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

Abstract

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.

1. Introduction

Training rural primary school leaders in leadership skills is critical in the current context of digital transformation. As the world progresses toward digitalization, these leaders’ role becomes even more crucial to ensure that rural educational communities are not left behind. Integrating technology into education not only represents a challenge but also an opportunity to innovate and improve the quality of learning in environments that often face limitations in resources and infrastructure.

A leader well trained in leadership skills is able to guide his or her teaching team and students toward the effective adoption of digital tools [1]. This involves not only the implementation of new technologies but also the creation of an environment in which everyone feels motivated to explore and experiment with these tools. A leader’s ability to foster a culture of learning and adaptation is essential to overcome the resistance to change that is sometimes present in rural educational settings.

In addition, training in communication and management skills is crucial [2]. Leaders must be able to build strong relationships with their team, as well as with families and the community [3]. Effective leadership involves listening to the needs and concerns of teachers and students, ensuring that their voices are considered in the decision-making process [3,4]. This open and transparent communication creates a climate of trust, which is essential for any transformation process.

Digital transformation in education also requires that managers be visionary, capable of identifying opportunities and designing strategies that align technological resources with educational objectives [5,6]. This includes training teaching staff in digital tools, creating projects integrating technology in the classroom, and constantly evaluating results. A proactive leader can facilitate access to training and resources that empower teachers, allowing them to develop skills that benefit their students [5,7].

It is essential to highlight that training should not be a one-off event but rather an ongoing process that allows managers to adapt to the constant changes in the educational and technological environment [8]. Creating support networks between managers from different rural communities can be an effective strategy for sharing experiences, resources, and good practices. These networks allow for mutual learning and developing a sense of community among leaders facing similar challenges [9].

In rural Mexico, there is a huge need for training the directors (principals) of elementary schools in the public educational system to improve their leadership competencies. This scenario faces many unique challenges related to poverty, lack of access to basic services, traditional thinking, and resistance to change. This research aims to present the results of an educational strategy focused on improving the leadership skills of rural elementary school directors. Our research questions are as follows:

Q1. What is the current state of leadership skills for managers in rural schools in the State of Mexico?

Q2. What preliminary transformations were observed in the directors of rural schools in the state of Mexico after applying intervention actions?

The implementation of the proposal positively impacted their leadership skills, with an emphasis on digital transformation. It promoted the adoption of technologies and strengthened the relationship between schools and the community, empowering all actors involved. Our investment in developing skills for those leaders is an investment in the future of education in rural areas, ensuring that every student has access to quality teaching and the opportunities that the digital world offers.

2. Related Works

This section reviews Mexican educational contexts and existing research on leadership and technology integration in rural or other school settings. It also summarizes how the digital era impacts schools and leadership in rural Mexico.

2.1. Mexican Educational Context and Rural Leadership

Since 1990, Latin American countries have begun to outline educational policies and action strategies to improve the quality of education under the influence of the recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), established in the World Declaration on Education for All and the Framework for Action to Meet Basic Learning Needs. To respond to the educational demands of this global phenomenon, Mexico signed the National Agreement for the Modernization of Basic Education in 1992, which initiated a process of profound transformation by implementing a set of educational policy actions focused on the coverage, quality, and equity of education.

The concern in Mexico to have leader educational directors who will energize these processes has been present since 1995 and 1997, when people began to talk about school management and the importance of the management function. The educational reforms and evaluations generated by international influence and pressure implemented in the educational reform of 2009 were aimed at improving educational efficiency and quality, with an emphasis on quality; however, they created confusion, disapproval, and rejection by teachers and leader educational directors. The reforms include concepts defined in theory but are little understood in practice by the educational actors responsible for their implementation in schools.

After 2009, other compensatory programs were derived that sought to vertically influence the inequality of opportunities for areas with educational lag. They were the programs “Excellence to Reduce Educational Lag in 2014” and “Full-Time Schools Program to Reduce Lag in Initial and Basic Education (PAREIB)”, with technical and financial support. Unfortunately, the programs were implemented without the effective preparation of school directors and with an excessive administrative burden [10].

In this regard, Gamboa et al. point out that “The biggest problem that schools face is not resistance to innovation, but rather the fragmentation, overload and incoherence that result from passive acceptance and lack of coordination of many different innovations” [11].

The perspective of pedagogical leadership in the strategic educational management model (MGEE) takes up these approaches, since the following is recognized:

Without an organizational leadership of the collective, aligned in its purposes and oriented to ensuring the learning of all students in the school, regarding what they should learn, the times to achieve it, and in the appropriate school environments or climates to do so, it will be even more difficult to overcome the gaps and deficiencies in the training of students [12].

This is evidenced by the OECD reports (2008 and 2016) that include educational leadership as the second relevant factor in achieving learning from teaching action. This is because educational directors who exercise leadership have the ability to influence the development and well-being of their team of teachers and, therefore, the performance of students [13]. In addition, Navarrete-Cazales et al. reviewed the policies implemented by the Mexican government during the pandemic [14].

