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A day in the life of a school principal in Greece

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A day in the life of a school principal in Greece

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COSL -Challenges & Opportunities in School Leadership

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A day in the life of a school principal in Greece! | By COSL -Challenges & Opportunities in School Leadership | Facebook

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8 views, 0 likes, 2 loves, 0 comments, 0 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from COSL -Challenges & Opportunities in School Leadership: A day in the life of a school principal in Greece!

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A day in the life of a school principal in Spain

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A day in the life of a school principal in Spain

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWS6GjqcQk

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A Day in the Life of a School Principal in Spain

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The OECD Handbook for Innovative Learning Environments

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This handbook makes good the ILE ambition not just to analyse change but to offer practical help to those around the world determined to innovate their schools and systems.

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Strategies to assist new principals overcome obstacles and avoid pitfalls from Linda Bendikson of UACEL

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Viviane Robinson on solving complex problems of practice

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Strategic Leadership of ICT - ppt video online download

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Aims of the SLICT programme To enhance the capacity of headteachers to act strategically in leading the development of ICT in their schools Stress that this is the key programme aim D1-S3-W1-PP

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Bob Lenz and Sally Kingston
Steven Covey says, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." That's what we say about Project Based Learning: make projects the main thing. Don't fall into the trap of using a little PBL here and there. Students who engage regularly in well-designed projects retain knowledge better, learn more deeply with understanding, and develop skills to be successful in college, career and life. We have seen firsthand the transformation that happens for students, teachers, and communities when teachers keep PBL the main thing.
Too often, projects are not the main thing because teachers need the time and support to make shifts in their practice from more traditional approaches. They may have assigned "projects" before, but have trouble seeing how they can teach more of their curriculum via PBL.
How can teachers make projects the main thing in their classrooms?

Gold Standard PBL Teaching Practices

To support good Project Based Learning (PBL), the Buck Institute for Education (BIE) recently created a model of . These seven practices describe what teachers need to know and be able to do to make projects the "main thing" in their classroom. Gold Standard Project Based Teaching Practices

17 Tech Tools for High Quality Project-Based Learning

Teachers can use a variety of tech tools to translate each of the following Gold Standard Teaching Practices into rich and rigorous projects.

Design & Plan.

Teachers create or adapt a project for their context and students, and plan its implementation from launch to culmination.

Align to Standards.

Teachers use standards to plan the project and make sure it addresses key knowledge, understanding, and success skills.

Build the Culture.

Teachers explicitly and implicitly promote student independence and growth, open-ended inquiry, team spirit, and attention to quality.

Google Forms is a great tool for teachers to create quick surveys for students to share feedback on lessons, voice their opinion, and offer ideas about projects.

Manage Activities.

Teachers work with students to organize tasks, set checkpoints and deadlines, find and use resources, and create products. 8. Projects have many pieces that need to be organized from start to finish. Teachers can use Project Foundry , a web-based platform, to manage projects and to help students manage, archive, and showcase projects.

Engage & Coach.

Teachers engage in learning and creating alongside students, and identify when they need skill-building, redirection, and encouragement.

Scaffold Student Learning.

Teachers employ a variety of lessons, tools, and instructional strategies to support all students in reaching project goals.

Assess Student Learning.

Teachers use formative and summative assessments of knowledge, understanding, and success skills, and include self and peer assessment of team and individual work.

is a fun and engaging way to assess student learning in a project. Students in grades 3-6 show what they know and can do by creating animated movies. Students also learn the basics of entrepreneurship and business as they create and run movie companies.

What tech tools do you use in your classroom to make projects the main thing? What Gold Standard Project Based Teaching Practices are they aligned to? What do you like about them? Share with us on Twitter using the hashtags
#PBL and #PBLWorld.
For more on high quality project-based learning, see:

Sally Kingston is a Senior Education Analyst at AEM Corporation. Follow Sally on Twitter, @SallyKingston5 .
Bob Lenz is Executive Director at Buck Institute for Education. Follow Bob on Twitter
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update . This post includes mentions of a Getting Smart partner. For a full list of partners, affiliate organizations and all other disclosures please see our Partner page

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17 Teacher Tech Tools for High Quality Project-Based Learning

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Bob Lenz and Sally Kingston Steven Covey says, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." That's what we say about Project Based Learning: make projects the main thing. Don't fall into the trap of using a little PBL here and there.

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SELFIE anonymously gathers the views of students, teachers and school leaders on how technology is used in their school.

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Best ICT Tools and Practices to Improve Work Efficiency & Save Time of School Heads and Teachers

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JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.

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Here you can consult the pages of the 40 Eurydice Network national units based in 37 countries (27 Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Türkiye).

You can browse information either by national unit or by chapter.

National units are responsible for the drafting of their education system descriptions and the content of all 14 chapters according to a common structure. The national education system descriptions provide information on topics that are relevant to the European framework for cooperation in education.

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Here you can consult the pages of the 40 Eurydice Network national units based in 37 countries (27 Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Türkiye). You can browse information either by national unit or by chapter.

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The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science works to create a smart, skilled and creative environment in the Netherlands. Its mission is to ensure that everyone gets a good education and is prepared for responsibility and independence. The Ministry also wants people to enjoy the arts, and aims to create the right conditions for teachers, artists and researchers to do their work.

Our mission is to ensure a knowledgeable, skilled and cultured country.

The Ministry has the following objectives:

To ensure that everyone gets a good education

To ensure that everyone is prepared for personal independance and responsibility

To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to experience and enjoy culture

To ensure that teachers, artists and scientists are able to carry out their work

Personnel

Ministry of Education, Culture and Science personnel are dedicated, knowledgeable, professional, approachable and motivated.

Dedicated - the Ministry carries out its work on behalf of parliamentary democracy and its institutions. It does so legitimately, efficiently and with integrity. Together with personnel from other Ministries, its personnel aim to offer excellent public services.

Knowledgeable and professional - Personnel are critical, dare to stick their necks out, work professionally and work together. They do not believe in bureaucracy but in their colleagues' abilities.

Approachable - The work of personnel directly affects citizens and, as such, due care is shown when dealing with the public. It is important to listen to other people's opinions, to show respect when dealing with the public, and to be transparent at work.

Motivated - Personnel motivate, develop and correct each other. The responsibilities of personnel are respected and agreements are honoured. Ministry of Education, Culture and Science personnel are open to new ideas and wish to keep learning.

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Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

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The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science works to create a smart, skilled and creative environment in the Netherlands. Its mission is to ensure that everyone gets a good education and is prepared for responsibility and independence. The Ministry also wants people to enjoy the arts, and aims to create the right conditions for teachers, artists and researchers to do their work.

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VIA 3d - Voorlichting Ichthus College Kampen

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Voorlichting schooljaar 2022-2023 Ichthus College Kampen 2022- Onderdeel van Landstede groep

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Impressie van EDUtech 2022 @RAI Amsterdam Inspirerende keynotes en innovatie van SMART Technologies

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COSL - Challenges and Opportunities of SchoolLeadership

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There are a total of 33 accredited (approved) higher education institutions in Norway (October 2019). There are 10 universities, 9 specialised university institutions (1 of which are art academy) and 14 university colleges. In addition, there are 18 non-accredited university colleges offering approved first degree programmes. Overall responsibility for accreditation rests with the Ministry of Education and Research, and it is regulated in the Act relating to Universities and University Colleges and in NOKUT's regulations, among others.

The universities and most university colleges are run by the Norwegian state, and studying at these institutions is free of charge. Students at private institutions pay tuition fees, but many of the institutions also receive financial support from the state. The Ministry of Education and Research has overall responsibility for higher education in Norway. See a list of accredited higher education institutions.

The Norwegian Universities and Colleges Admission Service (NUCAS) administers admission to first degree level programmes (bachelor's, university college graduate or one-year programmes) at universities and university colleges. The Higher Education Entrance Qualification or a corresponding qualification is a requirement for admission to higher education, but the programmes can have different additional admission criteria. Some programmes require certain grades or certain combinations of subjects from upper secondary education. If a programme has more applicants than places, applicants will compete for admission based on points calculated on the applicants' grades from upper secondary school and bonus points earned in other contexts.

Some programmes admit applicants without the Higher Education Entrance Qualification. This is called the vocational pathway ('y-veien'). Admission to these programmes is based on a relevant craft or journeyman's certificate or upper secondary vocational qualifications. It is up to the institutions to choose whether to admit students via the vocational pathway, and they must apply to the Ministry of Education and Research for exemption from the ordinary admission procedure (Higher Education Entrance Qualification).

Some private educational institutions have their own admission procedures, and applications to such institutions must be sent directly to the institution.

Credits, grades and degrees

Completed courses are measured in credits that comply with the European standard. A full-time study programme corresponds to 60 credits per academic year. Examination grades are awarded on a scale from A (best) to F (fail), where E is the lowest pass grade. Some examinations are only assessed as Pass/Fail.

