Secondary School Heads' Competencies: Basis for the Development of a Capability Building Program

Abstract

Introduction

Principals’ work performance is affected by the competencies they possess. As per observation, there are critical competencies that are not fully performed, which make some school heads less effective in managing and leading their schools as there are challenges that burden them in performing their functions. This study was conducted to develop a Capability Building Program (CBP) for school heads based on the perceived least performed competencies and based on their most challenging functions as reflected in Republic Act 9155.

Methods

Purposive sampling was employed in determining the school heads' respondents. Slovin's formula was used to determine the number of teacher respondents while total enumeration was applied in choosing the respondents for the immediate supervisors. Frequency counts, means, standard deviation, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used in the analysis of data gathered.

Results

Resultsrevealed that school heads are not yet competent in the four competency domains: Strategic Thinking and Innovation, Instructional Leadership, Personal Excellence, and Stakeholder Engagement. Among these domains, Strategic Thinking and Innovation have the lowest composite mean which training is most needed to be followed by Stakeholder Engagement, Personal Excellence, and Instructional Leadership.Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) showed that there was no significant difference in the evaluation done by the three groups of respondents. As to the problems related to the functions of a school head, three were perceived as the most crucial namely: the poor relationship between the school and the community, a limited fund to finance physical facilities and improvement projects, and teachers' negative attitude towards change.

Discussions

The results imply that the school heads are not competent in Strategic Thinking and Innovation and Stakeholder Engagementsince all the competency strands under the said domains have equally low means.As regards their functions, the school heads are challenged in establishing a good relationship with the community and have the difficulty of introducing change in their schools. With a rating of highly valid, the CBP for School Heads is recommended for adoption as a basis in crafting training programs as well as policies for professional growth.