Some researchers have addressed the role of educational directors and teachers in Mexico, highlighting existing issues with personnel training, hiring conditions, and the lack of access to technological resources [15,16,17].

Tarango et al. investigated the digital divide among Mexican teachers and educational leaders [18]. Their findings include that 90.8% of the participants in the study use digital technologies; however, more than half only focus on the use of email (55.90%), 86.8% expressed interest or the need to receive training, mostly on basic software such as Microsoft Word, Power Point, and Excel.

The results of the studies show the following regularities:

• The process of interaction between educational leadership and digital technology in Mexico is slow.
• There is an obvious contradiction among educational leaders between the need for improvement and resistance to the use of digital technologies.
• There are low intentions toward the priority given to digital technologies by teachers and educational leaders in the didactic field.
• Connectivity and hardware conditions in Mexican rural schools are limited.
• Research on educational leadership in conditions of technological development is scarce.

2.2. Digital Era and Rural Leadership in Mexico

The digital age refers to a period in human history characterized by the widespread use of digital technology, especially the Internet, computers, and mobile devices, which has transformed how we communicate, access information, work, and interact with the world [19]. It involves the rapid digitization of data and services, the rise of social media, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), all of which have reshaped industries, economies, and societies. In the digital age, a massive amount of information is readily available, and technological innovations drive constant changes in the way people live, learn, and collaborate.

The digital age has radically transformed the way we communicate, learn, work, and engage with the world. Access to information, connectivity, and the use of advanced technologies have opened up new possibilities in almost every aspect of human life. However, despite global advances, in many regions of the world, and particularly in Mexico, rural environments face significant challenges that make it difficult to take full advantage of the opportunities that the digital age offers.

The arrival of digital technologies in schools has transformed the way students learn and teachers teach. Digital tools offer instant access to an infinite amount of educational resources, from virtual libraries to online learning platforms [20,21]. Students have the possibility to study at their own pace and access supplementary materials that enrich their education. In turn, teachers can integrate new methodologies such as project-based learning and create collaborative learning environments, all thanks to technology that provides a wide range of educational resources, including videos, simulations, interactive games, and online courses, which they can use to enrich the learning of their students [22].

However, in the rural areas of Mexico, these advantages are limited by factors such as a shortage of technological infrastructure, a lack of Internet connectivity, and a lack of adequate devices. Rural schools do not have sufficient resources to provide all students with computers or other devices, and Internet access (at least in the school area under study) is nonexistent. This creates an educational gap that primarily affects students in rural areas who cannot access the same resources as those in urban areas.

Digitalization also poses other challenges, such as the need for ongoing training for teachers in the use of educational technologies. Teachers, especially in rural settings, often lack the training necessary to effectively integrate digital technologies into their classes [23]. This lack of preparation limits the potential of digital tools, which could be instrumental in improving pedagogical methods and educational management.

School leadership in the digital age is crucial for the successful implementation of technologies in schools. Educational leaders must understand that digitalization is not only a matter of technological infrastructure but also a profound change in the way teaching is organized and managed [24]. A good school leader must be able to guide his or her educational community in integrating technology effectively and equitably, supporting both teachers and students. The digital age demands a new style of working from school leaders, with adaptability and flexibility. However, digital leadership is not about totally replacing the attributes of effective grassroots leadership.

In rural areas, school leaders face a number of additional challenges. A lack of resources, the geographical dispersion of communities, and limited training opportunities for educational staff require a flexible leadership approach adapted to local conditions. In addition, school leadership must foster a culture of collaboration in which teachers share digital experiences, knowledge, and strategies. However, leaders in rural environments often lack specific training in digital management and face difficulties in attracting training programs due to the remoteness and costs associated with technologies [25].

An essential aspect of school leadership in the digital context is the ability to manage technological projects and seek alliances with external actors, such as government organizations, NGOs, or private companies, that can contribute resources or knowledge. In this sense, school leadership is not only limited to the internal management of the school but also expands to the construction of support networks that favor digital inclusion.

One of the greatest challenges facing rural schools in Mexico is the digital divide. The lack of access to the Internet and adequate devices is a barrier that prevents students in these areas from taking advantage of the same educational opportunities as their urban peers. However, the digital age also offers unique opportunities for rural schools. Technologies can be used to overcome geographical barriers and improve access to quality educational content. For example, online classes, massive open courses (MOOCs), and educational applications allow students in remote areas to participate in educational experiences that were previously out of reach. Digital connectivity can also foster collaboration between rural schools in different regions, promoting the exchange of experiences and knowledge.

3. Materials and Methods

This section presents the characterization of the pedagogical leadership competency process exhibited by the directors of rural elementary public schools in the P110 school zone to determine professional development needs. The empirical research was conducted during the school period of 2018–2019. It answers our research question Q1. What is the current state of leadership skills for managers in rural schools in the State of Mexico? We used a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) perspective, and interviews, surveys, and observations as methods.

The research population comprised the directors of elementary schools in the P110 school zone in the municipality of Huixquilucan, State of Mexico, Mexico.