Since 2003, higher education has been structured as three-year bachelor's programmes, two-year master's programmes and three-year PhD programmes, with some exceptions.

Bachelor's programmes

A bachelor's degree programme is a three-year course of study (180 ECTS credits). After completing your bachelor's degree, you can continue to a master's degree and a doctorate in accordance with certain rules.

Some bachelor's programmes have a fixed structure, while others allow you to choose between different courses after completing the first part of the programme. In study programmes where you have more freedom of choice, the combination of courses must comply with the guidelines of the educational institution in order to confer a bachelor's degree.

University college graduate programmes
There are some two-year bachelor-level programmes at university colleges that confer the title university college graduate.

One-year programmes/supplementary programmes/short programmes
There are also many one-year programmes, supplementary programmes and short programmes. Many of them can form part of bachelor's degrees, and some can also form the basis for programmes of professional study in the subject, for example in psychology.

Master's degree programmes

A master's degree programme is usually a two-year course of studies (120 ECTS credits). The programme builds on academic specialisation in the bachelor's degree and includes independent work.

Some master's degree programmes are based on relevant work experience in addition to academic specialisation in the bachelor's degree. Such programmes are called experience-based programmes, and their scope can be either two years (120 ECTS credits) or one and a half years (90 ECTS credits).

Doctoral degree (PhD)

This degree is based on a master's degree or equivalent qualification and is the highest academic degree in Norway. The study programme must be based on independent research conducted in cooperation with academic supervisors and other researchers, and it can be carried out within the framework of a researcher training programme.

Programmes of professional study

Programmes of professional study are characterised by fixed course plans over several years in a subject area.

Three-year programmes of professional study lead up to a bachelor's degree. Examples include nursing training and social work programmes.

Many university colleges offer four-year teacher training programmes. Candidates can be awarded the bachelor's degree after three years if the programme meets the requirements for a bachelor's degree set out in the regulations for the university college. Teaching qualifications for primary and lower secondary school can only be achieved after four years.

Five-year programmes of professional study (integrated master's degrees) are most common at universities and in the following subject areas: pharmacy, fisheries science, informatics, engineering, law, odontology, teacher training and economics.

Six-year programmes of professional study lead up to special degrees. Programmes in medicine, veterinary medicine, psychology and theology result in the degrees of cand.med., cand.med.vet., cand.psychol. and cand.theol.

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General information about education in Norway

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There are a total of 33 accredited (approved) higher education institutions in Norway (October 2019). There are 10 universities, 9 specialised university institutions (1 of which are art academy) and 14 university colleges. In addition, there are 18 non-accredited university colleges offering approved first degree programmes.

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To facilitate individuals through learning, to achieve their full potential and contribute to Ireland’s social, cultural and economic development.

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The international group of participants, including members of the European School Heads Association (ESHA) was welcomed at the Stroomdal primary school in Kampen on Monday, 3rd of October. Director Han Boone and Gerben van Dijk (teacher and IT specialist) guided the school leaders from Norway, Estonia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Slovenia, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands through their process of digitisation and the challenges and dilemmas of contemporary education.
ESHA consultant Luca Laszlo delivered two workshops. Her workshop on the topic of Child agency inspired the participants greatly. The conversation at the Sails workshop on digitization was related to the guidelines for school leaders. ESHA has presented two new quality cards from the HEADstart series.

On Tuesday, 4 th of October, the international group visited a number of schools in Kampen: the Techlab in the Ichtus College (VIA professional route), De Spanker Special Education Secondary School and the primary special education school Prisma.

The purpose of the visit was sharing inspiration and knowledge on various themes. In the Techlab the company could experiment with all kinds of technology, then they cooked for them in De Spanker and the group could visit lessons of practical subjects. The day was concluded in Prisma with information about specialized education and the administrative model in the Netherlands.

On 5 th of October, participants visited EDUtech Europe in Amsterdam. In addition to gaining a lot of knowledge and inspiration, the chairmen of ESHA members from Estonia and Norway and a Greek representative held a panel discussion on stage. Director Petra van Haren moderated two sessions.

You can find more information for school heads on the website of the project about challenges and opportunities in strategies for digitalisation.

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COSL study visit in the Netherlands | ESHA

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The international group of participants, including members of the European School Heads Association (ESHA) was welcomed at the Stroomdal primary school in Kampen on Monday, 3rd of October. Director Han Boone and Gerben van Dijk (teacher and IT specialist) guided...

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Apply

The National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership ( NPQSL) supports the professional development of aspiring and serving senior leaders.

Apply with one of the providers accredited to offer this qualification. Contact your preferred provider, or visit their website, to find out more about the qualification.

Providers

The Department for Education ( DfE) accredited providers to design, deliver and assess one or more of the national professional qualifications ( NPQs). You can only take an NPQ with an accredited provider.

To ensure that your NPQ is accessible, high quality and nationally consistent, your provider's programme must meet the requirements of the:

NPQ content and assessment framework, which sets out the knowledge and skills that providers must teach as part of each NPQ, and the tasks and criteria against which providers will be required to assess their candidates

NPQ quality framework, which sets out the standards of provision that providers must meet to retain their accreditation

Read them at the National professional qualifications: frameworks page.

Who can apply

You should be, or aspire to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities, for example:

an experienced middle leader

a deputy headteacher

an assistant headteacher

other senior staff

This includes senior leaders working across more than one school, for example, directors of teaching school alliances.

What's involved

Study can last between 2 academic terms and 18 months, depending on your provider.

During this time you will:

develop knowledge and skills across 6 content areas, which set out what an effective senior leader should know and be able to do

have the opportunity to develop up to 7 key leadership behaviours, which set out how an effective leader should operate

complete a final assessment that evaluates your capability against the knowledge and skills set out in the 6 content areas

There are 40 accredited providers of the current NPQs. Their accreditation contracts finish in August 2022 by which time they must have completed all assessment, reassessment and moderation activity.

Content areas

The 6 content areas across which you will develop your senior leadership knowledge and skills are:

strategy and improvement

teaching and curriculum excellence

leading with impact

working in partnership

managing resources and risks

increasing capability

Leadership behaviours

The 7 leadership behaviours that you will have the opportunity to develop are:

Structure and teaching methods

The structure of the NPQSL and the teaching methods will vary between providers, but will include:

on-the-job leadership training

challenge and support - through a coach and/or mentor

access to high-quality resources, drawing on up-to-date research and evidence

professional development from and with credible peers

opportunities for structured reflection

Final assessment

You will complete a school improvement project within your team, lasting at least 2 terms, aimed at reducing variation in pupil progress and attainment, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching.

Through this project, you will need to demonstrate your competence through an assessment linked to the knowledge and skills set out in the 6 content areas.

Costs

Costs vary between providers. You should contact a provider for full details of their costs.

Funding

As a result of high demand from teachers and leaders for  NPQ scholarships, access to scholarship funding for new applicants was suspended in late July 2020. This scholarship suspension relates to the current suite of NPQs and will remain in place until 31 August 2022.

You will receive funding for the full course fee if you meet certain eligibility criteria and either:

you started your NPQ course on or before 23 July 2020 or

your provider confirmed on or before 23 July 2020 that it had reserved a place for you on an NPQ course and you start that course by 31 March 2021

The eligibility criteria are that you must be a teacher or school leader working at an eligible school - that is a school which is located in an opportunity area or area defined in achieving excellence areas as category 5 or 6, or employed at a school which is subject to the oversight of a multi-academy trust or diocese, which also includes other schools in those areas. Also, you must continue to be employed at an eligible school and finally, you must not have previously been funded to undertake an NPQ course of the same level.

Access to funding remains conditional on successful verification of participants' registration information against the database of qualified teachers ( DQT), so you must ensure that the information supplied to your NPQ provider matches your DQT record. You can check and update your DQT record via the Teaching Regulation Agency.

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National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL)

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The National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership ( NPQSL) supports the professional development of aspiring and serving senior leaders. Apply with one of the providers accredited to offer this qualification. Contact your preferred provider, or visit their website, to find out more about the qualification.

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Selection, training and evaluation of school principals in eight European countries

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Check out this eBook cover designed by Cecilia Díaz Marín.

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Kate Robinson - The Role of Technology in Education

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https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/educacion/vscripts/w_cea/pdfs/Inf/13-16_Cap1.pdf

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La Ola de los Valientes - School Charity at IES Arjé (Granada).

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La Ola de los Valientes - School Charity at IES Arjé (Granada).

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PASOS, Gema y metraje: acercamiento a la discapacidad.

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PASOS, Gema y metraje: acercamiento a la discapacidad.

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PASOS, Gema y metraje: acercamiento a la discapacidad.

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En Clase - Información de la comunidad educativa de enseñanza de Primaria y Secundaria de los centros de Granada.

