K-12 school leaders: Social and emotional challenges during COVID-19

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to examine the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders who were presented with a variety of challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The first primary research question was: What are the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders as it pertains to the social, emotional, and mental health difficulties and challenges while leading during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to August 2021)? Saturation was reached in this study with 8 participants, who were K-12 school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to August 2021), due to no new categories or patterns being discovered (Creswell, 2007). The research methodology was phenomenological and used interviews and an online questionnaire. From the data gleaned from the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders, who participated in the study, experience, facing the challenges, overcoming stressors, putting mitigation and preventative strategies into place, and advocating for self-care and well-being became the main themes related to the research questions. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed compassion fatigue and the extreme need to promote self-care for those in the field of K-12 school leadership during the pandemic, and for immediate and consistent access to mental health, educational and fiscal resources. The pandemic has overwhelmingly necessitated and precipitated into the lived experiences of K-12 school leaders as they faced conflict, challenges, struggle, stressors, and fatigue in the areas of social, emotional health and well-being. The disruption school leaders faced during the COVID-19 crisis, has brought forth how necessary it is for the voices of school leaders, educators and needs of the students to be heard and acted on. Findings from the data from this study provide evidence for crisis measures to be put into place for K-12 school leaders as they respond to such as a pandemic, recover from crisis, and to strengthen their resilience, faith, and promotion of self-care and well-being for any future crises. The data also support an increase in research related to school leaders and having resiliency when bouncing back from crisis. The school leader's plan always needs prepared, in sight, and ready to implement, just in case. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Vox Poetica: bringing an arts-based research method to school leaders' lockdown experiences

The work of school leaders during lockdown has been emotionally charged and emotionally draining, affecting immediate well-being and longer term career plans. To communicate the emotions that we were told about and which were obvious during interviews with serving headteachers, we turned to arts-informed methods. We used poems made from transcripts to complement and supplement the analysis of 58 interviews and survey responses (n = 1491). This paper introduces the use of transcript poetry and explains our choice of method. The poems foreground the diversity that existed among the leaders, and different kinds of interventions that might make a difference. Our example suggests that the educational leadership, management and administration field might benefit from further experimentation with arts-based methods.

A Survey of Lessons Learned from COVID-19 by School Administration Interns

A survey of lessons learned from COVID-19 by school administration interns is presented. Two cohorts of school administration interns enrolled in the Graduate Certificate in School Leadership (GCSL) and Master of School Administration (MSA) Degree programs at a university in the southeastern part of the US are surveyed. Successful completion of the certificate or the degree program leads to principal certification. The pandemic disrupted lives, but their duty was to adapt and maintain the integrity of the program and perform their core functions as educators to benefit their students. The interns who participated in the survey for this study were in the last two semesters of a principal preparation program. The responses gave a portrait of the experiences of interns during the pandemic.

Hybrid learning: A qualitative case study of a school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic

In August 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that all schools would be on distance learning if their county COVID-19 cases were too high. However, one district, Lucerne Valley Unified, wanted to get their elementary students back to in-person instruction and not experience a considerable amount of learning loss. So, the district worked alongside county health officials and applied for a waiver to get all of their TK-6th grade students back, first focusing on students in special education, English language learners, and those deemed at-risk of failing. This case study focuses on Ridgemont School's journey to provide hybrid instruction and how they met the needs of at-risk students from special populations. The case study analyzes the interviews of ten employees at the school and 25 parents whose children participated in the hybrid learning model for the 2020-2021 school year. It also shares the personal account of the researcher who is a participant observer sharing my thoughts and feelings during those events. Children's data from the interviewed parents were also included to demonstrate the program's success. This case study revealed that schools could reopen safely under crisis if appropriate strategies are applied, motivations fuel the mission of an organization, and hybrid learning is impactful for student progress. Since there is limited research on hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides a written account of how individuals worked through the crisis and their motivations. These accounts were analyzed to answer the four research questions. The case study answered the following questions: What was the reopening process? How did this process develop? What motivated stakeholders to reopen? What setbacks and challenges did the school encounter while reopening, and how did the stakeholders cope with those challenges? How did the school meet the needs of groups like Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI) and English Learners (EL) in this hybrid learning model? The study shared that the reopening process involved many stakeholders and required schools to meet the safety regulations mandated by the local health department. Results shared that stakeholders' motivations focused on having students return for quality instruction and social-emotional learning. Participants also shared that factors like fear/anxiety, mandates, socialization, and the internet contributed to many issues during the reopening process. The case study also reveals the school's services to particular subgroups to have them return for additional days. These feelings and accounts are reported in the research and highlight the themes that emerge from the interviews and various documents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