To form the study sample, 11 directors were selected, composed of eight directors and three assistant directors of public schools distributed in nine primary education centers that belong to the P110 school zone. Of the total, seven were men and four were women. The ages of those who made up the sample fluctuated between 36 and 56 years, with an average of 20 years of service and nine years of service in a management role. Of the total number of directors in the sample, eight worked in another institution during the opposite shift. The directors lived in different locations, such as Xalatlaco, Capulhuac, Ocoyoacac, Huixquilucan, Mexico City, and Toluca. Most of them traveled an average of one hour from their home to the workplace, except for three who lived in Huixquilucan, with a time of approximately 15 to 30 min.

The subjects of this study had different levels of professional training; of the eleven directors, one had a PhD, two a master’s degree, seven a bachelor’s degree, and one with basic normal schooling in areas of education and various pedagogical and administrative disciplines.

The directors who made up the sample entered their position in two ways; six of them passed a vertical promotion examination process by the Professional Teaching Service. The remaining five, who were those with the most years of service, obtained their appointment as school directors by the career ladder.

The directors who led the educational institutions of the school zone left the classroom. That is to say, they were group teachers in certain years of their educational service. The above is referred to because it is considered that it is the practice from real experience in the teaching and learning process in which the pedagogical foundations are learned; thus, they can carry out with more probable success leadership centered on learning. All directors gave their consent to the research, and the school boards signed the corresponding ethical agreement code.

Current State of the Leadership Competency in Rural Elementary Schools

This section focuses on determining the current state of the pedagogical leadership competence of rural primary school principals, with a focus on digital transformation. We used the model proposed by Marichal-Gevara [26] as a conceptual framework for educational leadership assessment. Instruments, techniques, and methods constructed from the nature of the research were used, which are as follows:

• A scale of evaluation of the school director’s pedagogical performance level for school directors.
• A survey of teachers (subordinates) to evaluate the pedagogical performance of their school directors.
• Observation (comprehensive visits to provide technical and pedagogical support to public school principals and follow-up to the School Technical Council).
• An interview with zone supervisors (chiefs) and experts recognized as pedagogical leaders.
• Documentary analysis of the Continuous School Improvement Program, class teaching plans, and the School Technical Council (CTE) logs and results of external and internal evaluations.

A self-assessment scale was applied to the directors who made up the sample, and zone supervisors used the direct observation method during the accompanying process they carried out in the activity of direction. A survey was also applied to subordinates. The interview with zone supervisors (immediate bosses) was also a very useful technique to obtain information on the pedagogical leadership competence of school directors and to contrast the results of their opinions.

The self-assessment scale of the school director’s pedagogical performance level raises three dimensions, namely the direction dimension, related to general and specific functions of educational direction; the pedagogical dimension, essentially related to their management of the training process, that of subordinates, and the institution; and the psychological dimension, related to interpersonal relationships, charisma, and work environment.

The self-assessment scale for school principals’ pedagogical performance, applied to eleven directors of public schools in zone P110 at the primary level of the municipality of Huixquilucan, checked their level of metacognition in pedagogical leadership competence.

Table 1. Self-assessment results of the school principals for Dimension 1, related to general and specific leadership functions.

Question	Always	Often	Sometimes	Never
Have a humanistic, democratic, and educational management style	9	2	0	0
Establish consensus on the institution’s objectives and priorities	8	3	0	0
Offer attention, individual support, and encouragement to the intellectual and professional development of their collaborators	8	2	1	0
Achieve interrelations between the organizational and functional units of the school	7	2	2	0
Apply participatory methods that allow them to share leadership and create a favorable socio-psychological climate in the educational institution	7	4	0	0
Allow time for collaborative planning and favor collaborative and teamwork	6	4	1	0
Supervise educational action based on the achievement of adequate professional performance and the fulfillment of the established objectives	7	3	0	1
Use management methods that allow them to optimize relationships and the functioning of the management system in the educational institution	5	5	1	0
Complies with the development of the scientific and systematic analysis process of the various variables of the quality of education	2	6	2	0

,

Table 2. Self-assessment results of the school principals for Dimension 2, related to the management of their training process, that of their subordinates, and the institution.

Question	Always	Often	Sometimes	Never
Assume as their main responsibility the achievement of the training and academic objectives in the school in their charge	11	0	0	0
Are committed to ensuring that each and every one of their students achieve the greatest possible learning achievement, recognizing the teaching and school management practices that favor the learning of all students	11	0	0	0
Have mastered the central components of the current curriculum, which must be taken into account to achieve comprehensive training for all students at their educational level	11	0	0	0
Recognize teachers’ teaching and management practices that favor the learning of all students	9	2	0	0
Identify, through dialog, observation, students’ opinions in the classroom, and teaching plans, features of teaching practices that favor or limit progress in learning as a basis for support or guidance for improvement purposes	7	4	0	0
Encourage high expectations in the teaching group about acquiring new learning and improving their educational practices	7	4	0	0
Develop support actions for schoolteachers to improve their educational practices	6	3	2	0
Promote internal evaluation as a permanent activity of a formative nature, aimed at improving the professional practice of teachers	6	4	1	0
Guide the interpretation and use of the results of external and internal evaluations to provide feedback to the teaching group’s vision of their work and its impact on student learning	6	5	0	0
Actively and decisively participate in different professional activities with teachers, planning, modeling, and inquiring about leadership practices	5	4	2	0
Look for various sources of new ideas based on advances in educational, scientific, and technological research and share them with teaching staff	5	5	1	0

and

Table 3. Self-assessment results of the school principals for Dimension 3, related to interpersonal relationships, charisma, and work environment.