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ADIAN impulsa un proyecto Erasmus entre directores de centros educativos europeos - En Clase

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Del 4 al 6 de abril, el presidente de la Asociaciación de Directoras y Directores de Andalucía (ADIAN), Miguel González Dengra y Cecilia Díaz, directora del IES Ribera del Fardes de Purullena y coordinadora del Proyecto Erasmus “Hacia una educación inclusiva y de calidad: Retos y oportunidades del l…

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ADIAN PROPICIA UN PROYECTO ERASMUS CON OTRAS ASOCIACIONES EUROPEAS DE DIRECTORES

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Teachers' and School Heads' Salaries and Allowances in Europe - 2020/2021

Teachers' remuneration and career prospects are an intrinsic part of policies aiming to attract the best candidates and ensure they remain in the profession. Are teachers in Europe well paid? What prospects for salary increases do they have as they progress in their career? Have teachers gained or lost purchasing power in recent years? This report shows the composition and differences in teachers' earnings among countries in the Eurydice Network.

It provides information on statutory and actual salaries as well as allowances that teachers and school heads receive. It also analyses teachers' perspective for salary progression over their career.

Country sheets and data used for the comparative report are available in open data format.

Data have been collected jointly by the Eurydice and the OECD/NESLI networks.

Full version EN

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Teachers' remuneration and career prospects are an intrinsic part of policies aiming to attract the best candidates and ensure they remain in the profession. Are teachers in Europe well paid? What prospects for salary increases do they have as they progress in their career? Have teachers gained or lost purchasing power in recent years?

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But one must not respect an individual more than the truth. Plato, The Republic, 595c

If a fair society is meritocratic, enabling every person to progress on the basis of their achievements, then equity in school education is essential. Imagine that regardless of your merit, no matter how hard you tried, you could never improve your socio-economic status. Worse, imagine that the same applied to your children. Despite their efforts to fare better in life, they are deprived of the necessary means to climb the socio-economic ladder. This may be bearable and even welcome to the better off, but to the less fortunate it is simply suffocating.

We call regimes where social mobility is prohibited or impossible undemocratic, because people or groups situated in the lower socio-economic strata are systematically (and sometimes purposefully) excluded from the higher echelons of power. Such regimes need not always rely on the threat of force to impose social immobility. Restricted or highly segregated education has the same effect. Illiterate or poorly educated kids do not go to university and therefore lack any qualifications to become, for example, bankers or ministers.

Some of the best-known theoretical designs for establishing the best state argue in favour of educational segregation. Plato's (5th-4th century BC) ideal state, the Kallipolis (or the Republic, as it is more commonly known) is founded on a highly segregated society where only the select few, the philosopher kings, are seen fit for leadership and therefore for higher education. Similarly, the 9th-10th century Islamic philosopher Al-Farabi, influenced by Plato's Republic, perceived of the happiest society as strictly hierarchical where although its members are not condemned to ignorance, only the leader is expected to 'love learning and multiplying his knowledge'. In both philosophical treatises, segregated education is justified in terms of 'natural' differences in the cognitive abilities (or souls, as Plato and Al-Farabi argued). Some people are supposed to be naturally fit to lead, but the majority are not. Consequently, only the select few are to receive good quality foundational and higher education.

Thankfully, modern European societies have distanced themselves from such views. Even though universal school education became the norm as late as the 19th and 20th centuries, today all education systems in Europe provide school education to all children. Moreover, most schools are publicly funded which means that comparatively poorer families do not have to worry about school fees (even if they do have to worry about other school-related expenses).

Despite all children having access to publicly funded schools, equitable school education cannot be taken for granted. It is well established that children from families of lower socio-economic status tend to underperform compared to their higher status peers. Various reasons have been suggested stretching from explanations at the micro level (e.g. lack of appropriate role models) to the macro (e.g. over-concentration of disadvantaged students in some schools).

The 2020 Eurydice report Equity in School Education looks at education system-level factors that could potentially affect equity (defined as small achievement gap between top and bottom performers and as achievement being independent of socio-economic status). These factors reflect how stratified or standardised an education system is, the available support instruments and the public funding level.

Drawing on original data from 42 European education systems and on the Eurostat, PIRLS, PISA and TIMSS databases, the Eurydice study reaches some striking conclusions. In one sentence, stratification is not good for equity and neither standardisation nor support measures can counterbalance the adverse effect of a highly stratified education system.

The study finds different variables influencing equity in primary schools and in secondary, although common elements exist. More specifically, what appears to matter more at the primary level is the amount of public funding per student and the size of the (government-dependent) private schools sector. More public funding and a smaller private schools sector associates with a lower degree of academic segregation (i.e. student performance variance between schools is smaller than variance within schools) which in turn associates with lower gap between top and bottom performers.

Academic segregation remains an important predictor of achievement gap also at the secondary level, but now segregation is a correlate of the age when tracking begins and the size of the vocational education sector. Tracking (i.e. allocating students to different educational pathways), has been criticised before for its equity implications. The later tracking starts and the smaller the vocational education sector, the more limited the academic segregation, leading to a smaller achievement gap. Interestingly enough, grade repetition has a direct and negative effect on equity adding to the argument that grade repetition is counterproductive.

Grade repetition is an impediment for equity in secondary schools also from a different angle. In education systems where grade repetition is more pronounced, students' socio-economic background is a stronger correlate of student performance. The other two equity impediments are an early tracking age and a high degree of differentiation between school types regarding the choice of school (e.g. if parents are free to choose or if catchment area rules apply) and the admission criteria (e.g. if prior performance matters).

If we were to summarise what should be done to promote equity in school in a few simple messages, they would be:

Increase public funding for primary level education

Apply uniform school choice and admission rules

Delay tracking as long as possible

Spread low-performing students across schools

Reduce grade repetition rates

Equity in education may not be sufficient to address all the social fairness problems, but it is necessary for at least one. If we do not provide our children real chances to perform equally well in school, then the prospects for social mobility are restricted. As a result, to put it bluntly, the rich will continue growing richer and the poor poorer.
Author: Emmanuel Sigalas

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But one must not respect an individual more than the truth. Plato, The Republic, 595c If a fair society is meritocratic, enabling every person to progress on the basis of their achievements, then equity in school education is essential. Imagine that regardless of your merit, no matter how hard you tried, you could never improve your socio-economic status.

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE

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In October EDUtech is coming to Europe. Bringing content on topics that really resonate with educators presented by the leading minds in education.

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE https://t.co/ye5X6d9xXW

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE pic.twitter.com/ye5X6d9xXW
— EDUtech Europe (@EdutechEurope) September 20, 2022

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In October EDUtech is coming to Europe. Bringing content on topics that really resonate with educators presented by the leading minds in education.

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE https://t.co/ye5X6d9xXW

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE https://t.co/ye5X6d9xXW

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Catch @ISPSchools, @ETSGlobal, @acsathens, Secondary Education Directorate of Karditsa Prefecture, @BSNetherlands at #EDUtechEurope on 5 & 6 October as they discuss boosting student recruitment through informed decision-making. Learn more: https://t.co/jgh3OsKtgE

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In October EDUtech is coming to Europe. Bringing content on topics that really resonate with educators presented by the leading minds in education.

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En Clase - Información de la comunidad educativa de enseñanza de Primaria y Secundaria de los centros de Granada.

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A finales de octubre llegaba a su fin Hacia una educación inclusiva y de calidad: Retos y oportunidades del liderazgo escolar (2021-1-ES01-KA210- SCH-000034295), coordinado por la Asociación de Directores y Directoras de Instituto de Andalucía (ADIÁN), y que ha supuesto el primer proyecto Erasmus Plus para directores escolares desarrollado en nuestro país. Dentro del marco de este proyecto, ADIÁN ha cooperado con la asociación griega EDUCOM+ y con ESHA, la Asociación Europea de Directores Escolares, que ha aportado participantes provenientes de seis países europeos (Reino Unido, Irlanda, Noruega, Países Bajos, Estonia y Eslovenia).

El proyecto, conocido por las siglas COSL (que proviene de su título en inglés, Challenges and Opportunities of School Leadership), ha resultado muy innovador y enriquecedor, al haber puesto en contacto a directores escolares de ocho nacionalidades diferentes, quienes han compartido experiencias, inquietudes, herramientas metodológicas y de gestión, etc.

Las movilidades del proyecto se han desarrollado a lo largo del año 2022. La primera de ellas tuvo lugar durante el mes de abril, en Granada, y se visitaron los IES Padre Suárez, Mariana Pineda y Cartuja, además de la sede de la Delegación de Educación ( ADIAN impulsa un proyecto Erasmus entre directores de centros educativos europeos ).

En julio se celebró la segunda movilidad junto al lago Plastiras, cercano a la localidad griega de Karditsa (Grecia), y se debatieron temas relativos al fomento de la inclusión a través de la dirección escolar. Se contó además con la presencia de autoridades locales y de expertos en la recepción de alumnado refugiado y en la atención al alumnado de etnia gitana.

