Teacher-Perceived Digital Leadership Needs and Rank Stability in Gansu Vocational Higher Education

The current and desirable ratings were obtained from 520 teachers of 12 vocational higher education institutes in public schools in Gansu Province. Twenty-five practices of digital leadership were identified and teachers rated them, with the Desirable State considered as a realistic goal that can be achieved within 2-3 years for the institution. First, we established whether or not the two rating frames could be compared on the same measurement basis, and found that they could be compared, using repeated-measures ordinal confirmatory factor analysis. Mean Desirable ratings were higher on all five dimensions (ΔM = .501-.625; Cohen’s dz = .761-1.027). The observed gap was then sorted by the modified Priority Needs Index (PNImodified) and the robustness of gaps was examined through 5,000 bootstrap replications of the observations by site stratum. The three that tied for 1st place: Digital Citizenship, 95.3% replications; and Systemic Improvement and Professional Development which had the fewest replications, 95.3%. At item level, B24, B12 and B18 highlighted the importance of having a fair way to communicate digitally, having access to teaching resources and equipment, and having a differentiated approach to professional development.