Improving Leadership in the Digital Era: A Case Study from Rural Mexico

The development of leadership competencies is a current topic in the scientific community. The weaknesses detected in our study reflect the limited treatment offered to this area of work and the current struggle of rural elementary school directors in navigating the challenges of the digital era. The following methods and techniques were used at the theoretical and empirical levels: analytical–synthetic, historical–logical, inductive–deductive, systemic, documentary analysis, observation, surveys, interviews, and self-assessment scales. The systematized theory is based on the process of development of leadership competence in school directors as a dimension of educational quality. This research introduced a professional development strategy for the development of leadership competence in primary school directors consisting of three stages, with their objectives and actions contributing to raising the scientific methodological level of these management teams, including workshops, consultancies, accompaniments, and case studies, as well as monitoring their transformation. The proposed strategy improves the educational leadership skills of school principals, encourages mastery of content, and increases the degree of motivation and interest in management work. It is based on the diagnosis of their reality, and it includes the combination of improvement, methodological, and self-improvement actions to stimulate reflection and the active involvement of participants in their own transformation process.