Outstanding Primary Leadership in Times of Turbulence

Abstract

Leadership and management in schools have sought to produce high quality education for all pupils. To inform and support school leaders’ educationalists have developed theories and undertaken research studies identifying the relationships, contexts and characteristics that enable effective leadership. However, recent times of turbulence in primary schools have had an inevitable impact upon the key drivers for successful leadership and management. This study builds upon our previous research into outstanding leadership in primary education to examine the impact that such change has had upon the leadership of serving head teachers. It utilises an adapted Q-sort methodology to identify the views of serving head teachers to gain insights into the impact that such change has had upon their leadership. Overall, the analysis identified a need for aspirational characteristics of leadership, underpinned by personal values to guide schools in such times, as they strive to produce high quality education.

School board ‘visibility’ during the COVID-19 pandemic: Education management musings from a tripartite case study of schools in Central Uganda

“…The findings further prove Fernandez et al (2020) that during the pandemic there are leaders that communicated frequently with each other and with school administration "to build a sense of community, belonging and trust and reduce anxiety" (p. 43). This is what Howard et al (2021) call 'compassionate leadership'. This board bought into Davis (2020: 1)'s recommendation that board "chairs should work with members…to ensure that meetings, in whatever form, can still be held to conduct necessary business".…”

“…This board bought into Davis (2020: 1)'s recommendation that board "chairs should work with members…to ensure that meetings, in whatever form, can still be held to conduct necessary business". In this case, the board of School B may be taken as exemplifying 'outstanding leadership' during a crisis (Howard et al, 2021). However, even for School B's board, there was no evidence to support Pollock (2020) that boards became COVID-19 information mobilizers and policy interpreters for the good of their schools.…”

“…A case study was preferred to a sweeping survey to enable an in-depth inquiry of board's 'visibility'. Also Howard et al (2021) contend that since context is even more important when considering effective leadership practices during such emergencies as COVID-19, case studies are preferable. Being 'descriptive', the study mainly aimed at exploring the who, what, how and why of board realities without delving into causal relationships (Kombo & Tromp, 2006).…”

“…How, then, did BOGs in Uganda actually carry out their functions during the traumatic times of the COVID -19 pandemic? Studies such as Howard and Dhillon (2021) indicated that considering the turbule nce occasioned by COVID-19, the need for outstanding board leadership to ensure student and staff wellbeing became even more urgent. That is 'new normal leadership', which focuses on "the ability to be adaptive while staying strong with one's commitment" (Francisco et al, 2020: 18).…”

“…A review of literature indicated that existing research largely examines school leadership during the COVID-19 era from the perspective of principals (Harris, 2020;Howard et al, 2021;Pollock, 2020;Stone-Johnson & Weiner, 2020), leaving the question of school board leadership during COVID-19 basically unasked and unanswered. Yet also before the pandemic scholars were complaining that "given the significance of the board's responsibility, board functioning as a focus of research remains somewhat neglected" (Connolly et al, 2017: 6).…”