The relationship between school administrators' level of 21st century skills and their capability to manage change at schools

The aim of the study is to reveal the relationship between school administrators' level of 21st century skills and their ability to manage change, according to the opinions of teachers who are working in secondary, primary, and high schools in Uşak. In addition, it was also investigated whether school administrators' levels of 21st century skills and ability to manage change differ in a significant level according to gender, branch, level of education, and working time in the same school. The sample of this research consists of 290 teachers working in public schools in Uşak province and selected by a simple random sampling method in 2019-2020 educational year. As data collection tools; Education Manager's 21st century Skills Scale developed by Çoban, Bozkurt and Kan, (2019) and Change Management Competencies Scale developed by Helvacı (2004) were used. The data which was obtained in the study, analyzed with SPSS 17. 0 statistical program. In the analysis process, ANOVA, descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, Pearson product-moment correlation analysis test applied. In the light of the findings of this research; according to the opinions of teachers, it was concluded that school administrators are sufficient in terms of "innovation and learning skills", "literacy skills", "life and professional skills" as the sub-dimensions of 21st century skills and general 21st century skills at the "very" level. In this study the 21st century skills of school administrators did not differ significantly in terms of branch, gender and seniority, but it was concluded a significant difference according to education level and duration of working in the same school variables. It is also understood that school administrators are very sufficient in terms of the sub-dimensions of managing change such as "Determining the need for change", "Preparing the change", "Applying the change" and "Evaluating the change" in terms of their ability to manage change. It has been determined that there is a positive and a significant relationship in a high level between school administrators proficiency level of 21st century skills and the proficiency levels of their change management skills. Positive and highly significant relationship has been concluded between the proficiency levels of school administrators in managing change and "learning and innovation skills" within the scope of 21st century skills, between "literacy skills" and "life and professional skills" in this study.