Leading Beyond the Boundaries of Schools

• In Event: Leading in a Time of Crisis

Abstract

As COVID-19 spread across the world, schools in Kenya closed abruptly, forcing children in boarding schools to return home without plans for learning. Principals, teachers, parents, students, and the general public were thrust into panic mode as government officials provided conflicting and sometimes unsurmountable timelines for schools to close and students to travel to their homes across the country safely in the midst of a crisis. Amidst the chaos, students got to their homes and would remain home for the next nine months without knowing when schools would reopen. Schools remained empty and principals and teachers had to wait for government directives on how to work outside the boundaries of school. This phenomenon would repeat itself both over time and geographic locations in Kenya and elsewhere.
The effects of the pandemic on schooling were numerous and unprecedented (Joshi et al., 2018). Almost overnight, schools transitioned to remote instruction for which they were underprepared considering digital disparities (Harris, Kolodner & Morton, 2020) and absence for some. Traditional interactions between teachers and students ceased for some or forcefully changed to remote for others. Fear of the unknown created stress among school administrators and teachers (Houlden & Veletsianos, 2020) and complete dismay among students and their families. While home, students faced challenges ranging from hunger, child labor, socio-emotional issues, to lack of learning also known as learning poverty (World Economic Forum, 2021).
While pedagogical skills using technology among teachers were a challenge before the pandemic in the west (Kali et al., 2011; Shulman 1987), in Kenya teachers in public school had zero to rare access to technology for learning despite government promise to provide every child in primary schools with a tablet (Mbogo, 2020). The closing of schools did not only test the value of teachers, administrators, and government educational officials; it created a crisis in leadership at all levels of education hierarchy. Leadership gaps and gaffes were commonplace, but there was also emergence of unexpected leadership talents and creativity among school leaders, teachers, and individuals in the community. We use Bhola’s (1966) theory of change to understand the chaos, challenges, and inventiveness of leaders in a time of crisis. Bhola explains that change occurs through transmission of culture or transformation of social patterns. While transmission of culture is evolutionary, transformation is reactive (homeostasis, corrective or balance) or inventive (planned, creative).
Using literature searches, newspaper reports, and government directives, we studied the theoretical framework that explains how people act when faced with changing conditions (Bhola, 1966) and then we juxtaposed decisions and actions of Kenyan government officials and school leaders to make sense of leadership beyond the boundaries of schools in time of crisis. Our research indicated that school leaders and teachers while facing insurmountable circumstances as schools closed, pivoted their attention to creating conditions that would enable children to learn, be safe, and stay connected with schools. However, many students experienced learning poverty as they could not be reached revealing the societal deficits, specifically in leadership that have never been thought of.

Authors

• Teresa Akinyi Wasonga, Northern Illinois University

• Ximena D. Burgin, Northern Illinois University