Professional Development of School Leaders in Digital Transformation of Schools

This literature review discusses the challenges and methodologies for professional development of school leaders in digital transformation of schools. It also highlights the impact of such development on students and teachers.

Running head: A LITERATURE REVIEW
A Literature Review of Four Topics
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1A LITERATURE REVIEW
Executive summary
Digital Transformation of Schools is a necessity of the 21st century; however, it faces strong
barriers in the form of ineffective study curriculum and teachers. For a digital transformation,
teachers must be trained on and motivated towards technical skills. Their performances must also
be evaluated under changed and modified guidelines. However, this would also require a lead
character in school leaders such as principals, head of the departments, and others. The paper
suggests that school leaders must be trained to help them effectively train the teachers and
evaluate their performances.

2A LITERATURE REVIEW
Table of Contents
1. Outcomes of Impact Studies on PD of School Leaders related to Digital Transformation of
Schools.............................................................................................................................................3
2. Methodologies Used by Other Researchers for PD and Digital Transformation of Schools......4
3. Professional Development of School Leaders in Digital Transformation of Schools and Impact
on Students.......................................................................................................................................6
4. Professional Development of School Leaders in Digital Transformation of Schools and Impact
on Teachers......................................................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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1. Outcomes of Impact Studies on PD of School Leaders related to Digital Transformation
of Schools
As stated by Tondeur et al. (2016), there is a wide agreement for a fact that PD of school
leaders is essential to support changes to education especially in terms of applying more
advanced technologies to improve the learning environment and the teaching standard. However,
there is a need to contextualize an integration of technology such as ICT across varieties of
school leaders and cultures. However, this very fact is also challenged by a population of leaders
those who do not have the access to technology. This problem is generally called a “Digital
Divide”. Specific cultures in some schools can also make it hard to integrate the content and
pedagogical knowledge with ICT. The implementation of technology in education such as ICT
will require leaders to undergo professional development. However, it is challenging to sustain
PD with leaders those who are not well versed in technologies. They would be needed to be in
regular touch with updates of ICT. However, they might not find this as their jobs due to their
limited knowledge of content and technological pedagogical. A systematic and life-long PD of
leaders is also a challenge in the path of integrating ICT with pedagogical content. It can be said
that ICT enabled education will transform the teaching and learning standard. However, the
biggest barrier to this fact to happen is leaders’ understanding of the benefits of using ICT. It all
depends on how leaders behave with it like whether they are in regular inquiry for updates, or do
they understand the importance of their life-long learning of technology (Tondeur et al. 2016).
As opined by Albion et al. (2015), there is a reciprocal relationship between research and
practice of ICT across schools and School leaders. The implementation of ICT in schools does
not happen in an organized way as compared to other industries. It additionally lacks a designed-
approach without which there will be no certain goals and the action plan. Education centers are

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into constant drives towards using latest and innovative technologies. However, they are not sure
of how to implement technologies such as ICT and to train leaders to be equipped with
technological changes across schools in the world. An integration of teaching practice with ICT
is challenged broadly from specific cultures in few schools and leaders’ understanding of the
technology. Culturally, a few schools do not respond to ICT development as compared to many
others. They want to be in a similar environment and follow the traditional model of teaching.
They are not desirous for or intentionally do not want to be in regular touch with every new
update of ICT. They are more convenient and comfortable with the existing mode of learning
and pedagogical content. However, there are opportunities for TPD for leaders as they can share
their work, experience, and outcomes through identified and selected list of online communities.
There are so many online communities. These communities can help to understand ways to
overcome the problem and learn new and exciting things (Albion et al. 2015).
2. Methodologies Used by Other Researchers for PD and Digital Transformation of
Schools
As stated above in the first topic, though modernized techniques of teaching have become
a necessity, many leaders still do not aware of how to justify their existence in such an
environment. A few methodologies as suggested by academic researchers can be followed to
help leaders be acquainted with technological gadgets and support a change in the learning
pattern. One of such methodologies is being identified, analyzed, and recommended by Botha
and Herselman (2015), which is known as Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). The
authors have observed a case where DSRM was being applied to Professional Development of
leaders (PD). As observed by authors, DSRM could effectively be used to implement PD in a
complex environment. According to authors, DSRM could be used in class and schools to