Question	Always	Often	Sometimes	Never
Use forms of democratic participation aimed at involving the entire school community	10	1	0	0
Establish a collaborative work environment among staff, characterized by relationships of help, trust, and mutual support in the face of educational challenges	10	1	0	0
Coordinate the development of strategies that articulate individual and collective efforts so that the school becomes a learning space for students, teachers, directors, families, and the community	10	1	0	0
Create participatory structures in the development of the school as a learning community	9	2	0	0
Resolve conflicts and establish desirable agreements and goals, stimulating and developing a climate of collaboration, openness, and trust, far from competitiveness between the different parties	9	2	0	0
Express and regulate emotional phenomena appropriately, the exchange of information, interaction, and the mutual influence on behavior, active participation, and personal growth of the members of the educational community	6	5	0	0
Exercise distributed leadership, taking advantage of the talents and knowledge of the teaching team members	7	4	0	0

summarize the results of the self-assessment scale of the school leaders. As shown, they self-assess as being excellent in their performance.

In the first dimension, school principals rate themselves very positively, considering their performance as leaders to be excellent. Similar results are seen in the self-assessments of Dimensions 2 and 3.

To compare the results of the self-assessments made by the managers, a survey was conducted on their subordinates (teachers), and interviews were conducted with their immediate bosses (zone supervisors). The teachers at the public elementary schools in the P110 school zone were used as a study unit to find out their opinions regarding what they know about the performance of the pedagogical leadership competency of the school principal of the educational center to which they belong. We created the survey by considering different criteria, including having a clear objective, presenting simple, clear, and concise questions, low-effort responses, and ensuring the anonymity of the respondents. The survey was deployed in Google Forms. The teachers had two days to respond to the survey, and 126 responses were obtained (Appendix A).

Figure 1 presents the results of the first ten questions of the survey. Those questions had three possible answers, which were Yes, Partially, and No.

The worst evaluated items were Q8, Q6, Q2, and Q7. The principals are not involved in the development of advisory actions on issues of digital technology management for the school’s teachers (Q8). They do not actively participate in professional activities with teachers, planning, modeling, and inquiring about leadership practices (Q6). They do not establish with the teaching staff teaching strategies that should be promoted in the school to develop cognitive, linguistic, socio-emotional, and motor skills in students (Q2), and do not promote the updating, training, and formation of teachers according to their professional and institutional needs (Q7).

Regarding the evaluation of the overall performance of the principal (Q11: How do you evaluate the performance of your school principal regarding his leadership competency? Use 1 for bad, and 5 for excellence), only 35.7% of those surveyed evaluated the pedagogical leadership of the school principal as excellent (Figure 2).

Regarding the qualities representative of educational leadership that the school principal has the least (Figure 3), according to the responses, these are as follows:

(a)

Moral authority

(b)

Interpersonal relationships

(c)

Distributing leadership

(d)

Emotional intelligence

One of the researchers was inserted into the work system of public schools in zone P110 at the primary level in the municipality of Huixquilucan during the school period of 2018–2019, and this made it possible to observe the directors in their professional pedagogical activity, thus being able to demonstrate their pedagogical leadership competence.

When comparing the indicators that assess the performance of the principals in the pedagogical leadership competency of management (same as in the self-assessment scale), these results do not correspond with the information derived from observation in the comprehensive visits of accompaniment and advice, classroom observation, and follow-up to the School Technical Council. As regularities of these observations, the following are distinguished:

• The principals’ activity is oriented more to fulfilling administrative tasks than to pedagogical actions.
• They do not show records of pedagogical processes of follow-up, feedback, accompaniment, or advice to teaching practice.
• They do not encourage teachers to investigate based on theory and advances in pedagogy to support their proposals or solutions to the identified problems. In addition, no use of digital technologies is encouraged.
• There is no encouragement for collaborative work nor to promote learning among peers.

A contradiction is evident between the self-assessment of educational managers about their performance and the reality observed by the researcher inserted in the educational work system as a zone supervisor.

In addition to the above, interviews (Appendix B) were conducted with three supervisors (the direct bosses) to triangulate the results regarding the leadership competency of school principals. The interviews were conducted in a semi-structured way for 30–60 min. The main regularities and some testimonials are provided in

Table 4. Topics raised in the interviews and main regularities established.