School Management during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study = COVID-19 Pandemisi Sürecinde Okul Yönetimi: Nitel Bir Arastirma

The aim of the research was to reveal the school management process during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research was designed on the basis of case study in qualitative research paradigm. Maximum variation sampling was used in the study. As such, 15 school principals with various years of experience, serving at various school levels were included in the study. Data was obtained from a semi-structured interview form with 11 items. Inductive analysis was utilized in data analysis. The primary finding of the study was the precautions taken by school principals during the pandemic. These are physical precautions, informative precautions, and productive precautions. Another finding was that school principals made their best effort to fulfill their duties and responsibilities in-school, out of school, and regarding their leadership roles. Lastly, school principals problems mainly revolved around two groups: the resources of the school and students, and the decisions made, regarding educational and instructional processes.

Hybrid learning: A qualitative case study of a school reopening during the COVID-19 pandemic

In August 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that all schools would be on distance learning if their county COVID-19 cases were too high. However, one district, Lucerne Valley Unified, wanted to get their elementary students back to in-person instruction and not experience a considerable amount of learning loss. So, the district worked alongside county health officials and applied for a waiver to get all of their TK-6th grade students back, first focusing on students in special education, English language learners, and those deemed at-risk of failing. This case study focuses on Ridgemont School's journey to provide hybrid instruction and how they met the needs of at-risk students from special populations. The case study analyzes the interviews of ten employees at the school and 25 parents whose children participated in the hybrid learning model for the 2020-2021 school year. It also shares the personal account of the researcher who is a participant observer sharing my thoughts and feelings during those events. Children's data from the interviewed parents were also included to demonstrate the program's success. This case study revealed that schools could reopen safely under crisis if appropriate strategies are applied, motivations fuel the mission of an organization, and hybrid learning is impactful for student progress. Since there is limited research on hybrid learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides a written account of how individuals worked through the crisis and their motivations. These accounts were analyzed to answer the four research questions. The case study answered the following questions: What was the reopening process? How did this process develop? What motivated stakeholders to reopen? What setbacks and challenges did the school encounter while reopening, and how did the stakeholders cope with those challenges? How did the school meet the needs of groups like Specialized Academic Instruction (SAI) and English Learners (EL) in this hybrid learning model? The study shared that the reopening process involved many stakeholders and required schools to meet the safety regulations mandated by the local health department. Results shared that stakeholders' motivations focused on having students return for quality instruction and social-emotional learning. Participants also shared that factors like fear/anxiety, mandates, socialization, and the internet contributed to many issues during the reopening process. The case study also reveals the school's services to particular subgroups to have them return for additional days. These feelings and accounts are reported in the research and highlight the themes that emerge from the interviews and various documents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Implementation of Covid-19 Response Policies from a Religious Perspective at Darussalam Islamic Boarding School, South of Kalimantan, Indonesia

Islamic boarding schools are educational institutions that have the characteristic of having dormitories, students who are referred to as santri can not be separated from the activities of life in Islamic boarding schools for 24 hours. By carrying out face-to-face activities, of course, Islamic boarding schools must have carried out careful consideration of the worst possible risks that will be faced. For example, the emergence of a new cluster in the pesantren environment affects students, administrators, and even caregivers. The dormitory capacity which is generally limited, the facilities for bathing, washing, shared latrines, and the limited quantity of environmental sanitation of the pesantren are certain things that need attention. In general, the purpose of this study is to find out what policies or decisions are taken by the Darussalam Martapura Islamic Boarding School, especially at high schools, in the learning process of preventing Covid-19 in 2020-2021. In addition, it also seeks to find out how the implementation of the policy is seen from the aspects of communication, sources, especially the economic resources of the community or the economic conditions of the community, in addition to those owned by educational institutions, as well as the tendencies or behavior of the community and implementers. The results of this study indicate that in the context of the policies carried out by Islamic boarding schools in the implementation of the Covid-19 response policies in 2020-2021 from a religious perspective, it has been successfully implemented. The limits of ability from a social and economic point of view of some students found some information related to the limits of the willingness or ability of the students to carry out policies related to the efforts made in overcoming the spread of Covid-19 in the Islamic boarding school environment here including students and students and alumni who have provided information related to the limits of the ability to implement this policy because there is no coercion and pressure from both Islamic boarding schools and teachers, what is required is to increase piety. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Technium Social Sciences Journal is the property of Technium Press Constanta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Editorial: Facilitating Sustainable Digital Engagement in Teaching and Learning Practice and Administration of Schools and HEIs

