Conference Agenda

Nowadays, both society and school organizations have become extensively digitized (Håkansson Lindqvist & Pettersson, 2019). Even if the use of technology in education has been prevalent since 1989 (U.S. Department of Education, 1996), the unexpected health crisis of COVID-19 led to a further significant surge in the usage of technology and digitalization in all school organizations across the globe. Particularly, the COVID-19 health crisis affected school organizations worldwide and changed the overall educational landscape, with nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 200 countries (Pokhler & Chhetri, 2021; UNESCO, 2020), and disrupted the way in which these students are educated. More precisely, school organizations were requested to adjust their educational materials and teaching methodologies, by transforming their teaching practice into a distance or online environment, in order to address the demands of this unknown situation and period of uncertainty. In this particular frame of digital educational development, school leaders must maintain their leadership dynamic, lead, coordinate, and facilitate their school organizations. Yet, up until now, literature has demonstrated the lack of school leaders’ preparation and leadership on digital education (e.g. Afshari et al., 2012). Since this health crisis brought to the surface the important aspect of digital education, the European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice (2019) in the report "Digital Education at School in Europe" mentioned that countries need to continually review and develop new strategic policies and measures to meet the new demands for high quality digital education. In fact, based on the report, half of the European education systems are currently reforming the curriculum related to digital competence, and only one third of the education systems have current measures for promoting school leaders’ roles in this digital transformation. Furthermore, according to a study conducted by Hkansson Lindqvist and Pettersson (2019), school leaders perceive digitalization as a broad and complex concept that encompasses many aspects of organizational management, including technical, pedagogical, administrative, and organizational challenges. Based on the aforementioned, this symposium will report on school leaders’ utilization of digital technologies both in autonomous and less autonomous educational systems (centralized and decentralized education systems) and present the technological challenges arising from this crisis, as well as the obstacles derived from the lack of digital capacity of school leaders. Following the health crisis, Tulowitzki, Gerick, and Eickelmann (2022) emphasized the significant role of school leaders as important drivers of innovation on ICT-related topics, whereas Hkansson, Lindqvist, and Pettersson (2019) argued for the need for school leaders to have a broad and comprehensive digital competency. This conference will thus offer a novel viewpoint on the subjects of school leadership and technology/digitalization by presenting data from Greece, Australia, Cyprus, and the United States.

The global pandemic associated with COVID-19 necessitated a sudden and unprecedented shift from in-person learning environments to online teaching and learning at all levels of education, in countries throughout the world. Public schools in particular, were caught off guard, and educators were faced with hastily assembling a diverse collection of computers and online lessons, many of which were difficult to navigate, or incompatible with the computers they had. The sudden shift to online learning meant that teachers had to acquire or update their skills “on the job” as they were working in these virtual environments. Many students and families, particularly those from low-income and marginalized communities, struggled to access the technology and internet access required to work in their new on-line learning environments. In the years following the onset of the pandemic, much has been learned about how to effectively integrate technology into teaching and learning. Research regarding the availability and use of the technological resources during these years has also highlighted the inequalities that have long existed in schools and society in general. These findings confirm that students, particularly those from low-income and non-English speaking households, had difficulty accessing the technology, navigating instructional programs and obtaining reliable internet connectivity. Now that most schools have resumed face-to-face instruction, educators are reporting a dramatic increase in student discipline problems, including aggressive, anti-social behavior. Many teachers and administrators are leaving the profession, citing these and other problems, such as a lack of support for public education, low pay, and increased concerns about their physical safety and socioemotional well-being. In the years following the onset of COVID, there has been very little exploration of the role of technology with respect to the continuation (or lack thereof) of practices and policies that were found useful during the pandemic. For example, little is known about whether and how technology is still being used to close the learning gaps that persist among different groups of children or to help respond to the growing teacher shortage. Our paper provides preliminary insights into these issues from one of the sites in our study—the state of Texas, in the U.S. The data were collected from personal interviews with 30 teachers and 5 administrators in urban and rural schools districts in the southwest portion of the state. (This is part of an on-going study, and as such, our conference presentation may include data obtained from additional interviews.)

