Volume 3, Issue 2 (JUNE ISSUE 2022)                   johepal 2022, 3(2): 122-142 | Back to browse issues page


XML Print


Abstract:   (2128 Views)
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented novel and unprecedent challenges within the educational realm, from the closure of educational establishments and the rapid implementation of e-learning to monitoring and managing the spread of the virus within the school community. The present research in Ontario, Canada, a province which has experienced prolonged lockdowns, explores the challenges faced by educational leaders as they navigate their schools through the pandemic. This qualitative case-study resulted from interviews conducted with eleven principals who were diverse in terms in gender, years of experience, and school type. The findings of the study reveal that leaders experienced a lack of resources to aid them in their decision making and experienced difficulties in managing their staff and students. However, leaders revealed that they were best capable of overcoming those concerns when using distributed leadership models within their organizations. While the study was conducted in a K-12 context, the findings present valuable insight into leading higher educational establishments through crisis.
Full-Text [PDF 1773 kb]   (684 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2022/05/4 | Accepted: 2022/06/12 | Published: 2022/06/30

References
1. Abercrombie, N., Hill, S., & Turner, B. S. (Eds.). (1990). Dominant ideologies. Unwin Hyman.
2. Al-Areibi, I., Dickson, B. A., & Kotsopoulos, D. (2022). An analysis of synchronous and asynchronous online undergraduate motivation during the COVID pandemic. International Journal of E-Learning & Distance Education, 37(1). [DOI]
3. Alberta Teacher’s Association (2020). Looking at issues around COVID-19 and beyond. ATA News, 54(11).
4. Alves, R., Lopes, T., & Precioso, J. (2021). Teachers’ well-being in times of Covid-19 pandemic: Factors that explain professional well-being. International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation, (15), 203-217. [DOI]
5. Andrew, A., Cattan, S., Costa Dias, M., Farquharson, C., Kraftman, L., Krutikova, S., Phimister, A., & Sevilla, A. (2020). Inequalities in children's experiences of home learning during the COVID-19 lockdown in England. Fiscal Studies, 41(3), 653-683. [DOI]
6. Anglim, J., & Horwood, S. (2021). Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and Big Five personality on subjective and psychological well-being. Social Psychological and Personality Science. [DOI]
7. Aurini, J., & Davies, S. (2021). COVID-19 school closures and educational achievement gaps in Canada: Lessons from Ontario summer learning research. Canadian Review of Sociology, 58(2), 165-185. [DOI]
8. Azorín, C., Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2020). Taking a distributed perspective on leading professional learning networks. School Leadership & Management, 40(2-3), 111-127. [DOI]
9. Baker, C. N., Peele, H., Daniels, M., Saybe, M., Whalen, K., Overstreet, S., & Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative The New Orleans. (2021). The experience of COVID-19 and its impact on teachers’ mental health, coping, and teaching. School Psychology Review, 50(4), 491-504. [DOI]
10. Beauchamp, G., Hulme, M., Clarke, L., Hamilton, L., & Harvey, J. A. (2021). ‘People miss people’: A study of school leadership and management in the four nations of the United Kingdom in the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 49(3), 375-392. [DOI]
11. Boisvert, N. (2020). When will you be eligible for a COVID-19 shot? Ontario lays out plan for mass vaccination campaign. CBC News. [Article]
12. Bottiani, J. H., Duran, C. A. K., Pas, E. T., & Bradshaw, C. P. (2019). Teacher stress and burnout in urban middle schools: Associations with job demands, resources, and effective classroom practices. Journal of School Psychology, 77, 36-51. [DOI]
13. Brackett, M., & Cipriano, C. (2020). Teachers are anxious and overwhelmed. They need SEL now more than ever. EdSurge News. [Article]
14. Burch, P., Bingham, A. J., Miglani, N. (2020). Combining institutional and distributed frameworks in studies of school leadership. Peabody Journal of Education, 95(4), 408-422. [DOI]
15. Campbell, K., Weingart, R., Ashta, J., Cronin, T., Gazmararian, J. (2021). COVID-19 knowledge and behavior change among high school students in semi-rural Georgia. Journal of School Health, 91(7), 526-534. [DOI]
16. Carolan, C., Davies, C. L., Crookes, P., McGhee, S., Roxburgh, M. (2020). COVID 19: Disruptive impacts and transformative opportunities in undergraduate nurse education. Nurse Education in Practice, 46, 102807. [DOI]
17. Cordoba, E. L., Shale, S., Evans, R. C., Tracy, D. (2021). Time to get serious about distributed leadership: Lessons to learn for promoting leadership development for non-consultant career grade doctors in the UK. BMJ Leader, 6(1), 45-49. [DOI]
18. D’Auria, G., & De Smet, A. (2020). Leadership in a crisis: Responding to the coronavirus outbreak and future challenges. McKinsey & Company. [Article]
19. Denisov, I., Petrenko, Y., Koretskaya, I., Bencic, S. (2021). The gameover in universities education management during the pandemic COVID-19: Challenges to sustainable development in a digitalized environment. Sustainability, 13(13), 7398. [DOI]
20. Dennis. (2021). Did COVID‐19 make any positive contributions to higher education? Enrollment Management Report, 25(5), 1-3. [DOI]
21. DeVitis, J. L., & Sasso, P. A. (Eds). (2018). Colleges at the crossroads: Taking sides on contested issues. Peter Lang Publishing.