The authors report on findings that suggest students have positive perceptions of video-based feedback for value added to the online learning experience. Piloting a technology enhanced supervision model for assessment of teaching practice In this article the authors report on an electronic supervision model that was developed for the teaching practice component of the science teacher training program by a university in Zimbabwe. Assessing validity and reliability of a design rubric in an online course In an article that focuses on quality design of courses, authors Fatima Makda and Reuben Dlamini explore the gap between theoretical knowledge (theory) and practice (reality) in determining the effectiveness of the design of online courses for teaching and learning. The authors note the finding of a marginal positive impact on student learning when learning takes place offline and importantly, they note there are no gender-based performance differences among students in the online learning environment.

School Administration During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges to Turkish School Administrators

This study investigated what difficulties school administrators experienced in making decisions, planning, organizing, communicating, influencing, coordinating and budgeting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sample consisted of 32 school administrators in the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021. Participants were recruited from seven cities (representing the seven geographical regions of Turkey) using purposive maximum variation sampling. Phenomenology, a qualitative research method, was the design of the study. Data were collected online using a semi-structured interview form based on a literature review. The data were analyzed using content analysis. Participants focused mostly on “uncertainty” under the theme of “decision-making”;“excessive change” under the theme of “planning”;“physical distance” under the themes of “organizing” and “influencing”;“lack of technological infrastructure and materials” under the theme of “communication”;“little participation in online activities” under the theme of “coordination” and “fewer cash donations” under the theme of “budgeting”.

School leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic: A phenomenological study

This phenomenological study presented the lived experiences of eight high school principals who led through the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants represented eight different school from five school districts from across Colorado. Each participant's school implemented 1:1 devices, namely Chromebooks or iPads, for each student prior to the pandemic's onset. The research question that guided this study was: What are lived experiences of high school principals who led through the COVID-19 pandemic? Data were collected via one-hour, individual, semi-structured interviews in person or via Zoom, then transcribed and analyzed. A phenomenological approach to the data was employed while implementing bridling methods on the researcher's part. Three key themes emerged from the data. Theme 1 included hardships of the pandemic and contained five subthemes: (a) the pandemic was hard on leaders, (b) the pandemic was hard on teachers, (c) the pandemic was hard on students, (d) the pandemic was hard on the community, and (e) symbolic events helped ease hardships. Theme 2 was the pandemic as catalyst and presented four subthemes: (a) catalyst for shifts in grading practices, (b) catalyst for shifts in weekly schedules, (c) catalyst for shifts in meeting protocols, (d) catalyst for a renewed focus on the leaders' work. The final theme was support is critical. The third theme included five subthemes: (a) district support for leaders, (b) mental health support for the school community, (c) school leaders' support for teachers, (d) school leaders' support for self, and (e) school leaders creating connections as support. Significant statements directly from interviews with the participants were included to support the findings. A summary and discussion of the findings and their relation to the literature, implications for policy and practice, and recommendations for school leaders and future research are also presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Teachers' Professional Culture and (Non)Responsibility. Empirical Reconstruction of Self- and Other-Positioning towards the Coronavirus Pandemic

The question of whether and how the Coronavirus pandemic will or should change schools is a controversial discussion in the field of educational research. In an empirical twist on this discussion, this article reconstructs teachers' professional positioning as an interplay of self- and other-positionings using sequence analyse of group interviews with teachers and ministerial letters addressed to teachers. Bringing the analyses together, the professional culture is seen both as the result and as the modus operandi of this reciprocal positioning process, in which the way teachers deal with the structurally open situation is (pre-)structured in a certain way.

Unravelling the business of educational leaders in times of uncertainty

The main thrust of this paper is to explore factors from the business sector, which could inspire school leaders in terms of issue/problem formulation during their decision-making process. This conceptual paper examines diachronically and conceptually the issues of uncertainty, not only in terms of context and decision-making, but also having in mind leaders' and leadership's main characteristics as well. The question remains whether concepts of uncertainty management practices from the business sector might offer insights for school principals in order to make connections between what is happening inside and outside the organization. The paper is organized around five sections dealing with the conceptual basis of the two main terms, crisis and uncertainty and how leaders in the business sector deal with these. Following, we focus on educational leaders and their ways of navigating through crisis and uncertainty and we conclude with some observations about how leaders make the best possible decisions under the circumstances. We end the paper by stressing that, perhaps, many of the leadership qualities and characteristics needed in times of "normality" are more or less similar to those needed in times of uncertainty. However, school leaders need to learn to act faster with clearer and constant communication. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Educational Management Administration & Leadership is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Direct and Indirect Effects of Social Support and School Social Capital on the Academic Success of 11–19-Year-Old Students Using Distance Learning

