The Phenomenon of Leading without Guidebook: Educational Leadership Practices of Philippine School Principals in Virulent COVID-19 Times

Abstract

The school principals play a pivotal role in leading educational institutions. Their lived experience as educational leaders in the context of a virulent crisis, however, is largely unexplored. This paper sought to discover the essence of educational leadership practices of school principals in the context of the current COVID-19 crisis. Following phenomenology as a research design, the researcher explored the world of six Filipino school principals through interview procedures. The analysis method developed by Colaizzi (1978) was used. The results revealed six emerging themes of educational leadership practices during a crisis as follows: 1.) navigating the crisis with adaptive leadership; 2.) cultivating practices in crisis management; 3.) managing through the machine; 4.) freezing the standards and patterns; 5.) promoting inclusivity in the new normal, and 6.) caring first for what is essential. These themes form the basis of the description and structure of the phenomenon offered at the end of the paper. Considering the present scarcity of knowledge on how school principals respond in times of crisis, this paper provides insights into educational leadership practices within the context of the COVID-19 situation

Crisis Management, School Leadership in Disruptive Times and the Recovery of Schools in the Post COVID-19 Era: A Systematic Literature Review

“…The results presented in this section verify the extant literature on crisis management in terms of the adaptation, change or extension of normal leadership roles and responsibilities it entails [105] and describe the new management practices school principals were forced to assume in view of the COVID-19 crisis [106]. As noted by [107], adaptability in their daily management practices was often accompanied by a shift in school principals' beliefs over educational leadership in times of crisis from a set of standard practices into an experience of an active process of adjustments when the need arises. Overall, empirical data reveal that school leaders engaged in a two-pronged approach to lead school crisis throughout the pandemic years [108] by assuming new duties to:…”

“…In view of the deep inequalities in educational provision exposed in multiple school communities globally during the pandemic [123], school principals in our sample exhibited a propensity towards a more humanistic leadership approach targeting the provision of equal opportunities for all students in digital education by mitigating adjustment problems at school both during and after the pandemic crisis [85]. Constrained by inadequate funding and technological equipment, principals still tried to promote inclusive education at all costs [107], behaving patiently, compassionately and humbly and emphasizing the importance of overcoming COVID-19 crisis as one following a more loving, understanding and just management approach [80]. Equally, addressing issues of equity of access and privacy for students in special education in the early days of emergency remote learning by school principals in [103] entailed frequent meetings with teachers and support staff to problem-solve, the development of action plans to support specific students and driving to the homes of these students to provide devices that would allow them access to the Internet and assistive technologies such as alternative keyboards and manipulatives that could be used in learning activities.…”

“…Providing Emotional and Social Support Leaders' responsiveness to the social, emotional and psychological needs of school staff and the wider school community by exhibiting support, empathy, care and a sense of security as an essential feature of crisis leadership has also been identified as an integral practice applied by school leaders to approach staff, discuss their feelings and worries and to provide appropriate support [107]. Shifting their interest from 'caring for individuals' to 'caring for the community' [125], school leaders deployed a series of rehabilitation practices to identify stress signals and emotionally support staff, students and their families, taking on the role of the caretaker for their school communities by serving as advocates to meet the needs of stakeholders by focusing on the social-emotional well-being of teachers; providing social emotional support for students and families; remaining a constant and calming presence within the community; and showing remarkable self-reliance and resiliency [116].…”

“…Their adopted crisis leadership involved the distribution of leadership to staff, community leadership, involvement in community networks and keeping families connected and informed about the efforts schools made over lockdown. Leading their school in a consensual, distributive, motivational, participatory, inclusive, harmonious and collaborative manner reportedly made every member feel responsible towards problem-solving situations [78] and achievement in their new duties [107] to cope with the crisis. As principals' leadership seemed to have become more complex, with higher stakes and less room for error, it required a huge sense of responsibility to decide how the school should cope with the crisis and a collective crisis leadership response based on collegial networking [96] that enabled principals to respond effectively to the unique challenges presented by the pandemic and by the isolating nature of the statewide lockdown in relation to issues of (a) logistics, communication, resource distribution and technology use, addressed primarily via the development of a plan by the leadership team to alleviate inequities in access to educational resources, (b) grading procedures, student engagement and achievement, forcing people throughout the educational system to shift mindsets to maintain students' and teachers' confidence and mental health during a crisis within the virtual classroom and (c) the provision of professional development to aid teachers to confidently work through such unique educational circumstances providing opportunities for teachers to enrich new skills and develop new mindsets around creating and delivering online instruction [122].…”