La última movilidad del proyecto COSL tuvo lugar en las localidades holandesas de Zwolle y Ámsterdam. En Zwolle visitamos centros educativos que ponen en práctica metodologías activas e innovadoras, y participamos en talleres que relacionaban el uso de las nuevas tecnologías con la gestión de los centros escolares y el liderazgo escolar. Por último, tuvimos la oportunidad de participar en la feria de tecnología educativa más importante de Europa, EDUTech Europe, que contó con la presencia de más de 3000 docentes europeos y de grandes empresas tecnológicas, y donde algunos de los miembros de COSL participaron como ponentes, contribuyendo así a la difusión del proyecto.

Sin duda, el proyecto Erasmus Plus COSL ha supuesto una experiencia inspiradora, en la que hemos descubierto que, pese a la distancia, son más los aspectos que unen que los que nos separan a los directores escolares europeos, y que ha abierto un camino para otras colaboraciones entre asociaciones de directores europeas.

Cecilia Díaz Marín, exdirectora del IES Ribera del Fardes de Purullena,

asesora del CEP de Guadix,

Coordinadora del Proyecto Erasmus "Hacia una educación inclusiva y de calidad:

Retos y oportunidades del liderazgo escolar" (2021-1-ES01-KA210-SCH-000034295)
IMÁGENES DE LAS ÚLTIMAS MOVILIDADES:

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Finaliza el primer proyecto Erasmus Plus para directores escolares desarrollado en España - En Clase

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A finales de octubre llegaba a su fin Hacia una educación inclusiva y de calidad: Retos y oportunidades del liderazgo escolar (2021-1-ES01-KA210- SCH-000034295), coordinado por la Asociación de Directores y Directoras de Instituto de Andalucía (ADIÁN), y que ha supuesto el primer proyecto Erasmus Plus para directores escolares desarrollado en nuestro país.

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Verslag Cross mentoring programma - NL2025 en AVS

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Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities

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Helinika - Greek Language, History & Culture

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What is the Public School System Like in Greece? | The Greek Educational System | Schools in Greece

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Most of the classrooms in Greece have special education teaching personnel who not only help educate special needs children but try to help them become integrated into their classes. Students across Greece who need additional support in the classroom are thriving due to the efforts of these teachers, with impressively positive results already seen in terms of inclusiveness and performance.

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Most of the classrooms in Greece have special education teaching personnel who not only help educate special needs children but try to help them become integrated into their classes. Students across Greece who need additional support in the classroom are thriving due to the efforts of these teachers, with impressively positive results already seen in terms of inclusiveness and performance.

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Ένα σχολείο, δύο κόσμοι -  Δημοτικό Σχολείο Εμπρόσνερου Αποκορώνου

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School Leadership in Europe: issues, challenges and opportunities - PDF Free Download

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1 Egalement disponible en français sous le titre Enquête du CSEE sur la direction des établissements scolaires Direction des établissements scolaires en Europe: questions, défis et opportunités Reproduction

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1 Teacher Education for the Future A Policy Document from the Union of Education Norway

2 Teacher education that emphasises knowledge and quality The education of teachers should concentrate on the learning, development and education of children, young people and adults. Teacher education programmes are marked by high academic and professional quality. Research affiliation and professional approaches must work together to promote the education of highly qualified preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary teachers. A teacher education for the future Has a life-long perspective Teacher education has a life-long perspective. It starts with the initial training, goes on through the years as newly qualified teacher and continues throughout the entire career. The initial training is the first step in the qualifying process, but in-service training and further education are indispensible elements in a life-long process of professional development. Is differentiated but builds on a common knowledge base Both early childhood education and schools benefit from having teachers with a variety of educational backgrounds. Teachers with different education will broaden the scope of competencies and thus enrich the learning environment. Our union therefore promotes the continued existence of various types of teacher education: Early childhood education General teachers for compulsory education, years 1 through 7 General teachers for compulsory education, years 5 through 10 Practical-pedagogical education for subject teachers, academic and vocational subjects respectively Integrated master s degree education Subject specific teacher education Vocational education teacher In order to enhance coherence in the education system, from early childhood to higher education, the various teacher education programmes must build on a common knowledge base. Teacher education programmes must strive for coherence and consistency both within each programme and across the whole range of programmes. Also, measures must be taken to allow for teachers to move from one area of the education system to another, by means of further education. Contributes to students achieving a high level of knowledge and professional awareness Teacher education must be firmly grounded in the reality of everyday life in early childhood education, schools and apprenticeship businesses and industries. The overall purpose of the education programmes must clearly reflect the professions for which they prepare, and the professional aspects should permeate all teacher education. Thus, teacher education should combine high academic standards with sound professional knowledge. Future teachers should develop awareness about the content and complexity of the teaching profession and the conditions under which it is performed. All teachers should develop an ability to look critically at their own practical performance and be able to give valid reasons for the professional decisions they make. Teacher education must combine knowledge and skills in pertinent subject areas with topics related to teaching and 2

3 learning (pedagogy, general didactics, subject specific didactics, and teaching practice). A strong teaching profession is characterised by competence in all these areas and by the ability of the professionals to see the various areas in conjunction. Provides in-depth subject studies and knowledge about teaching and learning (didactics) Teacher education programmes should provide future teachers with solid subject specific knowledge, including ample opportunities for in-depth studies. Knowledge about teaching and learning should be part of all subject studies in teacher education. Includes a relevant study of education The study of education should be based in the profession and provide knowledge and skills needed to work with the learning of children, young people and adults. In addition, the study of education should provide a basis for reflection on teaching practice and thus equip the students with the means and tools to develop their own professional performance. The study of education shall contribute towards a collective professional foundation for work in early childhood education and schools and support collective professional development processes. Teacher education programmes are comprehensive professional programmes that demand coherence across the various areas of study. Teachers of pedagogy, in close cooperation with teachers of specific subject areas and subject specific didactics, as well as teachers supervising student teachers (tutor teachers), should be responsible for the necessary coordination. 3

4 Provides high quality teaching practice The quality of the practical training is decisive, and requires close cooperation between teacher education institutions and local education authorities. Close contact and cooperation between teacher education institutions and practical training institutions should even comprise mutual participation in the learning activities of the students in the various learning arenas. Quality practical training institutions see themselves as important learning sites for the students, and they look upon the teaching practice as an integrated and significant part of their tasks. Leaders of these institutions would have a particular responsibility for organising good student teaching schemes. They should also see to it that students, as far as possible, be included into the staff and learn to know the whole scope of professional tasks and develop an understanding of the organisation in which they work. Practical teacher training must be allotted sufficient economic resources. Financial arrangements must promote equity and quality for all students, irrespective of type of teacher education and place of study. Also, criteria and procedures for the assessment of student teaching must be developed. Is anchored in relevant research All teachers should have a solid professional knowledge base, built on a combination of experience and research. Research based knowledge must therefore constitute a significant part of teachers professional basis. Students of teacher education should learn to understand that research plays an important role in the development of early childhood education and schools. Students should acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills to be able to organise, carry out and analyse R&D projects. R&D projects within teacher education must relate to the teaching profession and take into account the specific nature of education. Close cooperation between teacher education institutions, other relevant research units and early childhood education institutions, schools and apprenticeship industries is needed, in order to secure a sound development of the education system, teacher education programmes that are anchored in real life practice, and research that is relevant. Requires Master s Degrees To secure sufficiently thorough subject studies and research based professional knowledge, teacher training for compulsory education, as well as the integrated higher level teacher education, must be at master level. Also, all teacher education programmes must be organised in a way so as to make it possible for students to build on a Bachelor s Degree to get a Master s Degree and continue studies at doctoral level. In the view of the Union of Education Norway the establishment of more Master s Degree programmes must be firmly founded on the knowledge base of the teaching profession. The Union of Education Norway would like to have a discussion of the issue of a possible Master s Degree requirement in all teacher education. In our view, the length of teacher education does not depend on the age groups for whom the education qualifies. The required standards must be the same, although the content differs, for all teacher groups. It is equally impor- 4

5 tant for all teachers to be able to analyse the conditions for learning and the consequences of teaching and learning. Includes advanced qualification programmes In order to strengthen the knowledge base of the teaching profession, and thus enhance the development of schools and early childhood education institutions, advanced qualification programmes should be established, in the form of doctoral programmes, research schools for teacher education and other qualification programmes. Designated qualification programmes would give opportunities for teacher educators and teachers to qualify as researchers within their own professional field. The Union of Education Norway would also like to see more teachers engage in innovative development projects, in cooperation with established researchers in the field. Local education authorities should encourage these endeavours and support them economically. Has highly qualified teacher educators Good teacher educators have high standards of professional expertise and knowledge, a high degree of respect for the professions for which they provide education and training, and regard themselves distinctly as teacher educators. Teacher education must have educators with a high level of profession specific knowledge combined with research skills. Conditions for doing research should be good, and teacher educators should have the right and obligation to engage in in-service training and further educational studies on a regular basis. This will ensure that they are in a position to fully accommodate the close connection between the education they deliver and the fields for which it provides qualifications. Educators at teacher education institutions should maintain a good and close relationship with the tutor teachers, and should engage in practice teaching in early childhood education institutions, schools and apprenticeship businesses at regular intervals in order to update their own practical experience. Has tutor teachers that see themselves as teacher educators Tutor teachers are teacher educators on equal footing with teacher educators working in the teacher education institutions. The qualifications of tutor teachers are a decisive element in teacher education. Being a tutor teacher requires sound knowledge of subjects and teaching and learning, as well as of teacher education. Tutor teachers should be able to help student teachers build bridges between theory and practice. They should have documented tutor qualifications, and at least five years of teaching experience. They should have the right and obligation to engage in in-service training and further educational studies. Tutor teachers must work in close cooperation with teachers of theoretical subjects and should involve themselves continuously in the learning activities of the students at the teacher education institutions. Recruits good students Children and young people should meet well qualified, competent and professionally secure teachers. It is therefore necessary to ensure that teacher education recruits students that are motivated, able and eager to learn. The student body as a whole should reflect the composition of the population with regard to gender, and social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. 5