In the context of current changes in the education process due to the pandemic, the main aims of this study were to highlight social capital factors within the school community that are associated with better students’ outcomes in the context of distance learning. This study was a cross-sectional population-based study. The research sample consisted of 1483 students, whose ages varied from 11 to 19 years old (56.9% were girls). Academic success in this study was measured in terms of average grade and students’ perception of their learning process or outcomes by six single items. A Five-item WHO-5 questionnaire was used to measure students’ psychological well-being. Social capital was measured in terms of relationship, trust, reciprocity, and communication within different social contexts in the school community in total by 16 items. School social capital and social support scales were developed from these items. Students’ gender and age were also taken into consideration. The research results show that although social capital from parents and peers also matters, the relationship with teachers emerges as the main and the most important resource in supporting positive attitudes and outcomes in to learning (std.β varied from 0.116 to 0.439). The results also show that higher psychological wellbeing is associated with higher perceived school social capital (std.β 0.260) and social support (std.β 0.326) and mediates the effects of the latter two for better academic success outcomes. The findings also highlight the importance of close and trusting social ties, especially between students and their teachers as well as parents for better learning outcomes in times of crises and in the context of distance learning. The study results prove that social support and social capital at school are essential factors for sustainable psychological development. The results presumably support the idea that the school is sustainable if it is developing as an ecosystem not solely aimed at academic outcomes. The results of the current study may aid policymakers and practitioners in developing interventions, policies and practices that focus resources where they will have the greatest benefit.

The Trust Deficit in England: Emerging Research Evidence about School Leaders and the Pandemic

England has been living with COVID-19, through peaks and troughs since March 2020. Policymakers see schools as integral to economic and social maintenance and recovery and have thus placed a high priority on education as a stable provision operating throughout a very long period of considerable uncertainty and instability. Because of rapidly changing levels of infection and scientific understandings of transmission and prevention measures, the government has adjusted, often at the last minute, the legal requirements around the opening and closing of schools in line with the various levels of lockdown. School leaders have been faced with challenges unimaginable prior to the pandemic. Because schools are a major site for virus transmission, leaders have had to pay particular attention to the management of staff, pupils and buildings. Working together with the two leader associations, the authors designed and conducted a national survey to assess the impact of the pandemic on leaders' well-being and career plans. While the authors have not yet completed interviewing a sample of those intending to leave and those intending to stay, it is abundantly clear that the government has some way to go to win back the school leaders on whom they depend.

Conceptions of Choice, Equity, & Rurality in Educational Research: A Review of the Literature on Rural Education and School Choice Policies

Issues of school choice regularly appear in popular discourse related to resources, equity, and freedom in education. Although school choice policies and initiatives promote a vision of additional schooling options for all students, the predominant target of choice advocates and researchers has been densely populated, urban cores in the United States (McShane & Smarick, 2018). However, this belies the fact that rural communities have also engaged in forms of school choice decision-making. While some research has explored rural school choice, we believe there are myriad, novel opportunities for meaningful education research regarding school choice, equity, and conceptions of rurality. Over nine million children in the United States, or nearly 20% of the public-school student population, attend a school designated as rural (Kena et al., 2015;Showalter et al., 2019). Additionally, rural schools and districts have remarkable levels of variability in terms of racial, ethnic, cultural, and geographic compositions. These contexts provide significant motivation for further explorations of rurality and school choice. This review is not intended to advocate for an expansion of school choice policies. Rather, we aim for it to serve as a call for additional research that seeks to better understand how school choice policies are currently operating in rural areas and their implications for educational equity. To advance toward a robust research agenda for rural education and school choice, we review the existing literature on school choice and rural education, provide key recommendations, and assert the need for additional consideration of the following: critical socio-political histories and theories;methodological diversity;issues of race, racism, sexual orientation, and equity;social-emotional learning and development;impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic;and broadened understandings of rurality.

Suspending Medical Student Clerkships Due to COVID-19.

Medical schools around the world have been grappling with how to adapt undergraduate medical curricula in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our institution made the decision to suspend all clinical clerkships the day before the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) recommended to US medical schools a similar suspension of "medical student participation in any activities that involved patient contact." This manuscript describes the rapid evolution in our decision-making as we weighed various information, values, and priorities in the face of the emerging public health crisis. We discuss how a compromised learning environment and concerns about student, patient, and the public health led to the suspension. We also consider next steps as we move forward in this uncertain time.