Visionary leadership in improving the quality and competitiveness of private Islamic primary schools

Abstract

This research is motivated by the increasing competitiveness potential of private Islamic elementary schools in Indonesia. Competition in the education sector is characterized by the relevance of community needs, oriented to modernity with the principle of mutual justice, and substance oriented in harmony with global cooperation and competition. Educational competitiveness requires leadership support in improving and developing the quality of education (Waruwu et al., 2022). However, little is known about the support of visionary leadership and improving the quality of school competitiveness. This study aims to explore the support of visionary leadership and the quality of education on the competitiveness of schools. This study uses descriptive quantitative research methods to determine the average of each variable and continues with the correlational method. The instrument was a closed questionnaire distributed to 59 Islamic elementary schools in East Jakarta. The respondents are teachers and parents who are members of the school committee management team. A total of 481 respondents consisted of 222 teachers and 259 representatives of parents. The results showed that visionary leadership support, quality improvement, and school competitiveness were in the high category at private Islamic elementary schools in East Jakarta, Indonesia. All variables partially have a significant effect on school competitiveness. This study recommends that principals and stakeholders are committed to continuously improving schools’ quality to match global competitiveness. Therefore, visionary leadership skills are needed so that school principals are able to think far ahead and are global so that challenges can be faced and competition can be conquered.