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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.

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.

In Australia, the introduction of digital technology, like most countries in the world over the past decade, has been a significant disruptor to school education. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology that few could have predicted. The consequences have been positive and negative. On the positive side technologies such as zoom have provided students with opportunities for personalised learning where learning can take place at any time or place outside the classroom. On the other hand, uneven access to technology and gaps in resourcing have led to greater inequalities. In this presentation the authors of two of the chapters combine to outline the challenges and obstacles faced by some primary and secondary school principals in adopting current and new technologies. The context for this presentation is important because of its influence on principals’ leadership on planning the future of learning. Melbourne, Australia experienced one of the most severe and prolonged lockdowns in the world due the COVID 19. While the focus for the presentation is to explore the more general challenges and obstacle for school leaders, the experience of the pandemic had such a profound impact on schools that this cannot be ignored in setting direction for the ‘new normal’. We draw in the emerging research and on interviews with principals from primary and secondary schools in the government and non-government sectors. We explore the insights and perspectives on how six principals have responded and adopted new digital technology and how they see the challenges ahead. The findings will provide an insight into how they understand what technology can include: the challenge of keeping abreast with the changes; resourcing and the cost of new technology; the use of technology in the classroom and home; teacher knowledge, competency and professional development; keeping students safe online, and issues of equity. We also will comment on the role of technology on the ‘future gap’ – what students are learning now and what and how they will be expected to learn.

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The forced implementation worldwide of online education due to the Covid pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented increase in the use of information technologies in schools and a surfacing of a new form of leadership, digital leadership. Being a digital educational leader requires the ability to use information technology, to understand the dynamics of organizational change, to promote a vision about the role of technology integration and its functions in schools, and to create opportunities for relevant professional growth (e.g. Blau & Presser, 2013). Today’s leaders must be socially and digitally connected through technology and must facilitate a similar engagement by all stakeholders. Although the term “e-leadership” has been around since the early 2000s, the term “digital leadership” has emerged only recently, propelled by emerging opportunities to apply technology while working and leading from remote sites. Although online schooling existed before Covid, it was limited in scope and far from being a mainstream approach (Saultz & Fusarelli, 2017). This condition changed drastically during the pandemic, when most, if not all, schools around the world engaged to varying degrees in virtual and online learning – prompting the emergence of digital forms of leadership. These developments led to questions about optimizing the delivery and assessing the effectiveness of digital leadership in schools. These concerns, in turn, have spawned related studies in many school systems around the globe (Pollock, 2020), especially in jurisdictions that have yet to widely utilize technological means for teaching and learning. One such jurisdiction is Greece. Although the Greek school system has made huge strides in the last decade towards incorporating various echnologies in teaching and learning, school leadership is still being exercised in traditional ways. However, this changed drastically during the Covid lockdown, when whole schools were forced to shift their operations to online, distance and with no previous experience or time for adequate training, Greek school principals suddenly had to become digital leaders. With this phenomenological/hermeneutic study, I look into the lived experiences of a selected number of Greek school principals as they traversed the unfamiliar pathed road to digital leadership. Specifically: a) How do principals make sense of their role as digital leaders? b) How did they experience digital leadership? c) How effective do they believe this form of leadership is for Greek schools? d) What are the facilitators, obstacles, and limitations of digital leadership?

Blau, I. & Presser, O. (2013). e-Leadership of school principals: Increasing school effectiveness by a school data management system. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44 (6): 1000–1011. Pollock K. (2020). School leaders’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-pronged approach. International Studies in Educational Administration 48(3): 38–44. Saultz. A. and Fusarelli, L.D. (2017). Online schooling: A cautionary tale. Journal of School Choice 11(1): 29–41.