ABSTRACT
Over the past 36 months, the world has experienced an abundance of crises happening consecutively and concurrently. The COVID-19 pandemic has maintained its stronghold, while the war in Ukraine rages and mass shootings have affected the United States, Germany, and Nigeria. All these events have led to a collective shift in ‘normalcy' and moved societies into simultaneously trying to solve a global public health crisis while navigating policy changes and international negotiations. Thus, managing crises has become a natural part of a school leader's job more than ever before. School leaders, at the helm of recovery and restabilizing their school buildings, must lead through myriad crises while meeting the needs of diverse populations. Despite this crises-laden time, school leaders are left to mediate and solve for the issues they face with little guidance and cope with their own traumatic experiences. The pillars of equity-oriented crisis leadership, a conceptual framework, are distinct actions leaders can take. Eight pillars make up the framework: hope;equity-oriented mindset;inclusive decision making;resource allocation, deprivation, and diffusion;equitable systems and structures;inclusive communication;equity-oriented critical self-reflection;and advocacy for radical change. Implications and applications are discussed. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This paper aims to highlight how a group of novice principals in Connecticut and New York used relational, dispositional and situational factors to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The study aims to support new principals and educational leaders. Design/methodology/approach: Using Mutch's (2015) dispositional, relational and situational framework to guide the inquiry, this paper uses qualitative methods and interviewing in particular to explore the questions of interest. Six novice principals were each interviewed over the 2020–2021 school year, each interview lasting approximately forty-five minutes. Data were analyzed thematically using both deductive coding techniques and cross comparative analysis. Findings: Findings show that novice principals tended to rely on dispositional factors to respond to the crisis. Additionally, novice principals reported limited responses to the situational factors of the crisis due to restricted access and guidance from the district leadership. Research limitations/implications: Due to the small sample size and methodological approach, it may be inappropriate to generalize the findings across all novice principals in all settings. Further research in additional settings and larger samples are encouraged to support the proposed findings. Practical implications: This paper has several implications for districts and leadership preparation programs. Among these is the need for leadership preparation programs to adjust their curricula to train new principals properly. Originality/value: This work fills a gap in the research regarding how new principals respond to a crisis. It also provides insights into practice and possible means to enhance the growing population of new principals entering the educational leadership workforce. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This paper aims to highlight how a group of novice principals in Connecticut and New York used relational, dispositional and situational factors to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The study aims to support new principals and educational leaders. Design/methodology/approach: Using Mutch's (2015) dispositional, relational and situational framework to guide the inquiry, this paper uses qualitative methods and interviewing in particular to explore the questions of interest. Six novice principals were each interviewed over the 2020–2021 school year, each interview lasting approximately forty-five minutes. Data were analyzed thematically using both deductive coding techniques and cross comparative analysis. Findings: Findings show that novice principals tended to rely on dispositional factors to respond to the crisis. Additionally, novice principals reported limited responses to the situational factors of the crisis due to restricted access and guidance from the district leadership. Research limitations/implications: Due to the small sample size and methodological approach, it may be inappropriate to generalize the findings across all novice principals in all settings. Further research in additional settings and larger samples are encouraged to support the proposed findings. Practical implications: This paper has several implications for districts and leadership preparation programs. Among these is the need for leadership preparation programs to adjust their curricula to train new principals properly. Originality/value: This work fills a gap in the research regarding how new principals respond to a crisis. It also provides insights into practice and possible means to enhance the growing population of new principals entering the educational leadership workforce. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
For years, crises have occurred in and out of schools. School leaders have had to make meaning of these crises and lead during them. Common rhetoric in today’s media describes the educational inequities children have faced as a result of the current crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to understand how school leaders respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we spoke directly to principals, listening for ways in which they confronted issues of inequity. Our research was guided by the question: How do principals advance equity for students and families while leading during the COVID-19 crisis? This study focuses on the opportunity’s principals have created during the COVID-19 pandemic to address issues of equity in their schools. We present three main findings resulting from our data analysis. Overall, our findings indicate principals acted upon two primary opportunities for achieving equity in their school community. The findings from our study illustrate two specific opportunities principals were presented with as a result of the crisis to engage in equity responses. © Copyright © 2021 Virella and Cobb.