern science and management skill into many school processes
with participation focusing on communication for developing the awareness and development
continuously in order to accomplish goal. Wijan Panich stated that the leader in this age
needed to integrate their hard skill, and soft skill to be used in organization as well as increase
efficiency and effectiveness of work practice especially the leadership soft skill was an
important one for developing and learning new things to be occurred from cooperated work.
It was supported by Tang’s (2012) statement that the leaders had to be experts in using their
soft skill because leadership needed to be competent in moving the organization efficiently
and effectively. The leaders with soft skill required the human development process, for
instance, team work skill, communication, creativity, and presentation. It was supported by
research findings of Wallapha Ariratana (2012) in presentation of soft skill usage for the
administrators and teachers in educational management covering all 7 skills including the
analytical thinking and problem solving, the communication and presentation, the team
working, studying, learning, and usage of information technology, the development and
construction of innovation, morality, and professional. In addition, the research findings
indicated that the administrators who were able to use their Soft Skill Leadership in teaching
professional development, and students’ learning achievement as well as organizational
climate.
The Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25, was a work unit being
responsible for taking care of Educational Management in 84 Secondary Schools of Khon
Kaen Province. The vision was to be quality organization focusing on Educational
Development into universal standard within 2018 academic year by specifying the strategies
of Educational Service Area in cooperation, promotion, and support for the educational
management of school to be thoroughly, and teacher and staff development in the whole
system, and development in efficient educational management focusing on participation by
every sector. ( The Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25, 2012) But, according
to the report of work performance in 2012 academic year in efficiency of educational
management, found that the participation of teachers and staffs in school work management,
was not able to be implemented concretely, lacked of communication throughout the
organization, and the insufficient usage of information technology media. According to the
findings of implementation, it could be viewed that the school administrators were not able to
put the policy and strategies into school management efficiently as it should be. As a result,
it affected the quality of school, teachers, staffs, and students as well. (The Office of
Secondary Educational Service Area 25, 2012)
According to the above reasons, it could be seen that the school administrators were
the most important persons in moving the organization for changing into ASEAN
community. The administrators in this age, required leadership focusing on participation as
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
well as professional truly. So, the administration and management had to expend major skill
as human or staff development as the important power for movement or changes. The leaders
who could use soft skills would emphasize on promoting and encouraging every staff to
collaborate in one’ work for shared learning as well as continuous development in order to
accomplish school goal.
The researcher working in The Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25, was
interested in studying the level of school administrators’ leadership soft skill as well as
guidelines for developing the school administrators’ leadership soft skill in order to obtain the
useful information technology which would be able to be used as guidelines for the
administrators to use in administration and management in developing the educational quality
further.
3. Research Questions
1. What is the level of leadership soft skills of school administrators under the Office
of Education School Area 25 ?
2.How should we develop the leadership soft skills of school administrators under the
Office of Education School Area 25 ?
4. Research Objectives
1.To study the leadership soft skill of school administrators under the Office of
Secondary Educational Service Area 25.
2. To study the guidelines for developing leadership soft skills of school
administrators, under the Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25.
5. Research Methodology
The kind of research is mixed methods research between quantitative and qualitative
research.
5.1 Population and Samples)
Population: the using in this study consisted of the school administrators and teachers
under The Office of Secondary Educational Service Area 25, 2013 academic year including
201 school administrators, and 3,382 teachers, total of 3,583 persons from 84 schools. .
Samples: the sample sized was determined by Krejcie and Morgan’ Table. The samples
were selected by using Stratified Random Sampling based on school size. They were 132
school administrators, and 345 teachers, total of 477 persons.
5.2 Variables
The studied variables were 8 aspect of soft skill leadership of school administrators
including: 1) the communication and presentation, 2) the leadership competency, 3) the team
working, 4) the analytical thinking and creative problem solving, 5) the professional and
morality, 6) the learning, 7) the usage of information technology, and 8) the development of
interpersonal relationship.
5.3 Instruments
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
The instrument using for data collection, was the questionnaire constructed based on
conceptual framework. It was divided into3 parts. Part1,included the respondents’
demographic data. Part 2, included the opinion on soft skills leadership. Part 3, included the
opinion on guidelines for developing the school administrators’ leadership soft skill, as the
open-ended question. The instrument validation was performed by:
1) Content validity was investigated. In addition, the experts’ index of congruence
(IOC) was found ranged between 0.60 -1.00.
2 ) The reliability was checked by trying out the improved and validated
Questionnaire with 30 administrators and teachers who were not the samples to find
Reliability value. The reliability of total issue was = 0 .978.
5.4 Data Analysis
The quantitative data analysis, was performed by responding Part 1 is the
questionnaire: the respondents’ demographic data by tallying frequency and finding the
percentage. Part 2 is the opinion on the school administrators’ soft skill leadership by using
̅), and standard deviation ( S.D.). And part 3 is the opinion on soft
the statistic as mean (X
Skill leadership, was calculated the frequency and percentage, and concluded in table.
6. Conclusions and Discussions
6.1 Conclusions
1.The research findings of school administrators’ leadership soft skill, in overall,
the average value was in “High” level. The highest level of average value, was the
development of interpersonal relationship. On the contrary, the aspect with lowest level of
average value, was the communication and presentation.