6 The Union of Education Norway believes that it is right to impose special enrolment criteria in teacher education. The enrolment criteria must be adapted to the content and objectives of the various categories of teacher education. Meets the students with high expectations The teaching professions are demanding and complex. This must be reflected in the studies. Teacher educators and trainers must therefore impose clear and concise standards and have high expectations of the students efforts and achievements. Students that fail in their attempt to master the studies must be identified at an early stage and receive advice and guidance that is relevant to their personal situation. All teacher educators have a responsibility to assess and evaluate whether individual students have the skills, abilities and personal qualifications that are necessary to become a teacher. Such assessments and evaluations must be carried out regularly throughout the study period, not just at the end of the education. Provides knowledge of inclusion Inclusion is an overall principle in our education system. Thus, inclusion must permeate all teaching and teaching practice in teacher education. The education of teachers must afford all future teachers with research based knowledge that enables them to act according to this principle. Teacher education programmes should provide the students with theoretical knowledge and practical competence to meet the needs and expectations of children, young people and adults, in such a manner that everyone may learn in accordance with his or her own abilities. Teacher education should enable students to identify special needs that children and young people may have, and to take responsibility for implementing necessary measures to meet those needs. Students should also learn about the support system of the school and develop a professional working relationship with the various institutions within this system. Protects and preserves the diversity of the education system Reflecting the demographic structure of society, schools are marked by social, ethnic, language, religious and cultural diversity. Good teacher education provides students with knowledge of and insight into multi-cultural work, thus enabling them to make use of the resources embedded in this diversity in their teaching. Teachers should be able to meet different groups of children and young people with open minds and respect and in this way contribute to dialogue and democracy. Equity and respect, as fundamental values, must be translated into their practice. Emphasises the societal perspective The tasks of all teachers are outlined by society, through democratic processes. Good teacher education emphasises this societal perspective, by providing the students with knowledge of and insight into current legislation and national plans and curricula, as well as major political priorities in the sector. At the same time, students should develop a capacity for critical thinking about the tasks and functions of education in society. The students should be encouraged to take part in education policy debates. Students and teacher educators should know about national and international trends and be 6

7 able to reflect critically on these trends. The global perspective must be made clearly visible. Thus, the studies should include exchange visits for both students and teacher educators, and resources represented by overseas and immigrant students should be fully utilised. In the view of the Union of Education internationalisation is both an objective in itself and a means to ensure quality education. Internationalisation embodies seeing and understanding our own reality in a globalised world. Knowledge of international work, cultural dimensions and decision-making should be integrated into teacher education programmes. Makes use of information technology technically and pedagogically In good teacher education, information technology is taken into use as an integral part of the study in both technical and pedagogical terms. Students must have necessary knowledge of the technology and be afforded insight into and experience with using ICT-based systems and equipment in their studies. Students should work with professional, pedagogical and ethical challenges brought about by ICT. Follows up newly qualified teachers The Union of Education believes that systematic guidance and follow-up of newly qualified teachers during the first year of professional life should be a right and an obligation for the newly qualified teacher. Good follow-up schemes must be based on the needs of the newly qualified teacher, and demand close cooperation between the newly qualified teacher, the work place and the teacher education institution. Systematic guidance to young teachers would ensure that both experience based and research based knowledge is disseminated in a way that will benefit all involved parties. Teachers mentoring newly qualified teachers should have documented mentor qualifications, as well as necessary time and scope to perform these duties. The newly qualified teachers should have time to utilise the guidance and reflect on the experiences made. Offers quality in-service training and further education Good teachers need updated knowledge and should be able to participate in the development of their professional knowledge base. Access to professional development should therefore be a right and an obligation for every member of the profession, within the framework of a well planned, predictable and binding system of continuous in-service training and further education for all teacher groups. The professional development should take place as a cooperative effort in which both teacher education institutions and practice arenas take part. Is developed within the framework of a national development programme In order to strengthen teacher education programmes, it would be helpful to establish a national development programme lasting for several years and comprising all teacher education programmes. The national development programme should involve all stakeholders, i.e. teacher educators and other pertinent professional groups, all teachers, and teacher and student organisations. 7

8 Design: Wittusen & Jensen Photo: Ole Walter Jacobsen og Linda Cartridge Teacher Education for the Future A policy document from The Union of Education Norway. Adopted by the National Executive Comittee in August 2006, revised December Union of Education Norway Hausmanns gate 17, NO-0182 Oslo, Norway Tel: Fax:

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Teacher Education for the Future - PDF Free Download

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1 Teacher Education for the Future A Policy Document from the Union of Education Norway 2 Teacher education that emphasises knowledge and quality The education of teachers should concentrate on the learning, development and education of children, young people and adults. Teacher education programmes are marked by high academic and professional quality.

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School leadership is at the top of the agenda in education today. School leadership teams do not only have to worry about how school functions, they also have a decisive influence on the educational success of children and young people. It is true all over Europe: schools will only find sustainable answers to the challenges of the 21 st century, if the leadership teams carry out their duties professionally and effectively. Moreover, school will have to change because of demographic and societal developments.

One of the aims of the network was a compilation of a European-wide Synopsis on the quality of school leadership. The work includes the dissemination of the results via the project website and in printed form, as well as the establishment of a European Framework of Reference on the quality of school leadership.
This website is intended as a comprehensive information system for an expert public interested in concepts and programmes referring to school leadership and the qualification of leadership teams.

Moreover, all abstracts and presentations of the annual dissemination conferences and symposia where various leadership topics were discussed, can also be found on this website.

There are some interesting European concepts and models strengthening the position of school leadership teams. The aim of the network was to put all these many ideas and experiences together, to assess them mutually and to disseminate them.

We have therefore integrated national sub-systems incl. school heads, organisations, universities etc. in the network and would like to have you on board as an active supporter, whether as:

a cascader on the school staff

an educational expert

a network critic

an author of Further Education materials

We guarantee that your support will be documented accordingly in the network.

Video: Good Schools

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School leadership is at the top of the agenda in education today. School leadership teams do not only have to worry about how school functions, they also have a decisive influence on the educational success of children and young people.

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Front Psychol. 2022; 13: 875646.

Abstract

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic is triggering a public health emergency and crisis on a large scale, with far-reaching effects and severe damage to all aspects of politics, economy, cultural and social life, and health. Consecutive outbreaks over the past nearly 2 years of "living with COVID-19" have forced most schools to physically close, resulting in the largest educational disruption in human history. In turbulent times of the COVID-19 crisis, school leaders are facing numerous major challenges germane to school governance and leadership. The key objective of the study is to fully explore the prospective challenges principals are encountering in public schools in times of COVID-19. To fulfill the research purpose, a systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to investigate the leadership challenges. As a result, a total of 24 challenges were explored through SLR approach. Frequency analysis approach was initially applied to figure out the most significant challenges. Accordingly, seven challenges were found statistically significant as showing frequency ≥ 50 each. Irrevocably, the study works as a contribution to K-12 school leadership by providing guidance for current and future leaders in crisis based on practical investigation, experiences, and recommendations. Policy makers can leverage these findings to make necessary adjustments to school policy to better prepare school leaders for crisis. Additionally, the findings of the current study are believed to have profound implications for future research. These findings expand our current understanding on school leadership in time of crisis that needs further investigation. Subsequent studies can quantitatively and/or qualitatively validate these leadership challenges findings regarding a particular school context.

Keywords: leadership challenges, COVID-19 pandemic, educational crises, systematic literature review, school leaders

Introduction

COVID-19 and the Educational Crisis

Accordingly, hundreds of millions of cases have been recorded worldwide and the price to pay for this unequal battle is the lives of millions of innocent people ( Corlatean, 2020). So far, World Health Organization has presented latest data with a total of more than 230 million coronavirus patients and approximately 4.8 million deaths ( WHO, 2021b). It seems that the pandemic has not yet created enough of the damage to all fields of economy, politics, society, foreign affairs, and security of countries and regions worldwide. The heat of the pandemic has not cooled down and this battle seems to show no signs of ending.

