Educational Decision-Making During COVID-19 in Ontario: Lessons for Higher Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented novel and unprecedent challenges within the educational realm, from the closure of educational establishments and the rapid implementation of e-learning to monitoring and managing the spread of the virus within the school community. The present research in Ontario, Canada, a province which has experienced prolonged lockdowns, explores the challenges faced by educational leaders as they navigate their schools through the pandemic. This qualitative case-study resulted from interviews conducted with eleven principals who were diverse in terms in gender, years of experience, and school type. The findings of the study reveal that leaders experienced a lack of resources to aid them in their decision making and experienced difficulties in managing their staff and students. However, leaders revealed that they were best capable of overcoming those concerns when using distributed leadership models within their organizations. While the study was conducted in a K-12 context, the findings present valuable insight into leading higher educational establishments through crisis.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC

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