Leadership for Digital Skills

       

Leading Digital Skills Development

The role of leadership in digital technology skills development and integration is complex (Rodríguez-Miranda, et, al., 2014, p. 263) with ambiguities in cognition and ability impacting successful outcomes for teachers and learners (Younie, 2006, p. 393). The need for effective leadership and support has been heightened because of the exponential shift to digital technology because of the COVID-19 pandemic situation (OECD, 2020). Jones (2018) suggests that investment into staff capability is needed to enable TAFE institutes to create a culture that will produce graduates meeting the transforming contemporary workplace needs (p. 6). Support and leadership at the institutional level are crucial to ensure that conditions are conducive for teachers to develop themselves professionally with Digital Technology in their context (UNESCO, 2020, p. 25).

Whilst effective leadership is essential, both leaders and teachers must be complicit in identifying skills deficits (Gekara, et al., 2019, p. 35), and planning clear goals to rectify the issues (Petersen, 2014, p. 304). George & Sanders (2019) suggest that professional development is more likely to succeed if the needs are identified by the teachers themselves (p. 2887). To begin the process of establishing your own training and development, you must first establish your own digital skills competence. Use the digital literacy self-assessment tool to establish your own digital literacy level against the Australian Digital Literacy Skills Framework (2020).