Topic	Regularities and Some Testimonials
1. Collaborative work in the planning, monitoring, and evaluating educational process activities at school.	Collaborative work has not been achieved in designing and planning the educational process. Sustainable training paths are not designed based on diagnoses to meet students and teaching staff’s needs. Principals do not promote internal evaluation as a systematic and permanent activity. “They do not carry out individual care plans, they do not assist and do not support teachers who require it”
2. Strengthening the intellectual and professional development of the teachers under their charge.	Few guide teachers in identifying pedagogical problems; therefore, they do not propose pedagogical solutions or strategies. There is a lack of pedagogical mastery based on plans and programs, pedagogical principles, current educational theories, and research. Limited knowledge of initial training of their teachers, training needs, and what they need to strengthen. “They make up for this by managing courses that often do not respond to real needs”
3. Promoting and managing the use of digital technologies in the school’s educational process.	Some principals somehow despise digital technologies. Lack of technological resources and connectivity in the schools of the zone. “We have several schools that have computer labs, but do not have internet access” “It’s not that they don’t want to train in the use of digital technologies, it’s that they have many more serious problems to address (…)”
4. Compliance by the director with the following parameters:
Distribution of leadership	There are mistaken conceptions and practices of what collaborative work is. They do not convert the Technical Councils into spaces for professional development. “Public schools have an established organizational chart, which prevents flexibility in the management of leadership functions”
Favorable climate for learning in the educational community	They allow little participation from parents. The presence of undemocratic leadership styles. A vertical leadership style continues to dominate. Weak emotional balance of some school directors. “The biggest problem is that they don’t listen; they always want to be right”

.

The aforementioned indicators were enriched by the documentary analysis of different documents, which reveal contradictions regarding the directors’ assessments.

Regarding internal assessments, the National Plan for the Evaluation of Learning (PLANEA), in relation to the achievement of fundamental learning that students must master in each school grade in reading and mathematics, shows that the subjects that have low results are Spanish and Mathematics, which ranges from reading comprehension to problem-solving through different procedures. In addition, the results in the analysis units of students from seven public schools are located below the average as a constant in school grades from the third to sixth grade of primary school.

Therefore, the authors conclude that the directors’ assessments based on their answers on the assessment scale have a certain bias, since they generally self-evaluate with constant and regular levels in most dimensions and indicators.

These results do not correspond to the criteria of the directors’ subordinates and immediate superiors and differ from the information obtained from comprehensive visits, monitoring technical advice, classroom observation, and support for directors, as well as feedback from the Continuous School Improvement Program.

4. Results

This section presents a professional development strategy proposed for the effective performance of the pedagogical leadership competencies of the school principals of the P110 zone at the primary level. Based on different sciences, it is characterized by contextualizing it for a successful and timely intervention. Likewise, the stages that comprise it are described.

4.1. Fundamentals of the Improvement Strategy

The strategy is aimed at developing the pedagogical leadership competency in school principals in the Huixquilucan municipality in the state of Mexico, taking into account the characteristics of the population and the social context in which it is inserted. Based on the diagnosis, the general objective, and the goals to be achieved in certain time periods, the actions are planned, as well as their execution and evaluation.

The development of the leadership competency constitutes a pedagogical problem of great complexity, since it also requires the support of other sciences that lead to a broader interpretation of this problem [27]. According to this idea, it is considered necessary to integrate the philosophical, epistemological, psychological, pedagogical, sociological, and axiological aspects as the foundation of the strategy itself.

From the philosophy of education, man is considered a being who can be educated throughout his life. This postulate is assumed when modeling the performance of the manager in the professional pedagogical competence of management, which allows for diagnosing the potentialities and needs in the pedagogical competence of school managers as a way to design actions for their permanent development [28].

On the sociological level, the strategy is focused on promoting a manager committed to the process of change that the world, the country, and specifically the context in which the school is immersed is experiencing so that he or she can play a leading role in economic, social, ideological, and cultural transformations [29].

From an epistemological point of view, it is assumed that the knowledge that the manager possesses is a process of successive approximation to the truth in which the recovery of notions, data, and images about their interrelations is brought about. This process is fundamental so that he or she can reach essential elements to master the main definitions of pedagogical sciences and education sciences in a way that allows him or her to make the assessments, applications, and extrapolations to acquire the capacity to transform the educational institution in correspondence with the needs of the context. This epistemological approach implies the need to combine the study of educational phenomena from theory, practice, and research to achieve true mastery of the content. That is why pedagogical leadership has to be developed from systematic research and practice while the manager participates in the transformation of the context [30,31,32].

On the psychological level, attention is focused on the role of education in promoting development, starting from the diagnosis (level of actual development) and the ascent to higher levels toward the possible goal (zone of proximal development) [33]. The mediated nature of the human psyche was taken into consideration, namely the genesis of the main function of personality, self-regulation, and its role in the transformation of the psyche, a function that has as its essence the unity of the affective and the cognitive. A psychological element is at the base of the meaning that the content acquires for the subject; in this way, the psychic content based on reflection becomes a regulator of behavior, whether in a predominantly affective function or a predominantly cognitive function [33,34].