22. Diliberti, M. K., Schwartz, H. L., & Grant, D. (2021). Stress topped the reasons why public school teachers quit, even before COVID-19. RAND Corporation. [Article]
23. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime. McKinsey & Company.
24. Dos Santos, L. M. (2021). The relationship between workforce sustainability, stress, and career decision: A study of kindergarten teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sustainability, 13(20), 11521. [DOI]
25. DuBrin, A. J. (2013). Personal attributes and behaviors of effective crisis leaders. In A. J. DuBrin (Ed.), Handbook of research on crisis leadership in organizations (pp. 3-22). Edward Elgar Publishing. [DOI]
26. Dumulescu, D., & Mutiu, A. I. (2021). Academic leadership in the time of COVID-19 – Experiences and perspectives. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(648344). [DOI]
27. Duroisin, N., Beauset, R., & Tanghe, C. (2021). Education and digital inequalities during COVID-19 confinement: From the perspective of teachers in the French speaking Community of Belgium. European Journal of Education, 56(4), 515-535. [DOI]
28. Education Support (2020). Teacher Wellbeing Index 2020. [Article]
29. Ferguson, M. (2020). Washington view: Leadership in a tumultuous year. Phi Delta Kappan, 102(4), 62-63. [DOI]
30. Fernandez, A. A., & Shaw, G. P. (2020). Academic leadership in a time of crisis: The coronavirus and COVID-19. Journal of Leadership Studies, 14(1), 39-45. [DOI]
31. Fotheringham, P., Harriott, T., Healy, G., Arenge, G., McGill, R., & Wilson, E. (2020). Pressures and influences on school leaders as policy makers during COVID-19. SSRN. [DOI]
32. Gallagher-Mackay, K., Srivastava, P., Underwood, K., Dhuey, E., McCready, L., Born, K. B., Maltsev, A., Perkhun, A., Steiner, R., Barrett, K., & Sander, B. (2021). COVID-19 and education disruption in Ontario: Emerging evidence on impacts. Science Briefs of the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, 2(34), 1-36. [DOI]
33. Gillespie, D. L., Meyers, L. A., Lachmann, M., Redd, S. C., & Zenilman, J. M. (2021). The experience of 2 independent schools with in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of School Health, 91(5), 347-355. [DOI]
34. Goldberg, A. E., McCormick, N., & Virginia, H. (2022). School-age adopted children’s early responses to remote schooling during COVID-19. Family Relations, 71(1), 68-89. [DOI]
35. Gorbet, R., Aurini, J., Rizk, J., Stokes, A., McLevey, J., & Figueiredo, N. (2020). COVID‐19 Pandemic and Canadian Schooling (Phase 1 Report). Education Onward Council. [Article]
36. Gronn, P. (2002). Distributed leadership as a unit of analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 13(4), 423-451. [DOI]
37. Hadar, L. L, Ergas, O., Alpert, B., & Ariav, T. (2020). Rethinking teacher education in a VUCA world: Student teachers’ social-emotional competencies during the COVID-19 crisis. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 573-586. [DOI]
38. Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2020). Professional capital after the pandemic: Revisiting and revising classic understandings of teachers’ work. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3/4), 327-336. [DOI]
