21st Century Leadership Skills Practiced by School Leaders in Pakistan During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

21st-century leaders need strong leadership skills to effectively lead schools. They must use and implement 21st-century skills for long term change. The study aimed to identify the practices of secondary school leaders of Rawalpindi city about [recommended] 21st century 4 Cs leadership skills (Competence, Character, Compassion & Courage) during the pandemic of Covid-19. This was exploratory research following the quantitative research approach. One hundred and nine school leaders were selected through a simple random sampling technique to complete an adapted survey questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used for analyzing and reporting the findings. Quantitative data analysis indicates that school leaders are using 21st-century leadership skills during Covid-19, but the level of use is dissimilar to the recommended 21st century 4 Cs leadership skills. It was identified that school leaders use relationship (mean= 4.21), Accountability (mean= 4.45), and Self-Belief (mean= 4.37) skills more than other sub-skills in their leadership practices. The findings recommend that policymakers and professional development organizations should plan workshops on these recommended leadership skills for school leaders so they can perform well under situations like Covid-19.