DIGITAL ADMINISTRATIVE COMPETENCE OF HEAD TEACHERS AND INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ILESA EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OSUN STATE

Abstract

Despite global and national ICT reforms aimed at modernizing educational administration, the impact of digital technologies on effective school leadership in Nigerian primary schools, especially in local government areas, remains underexplored. This study therefore investigated the digital administrative competence of head teachers and its relationship with institutional effectiveness in public primary schools in Ilesa East Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria. Adopting a descriptive survey research design, the study targeted all 150 head teachers across public primary schools in the area. A stratified sampling technique based on existing school zones (Ilesa Zones I–V) ensured proportional representation of respondents. Data were collected using a validated and reliable questionnaire titled Digital Administrative Competence and Institutional Effectiveness Questionnaire (DACIEQ), which yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.75 using the test–retest method. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) were used to answer the research questions, while One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypothesis at the 0.05 level of significance. The findings revealed that head teachers exhibited a low level of digital administrative competence (overall mean = 1.13), characterized by limited proficiency in using digital tools for record-keeping, communication, planning, and decision-making, compounded by inadequate formal training and insufficient digital resources in schools. Despite this deficiency, a positive relationship was established between digital administrative competence and institutional effectiveness (overall mean = 2.71), indicating that the use of digital tools improves administrative efficiency, transparency, stakeholder communication, and data-driven decision-making. Furthermore, the ANOVA result showed a significant difference in institutional effectiveness among schools led by head teachers with varying levels of digital administrative competence (F = 125.78, p < 0.05), suggesting that schools led by digitally competent head teachers demonstrate higher levels of institutional effectiveness. The study concludes that strengthening head teachers’ digital capacity through targeted professional training, provision of ICT infrastructure, and continuous technical support is essential for translating national ICT reforms into tangible improvements in school administration and institutional performance. The study therefore recommends that government and educational authorities should enhance the digital competence of head teachers through regular capacity-building programs, provision of adequate digital resources, sustained technical support and supervision, and the integration of digital administrative competence into leadership evaluation and promotion criteria to improve institutional effectiveness in public primary schools.