Life Skills Management for Learners in the Digital Age through Creative Leadership Paradigms and the Culture of Learning Organizations
Keywords:
Creative Leadership, Digital Age Education, Life Skills Development, Psychological Safety, Growth Mindset, Cultural ArchitectAbstract
The 21st century is defined by a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, which demands a fundamental shift in educational focus from static knowledge (3Rs) to essential life skills and dynamic competencies (4Cs) appropriate for the digital age. This article argues that Creative Leadership is an essential paradigm shift for educational administrators, requiring them to move beyond traditional bureaucratic management to become designers and architects of educational learning ecosystems.
The efficacy of Creative Leadership in fostering 21st-century skills is mediated by an organizational culture rooted in two critical psychological factors: Psychological Safety and Growth Mindset. Psychological Safety, defined as the shared belief that interpersonal risk-taking is safe within the team, must be established first as a foundational element. Upon this foundation, a Growth Mindset—the belief in the malleability of ability and intel-ligence—can flourish, acting as a driving force for sustained effort and resilience among learners. Failure to establish Psychological Safety renders attempts to implement a Growth Mindset futile, resulting in learners who avoid learning risks to play it safe.
In the Thai educational context, Creative Leadership is crucial to overcome sys-temic barriers, such as rigid bureaucratic structures and the assessment gap where high-stakes exams contradict collaborative competency development. The risk lies in adminis-trators focusing merely on procedural compliance without achieving true cultural trans-formation within schools. To succeed, Thai educational leaders must apply pragmatic op-erational strategies, creating protected pilot projects for innovative teaching methods and shielding instructors from rigid bureaucratic pressures, while adjusting internal evaluation metrics to value cultural transformation over outdated standardized test scores.
References
ทัศนีย์ ศุขเกษม. (ประมาณ 2565). การบริหารจัดการโรงเรียนนวัตกรรมโดยใช้โมเดลท่าตูม (THATUM MODEL). โรงเรียนท่าตูม (สนิทราษฎร์วิทยาคม).
ธงชัย และ กิเลนทอง. (2566). กรอบความคิดแบบเติบโต: ความคิดจะเติบโตได้จริงหรือ?. สืบค้นจาก https://www.pier.or.th/abridged/2023/16/
ไพบูลย์ วงศ์ไชย. (2567). กรอบคิดแบบเติบโต: พลังแห่งการเติบโตในความคิดและศักยภาพ. วารสารสังคมศาสตร์และพัฒนาการอินเตอร์ดิสซิปลินารี่, 2(1), 1-10.
เพ็ญศรี เพ็งศาสตร์ และคณะ. (2566). การพัฒนาการบริหารเชิงกลยุทธ์สำหรับโรงเรียนเอกชนตามแนวคิดกรอบคิดแบบเติบโต. วารสารวิชาการการจัดการภาครัฐและภาคเอกชน, 4(1), 205-220.
รุ่งรัตน์ รุจิจารุพัฒน์ และคณะ. (2566). ภาวะผู้นำเชิงสร้างสรรค์: แนวคิดและแนวปฏิบัติที่ดีสำหรับผู้บริหารสถานศึกษา. วารสารการบริหารการศึกษาและนวัตกรรม.
ศิริลักษณ์ นาคอินทร์. (2561). โมเดลความสัมพันธ์โครงสร้างเชิงเส้นของภาวะผู้นำเชิงสร้างสรรค์ของผู้บริหารสถานศึกษาที่ส่งผลต่อประสิทธิผลของโรงเรียน สังกัดสำนักงานเขตพื้นที่การศึกษามัธยมศึกษา เขต 21 (วิทยานิพนธ์ปริญญามหาบัณฑิต). สกลนคร: มหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏสกลนคร.
ศิรินทิพย์ รุ่งเจริญศรี. (2562). การพัฒนาหลักสูตรเสริมสร้างกรอบคิดแบบเติบโตสำหรับนักเรียนมัยมศึกษาตอนต้น (รายงานการวิจัย). กรุงเทพฯ: สำนักงานคณะกรรมการวิจัยแห่งชาติ.
สุกัญญา สุขเกษม. (2557). การพัฒนาโมเดลภาวะผู้นำเชิงสร้างสรรค์ของผู้บริหารสถานศึกษาสังกัดสำนักงานคณะกรรมการการศึกษาขั้นพื้นฐาน (วิทยานิพนธ์ปริญญาดุษฎีบัณฑิต). ชลบุรี: มหาวิทยาลัยบูรพา.
สุทธิรา ติระการนนท์. (2559). ภาวะผู้นำเชิงสร้างสรรค์ของผู้บริหารสถานศึกษา. นนทบุรี: มหาวิทยาลัยสุโขทัยธรรมาธิราช.
สำนักงานเลขาธิการสภาการศึกษา. (2565). รายงานผลการศึกษาการบริหารจัดการนวัตกรรมของสถานศึกษาเพื่อนำไปสู่การปฏิบัติของมาตรฐานการศึกษาชาติ: กรณีศึกษาโรงเรียนบ้านป่าไผ่. กรุงเทพฯ: สำนักงานเลขาธิการสภาการศึกษา.
Aalto University. (n.d.). How does psychological safety create the foundation for learning, innovation, and creativity?. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.aalto.fi/en/news/how-does-psychological-safety-create-the-foundation-for-learning-innovation-and-creativity
Al-Zboon, M. S. (2021). Creative leadership and its relationship to the effectiveness of school performance from the principals' point of view. International Journal of Ed-ucation and Practice, 9(2), 292-306.