39. Harris, A., & Jones, M. S. (2019), System recall: Leading for equity and excellence in education. CORWIN.
40. Harris, A. (2020). COVID-19 – School leadership in crisis?. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3/4), 321-326. [DOI]
41. Herman, K. C., Hickmon-Rosa, J., & Reinke, W. M. (2018). Empirically derived profiles of teacher stress, burnout, self-efficacy, and coping and associated student outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 20(2), 90-100. [DOI]
42. Herman, K. C., Prewett, S. L., Eddy, C. L., Savala, A., & Reinke, W. M. (2020). Profiles of middle school teacher stress and coping: Concurrent and prospective correlates. Journal of School Psychology, 78, 54-68. [DOI]
43. Herman, K. C., Sebastian, J., Reinke, W. M., Huang, F. L. (2021). Individual and school predictors of teacher stress, coping, and wellness during the COVID-19 pandemic. School Psychology, 36(6), 483-493. [DOI]
44. Jena, P. K. (2020). Impact of pandemic COVID-19 on education in India. International Journal of Current Research, 12(7), 12582-12586. [DOI]
45. Johnson, L., Gutridge, K., Parkes, J., Roy, A., & Plugge, E. (2021). Scoping review of mental health in prisons through the COVID-19 pandemic. BMJ Open, 11(5), e046547. [DOI]
46. Jones, A. L., & Kessler, M. A. (2020). Teachers’ emotion and identity work during a pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 5, 583775. [DOI]
47. Jones, S., Harvey, M., Lefoe, G., & Ryland, K. (2014). Synthesising theory and practice: distributed leadership in higher education. Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, 42(5), 603–619. [DOI]
48. Kachra, R., & Brown, A. (2020). The new normal: Medical education during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian Medical Education Journal, 11(6), e167–e169. [DOI]
49. Kahn, E., Sheldon, J. P., Carmichael, A., & Yashar, B. M. (2021). Graduate training during the COVID-19 pandemic: North American genetic counselling students’ challenges, intolerance or uncertainty, and psychological well-being. Journal of Genetics Counselling, 30, 1325-1335. [DOI]
50. Keleynikov, M., Benatov, J., & Berger, R. (2022). Preschool teachers’ psychological distress and work engagement during COVID-19 outbreak: The protective role of mindfulness and emotion regulation. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(5), 2645. [DOI]
51. Kerrissey, M., & Edmondson, A. C. (2020). What good leadership looks like during this pandemic. Harvard Business Review. [Article]
52. Kezar, A. J., & Holcombe, E. M. (2017). Shared leadership in higher education: Important lessons from research and practice. American Council on Education. [Article]
53. Kim, L. E., & Asbury, K. (2020). ‘Like a rug had been pulled from under you’: The impact of COVID-19 on teachers in England during the first six weeks of the UK lockdown. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(4), 1062-1083. [DOI]
54. Kim, L. E., Oxley, L., & Asbury, K. (2022). “My brain feels like a browser with 100 tabs open”: A longitudinal study of teachers’ mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(1), 299-318. [DOI]
55. Lasheras, I., Gracia-García, P., Lipnicki, D., Bueno-Notivol, J., López-Antón, R., de la Cámara, C., Lobo, A., & Santabárbara, J. (2020). Prevalence of anxiety in medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid systematic review with meta-analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(18), 6603. [DOI]
56. Lawton-Misra, N., & Pretorius, T. (2021). Leading with heart: Academic leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. South African Journal of Psychology, 51(2), 205-214. [DOI]
57. Lecce, L. [@Sfleece] (2021, January 3rd). Tweets [Twitter profile]. [Article]
58. Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5-22. [DOI]
59. Ma, G., Black, K., Blenkinsopp, J., Charlton, H., Hookham, C., Pok, W. F., Sia, B. C., & Alkarabsheh, O. H. M. (2022). Higher education under threat: China, Malaysia, and the UK respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Compare, 52(5), 841–857. [DOI]
60. Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 397-422. [DOI]
61. Mazurkiewicz, G. (2021). Educational leadership in times of crisis. Risks, 9(5), 90. [DOI]
62. McLeod, S., & Dulsky, S. (2021). Resilience, reorientation, and reinvention: School leadership during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Education, 6, 637075. [DOI]
63. Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
64. Merriam, S. B., & Simpson, E. L. (2000). A guide to research for educators and trainers of adults. Krieger Publishing Company.
