PENGARUH KEPIMPINAN TRANSFORMASI PEMIMPIN SEKOLAH TERHADAP PENGGUNAAN TEKNOLOGI DIGITAL DALAM PENDIDIKAN

Abstract

The rapid advancement of digital technology in 21st-century education demands that school leaders play a strategic role in ensuring the effective integration of technology in teaching and learning. However, previous studies indicate that transformational leadership and digital competence among educators have not been fully examined, particularly within the Malaysian primary school context. Therefore, this study aims to assess the level of transformational leadership practices among headteachers, evaluate teachers’ digital competence, and analyse the empirical relationship between these two variables in the implementation of educational digital transformation. This study employed a quantitative survey design involving 210 teachers from high-performing primary schools in Kuala Lumpur. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed in SPSS version 28 using descriptive, Pearson’s correlation, and simple linear regression. The findings reveal that the level of transformational leadership among headteachers was high (overall mean = 4.40, SD = 0.56) and that teachers’ digital competence was also high (overall mean = 4.27, SD = 0.70). Pearson correlation analysis indicates a significant positive relationship between headteachers’ transformational leadership and teachers’ digital competence (r = 0.350, p < 0.01), while regression results show that transformational leadership contributed 12.3% (R² = 0.123) to the variance in teachers’ digital competence. The findings underscore that transformational leadership among headteachers serves as a critical driver in enhancing teachers’ digital skills and pedagogical innovation, thereby supporting the implementation of Malaysia’s Digital Education Policy and the School Transformation Plan 2025 (TS25). The study recommends continuous professional development and digital leadership training programmes to strengthen school leaders’ capacity in sustaining Malaysia’s educational digital transformation effectively.