2.Guidelines for developing the school administrators’ leadership soft skill , were as
follows:
1( The staff development, the implementation should be performed in the following
issues: The first, development of administrators and teachers relating to soft skill as well as
work practice, and the English language usage and development in usage of information
technology by action research workshop, The second , usage of mentoring & coaching for
promoting the construction of learning innovation, and the third, enhancement for
developing the learning community.
2) The administration and management, should be implementation as follows: The
first, the promotion for the school administrators and teachers to use the information
technology in their administration and management, and learning, The second, the staffs
should be provided opportunity in presenting the necessary information technology for the
conference, and reporting the work performance, the third, the teachers’ work should be
followed up and evaluated, The forth the research should be enhanced as professional, and
Finally, the development of shared value, and collaborative team working.
3) The strategic planning, should be promoted in the followings: The first, the
collection of resource for providing and developing the technology equipment, with
community. The second , the systematic problem solving was emphasized on the usage of
information technology in decision making as well as problem solving, the third, the
development of academic and sharing climate, and the last, the application of good
governance in administration and management.
4) The development of morale consisted of the creation for friendly climate as well as
decreasing the conflict, the development of good relationship among staffs in school, the
recognition and honouring the colleagues, and the administrators’ good example in self
development.
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
5) The monitoring and following up consisted of the changes of attitude and
behaviour in using the information technology for their work practice, the development of
value, the organization focusing on team working, the monitoring, following up, and
evaluation in work practice.
6.2 Discussions
The findings of school administrators’ leadership soft skill, in overall, was in “High”
level. The aspect with highest level of average value, was the development of interpersonal
relationship. Because the development of good relationship among persons or work units
was importance and necessary for use the school administrators. Specifically, The Office of
Educational Service Area established the policy focusing on progressive work
implementation in school in order to improve the student quality to ASEAN community.
So, the administrators had to have human relation skill as well as be able to communicate and
develop the understanding and participation in changes until accomplish its goal. It was
supported by Tang Keow Nang’s (2012) statement that the efficient leaders had to be able to
make balance of knowledge in themselves, and self development in developing the
interpersonal relationship for organizational development. It was congruent with
Macvicar’s.(2006).statement that the administrators had to adjust their work leadership to be
relevant to their colleagues’ need. Therefore, the administrators had to develop human
relation with every staff to have morale in working together. In addition, it was supported by
research findings of Chatchama Chaiyasook (2010) found that the school administrators’
management skill including: the competency in working with community efficiently, the
searching for collaboration from person or community for collaborating in school
development and system management of communication, the development of good
relationship with the others and cooperation among schools and community or other work
units efficiently.
The aspect with lowest level of average value was the communication and
presentation. Since the school work practice lacked of systematic communication and
presentation. As a result, the information of some issues was mistaken and out of date. It
was supported by focus group discussion found that the school lacked of information
technology system to be used in communication for developing the understanding and being
available for teachers’ work practice. It was congruent with Wichan Panich’s (2012)
statement that the skill for livelihood in the 21str century, the communication and
collaboration skill was very important. Specifically, the technology and communication skill
which had to access the information source quickly. It was supported by Cole’s (1999)
statement that the leaders had to be competent in communication efficiently with their subordinates as well as listen to their opinion so that those persons would be courage to express
themselves in a correct way. Moreover, it was congruent with research findings of Magnuson
( 1991 ) in “the administrators’ characteristic,” that they had to have knowledge as well as
good communication, and could work with the other persons and use their power
appropriately.
7.Recommendations
7.1 Recommendations from this study
1 ( The communications and presentations. Administrators need to be trained and
monitored using information technology. Management should set an example in bringing
technology to present information and reduce conflict, such as the introduction of information
technology education in the monthly meeting.
The 7th International Conference on Educational Research:
13-14 September 2014, Faculty of Education, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
2 ( The ability of the leadership. The administrators should have the organizational
analysis (SWOT Analysis) to analyse the organization as a system. Provides a system of
education and making decision to the teachers.
3 ( The collaboration to work as a team. School administrators should create value in
organizations. By allowing anyone to modify behaviour and new ways of working to cope
with changing circumstances. Administrators and teachers create an atmosphere that has a
common activity. As facilitators excursions to local resources
4 ( The critical thinking skills to solve problems creatively. Area Office should
encourage executives to analyse and solve problems as the main reason. Personnel by
encouraging innovative research as a basis for development. The system of monitoring and
coaching are used in schools.
5 ( The professionalism and ethics. Office of Education should encourage
administrators and teachers use research-based process to develop learners to produce
innovative professionals. Awareness to the management as a model for self-development and
continuous improvement.
6( The learning and use of technology. Office of Education to provide training to school
administrators have developed their own technology. As well as tracking continuous
assessment.
7 ( The development and innovation. Office of Education should encourage school
administrators provide mentoring system. And supervision of the teachers and staff work
very seriously. And encourage education meetings and exchange of learning and teaching in
schools regularly.
8 ( The building relationships with others. School administrators should encourage use
of the principles of good governance in the administration seriously. And encouragement
regarded as important subs equally.
7.2.Recommendations for future Research
1.) We should have done research on factors affecting leadership skills and soft skills of
principal in modern skills such as leadership soft skills of school administrators that affect the
performance of teachers in Secondary Schools.
2) We should do the research leadership soft skills of school administrators from diverse
groups such as students, parents, school directors. To get the findings are comprehensive and
meet the needs of the research.
3) Research leadership skills soft skills of school administrators. School standards or
school administrators have been granted outstanding.
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