The lockdown, social distancing, and travel restriction measures introduced by the governments and widely put in place in various forms to contain the coronavirus and mitigate the loss of human are also having a direct impact on people's lives ( World Bank, 2020a). The vulnerable groups in society become prey for escalating inequality related to access to quality healthcare, job security, safety, adequate food, education, and vaccination ( World Bank, 2020a). In other words, the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences are directly depriving people of their basic human rights, of which is the right to equal access to education. Nearly 2 years of "living in the reign" of COVID-19, the major concern is the disruption in terms of education.

The interruption of education triggered by repeated school closures following the successive outbreaks during the academic years of 2020 and 2021 is unprecedented in modern education. The implementation of lockdowns, social distancing, and travel restrictions on a global scale has hit local and international educational institutions at all levels of schooling, teachers, and students to varying degrees ( UNESCO, 2020; United Nations, 2020b). These quarantine measures have imposed serious constraints on all schools and created a bleak landscape for the global education community.

Schools in low- and lower-middle-income countries are still struggling to sustain student learning and deliver quality remote learning programs due to limitations of facilities, technological infrastructure, funding, additional resources, and a lack of experienced academics ( Khlaif and Salha, 2020). Additionally, concerns over the psycho-physiological health of schools' stakeholders, especially young students ( United Nations, 2020a), have grown as lingering inconspicuous COVID-19-related consequences can wreak havoc for long.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the leadership confusion in addressing the issue of "no one is left behind." As the center of social activities and human interactions, when schools are physically shut down, millions of young students and youth miss out on the opportunities and social interactions essential for learning and developing life skills ( World Economic Forum, 2020; Ewing and Cooper, 2021). It is estimated that millions of children of marginalized groups in any society are at risk of dropping out of school ( UNESCO, 2021a). Sadly, even with continued education in any form, hundreds of millions of children fail to achieve the minimum proficiency in reading and writing, and numeracy ( United Nations, 2020b; UNESCO, 2021a), falling behind their better-off peers due to disruption of schooling ( United Nations, 2020b).

Study Objectives and Research Question

In the turbulent era of the COVID-19 pandemic causing sudden disruptions to global education, school leaders worldwide are facing numerous major challenges related to school governance and leadership. As schools quickly change their operations and organizational structure to respond to COVID-19, the emergence of pre-existing and new challenges is unavoidable and can become more complicated. As school leaders worldwide are navigating challenges triggered by the reign of COVID-19, various initial research has attempted to identify the critical challenges. With a purpose of systematically synthesizing existing literature related to this topic as well as adding more insights into the leadership knowledge, we primarily conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) to investigate the critical leadership challenges facing public school principals when they are navigating the impact of COVID-19. Accordingly, we also attempted to offer a thorough discussion on the identified challenges in order of frequency significance. The following key research question was formulated as "what are critical leadership challenges confronting public school principals as identified by a systematic literature review (SLR)?"

Literature Review

School Leadership in Uncertain Times of COVID-19

The burgeoning COVID-19 crisis is redefining school leadership. Time is short to think twice, and school leaders need to make informed choices about the priority of their operational strategies and policies in the face of COVID-19. Accordingly, the first priorities are to keep track of all the students, ensure their physical and mental wellbeing, make sure students' education is on track, and monitor student progress ( Harris, 2020; Kaul et al., 2020). "No child left behind" should be the first and only ethos regardless of any form of learning or institutional response to COVID-19.

In these most uncertain times, school leaders struggle to maintain a balance between complying with local COVID-19 infection prevention and control protocols, soberly leading the school community through the pandemic safely, meeting local educational needs, and supporting the community materially and mentally ( Kaul et al., 2020; Stone-Johnson and Miles Weiner, 2020). Leadership also needs to monitor the current response to the crisis along with thinking strategically to overcome challenges and mitigate the educational damage in the post-COVID-19 era ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020; Zhao, 2020). It is also a time to test their schools' crisis management team and to update their crisis management plan ( Mawhinney et al., 2019).

The COVID-19 era has also tested the leadership capacity of school leaders in unprecedented ways, forcing them to make quick and critical decisions to protect the wellbeing of the academic community, maintain the continuity of the organization, and adjust the school education plan according to the direction of the governing body. This is a time when school leadership is further focused on addressing teacher and parent social and emotional concerns and engaged in more constructive dialogues with stakeholders. In turbulent times of pandemic, school leaders are forced to think fast, act fast, and fear less ( Leithwood et al., 2020; Netolicky, 2020).

It is no exaggeration to say that schools have become resilient fortresses against the onslaught of the pandemic. In the face of unpredictable developments of COVID-19, resilience, flexibility, adaptability, compassion, and trust are key for school leaders to being able to live with the pandemic ( Beauchamp et al., 2021; De Martino and Weiser, 2021; Longmuir, 2021; Oplatka and Crawford, 2021). School leadership and management in this context have also become necessarily synonymous with ongoing support, collective collaboration, and distributed leadership ( Harris and Jones, 2020; Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020).

Additionally, local communities are a noteworthy key resource for principals, due to their host of an asset of supplementary knowledge and additional capacity ( Harris and Jones, 2020). Constructing stronger connection with social groups and parents is of great benefit to assist marginalized, vulnerable populations in navigating the prevailing problems that pandemic has created intensely ( Harris and Jones, 2020; Stone-Johnson and Miles Weiner, 2020). Furthermore, school leadership has turned into distributed leadership response to mobilize collective efforts as schools grow through the pandemic ( Azorín et al., 2020). COVID-19 is genuinely the perfect time for school stakeholders to practice connecting, sharing and mutual understanding, particularly for principalship.

COVID-19 is not only a test of leadership resilience since the future can promise more volatility with greater impact, but also an opportunity to create better and more resilient education ( UNESCO, 2020; Zhao, 2020). Owing to the emergence of COVID-19, school leaders seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-evaluate their long-term policy and the urgency of sustainable development, transform their leadership and management models, and increase their ability to respond to crisis in the local and international context with many unforeseen changes ( Harris and Jones, 2020; Zhao, 2020).

Leadership Challenges in Turbulent COVID-19

A rigorous review of existing literature provides a universal list of challenges facing school leaders in the turbulent era of COVID-19, including continuity of learning and quality of virtual or blended education, digital divides, digital literacy and professional development, inequalities in access to education, equity gaps, school financing, cyber security for online education, safety of school reopening, and emotional and mental health.

Thanks to COVID-19, wide disparities in accessing Internet and digital devices expose themselves to the public eyes ( UNICEF, 2020). During the first year of pandemic, globally, roughly 2.2 billion children and aged 25 years or less youths-two-thirds of the world's children and young people-fail to afford a reliable Internet connectivity ( UNICEF, 2020). Even in the United States, the closure of schools made millions of low-income US households with K-12 students suffer from lack of computers and high-speed Internet connection ( United States Facts, 2020). To bridge the gap on the Internet and technology divides, some American principals developed initiatives that mobilize collective resources for the distribution of computers and smartphones. One Montana-based principal leading a community school on Native American reservation struggled to partner with a local Internet provider to provide an "Internet hub" in the school parking lot for their community ( Kaul et al., 2020).

Furthermore, COVID-19 has deep cut into the inequalities in access to education of marginalized students ( Van Lancker and Parolin, 2020), regardless of whether their residencies are in a rich or poor country. The situation is even worse in school communities that are impoverished or with frequent armed conflicts, civil wars, or even ethnic divisions. The crisis is exacerbating pre-existing educational disparities, by depriving many of the most vulnerable young students of learning opportunities ( Alasuutari, 2020; United Nations, 2020a). Due to the lack of schooling, vulnerable children are increasingly subjected to physical and psychological abuse, exploitation, and trafficking ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020).

School communities' wellbeing and mental health have become even more urgent in times of school disruptions when COVID-19 is still raging ( Harris and Jones, 2020). Accordingly, physical and mental wellbeing of school principals is of foremost value due to the sheer pressure of leading and managing on the front line struggling to ensure staff and students safety ( Harris and Jones, 2020). The latest Teacher Wellbeing Index report from Education Support (2020) reveals that an overwhelming 89% of school leaders experienced the feeling of "stressed" or "very stressed" since school in September. Additionally, 59% school leaders disclosed that they are considering leaving the profession this year due to greater pressures on their health and wellbeing ( Education Support, 2020). As most schools are gradually moving into "new normal" beyond the pandemic, the top priority is the wellbeing of school stakeholders to sustain the "usual" track of education ( McLeod and Dulsky, 2021).

The world is adjusting to "new" life in the midst of a pandemic, and the same is true for education sector. Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath will be one of the biggest challenges for school leaders in this era. By being open and sharing insights with each other, school leaders are using data and latest tools to quickly adapt and navigate COVID-19 challenges. More than just a trend, this "new normal" will have lasting and powerful effects on the future of education and school leadership.

