Examining the relationship between school principles' technology leadership and teachers' digital competence according to teachers

Changes and advancements in technology have impacted every aspect of society, including education systems. The integration of technology into the education system has brought about significant changes in the roles and responsibilities of school principals and teachers. While school principals work to integrate technology into schools, create the necessary infrastructure, and provide the necessary technological equipment, teachers, in turn, integrate these technologies into their learning processes, helping students adapt to the digital age. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between school principals' technology leadership and teachers' digital competencies and to evaluate it in terms of gender, age, educational background, current school level, overall work experience, work experience at the current school, personal computer ownership, daily digital device use time, and daily social media use time. For this purpose, the relational screening model, which is a quantitative research method, was used. The research sample consisted of 361 teachers working at different levels of public schools affiliated with the Ministry of National Education in a district of the Southeastern Anatolia Region in the 2024-2025 academic year. The "Personal Information Form," the "School Principals' Technology Leadership Scale," and the "'Teachers' Digital Competence Scale" were used as data collection tools in the study. The analyses of the research were conducted using the SPSS 22 program. In the analysis phase, first, a normality test was performed, and after determining the normal distribution of the data, t-test and ANOVA tests were applied. In addition, Tukey and Games-Howell Post Hoc Tests were performed when necessary. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between school principals 'technology leadership and teachers' digital competencies. As a result of the analysis of the obtained data, participants determined that school principals' technology leadership and teachers' digital competencies were high. A statistically significant difference was found in teachers' perceptions of school principals' technology leadership only in the "Effective and Safe Use of Technology in School" sub-dimension of the scale, based on the variable of work experience at their current school. No significant differences were found in other variables. Furthermore, no significant differences were found in teachers' perceptions of their digital competencies across variables including gender, educational background, current school level, personal computer ownership, daily digital device use duration, and daily social media use duration. However, statistically significant differences were found in age, overall work experience, and work experience at their current school. According to teachers' self-reported answers, a weak relationship was found between school principals' technology leadership and teachers' digital competency levels.