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develop ways of understanding to unsupportive processes and structures and to work with the
socio-technical system. It was further being noted by authors that DSRM can be applied to
practice in six steps. These are (Botha and Herselman 2015):
 Problem Identification
 Motivation
 Objectives for a solution
 Design and Development
 Evaluation
 Communication
To conclude, authors suggest that this kind, of course, is difficult to be managed. It includes part
of science and craft as well. The resulting design is not a robust course but a toolkit containing
teacher’s technology hardware, technology skills and knowledge, pragmatic pedagogical, and the
experience based on practice.
Wiley and Yoon (1995) opine that a professional development (PD) of leaders such as the
one that is focused on academic curriculum and content and is integrated with standards-based
reform can significantly improve student achievement and teaching practice. It means that if
standard reforms are brought to practice, it will have an impact on students as well as teachers.
Students would be able to be acquainted with the new learning format. On the other hand,
teachers would be able to come out of their socio-cultural contexts to be able to understand and
implement the new teaching standard, which is technically more advanced as compared to
existing education system.

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According to Asensio-Pérez et al. (2017), the Integrated Learning Design Environment
(ILDE) can also be a handful in creating a technologically driven or the classroom of the 21st
century. It is a web platform where technical experts of ICT, interested teachers, and other
people from schools can co-exist in the form of a community and work towards creating a new
and upgraded learning environment. This learning environment will be much better than what
had existed for so many years. It means that teachers will have a new responsibility as they could
now take part in designing the curriculum. However, it is not that easier and the process could be
even more difficult than expected as a participatory culture among teachers would be difficult to
be generated. The participatory nature in teachers can change at any point in time and would be
really difficult to attain it back. Therefore, an ILDE integrated PD model has a strong barrier in
the form of leaders’ comfort level with the traditional teaching model (Asensio-Pérez et al.
2017).
3. Professional Development of School Leaders in Digital Transformation of Schools and
Impact on Students
Leadership, like for any other industries, has a critical role to play in the digital
transformation of schools. Teachers usually have the maximum interaction with students and do
impact their learning as well. It is, therefore, important for teachers to exhibit leadership skills in
order to promote the creation of a new learning environment. It is to be noted as well that
teachers along with principals, superintendents, and others those who support operations in
schools are called the school leaders. However, on a broader aspect principals, and
superintendents are called leaders as they will only approve the adoption of a digital study
format. Without their cooperation, teachers who are also a part of school leaders, will not be able
to do a much with it.

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Professional development is important and required as well for leaders. It is because they
are like a role model to employees especially to those who really want to gain professional skills.
Considering the stated fact, it is fair enough to say that leaders should also be put to professional
development (Day, Gu and Sammons 2016).
So far, this report was able to identify that professional development of leaders is not an
easy job. It is rather full of challenges and barriers. Professional development of leaders could be
facilitated in several ways such as by following stages as mentioned below (Beare, Caldwell and
Millikan 2018):
Leadership Model: There is a need to adapt to a leadership model such as the “Distributed
Leadership Models”, which has necessary elements to cater a professional development. The
model should have in general three elements. The model should clearly state the role and
responsibilities that leaders need to portray in the technological advancement of the education
system in schools. It additionally needs to indicate the structure of the process through which
leaders will be deployed to technological change in schools. The structure will also help leaders
to develop professional skills. This would not just guide their participation in the change process
but would also motivate office level staffs at different levels in schools and also students. The
leadership model will also need to cover process and planning in the form of observation,
feedback, and coaching. The model should also cover evaluations and inputs that will be required
to be included in evaluations.
Create and strengthen leadership capacity: Some schools may do well if teachers are being
helped to strengthen their leadership capacity. On the other hand, some schools will do well with
more APs being recruited and trained in leadership skills. In both cases, results are expected to
happen. For example, when the teacher to student ratio is below than the normal, there would be

