Collaboration in Times of Crisis: Leading UK Schools in the Early Stages of a Pandemic

Hulme, Moira; Beauchamp, Gary K.; Clarke, Linda; Hamilton, Lorna

doi:10.1080/15700763.2021.1917623

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In these ways, understandings are provided into how to address and learn from the social and communication restrictions autistic people usually undergo (Simmons, 2020), as the bi-directional nature of communication is emphasised (Wood, 2020). In addition, given that school leaders themselves felt a lack of agency during periods of Covid-related mitigations (Hulme et al, 2021), and that "top-down communication was the most significant challenge" they faced (Fotheringham et al, 2022, p. 221), the necessity of considering the whole workforce during periods of crisis is emphasised. These findings are reflected in broader research into the impact of Covid-19 in the employment sector, such as that an atmosphere of open dialogue must be fostered if the well-being of all is to be maintained (Sigahi et al, 2021).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from autistic teachers: lessons about change in an era of COVID-19

et al. 2022

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The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in major upheavals in the school education sector, particularly during periods of "lockdown" and remote working. While the impact of these changes on pupils, parents and school staff, both nationally and internationally, has been well-documented, there has been scant consideration of the effects on disabled educators. In addition, the mixed nature of the existing research findings in the special education contextrevealing positives, as well as negatives from Covid-related adjustmentssuggests the need to learn broader lessons from the impact of these measures. In this article, we report on findings from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 21 autistic school staff working in a range of roles in schools in the UK. Using thematic analysis, participants' experiences of lockdown were analysed. Importantly, these were also compared with participants' experiences outside of the pandemic. The resulting five themessensory issues and the working environment; communication and social barriers and freedoms; stresses and strengths associated with technology; navigating home/school boundaries; and modalities of changerevealed some of the significant difficulties autistic school staff typically experience in their work, as well as the factors that intersect with these. Although periods of Covid-related measures created additional stresses for participants, they also provided a respite from the usual pressures, and indeed enabled their strengthsincluding an ability to manage changeto be more manifest. Valuable insights, which could benefit autistic school staff, pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and the whole school community in the UK and beyond, are discussed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from autistic teachers: lessons about change in an era of COVID-19

et al. 2022

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“…School leadership is complex work and principals make sense of and act on school-related issues based on their worldviews, beliefs about their communities, and understandings of teaching and learning (Anagnostopoulos and Rutledge, 2007; DeMatthews, 2015; Longmuir, 2019; Reid, 2021; Spillane et al, 2002). With a specific focus on how school leaders collaborated with external stakeholders, Hulme et al (2021) looked at how headteachers actively engaged in sensemaking to ‘craft coherence’ during the COVID-19 induced, UK school closures. Using a framework of bridging, brokering and buffering adaptive leadership strategies this study described how school leaders bridged to reinvigorate school-to-school networks that had ‘previously been under-valued and under-utilized as a consequence of increased competition between schools’ (Hulme et al, 2021: 24), brokered to negotiate common understandings and shared agreements in ambiguous times and buffered by filtering information for staff and parents in ways that ensured trust was developed.…”

Section: Sensemakingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading in lockdown: Community, communication and compassion in response to the COVID-19 crisis

Longmuir¹

2021

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

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This paper examines the ways that Australian school leaders made sense of and responded to situations of crisis and uncertainty that resulted from the COVID-19 global pandemic. The paper draws on a qualitative study of the subjective experiences of eight school leaders and uses a sensemaking theoretical approach applied to crisis leadership to contribute to understanding leadership in unprecedented situations. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews undertaken in the middle of 2020. At that time participants were working through significant changes resulting from community lockdowns that required their schools to move to remote provision of education. The findings revealed these school leaders engaged in rapid processes of sensemaking and change implementation. They assessed and managed risks, relationships and resourcing in environments where usual processes of change leadership were not available to them. They reported that their attention was predominantly directed to the well-being of their communities. They noted an increase in the community leadership aspect of their role and the requirement of effective, timely and honest communication. They also demonstrated prospective sensemaking orientations in their capacity to reconfigure for a positive and productive future that could emerge from these disruptive experiences.

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“…During the pandemic, a number of frameworks were created to guide leaders during a crisis both within and beyond education. These include analysis of government leadership (see Farhan, 2021; Haslam et al, 2021) as well as educational leadership (see Harris and Jones, 2020; Hulme et al, 2021; Marshall et al, 2020; Urick et al, 2021). Whilst any of these frameworks would have proved useful in analysing the vignette, as Wilson’s was published early it was therefore accessible during the planning stage of this article and, perhaps more importantly, the leadership and success of Prime Minister (PM) Ardern had resonated with me during the crisis.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…. with different structures, professional cultures, and accountabilities’ (Hulme et al, 2021: 5). Throughout this article, when referring to leading and managing I will specify whether this relates to staff, students or others.…”

Section: Vignette and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

The heavy weight of COVID leadership: an analysis of one international school’s leadership during the pandemic

Pearce

2023

Jnl of Research in Internatl Education

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The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented chaos all over the world, and schools and their leaders have not escaped its impacts. This article analyses the leadership actions of the team from one international school in reopening after mandated lockdown; it seeks to contribute to the discourse on school leadership during these unprecedented times and to share leadership lessons with those bearing the weight of responsibility of leadership during the pandemic. Using the lens of a framework drawn from the example of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s leadership of New Zealand during the crisis, the actions of the school leaders are examined and linked to each of the good practices outlined. To connect this firmly to school leadership, the actions are categorised as either educational management or educational leadership, and then assessed to determine to what extent transactional and/or transformational leadership was appropriate to how the leaders responded to the various issues that arose during the events. From the analysis, I conclude that the actions of school leaders should fall under the guise of both leadership and management in order to successfully take a school through a period of uncertainty such as this, and should utilise both transformational and transactional leadership, dependent upon the circumstances with which they are faced.

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Collaboration in Times of Crisis: Leading UK Schools in the Early Stages of a Pandemic

Cited by 16 publications

References 55 publications

Learning from autistic teachers: lessons about change in an era of COVID-19

Learning from autistic teachers: lessons about change in an era of COVID-19

Leading in lockdown: Community, communication and compassion in response to the COVID-19 crisis

The heavy weight of COVID leadership: an analysis of one international school’s leadership during the pandemic

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