Anonymous Blogger. (2018). 3R x 7C skills for people in the 21st century. Retrieved Octo-ber 1, 2025, from http://lovemaysa.blogspot.com/2018/10/3r-7c.html [in Thai]
Central Rivers AEA. (2024). Nurturing future leaders: The power of work-based learning in education. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.centralriversaea.org/blog/work-based-learning/2024/01/09/nurturing-future-leaders-the-power-of-work-based-learning-in-education/
Cornejo-Sanchez, D. (2024). A model of authentic work in education. High Tech High.
Day, C., Gu, Q., & Sammons, P. (2016). The impact of leadership on student outcomes: How successful school leaders use transformational and instructional strategies to make a difference. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(2), 221-258.
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Adminis-trative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383.
Edmondson, A. C. (2018). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Equitable Education Fund (EEF). (n.d.). 5 situations in Thai education to know for the goal of sustainable education. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://research.eef.or.th/5-สถานการณ์การศึกษาไทยที/ [in Thai]
FasterCapital. (n.d.). The limitations of traditional education methods. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://fastercapital.com/topics/the-limitations-of-traditional-education-methods.html/1
Joint Research Centre. (2021). Creativity – how to assess and foster this key skill for the 21st century. Retrieved from https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/creativity-how-assess-and-foster-key-skill-21st-century-2021-01-13_en
Kapur, R. (2022). An educational leadership framework based on traditional and contempo-rary leadership theories. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255650779_An_Educational_Leadership_Framework_Based_on_Traditional_and_Contemporary_Leadership_Theories
lpcentre.com. (n.d.). Why traditional leadership models are failing in today's dynamic world. Retrieved October 1, 2025, from https://www.lpcentre.com/articles/traditional-leadership-failing
Lubart, T., et al. (2023). Creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration: As-sessment, certification, and promotion of 21st century skills for the future of work and education. Journal of Intelligence, 11(3), 54.
Markulis, Z. (2024). Navigating educational leadership: A glimpse into Thailand's dynamic landscape. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378850397_Navigating_Educational_Leadership_A_Glimpse_into_Thailand's_Dynamic_Landscape
Nakain, S. (2018). The linear structural relationship model of creative leadership of school administrators affecting school effectiveness under secondary educational service area office 21 (Master’s thesis). Sakon Nakhon: Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University. [in Thai]
Office of the National Education Council. (2022). Report of the study of innovative man-agement of educational institutions to implement national education standards: Case study of Ban Pathai school. Bangkok: Office of the National Education Council. [in Thai]
Office of the National Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA). (2021). Synthesis report of the 4th external quality assessment results (2016-2020) basic education level. Bangkok: ONESQA. [in Thai]
Oreg, S. (2003). Resistance to change: Developing an individual differences measure. Jour-nal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 680–693.
Paiboon, T. W. (2024). Growth mindset: The power of growth in thinking and potential. Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Development, 2(1), 1-10. [in Thai]
Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21). (n.d.). P21 framework definitions. Battelle for Kids.
Phengsa-ard, P., et al. (2023). The development of strategic management for private schools based on growth mindset concept. Academic Journal of Public and Private Man-agement, 4(1), 205-220. [in Thai]
Reganit, G. (2025). The childcarers' experiences of leadership in the Finnish early childhood education and care (Master's Thesis). Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.
Ruchicharoen, T. R., et al. (2023). Creative leadership: Concepts and best practices for school administrators. Journal of Educational Administration and Innovation. [in Thai]
Rungcharoensri, S. (2019). Development of growth mindset enhancement curriculum for junior high school students (Research report). Bangkok: National Research Council of Thailand. [in Thai]
Schlegel, L., & Rupietta, C. (2024). The art of leading: a systematic literature review on art-based leadership development. Management Review Quarterly.
Sookkasem, A. (2014). A development of creative leadership model of educational admin-istrators under the office of the basic education commission (Doctoral dissertation). Chon Buri: Burapha University. [in Thai]
Stoll, L., & Temperley, J. (2009). Creative leadership: A challenge of our times. School Leadership & Management, 29(1), 65-78.
Suksai, T. (c. 2022). Innovative school administration management using the THATUM MOD-EL. Thathum School (Sanit Rat Witthayakhom). [in Thai]
TechClass. (n.d.). Lessons in school management: Why Finland prioritizes trust over control.
The Asia Foundation. (2017). Education reform: In Thailand principals are “black box” be-tween national policymaking and kids in the classroom. Retrieved from https://asiafoundation.org/education-reform-in-thailand-principals-are-black-box-between-national-policymaking-and-kids-in-the-classroom/
Thongphatthan, N., & Kilenthong, W. (2023). Growth mindset: Can the mindset truly ‘grow’?. Retrieved from https://www.pier.or.th/abridged/2023/16/ [in Thai]
Tirakarnon, S. (2016). Creative leadership of school administrators. Nonthaburi: Sukhothai Thammathirat University. [in Thai]
World Bank. (n.d.). School autonomy and accountability: The Finnish experience.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Articles in this journal are copyrighted by the x may be read and used for academic purposes, such as teaching, research, or citation, with proper credit given to the author and the journal.use or modification of the articles is prohibited without permission.
statements expressed in the articles are solely the opinions of the authors.
authors are fully responsible for the content and accuracy of their articles.
other reuse or republication requires permission from the journal."