Research Methodology

To acquire the requisite objectives of the study, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted. SLR is a significant investigation research approach to carry evidence-based research to gain a better insight into the research question or topic of interest ( Davies et al., 2013; Hallinger, 2013; Siddaway et al., 2019). SLR allows researchers to collect and critically analyze multiple research studies through a systematic process with lower bias than traditional literature reviews ( Akbar et al., 2019; Gümüş et al., 2021). Accordingly, SLR provides an organized approach to investigate the latest literature relevant to the study objectives. A brief discussion of the proposed method is given in the following sections. Figure 1 shows the hierarchy of steps taken in this study.

This paper carried out SLR using PRISMA guidelines. All the steps of SLR were performed by subsequent step-by-step standards recommended by Siddaway et al. (2019) and Petersen et al. (2015). The objective of current steps is to describe overview of a state-of-the-art of the concerned topic. In order to conduct the SLR study, the adopted steps are graphically shown in Figure 1 and conversed in the following sections:

Digital Libraries Selection

Keeping in mind the previous personal experience and considering the recommendations of Chen et al. (2010) and Siddaway et al. (2019), the best suitable repositories were chosen. The objective of selecting these repositories is to bring together the most appropriate studies with high impact linked to the area of research objective. So, for getting the big population of published data and most potential information, we give priority to these seven well known digital libraries:

Search String

A proper research string was used to retrieve the most related studies from these selected repositories. We made a string by using keywords and substitutes regarding our research question by keeping in mind the helpful ideas provided by Chen et al. (2010), Shafiq et al. (2020), and Astadi et al. (2022a). For the formulation of the search string, all keywords with their substitutes were connected to Boolean operator "AND" and "OR." Furthermore, each search string was formulated according to the search structure of each database. Table 1 shows the search keywords and substitutes.

Table 1

Related Topics

Search Keywords and Their Alternatives

T1 (intervention)

"Challenges" OR "barriers" OR "problems" OR "obstacles" OR "hurdles" OR "difficulties" OR "impediments" OR "hindrance"

T2 (population)

"School administration" OR "leadership" OR "school principals" OR "school management" OR "role of school heads"

T3 (institution)

"School education department" OR "SED" OR "school administration" OR "public school management" OR "principals' role in quality management"

T4 (experimental)

"Case studies" OR "empirical studies" OR "theoretical studies" OR "quantitative surveys" OR "Qualitative surveys" OR "Mixed method surveys"

Final Search String = (T1) and (T2) and (T3) and (T4)

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The following criteria were used to include the selected literature at an early stage ( Chen et al., 2010).

The selected paper must have been published in a conference or quality journal.

The study must be published in English medium.

The selected article must contain an in-depth evaluation of the challenges encountered by the heads of the schools in COVID situation.

The study should highlight the administrative factors significant for school principals.

The following criteria were applied for the exclusion of studies ( Chen et al., 2010).

If there is no detailed description for highlighted challenges.

Only one comprehensive study should be included in the case of two or more studies having similar findings.

If the findings of selected studies do not construct empirical investigations.

Study Quality Evaluation

To measure the quality of selected papers, the guidelines used are recommended by Davies et al. (2013) and Petersen et al. (2015). The quality of the selected articles entails the significance of the selected literature.

The following checklist was developed to assess the quality of the selected literature:

Whether the research method used in study follows the requirements of the research questions?

Whether the selected literature describes any aspect of school leadership?

Whether the selected literature describes the school administrative strategies and its application in education sector?

Are the provided facts relevant to school leadership in education sector?

Do the results of the studies relate to the validation of the research questions?

Accordingly, the score "1" is administered to a study if it provides the satisfactory answer for the above listed research questions. A score "0.5" is given if the selected article provides answer to the questions of checklist to some extent and if a selected article fails to provide the answer to any checklist question, it is given a score of 0. The detailed list of selected primary studies along with showing their Quality Evaluation (QE) scores is placed at Supplementary Data Sheet 1.

Final Selection of Primary Studies

The selected primary studies were more refined by using the standards suggested by Chen et al. (2010) and Antony et al. (2012). All the phases of the tollgate approach proposed by Sniedzins (2013) were vigilantly carried out, to make better the final studies for the process of data extraction; as a result, the obtained outcomes are shown in PRISMA diagram, i.e., Figure 2 .

Data Extraction and Synthesis

Out of the 41 final selected papers, data were extricated. A 4-member team was deliberately formed for the purpose of data extraction. During the process, prospective statements, main themes, and identified administrative challenges encountered by the principals during COVID-19 were noted down and imported into Microsoft Excel sheet. Primarily, 36 administrative challenge statements were highlighted and recorded into another Microsoft Excel sheet. Moreover, after consulting to research experts and team members, 36 challenges were finally merged into 24 basic prospective challenges.

After the accomplishment of the data extraction procedure, an inter-rater reliability test was administered to perform the elimination of the inter-person biasness. By following the practice of Shafiq et al. (2020), five external reviewers were requested to acknowledge their involvement for testing the selected primary studies. However, three of them were agreed to participate. One external reviewer is Associate Professor at Neijiang Normal University, Sichuan (China). Other two experts were postdoctoral research fellows from Southwest University (China). Initially, at phase 1 of the tollgate approach ( Afzal et al., 2016), 15 studies were randomly selected by the external reviewers; afterward, all the stages of the Systematic Literature Review were carried out. A non-parametric Kendall's coefficient of concordance (W) was determined in order to check the inter-rater agreement among the reviewers. To show the disagreement, the value of W = 0 is used and to show acceptance, W = 1 is denoted. The results of the inter-rater reliability test for the 15 randomly selected studies indicated that W = 0.84 ( p = 0.0013), which showed the signed agreement between the authors and the external reviewers. The code used to perform Kendall's coefficient of concordance is placed at Supplementary Data Sheet 2.

Review Reporting

Quality Evaluation of the Selected Articles

Based on five QE questions, the QE scores for each primary study were analyzed. Accordingly, most of the primary studies achieved QE scores ≥75% after applying the QE criteria. Therefore, the achieved scores denoted that the selected primary studies are satisfactorily important to address the research question of this study. Moreover, given the selection of primary studies, a QE score of 40% as the threshold is used.

Temporal Distribution and Analysis of Research Method Basis

Primary studies are chosen from the period of 2020 to 2021 ( Figure 3 ). Thus, 34% of publications are from 2020 and 66% of publications are from 2021, respectively. Hence, there is 32% increase in the publication of articles about the school administration and leadership in times of COVID-19 situation as competed with the previous year. The ascending publication number specifies the significance of administration and leadership in the school education department and educational research.

In Figures 3A , ​,B, B , the percentage of research approaches adopted in the primary studies are questionnaire survey (QS) 37.0%, case study (CS) 15.0%, grounded theory (GT) 12.0%, content analysis (CA) 7.0%, action research (AR) 7.0%, and interviews (IR) 22.0%. It is clearly shown by the analysis that questionnaire survey approach with 37.0% is mostly used as the major research methodology in the selected primary studies, and interviews with 22.0% are affirmed as the second most adopted research method in the leadership challenges investigations ( Figures 3A , ​,B B ).

Results and Discussions

The primary objective of the study was to identify critical leadership challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. We employed Systematic Literature Review to place these challenges confronting school principals in order of frequency significance. The complete list of primary selected studies is provided at Supplementary Data Sheet 1.

In order to address the research objective, the identified challenges along with the frequency and percentage are summarized in Table 2 and Figure 4 . The challenges with greater significance having frequency ≥ 50 are determined as critical. This is the same criterion adopted in other studies, such as Shafiq et al. (2020) and Akbar et al. (2020). Based on this criterion, the following challenging factors were identified as critical and discussed.

Table 2

Sr. #

Investigated challenges

Frq. (N = 41)

%Age

Primary studies

Ch3 (Self-care, Wellbeing, and Safe School Reopening) was underlined by 73.17% of the selected primary studies as the highly reported challenge. In countries where COVID-19 is still sweeping and the health system is overwhelmed, it is really hard to say when the safest time is to welcome students back in this troubled context. It concerns many that without student vaccinations, increases in student transmission are likely within schools, possibly contributing to COVID-19 resurgences in the community ( Gurdasani et al., 2021). Any negligence or carelessness during this unpredictable pandemic will be paid with the student's own life. When children's education resumes physically and how it will be done specifically vary from school to school depending on the relax of COVID-19 in the locality. It could be also when the school community feels ready and confident about serving students face-to-face. Given any decision on full or partial school reopening, school leaders in collaboration with governments need to weigh the educational, public health, and socioeconomic benefits and risks in the local context.

Similarly, Ch16 (Digital Divides) was reported by 68.29% of the selected primary studies as another daunting challenge. Though it is the 4.0 era, school closures and the shift to distance learning have made the digital divides even more pronounced ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020). Inevitably, digital transformation is synonymous with the advances of telecommunications infrastructure to a certain extent, which is closely related to the level of socioeconomic development of each locality. For many schools and students, even a stable Internet connection is a luxury. Accordingly, in low-income countries where the Internet is patchy and bandwidth is often low, access to online learning is significantly limited and only available for those in a privileged position ( Mundy and Hares, 2020). While better-off teachers and students can quickly move to online lessons by seizing the advance of technology ( Daniel, 2020), their peers from marginalized groups are far likely to suffer more and face more challenges ( Mundy and Hares, 2020). Surely, many schools and students are falling behind in this technology race ( Vlachopoulos, 2020).

