Trends, Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities for 21st Century Leaders and Educators

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

Republic Act No. 9155 also known as principle of shared governance recognizes that every unit in the education bureaucracy has a particular role, task, and responsibility inherent in the office and for which it is principally accountable for outcomes; the process of democratic consultation shall be observed in the decision-making process at appropriate levels, developing the school education program and school improvement plan, offering educational programs, projects and services which provide equitable opportunities for all learners in the community, introducing new and innovative modes of instruction to achieve higher learning outcomes, and administering and managing all personnel, physical, and fiscal resources of the school.

METHODS

The researcher utilized the descriptive research method in this study because the objective was to describe systematically the trends and practices, challenges, and opportunities of 21st century leaders and educators. The researcher administered questionnaires.The questionnaire contained statements concerning challenges and opportunities in terms of leadership, curriculum content, learners’ diversity, community linkages, personal, and professional growth and Information and Communication Technology and extent to the trends and practices in term of decision making, problem solving adaptability, critical thinking, and creativity. The questionnaire stands the test of reliability and validity by pretesting, it was administered on a sample respondent to check their understanding of the questions. After the 100 percent of the respondent retrieved of the questionnaire from the public school teachers and leaders, the data were tallied and presented in tables and interpreted.

RESULTS

Based on the findings on the level ofthe respondents' ways of meeting challenges and opportunities in terms of leadership, curriculum content, diversity of learners, community linkages, personal and professional development, and information and communication technology, leaders and educators can cope with the challenges and demands, however, they must utilize their opportunities as 21st century leaders and educators. It was also found that there was a significant relationship between the level of challenges and opportunities in terms of leadership, curriculum content, diversity of learners, community linkages, personal and professional development, and information and communication and level of trends and practices in terms of decision making, problem solving, adaptability, critical thinking, and creativity.

DISCUSSIONS

One of the expected results or outputs of this research is to determine the trends, practices, challenges, and opportunities for 21st century leaders and educators. Through this research, prolific information and insights from related literature and studies can motivate teachers and education leaders to build and sustain the component of successful leaders and educators, furthermore opportunities must be utilized to enhance the current trends and practices that address the 21st century demands, enhancement of their 21st century skills are essential to further develop learners with 21st century skills and produce leaders that can compete in global context. The quality of leaders and educators determines the quality of education and linked with nation's development.