Digital competency and ICT leadership in rural basic-education schools in Northeastern Thailand: A needs analysis informing an adaptive digital support system

This study addresses the lack of context-specific evidence on digital transformation in basic education. It investigates the digital competency, ICT use, and ICT leadership readiness of 192 teachers and 111 school administrators (N = 303) in opportunity-expansion schools — state-supported rural schools serving lower-secondary grades — across five provinces of Northeastern Thailand. A descriptive survey, complemented by semi-structured interviews with 12 experts, examined school infrastructure, digital access and use, self-assessed competencies, and priority needs. Developmental needs were quantified using the modified Priority Needs Index ( P N I modified ), and interviews were thematically analysed to triangulate the findings. Both groups used digital tools across administration, teaching, assessment, and professional learning, yet outdated and insufficient hardware remained the principal constraint. Current competency was rated moderately high to high, while desired levels were consistently higher, producing modest but systematic gaps. The highest relative needs were concentrated among administrators, in basic digital operations ( P N I modified = 0.104) and community and network engagement ( P N I modified = 0.074), followed by teachers' basic digital operations and digital assessment — indicating a challenge of quality and depth rather than of access. Administrators rated themselves slightly higher than teachers overall, with small-to-moderate effect sizes. These findings informed a conceptually designed Adaptive Digital Support System (ADSS) with three modules — user profiling, resource alignment, and progress monitoring — specified conceptually and not empirically evaluated. The findings offer practical and theoretical insights for strengthening digital capacity in comparable resource-constrained contexts.