The Relationship between Principals’ Technology Leadership and Teachers’ Technology Use in Malaysian Secondary Schools

The aim of the study is to examine of technology usage in Malaysian secondary schools and the influence of principals on technology use. This study focuses on principals’ technology leadership behavior according to the National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators (NETS-A). The sample for this study consisted of 115 principals from public schools in Kedah, Malaysia. Two survey instruments were used in this study. First, the Principals Technology Leadership Assessment PTLA survey is to measure the independent variable, Principals’ Leadership Behaviour. Secondly, a TTU (Teachers Technology Use) to measure teachers’ technology use in schools. The relationship between PTLA and TTU was measured using a simple linear regression analysis. The study revealed that the PTLA was not found to be a good predictor of school technology use, F(1, 83) = 12.48, p < .0005 and principals’ technology behavior accounted for 12.1% of explained variability in teachers’ technology use in the classroom. The regression equation is as follows: Teachers’ Technology Use (TTU) = -0.825 + 0.037 (PTLA score). Thus the equation shows that one unit of change in PTLA score could increase the teachers’ technology use by .04. Finally, the implications for principals as well as teachers are discussed.