Conference Agenda

Objectives

Research has also shown that principal resilience is crucial not only for dealing with professional challenges and uncertainties but also for enhancing desirable individual and organizational well-being and performance (Glazzard & Stones, 2021; Wells & Klocko, 2018). The current study aims at investigating the relationships between principal resilience, psychological contract with their school and work-family conflict.

Research questions

1) What are the relationships from between principal resilience, psychological contract and work-family conflict.

Theoretical Framework

The 8-item psychological contract survey developed by Liu et al. (2008) measures the mutual expectation or agreement between individuals and organizations on mutual responsibility obligations. It reflects that school principals try to keep a balance between contribution and income with schools. The 5-item work-family conflict survey was developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996). The survey examined work influence on family life. A 6-point Likert agreement scale was adopted ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Previous research identified that human resilience may positively predict to psychological contract (Hind et al., 1996; Mccoy & Elwood, 2009) and negatively connect with the work-family conflict (Billing et al., 2021).

Methods

This paper involves a sample of 698 principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. Among these participants, 375 (53.7%) were male and 323 (46.3%) females with an average age of 44 years and 7 years of working experience. More than half (66.3%, n = 334) of these principals had less than ten years of working experience, 27.4% (n = 138) had ten to twenty years, and 6.3% (n = 32) had more than twenty years. The majority of them (66.9%, n = 467) held a bachelor degree, 32.1% (n = 224) of them held a junior college degree or below, and 1% (n = 7) held a master degree and above. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. A multi-criteria approach for acceptable model fit was adopted (Marsh, Hau, & Wen 2004). All analyses were carried out in Mplus 8.

Results

All dimensions from principal resilience are positively related to the psychological contract scale (r ranged from .46 to .88) and negatively related to the work-family conflict scale (r ranged from -.78 to -.31). The SEM model showed that the dimensions of the PRI positively predicted the psychological contract construct and negatively predicted the work-family conflict construct.

Implications

This project is critical and timely particularly during the post-pandemic period in that the ways for enhancing the outcomes of school principals via the lens of resilience will be reinforced to help them cope with the everyday challenges and adversities that principals encounter.

Connection to the conference theme

This project fits well with the conference theme of ‘Leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably’ via the means of principal resilience.

Objectives. This paper shares insights from a cross-sector partnership to support youth well-being in Chelsea, MA, where institutional and community leaders formed a Children’s Cabinet in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective in this paper is to explore the barriers and contributors to collaboration in crisis, exploring how cross-sector partnership at the systems level works through a close analysis of qualitative interviews with Cabinet members. Specifically, we ask, “How do distinct and blended institutional logics inform engagement in a cross-sector collaboration to support youth well-being and school improvement?”

Cross Sector-collaboration. A growing body of literature about educational reform has focused on how cross-sector, community partnerships support strategic responses to challenges and coordinate networks of social services (Miller et al., 2017). These initiatives have emerged as a way to bring together systems that influence youth outcomes within particular neighborhoods with a focus on aligning the multiple services youth access (Boyer et al, 2020; Impellizeri and Lee, 2021; Sharkey & Faber, 2014).

Institutional Logics. Institutional logics describe the ways in which discrete institutional orders create a system of motive, reason and justification for decisions, priorities and beliefs of an individual or group, together forming a logic of working (Friedland & Alford, 1991). While often discussed in singularity, logics can also co-exist and even compete (Reay & Hinings, 2009). More collaborative forms of institutional logic development also exist as key stakeholders of a problem establish and share common norms, culture and goals that lead to initiatives that change an existing logic or lead to blended logics (Currie & Spyridonidis, 2016).

Study Context. The city of Chelsea is a primarily Latinx community (67%), with the vast majority of youth speaking a language other than English at home (88%). A tight knit, vibrant community, Chelsea has long relied on its institutions, social service agencies and community-based organizations. Hard hit by the pandemic, school district leaders established a Children’s Cabinet in 2021 composed of administrators, social service and health agencies, city government, and non-profit organizations.

Methods. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with cabinet members in April and May of 2021. Each interview lasted approximately 40-60 minutes and was conducted over Zoom. Drawing on our theoretical frameworks, our iterative, open-coding process was conducted by two independent researchers who identified salient themes across interview transcripts and arbitrated any disagreements (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

Findings & Conclusions. Our findings show how leaders across sectors voiced shared logics, blended logics across institutions, and conflicting logics hindering collaboration. First, a dominant and shared ethic of care was named as central to building cross-sector collaboration in the aftermath of the pandemic. Second, individual leaders presented their rationale for collaboration via blended logics that were not necessarily aligned with dominant logics within their respective institutions. Third, despite these overlapping logics, individual roles shaped leaders’ sense of possibility such that they felt constrained to engage in collaboration beyond their established responsibilities. Through our study, we show how collaborations with school, government and community can elevate local leadership and solutions to crisis.

Objectives

Principal well-being worldwide is under increasing threat due to the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands. This paper aimed at developing and validating a multidimensional Principal Well-being Inventory (PWI), and examining the state and consequences (work engagement; intention to leave) of principal well-being.

