Assessing Student Leadership Competencies and Adequacy of Preparation in Seminary Training

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of students’ self-rated leadership competencies as the explanatory variables on their rated seminary preparation.

METHODOLOGY
The target population was graduate students at the masters level across eight different seminaries affiliated with the Graduate Theology Union (Berkeley, CA). There was a census of 457 graduate students enrolled, 157 responded to the survey of which 92 qualified for analysis. Respondents completed the LPI, the Administrative Competency Dimensions (Welch, 2003), and the Bases of Competence (Berdrow & Evers, 2009). Fifty-six percent of the respondents were female. Thirty-six percent were 50+ years old, with 19 percent ages 20-29, 22 percent aged 30-39, and 24 percent ages 40-49. Respondents were nearly equally divided into three class levels (year in school). Internal reliability for the LPI was .96.

KEY FINDINGS
No statistically significant relationships were found between leadership competences (LPI), class level and their assessed adequacy of preparation.