The influence of society, history, culture, and collective social interaction in shaping the personality characteristics of the manager is given a leading role. The need to respect each individual’s characteristics, conditions, and internal predispositions is also considered to assume with a personalized seal the influence of culture and the external conditions of the social and natural context in which his or her training takes place. All these constitute a basic postulate to achieve efficient performance in the management of educational institutions [29].

From a pedagogical point of view, the necessary interaction of aspects of instruction, education, and development is assumed to achieve the comprehensive training of the professional for his or her performance in life, the role of practice, and its link with theory to achieve education [30]. Therefore, there is talk of the need to organize and structure the educational process in relation to life. That is, to promote that the professional who directs education is a protagonist in the assimilation of the content of his or her profession, of the interrelation between the personalized components of the educational process, and the possibilities of the creative leadership of the director and his team of trainers.

Based on axiology, this leads to having the capacity to become leaders who lead and participate in social development with exemplary citizen conduct that manifests the highest human values [35].

4.2. Main Characteristics of the Improvement Strategy

The proposed strategy is distinguished by focusing its attention on the development process in the pedagogical competence of management, particularly on the manager’s performance in this management system and its subsystems. It emphasizes that the manager requires knowledge, skills, capacities, and specific qualities to perform as a pedagogical leader efficiently, with a focus on digital transformation.

It is an essential theoretical and methodological principle that conceives personality as an active, self-determined subject with a certain degree of autonomy in its environment. This is relevant for the management staff that supervises school principals, since, to the extent that they are able to motivate by their example and training, they must understand the needs of others, generate emotions, awaken feelings, and encourage independence. They will be able to contribute to the professional pedagogical development of those supervised, ensuring that this development is reflected in a lasting way in their actions.

The basis of this strategy is undoubtedly the role of human motivations, since management work, like any human task, requires motivation, and it is essential that behavior and motivation vary according to the complexity of the tasks. Likewise, it is necessary for the training strategy for the director to consider the elements of emotional intelligence given the management of management in the midst of interpersonal relationships from a historical–cultural psychological theory.

It is crucial that the strategy includes as a basis the principle of developing the pedagogical competence of school principals. This competence must manifest itself in continuous improvements that allow them to solve the problems inherent to their profession through advisory and support actions. These actions must encourage reflection on practice, pedagogical dialog, learning among colleagues, and effective feedback.

Furthermore, it is essential to reconfigure leadership toward more democratic and collaborative approaches based on horizontal models without losing sight of the theoretical foundations that support this approach. Professional relationships must be based primarily on communication and joint activity, which are key to carrying out various actions. In turn, personality has an active character. It is formed and developed through activity, a process facilitated by communication, in which a mutual transformation exists between the object and the subject.

Thus, among all the personal components that participate in executing strategic actions, coherent actions, taking into account adequate communication, must achieve a favorable climate of understanding, comprehension, and satisfaction.

Thus, it can be said that professional development is understood as an improvement in the training and performance of essential competencies, which the person who directs an educational institution needs to develop to solve the problems inherent to management continuously. Such problems fundamentally consist of leading and accompanying the processes of integral training of both students and the different actors involved in them through collaborative work, according to an ethical school project. Therefore, it constitutes the essential mechanism for the individual’s socialization, and it is inseparable from the process of individualization. Through its dialectical articulation, man’s insertion in the specific historical social context and his identification as an individualized being endowed with personal characteristics that make them different from peers are achieved [29].

The strategy is contextualized by a successful and timely intervention from supervision, optimizing time, valuing talents, and sharing leadership and good management practices. In this sense, taking into account certain conditions, specifically of the directors to whom the proposal is addressed, the authors consider different levels of development of the pedagogical competence for the implementation of the strategy; therefore, it is determined from on-site advice and from accompanying actions, advice and learning among peers, and understanding the school as a learning community. The main features that characterize the strategy are as follows:

• It responds to a contradiction between the current and desired state of the real performance level of the school directors of the P110 school zone of the municipality of Huixquilucan and the ideal performance level constructed from the pedagogical leadership competence of the school director.
• Systemic approach in which the relationships of coordination, collaboration, subordination, and dependence between managers and collaborators are expressed. Likewise, this approach is evident in the interrelation between each component, namely the general objective and specific objectives, stages, actions, and strategy evaluation.
• Structuring based on phases or stages related to creating preconditions, implementation, and evaluation for the improvement of the level of development of the pedagogical leadership competence revealed in the performance of school principals.
• Dialectical character given by the search for qualitative change that will occur in the level of preparation of the principals to perform efficiently in their professional pedagogical activity of direction.
• Character of an eminently practical contribution due to its persistent degrees of tangibility and usefulness, built from a theoretical foundation that supports it.
• Objectivity: it is objective because the actions of the strategy arise from the result of the diagnosis and the needs and potentialities in the preparation of the principals to lead educational institutions with a scientific investigative approach.
• Flexibility: it can be subject to changes in accordance with the needs, projections, and results.
• Contextual character: The actions have the possibility of adapting to the characteristics and real level of development of each director and interacting in different contexts. It is inserted in the state’s management system and each institution.