Research questions

1) What are the elements of the PWI?

2) What is the situation of principal well-being

3) How does principal well-being connect to work engagement and intention to leave?

Theoretical Framework

Recently, The World Health Organization (WHO) (2014) defined well-being as a state of being in which every person sees their potential, can handle everyday life stresses, work productively and fruitfully, and positively contribute to their local community. The OECD (2020) subsequently utilized the multidimensional well-being framework for mass testing students and teachers, but not school principals. The multiple-dimension well-being concept is adopted in this project to design the Principal Well-being Inventory (Pollock & Wang, 2020; Wells & Klocko, 2018).

Scholars have focused on identifying influential organisational and individual drivers of principal well-being, mainly using quantitative methods (Aravena & González, 2021; Beausaert et al., 2021; Collie et al., 2020). Much of their work has examined work-related drivers. For example, in a longitudinal study involving 2,084 Australian and 829 Irish principals, Beausaert et al. (2021) found a that social capital had a significant impact on principal well-being. Moreover, the consequences of principal well-being have also attracted research attention, although not a great deal. Limited evidence shows that more investigations of principal well-being have focused on the relevance of principals as individuals (Beausaert et al., 2021)

Methods

This paper involves four independent samples of principals working in schools from Hong Kong and Mainland China. The research design consisted of four phases with four sequential empirical studies. Phase 1 was to establish the content validity (literature review and Study 1); Phase 2 was to test the construct validity (Study 2 and Study 3); Phase 3 was to build the criterion validity (re-use the data from Study 3), and Phase 4 was to test the cross validity of the PWI (Study 4).

Results

A 24-item PWI was created via a theoretical-empirical approach of test construction covering physical, cognitive, emotional, psychological, social, and spiritual well-being. The principals in this project generally reported a higher level of their occupational well-being except for physical well-being. This project released that principal well-being significantly predicted work engagement and intention to leave via eight regression paths. Particularly, physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive well-being significantly affect work engagement. Emotional, social and spiritual well-being significantly impact intention to leave.

Implications

This theoretically and empirically validated inventory serves as a robust tool for comprehensively understanding principal well-being and a fuller exploration of their well-being literacy, drivers and outcomes.

Connection to the conference theme

This project fits well with the conference theme of ‘Exploring the evolving research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building’. Particularly, this project will contribute to the well-being capacity building.

Problem of practice, connection to conference theme, and research questions

Many schools reacted to the COVID-19 crises by creating structures to strengthen student-teacher relationships in efforts to provide students with targeted support. Having recognized the positive impact of these structures on students, schools are now struggling to concretize them as infrastructural. We address this problem through a two-phased study in partnership with a group of New York City educators, examining educator-made “micro-innovations”. Micro-innovations are adaptations and inventions new to the contexts in which they are developed (Author, 2021; Rogers, 2003). Our research questions ask:

What micro-innovations have educators developed to strengthen student-teacher relationships during the COVID-19 crisis?

How are they sustaining those micro-innovations now?

What challenges and problems have they had to address along the way?

In phase one of this project, we identified and described educator-made micro-innovations. Now, in phase two, we focus on how schools are working to sustain those innovations, and the challenges they have encountered in doing so.

Perspectives

We root our inquiry in research showing that the conventional “grammar of schooling” both creates and constrains the development of new educational practices (Tyack & Cuban, 1995; Cohen & Mehta, 2017). The grammar of schooling describes institutional forces that reinforce conventional school practices. The affordances of conventional practices – or, the constraints that shape behavior with particular objects in particular contexts (Gibson, 1977) – help explain why schools change slowly and incrementally. However, we argue that, when sustained, educator-made micro-innovations can contribute to broader and long lasting educational transformation (Author, 2021).

Approach to inquiry & data sources

We interviewed 20 educators and coaches from schools taking part in a “Continuous Improvement” Network (a pseudonym). This network aims to increase the numbers of Black and Latinx students who graduate high school, and recognizes student-teacher relationships as critical to reaching that goal. We asked participants to describe their schools’ structures that support student-teacher relationships, how these structures transformed through the COVID-19 crisis, and the challenges they face and strategies they are developing toward making these structures sustainable.

Learnings

We found that educators’ efforts to sustain one micro-innovation often created a series of new problems. For example, some educators created structures for one-to-one check-ins during remote instruction. However, in order for that structure to be effective in person, educators had to engage in collaborative improvement planning, which led to challenges with scheduling, professional development, and progress monitoring. Though each challenge seemed to stall progress, each had to be addressed in order to sustain the structure and deepen its impact. Ultimately, schools’ engagement in a continuous improvement process to identify and solve a specific problem turned into a continuous problem-finding process.

Educational importance of research for practice

In order to make systemic change that reflects structures supporting student-teacher relationships, schools must recognize that continuous improvement is not linear, nor guaranteed. In understanding continuous improvement as a continuous problem, schools and educators can develop the priorities and make changes that foster real infrastructural improvements.