Session Information
26 SES 11 A, School Leadership in the New Era of Digital Educational Development: Emerging Perspectives and Challenges
Symposium
Contribution
One can assume that what worked well pre-pandemic, at least from an effective leadership perspective, might have also worked during the pandemic. However, during the pandemic crisis the focus of the political discourse on schools and their respective leaders has shifted several times. Having said that, this presentation will offer insights into educational leadership in relation to school principals who play an important role as leaders in this new digital environment, during the global pandemic COVID-19. Based on the five leadership styles of the Pashiardis-Brauckmann Holistic Leadership Framework (Pashiardis, 2014; Brauckmann & Pashiardis, 2011), as the theoretical background of this research study, a successful primary school principal’s actions and practices in leading the school community during times of uncertainty is presented, thus, providing an opportunity to consider lessons to be learnt. In order to reveal how school leadership in Cyprus was enacted during the COVID-19 crisis, the qualitative research paradigm was selected. As mentioned, through the five leadership styles of the Pashiardis – Brauckmann Holistic Leadership Framework which was utilized as the theoretical foundation of this study, a case study of a primary school principal in Cyprus was selected. In particular, a convenience sampling of a successful school principal was selected. The school principal successfully addressed the urgency of the pandemic crisis, referring to the digitalization of the teaching and learning process, together with the obstacles and challenges that occurred during the timeframe of the pandemic crisis. The data collection included: (1) an interview that was conducted with the school principal, (2) an in-depth shadowing was performed and finally (3) an archival research study was conducted. According to the evidence provided, the successful school principal in this particular case study widely utilized three leadership styles from the Pashiardis-Brauckmann Holistic Leadership Framework. Particularly the structuring leadership style, the personnel development style and finally the pedagogical leadership style. More precisely, through her own technological expertise and knowledge this successful school principal promoted this particular leadership styles and further support her school organization.
References
Pashiardis, P. (2014) (Eds.). Modeling School Leadership Across Europe: In Search of New Frontiers. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, London: Springer. Brauckmann, S. & Pashiardis, P. (2011). A Validation Study of the Leadership Styles of a Holistic Leadership Theoretical Framework. International Journal of Educational Management, 25(1), 11-32.
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