Transformational leadership for technology integration in schools: Empowering teachers to use technology in a more demanding way

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate whether the transformational leadership practices of school principals support teachers in using digital technologies in a way that fosters students' engagement in cognitively demanding learning activities in class. To this end, teachers' positive beliefs about digital technology, their technical skills, the digital school infrastructure, and teachers' skills in teaching with digital technologies were investigated as relevant mediators of the relationship between transformational leadership and technology integration. Based on a survey of 2247 upper secondary education teachers in Switzerland, multilevel correlation and structural equation modeling analysis indicated that transformational leadership had a significant and positive impact on the digital school infrastructure, teachers' positive beliefs about digital technology, their technical skills, and their skills in teaching with digital technologies. In turn, all of these factors, except the digital school infrastructure, significantly and positively predicted higher levels of technology integration. These findings position principals’ transformational leadership approaches as crucial in supporting teachers as key players in technology integration in the classroom.