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needs to recruit more teachers. On the other hand, in case of huge work pressure on principals, it
is suggested to recruit more APs.
The role of focus leaders: A distributed leadership model is of extreme benefits in regards to
improving the learning system and advancing towards the latest technologies. It is because the
model encourages leaders to play different roles such as coaching, mentoring, feedback, and
others. The best part of this model is that it helps to facilitate a number of works in a limited span
of time.
Shared mission: For a technological advancement of the education system, it is important that
teams are formed and they are aligned to one mission. The mission, in this case, is to become
acquainted with advanced technologies, which are going to be a part of the education system in
the future.
Empower leaders: There is a need to empower leaders with time and authority, so that, they
could make decisions and set the deadline of the project as per their analysis of the situation.
4. Professional Development of School Leaders in Digital Transformation of Schools and
Impact on Teachers
School leaders in the form of principals or head of the department can also contribute to
the Digital Transformation of Schools. They additionally can also impact on teachers if leaders
are trained in professional skills. The professional development of head of the department in
schools can be helped to develop their role-play in the following ways (DiPaola and Tschannen-
Moran 2014):
Change in ways of training and evaluation: Principals take care of evaluating teachers’
performance. If they are given a different format to train teachers and evaluate their performance,

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they can in some ways influence teachers' participation in technological innovation in the
education system. The new training format will have added points especially aimed at enhancing
relevant knowledge to the technology. In addition, the new evaluation checklist will have
activities that were not part of the traditional evaluation sheet. In order to do all so, school
leaders such as the head of the department must be trained on skills and elements that will be
utilized in training teachers and in evaluating their work-performance.
Principals need skills: Since the recommended training and evaluation process would be a new
experience to school leaders, they should also know how to adjust to the changed responsibility.
This can be done by training leaders also. School leaders must be made aware of techniques to be
utilized while dealing with a new set of evaluation data. This is where problems may arise as an
effective development of skills in leaders would also need their motivation towards the process.
Until and unless leaders are not motivated towards their changed responsibilities, they would not
be able to justify their participation in the change.
Working conditions: This perhaps has an impact on school leaders’ performance. The decision-
making authority and an access to data systems are the factors, which affect the performance of
school leaders. School leaders when are entitled to decision-making, they are motivated towards
their roles and added responsibilities. Since the recommended training and evaluation format is
an added responsibility on principals, they must have the decision-making authority to justify
their leadership. Principals or the head of the departments can influence teachers’ performance if
they have access to data systems and tools that are critical factors to effective feedbacks.
Effective feedbacks will appropriately guide teachers towards the end goal.
Evaluations: Evaluations of principals and teachers should be aligned with each other. This
would make things fairer between teachers and principals. For example, if teachers are blamed

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for the performance of students, the same will go to principals as well. It should not be the case
that teachers are alone held responsible for an outcome. It means principals should also be
evaluated on how they influence the performance of teachers. It also suggests that professional
development is not just required to teachers only but to principals also.
References
Albion, P.R., Tondeur, J., Forkosh-Baruch, A. and Peeraer, J., 2015. Teachers’ professional
development for ICT integration: Towards a reciprocal relationship between research and
practice. Education and Information Technologies, 20(4), pp.655-673.
Asensio-Pérez, J.I., Dimitriadis, Y., Pozzi, F., Hernández-Leo, D., Prieto, L.P., Persico, D. and
Villagrá-Sobrino, S.L., 2017. Towards teaching as design: exploring the interplay between full-
lifecycle learning design tooling and teacher professional development. Computers &
Education, 114, pp.92-116.
Beare, H., Caldwell, B.J. and Millikan, R.H., 2018. Creating an excellent school: Some new
management techniques. Routledge.
Botha, A. and Herselman, M., 2015. A Teacher Tablet Toolkit to meet the challenges posed by
21st century rural teaching and learning environments. South African Journal of
Education, 35(4).
Day, C., Gu, Q. and Sammons, P., 2016. The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How
successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a
difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), pp.221-258.

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DiPaola, M. and Tschannen-Moran, M., 2014. Organizational citizenship behavior in schools
and its relationship to school climate. Journal of School Leadership, 11(5), pp.424-447.
Tondeur, J., Forkosh-Baruch, A., Prestridge, S., Albion, P. and Edirisinghe, S., 2016.
Responding to challenges in teacher professional development for ICT integration in
education. Educational Technology and Society, 19(3), pp.110-120.
Wiley, D.E. and Yoon, B., 1995. Teacher reports on opportunity to learn: Analyses of the 1993
California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Educational Evaluation and Policy
Analysis, 17(3), pp.355-370.