SCHOOL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY: EVALUATION AND TEACHERS' PERSPECTIVES

Effective school leadership is a critical element in driving educational excellence and realizing the aspirations of the national education system. However, current challenges such as rapid technological changes, 21st-century learning needs, and increasingly complex societal demands require school leaders to possess high and diverse leadership competencies. Therefore, this study aims to assess the level of headmasters' leadership competencies from the perspective of teachers in Sarawak. A total of 113 primary school teachers in Sarawak participated as respondents in this study. Data was collected through an online survey method using Google Forms. The research instrument used was the Leadership Competency Instrument (IKK) questionnaire developed by the Razak School of Government, which consists of five dimensions: ethics and spirituality, personal and social skills, management skills, leadership skills, and transformative skills. This study used a quantitative approach, and data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 29 (SPSS). The results show that the overall level of school leadership competency is high (M=5.87, SD=0.92). In terms of dimensions, transformative skills recorded the highest mean score (M=5.90, SD=0.92), followed by the ethics and spirituality dimension (M=5.87, SD=1.06), leadership skills dimension (M=5.86, SD=0.96), management skills dimension (M=5.81, SD=1.00), and personal and social skills (M=5.71, SD=1.07). In conclusion, these findings confirm that teachers rate the leadership competencies of headmasters in Sarawak at a high level. This study has several significant implications for policymakers such as the Ministry of Education Malaysia, the Aminuddin Baki Institute, and the Educational Policy Planning and Research Division. In practical terms, the results of this study can be used as a basis for developing more effective training and professional development programs for school leaders in Sarawak. Suggestions for future research include comparative studies between other states in Malaysia to observe differences and similarities in the levels of headmasters' leadership competencies.