4.3. Stages of the Improvement Strategy

The proposed strategy aims to develop leadership skills in primary school principals to ensure adequate professional pedagogical performance. In the following, we address the content of each of the strategy’s stages:

Stage I: The creation of preconditions for the professional development strategy of pedagogical leadership in public primary school principals in zone P110 of the municipality of Huixquilucan.

In this stage, the different actions are planned, the preconditions in materials and human potential are ensured, the workshops are planned, the work agreements with educational institutions and the teachers’ center are drawn up, the consultancies are planned, and the support material on the most up-to-date and appropriate theory of leadership and skills is prepared.

It is essential in this period to sensitize all participating agents to the need to apply the strategy, taking into account the social demand for being increasingly efficient in educational work.

A central action will be the organization of advisory and support actions for the supervision of school zones. Such supervision can be achieved through dialog, academic discussion, reflection on practice, peer learning, and pedagogical exchange as tools for decision-making. The aim is to improve educational practices and student learning so that supervisory and academic teachers can hold meetings, agree on the methods and ways in which the content will be addressed, and design guides and materials for directors, among others.

The researchers plan the actions with the guidance of regional pedagogical leaders. They must be designed prior to execution to analyze whether they need to be redesigned, and they are also subject to the criteria of other specialist colleagues to achieve improvement.

Stage II: The implementation of the actions of the professional development strategy for pedagogical leadership in public primary school principals in zone P110 of the municipality of Huixquilucan. This stage aims to develop professional development actions for the public school principal, which are conceived in strategic planning to improve the school principal’s pedagogical leadership competency. Figure 4 presents a graphic representation of the actions carried out in this stage.

Stage III: An evaluation of the implementation of the professional development strategy for the pedagogical leadership of the school principal in zone P110 at the primary level. This stage aims at assessing the effectiveness of the strategic actions. It comprises three actions as follows:

Action 1: evaluation of the workshops, current approaches in educational pedagogical leadership, and institutional strategic planning.

Objective: verify the level of development of pedagogical leadership competencies of school principals based on indicators of educational pedagogical competence.

Instrumentation: design and evaluation of indicators of pedagogical competencies

Action 2: peer learning.

Objective: demonstrate, based on the exchange with the directors, the level of preparation achieved in the development of pedagogical leadership competency. Participants: researcher and directors.

Instrumentation: Peer exchanges will allow for the verification of the effectiveness of the actions carried out based on the opinion of the directors about the preparation they have achieved for the formation of the school’s pedagogical leadership competence. For this, evaluation surveys and testimonies, among others, will be used, taking into account the established dimensions and indicators. The researchers will record the opinions of the teachers of the group.

Action 3: develop advisory, tutoring, and methodological control visits to the centers.

Objective: systematically evaluate the formation of the pedagogical leadership competence of the director in their performance.

Instrumentation: This action is described in action two of the second stage. It has a double purpose; as the managers are trained and prepared, the process is feedback, and their performance is evaluated in the professional pedagogical activity of management that they carry out. The achievements and barriers that impede their professional development are noted; it is a systematic evaluation of the fulfillment of the actions based on assessment instruments.

5. Discussion

The strategy was implemented virtually during the academic periods of 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 and in person during the academic years of 2022–2023 and 2023–2024. In this section, we discuss the results that were obtained. This answers our second research question Q2. What preliminary transformations were observed in the directors of rural schools in the state of Mexico after applying intervention actions? We used again a mixed (qualitative and quantitative) perspective, and interviews, surveys, and observations as methods. Such empirical research was conducted during the academic year of 2023–2024.

Digital transformation in rural education faces multiple challenges that leaders must address with creativity and determination. These challenges include limited infrastructure, such as poor access to the Internet and technological devices, which makes it difficult to implement digital tools in the classroom. In addition, resistance to change and a lack of training in using technologies by teaching staff can hinder the adoption of new methodologies. Added to this is the need to adapt curricular content to a digital environment, ensuring that it is relevant and accessible to all students. In this context, educational leaders must be agents of change, promoting collaboration between communities, institutions, and governments to overcome these barriers and guarantee quality education in the digital age. Despite those challenges, we consider the lockdown forced the school principals to step forward and embrace change, with the help of the proposed strategy to improve their leadership abilities.

In order to assess the indicators related to the leadership competence of the managers after the strategy was applied, the survey was repeated for the teachers at the schools previously diagnosed. It is important to mention that of the 126 teachers who had responded to the previous survey, four died because of COVID-19; therefore, the new survey (Appendix C) was applied to the remaining 122 teachers.

Figure 5 presents the comparative number of “No” answers to the first 10 surveyed questions regarding the leadership competency of the school principals before and after the implementation of the proposed strategy.

As can be seen in Figure 5, the improvement in the leadership competence of school principals is evident from the perspective of the surveyed teachers. Likewise, teachers’ evaluation of the director (Figure 6) shows an increase in positive perception (no teacher evaluated the director with values of 1 or 2 on the scale).

