Digital Preparedness Leadership Preparedness of Principals: On Focus

Sherill Sajulan Sales

On the onset of Covid – 19, a novel virus that took the world on its feet is a sickness that no one in the world did not imagine its impact. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. These nationwide closures are impacting hundreds of millions of students. (UNESCO, 2020). Unguarded, the Southeast Asian neighboring countries took a bitter pill of controlling the spread of the virus by locking down their own cities, their economy, their airports and especially their schools. In the Philippines the Covid – 19 pandemic lockdown in March 2020 caused a standstill on the education.

The country then faced an educational crisis said Director Areola of the Bureau of Learning Delivery. Final examinations were not given yet public schools learners. Only private schools managed to conduct final examinations to their students via online. Perhaps their educational leaders have a visionary leadership that someday, educating learners will include going virtual or online as demanded by time, needs and technology. In my mind as an educator, what areas of leadership were not anticipated to be prepared should face a pandemic like this Covid – 19?

Because of our situation now, I become interested in looking at the digital leadership preparedness of principals during times of pandemic. The following studies have shown that educational leadership has now evolved and principals have to transform themselves as digital leaders of their school in response to the technology advances of our times (Avolio, Sosik, Kahai, & Baker, 2014) and the advancement in technology requires principals especially in the public schools to evolve from being a traditional principal to a digital leader, that evolution requires principals to take proactive steps in applying technology while preparing for technology-related knowledge and information (Ottestad, 2013).

In search of my quest for this topic, I came across with the study of Guzman ( 2020) on Digital Leadership Preparedness of Central School Principals: Basis for Professional Development Program that looked at the principal’s digital leadership preparedness from Esplin ( 2017). The study concluded that central school principals are “significantly” prepared as digital leaders and it recommended the 70:20:10 Model as an intervention for the respondents to become a digital leader which is the experiential learning (70% ) , the social learning ( 20 %) and the formal learning ( 10 %) – Professional Development Plan : ESF ( Experience, Social, Formal). It recommended the upgrading the digital skills or technological trainings be given a high priority for principal professional development and allocation of budget to support the technological needs and plans of the schools and the digital school leaders.

I found this study very applicable to me as a teacher. I would like to see myself as a digital prepared teacher to be able to face the demands of the changing world. I may not be a principal but I see the importance of becoming digitally prepared just like any teacher in the Department of Education. When I do that, I would not be surprised whatever educational crisis I will be facing as a teacher.

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The author is TIII at Dapdap High School