Problematizing Professional Learning for School Leaders: Lessons from The Volatility and Complexity of Crisis
Chair(s): Michelle Jones (Cardiff Metropolitan University)
Discussant(s): Julia Longville (Cardiff Met University)
With the adoption of teaching and leadership standards, now evident across many educational systems, a proliferation of professional learning has established a focus on preparation for the principalship. Most often this linear approach aims to quell concerns about the leadership “pipeline”, and support aspiring principals. What happens beyond the initial appointment? As significantly, what have we learnt in light of recent crisis and the volatile and complex demands of school leaders? To this end, Paper 1 explores the training and readiness of teacher leaders, those recognised as most influential on student outcomes, through a qualitative analysis identifying gaps in professional learning. Paper 2 presents findings from an intensive series of principal focus groups, highlighting the assumed knowledge of school leaders and professional learning needs evident through recent crises. Each paper uses a case study approach, the former exploring the Caribbean context, and the latter highlighting an Australian context. Paper 3 bridges these two examples through its synthesis of critical trends emerging in the scholarship of leadership through crisis. Through discussion of these papers, we will explore professional learning and support for school leaders, beyond headship preparation, highlighting implications for future research, policy and practice led in dialogue by our discussant.
Presentations of the Symposium
Leading Teaching and Learning During Crisis, a Caribbean Perspective: Realities and Lessons Learned
Freddy James
The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine
Managing routine and non-routine crises, has increasingly become a critical role of school leaders at all levels in schools (Smith and Riley, 2012; Harris and Jones, 2020; James and Pierre, 2022). As a consequence, professional learning for school leaders has had to take on varying dimensions as they seek to address both the volitivity and complexities of crisis. The current research being presented explored teacher leadership during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and how the exigencies of this crisis placed a sharper focus on the critical role of professional learning in managing and transitioning through crisis. Moreover, the research is situated within the Caribbean region, which at the time of the crisis struggled to acquire essential vaccinations to combat the disease. The following two questions were asked: how are Caribbean teachers experiencing teaching and learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic and what are Caribbean teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to lead teaching and learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic? This research is important because it highlights the gaps in professional learning to lead teaching and learning in crisis from a Caribbean perspective and signposts the areas to develop and implement strategies to narrow these gaps and improve teaching and learning.
Framework, methods and data analysis
The theoretical frames that guided this research, included Schleicher (2020, 4) who states, “In this crisis...the challenge is to build on the expertise of teachers and school leaders”. Additionally, the research drew on Darling-Hammond, Burns, Campbell, Goodwin, Hammerness, Low, McIntyre, and Zeichner (2017) who elucidate the requisites for teacher preparation programmes to produce quality teachers. Further, in terms of teacher preparation and readiness to implement digital technology and pedagogy in teaching, the research drew on Rice (2003); Singh (2014); Gay (2016); Al-Awidi and Aldhafeeri (2017); Schleicher (2020), who all acknowledge the value of technology in education, but question whether teachers are equipped with the required skills, knowledge abilities and infrastructure to integrate technology in their lessons. The research utilized an exploratory case study design (Yin 2014). Data were collected via an online survey which consisted of open and closed questions. The research reports on responses from four hundred and forty-three teachers from the following countries: Bahamas, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat and Trinidad and Tobago.
Findings and significance
The findings show that the majority of Caribbean teachers felt that transitioning from face-to-face to remote and online teaching and learning was challenging because they needed professional learning to upskill, infrastructure to integrate technology to meet the needs of all students, and psycho-social support. Overall, they felt that their prior professional preparation was insufficient to lead teaching and learning during the crisis. Further, the findings show a need for targeted professional learning to build capacity in technology use and integration. The research highlighted the need for a more targeted approach to professional learning specific skills to address the complex and varied crisis situations disrupting the education system.
“We May Need More Cowboys”: Australian School Leadership in the Face of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity
Nicola Sum
Monash University (Australia)
Purpose, question/s and connection to conference theme
In early 2019, a network of local school principals in suburban Melbourne, Australia, discussed their interest in sharing their experiences of globalisation and its impact on their work in schools. As the research project began to take shape, a global health pandemic rapidly distorted the landscape of their school leadership work. By early 2020, the planned study, as with the planned leadership and school strategic goals for that year, were subverted by the global pandemic all that ensued (OECD, 2020, UNESCO, 2020). Everyday school life was replaced by a level of complexity, volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity which reflected a dearth in the scholarship (Sum, 2022). More importantly, as this study highlights, the experiences of school leaders through the sustained crisis of Covid19 placed significant pressure on professional networks, while making transparent the potential cracks in the confidence of leader preparedness. Participants reflected upon the nature of principal preparation as it is currently instilled, and questioned the need for potentially different approaches- from a hark back to the time of cowboys, who went out into the unknown and navigated what was needed, to the current model of manuals and policies on how school leaders may be best advised. Findings from this study on crisis, and the requisite responses from school leadership, highlights the potential gap in principal preparation. Furthermore, it presents experiences of school leaders which questions the nature and effectiveness of ongoing professional learning opportunities.
Framework, methods and data analysis
This study used VUCA leadership (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) as a conceptual framework to explore the case of the local principals in Melbourne (Barber, 1992; Bennis & Nanus, 2003). Through a series of focus group meetings carried out on a virtual platform (Archibald etal., 2019), due to the lockdown pressures on residents, but particularly educators at that time, participants reflected on their day to day experiences of leading through crisis, and the implications of this on a variety of work and life aspects. The data set consisted of the transcripts of these focus group meetings, which were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; 2013).
Findings and significance
The key findings highlight the ways in which these school leaders experienced intense shifts in the nature of their roles as principals, the pressures these shifts caused to professional networks and personal opportunities to decompress, and the subsequent realisation that not all principals are being prepared in the same way for the same level of challenge and volatility. More significantly, narratives from the participants indicate that there is both a lack of adaptability and capacity to deal with the volatility of school contexts amongst many school leaders, which was most recently corroborated in a state government audit (VAGO, 2020) highlighting the gaps in professional learning of school leaders.
Leading During the Pandemic: What Does the Evidence Tell Us
Alma Harris, Michelle Jones
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Purpose, question/s and connection to conference theme
As the crisis of the pandemic simultaneously unwrapped the inequity of already struggling education systems, while inspiring fundamental shifts in approaches to teaching and learning, pressures on school leaders grew to daunting levels as their work continued to shift in new and profound ways (DeMatthews et al., 2021; Pollock, 2020). We identify seven core themes emerging from the work of school leadership during the pandemic, and pose the question on how professional learning should and could better support the apparent challenges in ways that may address stress of existing leaders and encourage those who may aspire to step into increasingly challenging appointments.
Perspective and context
The synthesis of evidence in this paper is situated in a global context, offering an editorial overview of scholarship being presented within the field of educational leadership at this time. We further our consideration of the evidence to address the implications in ways and means of reimagining not only education, but the work of educational leaders (Pollock, 2020).
Findings and significance
Leadership lies in the distributive approach, empowering all stakeholders, and drawing on relationships within and beyond the school community (Bjorn et al., 2020; Harris &Jones, 2020). Through studies of crisis, scholars have highlighted the significance of networks, relational aspects of roles and responsibilities, and the need to support school leaders to be able to enact strategies to relieve the enormous weight of expectation. The significance here lies in the professional learning need to unlearn static approaches to leadership in order to acquire adaptable ways to distribute leadership (Harris, 2020).
