Title: The Level of Strategic Dexterity Practice in Private Schools in the Capital Secretariat – Sana’a

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the extent to which strategic dexterity is practiced in private schools in the Capital Secretariat – Sana’a, focusing on its core dimensions from the perspectives of school principals and vice principals. An analytical descriptive approach was employed, using a questionnaire composed of 25 items administered to a stratified random sample of 248 participants, representing 22% of the total population of 1,155. The findings revealed that the overall level of strategic dexterity was high, with a mean score of 4.17. Dimension-wise, the highest mean scores were recorded for organizational structure (4.32) and opportunity exploration (4.23), both rated as very high. These were followed by opportunity exploitation (4.15), threat identification (4.12), and threat avoidance (4.05), all reflecting a high level of practice. Statistically significant differences were found at (α ≤ 0.05) in the overall strategic dexterity scores based on gender, favoring female respondents. Significant differences also emerged in the organizational structure dimension based on educational qualification, favoring diploma holders; in opportunity identification and exploitation across educational districts, favoring the Shu’ub and Ma’een districts respectively; and in the organizational structure and threat identification dimensions, again favoring Shu’ub district. Based on these findings, the researchers recommended organizing workshops to enhance mechanisms that support strategic dexterity, reinforcing high-performing organizational structures through incentives and rewards, and developing training programs for school leaders to strengthen their capacity in threat anticipation and mitigation.