65. Miller, M. T. (2021). Do learning organizations learn? Higher education institutions and pandemic response strategies. The Learning Organization, 28(1), 84-93. [DOI]
66. Nathanial, P., & Van der Heyden, L. (2020). Crisis management: Framework and principles with applications to CoVid-19. INSEAD Working Paper No. 2020/17/FIN/TOM. [DOI]
67. Netolicky, D. M. (2020). School leadership during a pandemic: Navigating tensions. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3/4), 391-395. [DOI]
68. Ngwenya, V. C. (2021). Recognising stressors and managing stress in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province primary schools. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 19, a1549. [DOI]
69. Nunez-Canal, M., de las Mercedes de Obesso, M., & Perez-Rivero, C. A. (2022). New challenges in higher education: A study of the digital competence of educators in Covid times. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 174, 121270. [DOI]
70. OECD. (2020). TALIS 2018 results (Volume II): Teachers and school leaders as valued professionals. TALIS, OECD Publishing. [DOI]
71. Pattison, K. L., Hoke, A. M., Schaeffer, E. W., Alter, J., & Sekhar, D. L. (2021). National survey of school employees: COVID-19, school reopening, and student wellness. Journal of School Health, 91(5), 376-383. [DOI]
72. Pollock, K. (2020). School leaders’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-pronged approach. International Studies in Educational Administration, 48(3), 38-44.
73. Potter, P. D., Pavlakis, A. E., & Roberts, J. K. (2021). Calming the storm: Natural disasters, crisis management, and school leadership. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 24(2), 96-111. [DOI]
74. Poulin, J. M. (2022). Responding to crises: Constructing a response through organizational change. Arts Education Policy Review, 123(1), 6-13. [DOI]
75. Powley, E., & Taylor, S. N. (2014). Pedagogical approaches to develop critical thinking and crisis leadership. Journal of Management Education, 38(4), 560-585. [DOI]
76. Pressley, T. (2021). Factors contributing to teacher burnout during COVID-19. Educational Researcher, 50(5), 325-327. [DOI]
77. Ramlo, S. E. (2021). Universities and the COVID-19 pandemic: Comparing views about how to address the financial impact. Innovative Higher Education, 46, 777-793. [DOI]
78. Schlesselman, L. S., Cain, J., & DiVall, M. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic across the academy. Improving and restoring the well-being and resilience of pharmacy students during a pandemic. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84, 8144. [DOI]
79. Smith, S., & Granja, M. R. (2021). Early Childhood Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Arkansas Educators. In Policy File. National Center for Children in Poverty.
80. Sokal, L., Babb, J., & Eblie Trudel, L. (2020). How to prevent teacher burnout during the coronavirus pandemic. The Conversation. [Article]
81. Spinelli, M., Lionetti, F., Pastore, M., & Fasolo, M. (2020). Parents’ Stress and Children’s Psychological Problems in Families Facing the COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1713. [DOI]
82. Thornton, K. (2021). Principal leadership practices during the COVID-19 lockdown. Journal of Educational Leadership, Policy and Practice, 36, 22-39. [DOI]
83. Tran, C. T. H., Tran, H. T. M., Nguyen, H. T. N., Mach, D. N., Phan, H. S. P., & Mujtaba, B. G. (2020). Stress management in the modern workplace and the role of human resource professionals. Business Ethics and Leadership, 4(2), 26-40. [DOI]
84. Wang, G., Zhang, Y., Zhao, J., Zhang, J., & Jiang, F. (2020). Mitigate the effects of home confinement on children during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet, 395(10228), P945-947. [DOI]
85. Ward, K. (2021). Ontario teachers seeking eligibility for COVID-19 vaccines. Global News. [Article]
86. World Health Organization. (2021). Schooling during COVID-19: Recommendations from the European technical advisory group for schooling during COVID-19. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. [Article]
87. Zhou, X. (2020). Managing psychological distress in children and adolescents following the covid-19 epidemic: A cooperative approach. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S76-S78. [DOI]

Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.