Regarding question Q12: From the following representative qualities of educational leadership, choose those that you consider your school principal possesses, there is an increase in teachers considering that the school principals possess such qualities (Figure 7).

One member of the researcher team (as an educational official) was reinserted into the work system of public schools in the P110 zone at the primary level in the municipality of Huixquilucan in person during the 2023–2024 school year. The aim was to record the observations of the directors’ activity in their professional pedagogical practice and thus demonstrate the transformations in their pedagogical leadership competence.

When contrasting the results with those of 2018, the regularities that arose from observation in the comprehensive accompaniment and advisory visits, classroom observation, and follow-up to the School Technical Council distinguish the following:

• Although the school directors of public elementary schools have experience as group teachers, they are acquiring leadership skills through their practice and the training received.
• Records of pedagogical processes of monitoring, feedback, accompaniment, and advice on teaching practice are evident.
• The Technical Councils are becoming spaces for professional development.
• The principals have taken a leading role in using digital technologies in the educational process and have encouraged teachers to do the same. However, the technological and connectivity conditions in schools remain very limited.

In addition to the above, interviews (Appendix B) were again conducted with three supervisors (the direct bosses) to triangulate the results regarding the leadership competency of school principals. Same as in 2019, the 2024 interviews were semi-structured for 30–60 min. The main regularities and some of the testimonials are summarized in

Table 5. Topics raised in the 2024 interviews and main regularities established.

Topic	Regularities and Some Testimonials
1. Collaborative work in the planning, monitoring, and evaluating educational process activities at school.	They began to use the materials and methods derived from training to improve their leadership, which was reflected in the planning and improvement plans they developed. The pedagogical activities and/or workshops with staff to develop collaborative work skills increased. “The quality of continuous improvement plans is much better”
2. Strengthening the intellectual and professional development of the teachers under their charge.	Five teachers enrolled in a master’s in Education program to strengthen their knowledge of the pedagogical foundations of their pedagogical practice. The principals are promoting internal evaluation as a systematic and permanent activity in schools with the help of supervisors.
3. Promoting and managing the use of digital technologies in the school’s educational process.	The principals are involved in advising the processes of the pedagogical use of digital technologies, with improved technical and pedagogical advice, as well as in the mastery of the components of the curriculum. The principals’ advice in generating didactic strategies for distance education is still insufficient. “The pandemic brought about the need to use digital technologies as the only way to carry out the teaching-learning process, which helped to overcome resistance to the use of these technologies”
4. Compliance by the director with the following parameters:
Distribution of leadership	Principals are trying to delegate part of their functions to other educational agents with professional and/or technological potential to do so. “I see more collective work between the director and the deputy director, especially in the evaluation”
Favorable climate for learning in the educational community	The school has taken actions to strengthen parents’ participation in achieving the institution’s goals and objectives. “Several schools lost students due to COVID-19, which strengthened the school-community relationship”

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The diversity of actions contemplated in the strategy has enabled directors to engage in transforming their professional development through the use of different improvement actions and methodological work.

We consider that the implementation of the strategy to strengthen the leadership skills of rural directors had a significant and positive impact on the schools and family environment. Training these leaders in management, communication, and teamwork skills fosters a more collaborative and motivating school environment, where teachers and students feel valued and supported. This strengthened leadership improves decision-making at schools and promotes families’ greater participation in the educational process, creating stronger links between the school community and the home. Thus, a virtuous circle is established, where effective leadership contributes to quality education, generating a climate of trust and commitment that benefits all actors involved.

In this particular case study of rural primary schools in the state of Mexico, improvements have been achieved in the leadership skills of school directors. The aspect related to digital technologies remains a pending issue in the Mexican rural environment, as has been pointed out by related research [15,16,17,18].

6. Conclusions

The study of the current scientific literature on the subject of professional competencies, with an emphasis on educational leadership, concludes that it is not enough for the director to fully comply with the classic functions of management, namely planning, organization, execution, and control. To direct the educational process that is generated in the institution itself, it is necessary to motivate and significantly influence others to spontaneously achieve shared goals, encourage the realization of contributions of practical significance, above all, and solve the problems that the pedagogical group poses within the organization.

The research carried out showed that it is possible to transform the leadership competence in the directors of the primary schools explored, achieving substantial improvements in various dimensions, with an emphasis on the use of digital technologies, teacher support, teamwork, and educational planning.

The proposed strategy includes the combination of improvement, methodological, and self-improvement actions to stimulate reflection and the active involvement of the participants in their own transformation process. The strategy allowed us to improve the educational leadership skills of school principals, foster mastery of content, the degree of motivation and interest in management work, and the attitude toward one’s own limitations. This has implications for improving the quality of education, with an emphasis on student learning and the use of digital technologies.

Among the limitations of our research are the sample size (11 schools), the geographic distribution (state of Mexico), the limited existence of previous research on the subject, and that the research was interrupted to a certain extent by the 2020–2022 pandemic. As future work, we intend to implement the strategy in other rural school areas of the state of Mexico, which present problems similar to those detected.