School Principals' Experiences Leading After a Traumatic Event

• In Event: Leading in a Time of Crisis

Abstract

This study explored the experiences of Canadian school principals (including vice/assistant principals) as they led through traumatic events. The following questions guided the research: a) In what ways did school principals experience posttraumatic growth after a traumatic event in their school community? b) How did leaders draw on personal, professional and school system resources to manage through the first year after a traumatic event in their system? c) How did leading through a traumatic event affect principals’ approach to leadership or their self-understanding?
While principals have been the subject of some research with respect to traumatic events (Brown, 2018; McAdams & Foster, 2008; Tarrant, 2011b), at the time of this study it did not appear there was research about posttraumatic growth and school principals. There is some evidence about the negative impact of traumatic events connected to schools (Webber & Mascari, 2018), but the present study queried whether some principals may also experience personal or professional growth.
This study had two phases. The first was the dissemination of a survey to individuals who were or had been a school principal. The survey included nine demographic questions, the twenty-one-item Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 1996), and one question asking for volunteers to engage in an interview with the researcher. The survey found (using SPSS) a low degree of posttraumatic growth for the principals who completed the survey (n = 96). The final number of interview participants was five vice/assistant principals and five principals (n = 10) who described their leadership experience following a traumatic event connected to their schools.
Interviews were analysed using a naturalistic and pragmatic approach entitled interpretive description (Thorne, 2016). All principals in phase two indicated some elements of personal and/or professional growth. However, they also indicated a measure of personal cost to themselves as well. Some experienced a significant impact including relational affects and mental wellness affects that lasted two or more years. While all principals described a target event for the interview, nine out of ten shared multiple disruptive, crisis or traumatic events that they encountered in their leadership positions in schools.
Most principals described that because of their training and support from districts, they felt relatively confident to lead managerially and instructionally. However, many had not been prepared to lead through a traumatic event. Further, most indicated there was no formal support for principals after traumatic events. Some districts appeared to be able to support their principals by patching together resources. Other principals felt let-down or abandoned by the paucity of adaptive responses from school districts.
The implications of this research are that traumatic events happen in schools and principals are at the apex of response initiatives (Webber & Mascari, 2018). Districts need to understand the impacts on principals both personally and professionally so they can develop appropriate resources for principals. Further, they may benefit from understanding the possibility of posttraumatic growth and how “expert companionship” (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2013) may be incorporated for principals to elevate the possibility of resiliency and hope.

Authors

• Coralee Pringle-Nelson, University of Saskatchewan

• Paul Newton