Moreover, Ch14 (Equity Gaps, 65.85%) was indicated as a major challenge for smooth execution of school managerial activities during disruptive times. This pandemic has cut deep into the inequalities in access to education of marginalized students ( Van Lancker and Parolin, 2020), regardless of whether their residencies are in a rich or poor country. The situation is even worse in school communities that are impoverished or with frequent armed conflicts, civil wars, or even ethnic divisions. The crisis is exacerbating pre-existing educational disparities, by depriving many of the most vulnerable young students of learning opportunities ( Alasuutari, 2020; United Nations, 2020a). Due to the lack of schooling, vulnerable children are increasingly subjected to physical and psychological abuse, exploitation, and trafficking ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic has been pushing back years of progress on gender equality ( Fisher and Ryan, 2021). Worldwide, more than 1.5 billion students' education is disrupted ( World Bank Education, 2020; UNESCO, 2021a), almost half of these are female students. According to UNESCO estimates, millions of female students-at all levels of schooling-may not return to school during- and post-COVID-19 years ( UNESCO, 2021b). This alarming number not only threatens the progress made on gender equality over the past many decades, but also puts girls globally at risk of child labor, victims of various forms of abuse and violence, forced marriage, and teenage pregnancy ( Corlatean, 2020; United Nations, 2020a).

Further Ch6 (Ensuring Distributive Leadership) with the percentage of 60.98 was identified as a remarkable challenge for school leadership. Distributed leadership practices are vital in this time of crises ( Gurr and Drysdale, 2020). Distributive leadership is the capability to initiate strategic transformation in an institution as demanded by the crisis situation. In a nutshell, leadership makes a transition from controlling to empowering others to mobilize collective strength and navigate different institutional challenges ( Longmuir, 2021). Leaders must delegate some responsibility and authority to their followers so that leaders can focus more on work for things that tend to be strategic, and the organization can be agile to keep up with changes in the digital era ( Astadi et al., 2022b). School leaders who were less likely to adopt a shared and collaborative approach have had to convert their leadership styles overnight to one of hasty decisions with slight or no team consultation, and correspond mandated decision, with a very short notice. It was not easy for principals to be prepared for and counter to the unprecedented and exceptional challenges.

Likewise, Ch7 (Emotional and Mental Health) with the frequency of 58.54% was found as another major difficulty. Mental health-related problems have been accelerated during the COVID-19 outbreaks ( Adhanom Ghebreyeseus, 2020; Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020; WHO, 2020). The common mental-psychological state of school leaders, teachers, and students is confusion and anxiety. The risk of adverse mental-psychological states in school leaders is particularly high at most severe times of the pandemic ( Argyropoulou et al., 2021). Many school leaders are facing pressures to prioritize the safety of the school community and provide learning continuity with limited resources, which puts them at high risk for depression, anxiety, burnout, and insomnia ( De Matthews et al., 2021; Spyropoulou and Theodore Koutroukis, 2021).

The interruption of going to school, constant online teaching, and the pressure to make ends meet, let alone themselves or family members being infected with COVID-19, or the loss of loved ones increasingly deteriorate the mental and psychological health of the teachers ( Baker et al., 2021; Gupta et al., 2021). Besides, school children are struggling with increased physical and mental health problems due to fear of COVID-19, home isolation, insufficient food and medicine, lack of parental supervision, and domestic violence ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020; United Nations, 2020a). The stress or severe and persistent psychological trauma easily lead to many mental disorders post-COVID-19 ( Fegert et al., 2020).

Also, Ch23 (Cyber Security of Online Education, 56.10%) was observed as the commonly quoted challenge for the principals (PS7, PS10, and PS12). Due to their greater reliance on technology and online interactions when working remotely, many schools are likely to fall prey to cybercriminals amid the pandemic ( Kshetri, 2021). Recently, disruptive cyber security incidents are derailing virtual experiences of teaching and learning ( Klein, 2020). Worse still, virtual incidents of abuse, harassment, and bullying of young students, let alone attacks against administrators and teachers, are increasing ( Lobe et al., 2020; Henebery, 2021). However, many schools are inexperienced in tackling cyber attacks and putting in place steps to mitigate educational as well as social and emotional damage for students and teachers ( Henebery, 2021). Such attacks targeting schools and young students, particularly during these turbulent times, are thoroughly reprehensible.

Additionally, Ch5 (Learning Continuity and Quality of Education) was reported as another significant challenge in the list with a frequency of 53.66%. First and foremost, school leaders have prioritized efforts to ensure learning continuity for students and teachers. Pressures come from the need to introduce a full range of appropriate learning for students with different backgrounds so as not to interrupt their learning. Accordingly, schools are encouraged to utilize a variety of online learning modalities ( World Bank Education, 2020). Additionally, low- or non-technological approaches (i.e., broadcast lessons, learning packs, and printed materials for home delivery) should be ready for those with limited technology access ( World Bank Education, 2020). When learning continuity is put in place, the public raise the issue of quality of education ( Rogers and Sabarwal, 2020; Parveen et al., 2021). One thing is for sure, ensuring a holistic experience for students regardless of the form of teaching and learning during the complicated developments of the pandemic could give school leaders many sleepless nights.

While the universal awareness is that disruptive COVID-19 times are unprecedented, it is important that we consider some of the pressures school leaders are facing as they continue to go beyond the call of duty to support school-aged children and young people during a global health crisis. Whether there is a dearth of available research on the topic how school principals are responding to this pandemic situation, some emerging insights about school leadership during COVID-19 is available. A few intentions are offered for contemplation, in due course, about empirical propositions.

There are many studies regarding leadership and its challenges; however, there was a lack of literature that included the effect of pandemics that would reflect the same situation that the world is facing during COVID-19. Focusing on crises, such as COVID-19, the current study is relevant as no previous research has discussed issues where the entire educational system worldwide is heavily affected with many interruptions. Therefore, this paper brought light to various leadership challenges, and their possibility and criticality.

The findings of the study will not only contribute to the education sector to discuss the leadership problems of K-12 school principals in times of turbulence. The study may assist educational institutions in gaining a better understanding of the challenges for smooth running of management in disruptive times of COVID-19. Moreover, the study would provide fruitful results to raise management standards and to overcome the shortcomings of the education sector in this disruptive time. Ultimately, the results of the study will be of great benefit for the principals of public schools, researchers in school management, and leadership as well as education policy makers.

However, one of the drawbacks of the present study regarding systematic literature review is that there is much possibility for missing any previous literature. Therefore, the same applied process would provide different results and findings due to the unavailability of all libraries and repositories.

Conclusion

The educational process worldwide has been heavily interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, most educational institutions shifted from in-class education toward E-learning and suffered from again-and-again closure and uncertainty of continuity of learning. There is a universal call for significant increase in leadership role, responsibility, and resilience in educational institutions.

Educational institutions during COVID-19 face the unique challenges of smoothly maintaining the process of learning while ensuring that it is still beneficial. Therefore, educational leaders must understand what challenges are confronting them toward the smooth running of schools in this crucial time. The present study explored that the most-frequency-significance challenges influencing school activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were related to (1) self-care, wellbeing, and safe school opening; (2) learning continuity and quality of education; (3) ensuring distributive leadership; (4) emotional and mental health; (5) equity gaps; (6) digital divides; and (7) cyber security of online education. These finding should be seriously considered as the role of the principals is central in schools and it cannot be ignored.

Implications

The study works as a contribution to K-12 school leadership by providing guidance for current and future leaders in crisis based on practical investigation, experiences, and recommendations. The findings of the current study are believed to have profound implications for future research. Critical challenges of leadership are substantial to be considered by school administration, policy makers, and future research. The identification of these leadership challenges helps fill the existing gaps in school leadership knowledge in the context of COVID-19. By addressing critical challenges facing school leaders in times of turbulence, school administration can revisit these results when navigating their own challenges. Policy makers can also leverage these findings to make necessary adjustments to school policy to better prepare current and would be school leaders for future crisis. These findings also upsurge the concern for further quantitative and/or qualitative investigation on school leadership challenges in disruptive times according to different contexts and the degree to which school leaders respond to a crisis. Besides, these leadership challenges are of significance for researchers to develop a crisis-response model for school leadership.

Data Availability Statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary Material, and further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Author Contributions

KP presented the main idea and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. PT and AA contributed to conduct the methodology. SA proofread the manuscript before submission. EN and TX helped in the revision of the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Muhammad Shafiq, Associate Professor, Neijiang Normal University (Sichuan), China, for his technical support and expert opinion for the study.

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