The Need of the Virtual Principal Amid the Pandemic

Westberry, Lee; Hornor, Tara; Murray, Kent

doi:10.22230/ijepl.2021v17n10a1139

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The closure of schools and the shift from in person to virtual learning may have played a role in this differentiation. Because the transitioning to the virtual environment has largely changed principals’ roles and leadership practices during the pandemic (Harris, 2020), many principals experienced a drop in their efficacy level in leadership in comparison to that prior to the pandemic (Westberry & Hornor, 2022). Further, collaborative action and effort became more critical in response to new challenges and crises (Schechter et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional support, efficacy beliefs, and compassion fatigue in principals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023

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Guided by the social cognitive theory and job demands-resources model, we used multiple regression analyses to examine the concurrent and interactive influences of professional support and efficacy beliefs on compassion fatigue during COVID-19 among 231 school principals in California. Controlling for principals' individual-and school-level demographic factors, professional support and their district collective efficacy (but not self-efficacy) were significantly and negatively associated with compassion fatigue. The negative association between professional support and compassion fatigue was moderated by both collective and self-efficacy. Professional support had a significantly negative association with compassion fatigue only among principals with both lower collective and self-efficacy beliefs. In addition, female principals reported significantly higher compassion fatigue than their male counterparts. Principals who oversee schools with larger student populations (i.e., 500-1,000 students) reported significantly less compassion fatigue than those who lead smaller schools (i.e., less than 200 students). Findings highlighted the importance of promoting principals' efficacy beliefs and increasing professional support to address their compassion fatigue. Findings also indicated that professional support and efficacy beliefs interact with each other in a compensatory way to influence the principal's compassion fatigue concurrently. Practical implications for school psychologists' capacity to support school leaders' compassion fatigue are discussed. Impact and ImplicationsThis is one of the first empirical studies examining the concurrent and interactive influences of efficacy beliefs and professional support on principals' compassion fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings highlighted the importance of promoting principals' sense of self-and collective efficacy and increasing professional support to address their compassion fatigue. Findings also indicated that professional support and efficacy beliefs interact with each other in a compensatory way to influence the principal's compassion fatigue concurrently.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Professional support, efficacy beliefs, and compassion fatigue in principals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2023

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“…First and foremost, with the rapid onset of online learning, teachers were in need of professional development support from their principals especially those that had little aptitude for instructional technology. This is not a surprising finding as the literature documents the instructional leadership responsibility as paramount during the pandemic (Westberry et al, 2021). Further, Westberry et al (2021) suggested themes of concern for virtual principals during the pandemic, such as, "increased presence and communication, projecting calm during uncertainty, displaying flexibility, empathy and patience, knowledge of technological capability and a systems approach to sustained instructional leadership" (p1).…”

Section: Adapting To Pressuresmentioning

confidence: 96%

Emergency Remote Teaching: The Challenges Associated with a Context of Second Language Instruction

MacKinnon

MacLean²

2023

CJLT

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The pandemic of 2020 frequently necessitated that offshore school teachers continue their instruction of Chinese children in the online format rather than face-to-face back in China; a so-called emergency remote teaching response. A required change in pedagogy accompanied a range of challenges in an effort to offer quality education to English as a Second Language (ESL) students. During the fall 2020-2021 academic year, a sample of 25 teachers and 3 principals provided feedback on those inherent challenges in a mixed method study consisting of surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Factors that impacted the delivery were identified in broad categories of teacher lifestyle, hindrances with technology, teaching practice, and pedagogical support. The findings were unique in that 1) they were nested in a response to a difficult context as opposed to a carefully planned online instruction and 2) second language students constituted a different learning cohort. This work further adds to the literature by suggesting that cognitive load, self-regulation, and attentional literacy deserve careful consideration when contexts of ESL learning with technology are implicated. This work further adds to the literature by suggesting that cognitive load, self-regulation and attentional literacy deserve careful consideration when contexts of ESL learning with technology are implicated.

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“…The pandemic forced educators to reimagine learning with a complete reliance on technology in the virtual space. The pandemic compelled school leaders to make leadership moves without any significant time for planning, preparation, or the garnering of resources which are the hallmarks of quality professional development (Westberry et al, 2021).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, Harris and Jones (2020) posited that school leadership during the pandemic needed to be grounded in principles of good leadership, such as building capacity in themselves and others and managing people. Westberry et al (2021) agreed but added that the needs of a virtual principal varied from the traditional role of a school principal. This speaks to the need for ongoing professional development for school leaders, especially in the face of crisis (Westberry et al, 2021).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Westberry et al (2021) agreed but added that the needs of a virtual principal varied from the traditional role of a school principal. This speaks to the need for ongoing professional development for school leaders, especially in the face of crisis (Westberry et al, 2021). The pandemic forced school leaders to engage in urgent, real-time sensemaking of mandates, policies, and communiques regarding the implementation of online instruction when there were no precedents (Harris & Jones, 2020;Reyes-Guerra et al, 2021).…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitigating learning disruption: school leadership sensemaking and preparation for blended and remote learning during COVID-19 school closures

Gibson

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School closures resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effects on student learning requiring continuous school improvement efforts to recover from the learning loss. This study investigated the level of preparedness of K-12 school leaders for the implementation of blended or remote instruction in an online environment during the pandemic. This entailed how principals and assistant principals evaluated teacher pedagogy in their school communities, while using their lived instructional leadership experiences to reduce the uncertainty, chaos, and student learning disruption that was exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. The director of a New York City principal leadership pipeline program for aspiring school leaders and four school leaders were interviewed about their level of preparedness to implement online instruction. Participants reported inconsistent professional learning to support the implementation of online instruction. Asynchronous virtual professional learning modules were designed and disseminated to the participants to strengthen their pedagogies using an online instructional delivery method. In addition, a rubric to gauge non-evaluative online teaching was introduced. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated for the online modules, revealing participant satisfaction with the professional learning modules and change agency for the participants and their school communities. These findings can inform school leaders on how to support online instruction in their school communities and approaches to mitigating student learning disruption in an online environment.

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The Need of the Virtual Principal Amid the Pandemic

Cited by 6 publications

References 40 publications

Professional support, efficacy beliefs, and compassion fatigue in principals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional support, efficacy beliefs, and compassion fatigue in principals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emergency Remote Teaching: The Challenges Associated with a Context of Second Language Instruction

Mitigating learning disruption: school leadership sensemaking and preparation for blended and remote learning during COVID-19 school closures

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