Educational Change Post-Pandemic: Our school leaders and the rising demands of the profession

• In Event: Education Policy and Reform (I)

Proposal

Description of Presentation for the Program: School leaders are charged with the difficult task of creating learning environments that support the culture and needs of their students along with meeting the demands of their micro- (school-level struggles) and macro- (larger systemic demands on their time) environments. Diversity and constant learning are central elements in adapting to complex and changing conditions. As accountability demands rise post-pandemic, administrators become more isolated, presenting another challenge to their already complex work. This paper session shares these challenges alongside some uplifting ideas for meaningful and sustainable educational change.

 
This paper session shares the voices and quandaries of school principals and superintendents and views their struggles and successes through the framework of complexity theory in a post-pandemic world. Presenters discuss in line with the call for proposals of CIES 2024, sub-theme 3, approaches, methodologies, and protest. We focused on responding to the question “In what ways can education be a catalyst for change in the areas of educational leadership?” Decolonizing practices and theoretical frameworks were central to this research from the research questions, data collection, and data analysis. Suggestions are made for distributed leadership and networking with colleagues within and across districts as potential avenues for managing the significant stress and workloads of school and district leaders amid increasing standardization and demands on their time. One of the major frameworks used in this book is Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) theory of ecological systems. This theory was used because it posits that individual development is informed by the interaction with and influence of the surrounding environment, from immediate to distant surroundings. The concentric circles include the individual at the middle, the micro-level of the interactions of the individual with institutions, the macro-level where individuals are informed and influenced by broader systems and structures, and then the final level of context where all these layers inform and influence one another.

Schools are reflective of society and influenced by the communities they serve. Successful schools are adaptive and change to meet the demands of their micro- and macro-environments. Diversity and constant learning are central elements in adapting to complex and changing conditions (Morrison, 2008) and creating and sustaining reform that is meaningful and important (Hargreaves & Fink, 2006). Leadership and human behavior are not always controllable, rational, and predictable. Change is ubiquitous and being a leader in today’s knowledge society requires an adaptive, connectionist, and holistic understanding of systemic change and reform.

In the Voices from the Field research, a large qualitative study conducted across rural, suburban, and urban districts around the country, school leaders spoke of the high level of stress and responsibility in their roles as district leaders. They discussed the need for mentoring and networking to lessen feelings of isolation and vulnerability, particularly among those working with struggling schools. In the context of both changing student demographics and increased school accountability, the role of school administrators, already complex, becomes even more so (Crow, 2006; Rorrer & Skrla, 2005). levels. Complexity theory challenges the traditional grammars of schooling, heavily mandated content, and high-stakes testing and assessment. It encourages thoughtful analysis of our internal and external systems, distributed and shared leadership, and inter-disciplinary practices. It discourages balkanized classrooms and grade levels.

Administrators, already isolated by the nature of their work, become even more so as they strive to raise achievement for their students, teachers, and communities. To initiate, implement, and sustain successful school reform it is necessary to understand the “interdependence of relational ties that may ultimately moderate, influence, and even determine the direction, speed, and depth of change” (Daly, 2010, p. 1). At present, there are few mechanisms in place to allow school leaders to share their strategies or successes with one another. In fact, the very marketization of school competition precludes such sharing (Evans & Stone-Johnson, 2010).

In this paper session, networking and distributed leadership are demonstrated avenues to lessen the isolation and demands placed on school leaders, particularly during times of high stress and accountability. Complexity theory is used as a framework to share the voices of principals and superintendents and their struggles to enact and sustain change in today’s knowledge society (Morrison, 2008) and move towards creating and sustaining reform that is meaningful and important (Hargreaves & Fink, 2006). Complexity theory aims to ask questions and is learning-based like education. As life-long learners and educators, we need to review continuously and constantly what is working and rework what is not. On an individual level, our minds are not static, but constantly growing and learning. In groups and in communities, there is constant change among and between networks. In today’s rapidly changing society, our networks define a part of who we are, who we know, and what we have access to.

We focus on the value of connectedness and networking using networking and distributed leadership as guides to unpack some of the complexity from complexity theory. As we viewed the Voices data, it became increasingly clear that principals and superintendents were overwhelmed with their workloads and the vast responsibilities placed upon them. They found support in their past and present relationships with other school leaders facing similar quandaries and assistance with work pressures through shared leadership. While recent research demonstrates the importance of professional communities in enacting and sustaining educational change within schools (Hargreaves, et al., 2012; 2007; McLaughlin & Talbert, 2007), little research examines professional learning communities across schools. Isolation remains a looming issue for school leaders (Kew et al., 2012; Stephenson & Bauer, 2010).

Authors

• Kristin Kew, New Mexico State University

• Helen Janc Malone, Institute for Educational Leadership

• Olga Fellus

• Deidre Le Fevre, University of Auckland