Leading in Times of Uncertainty

date: March 24, 2025

Each day, we are continuously experiencing new contexts and shifts. Just a few weeks after beginning a new role in a new school district, the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was a time of confusion and uncertainty. No one knew how long this new reality would last or the short and long-term impacts that it would have on the workforce or society as a whole. As challenging this was at the time, I will be forever grateful for how this experience gave me new perspective and the catalyst to seize new opportunities for learning and leading in new ways.

Reflecting on what we experienced, what we learned, and what we could take forward into the future, this article will provide some highlights from my doctoral study as well as touch on key takeaways from my leadership experience in supporting new school principals, vice principals and other district department leaders through periods of challenge and uncertainty. My research explored the experiences of new principals who began their leadership journey during the COVID-19 pandemic in British Columbia, Canada and examined the critical leadership competencies, challenges, and support systems that enabled these leaders to navigate uncertainty.

School Leadership During Crisis

School leadership in times of crisis requires strategically and delicately balancing sensitive relational skills with effective and efficient leadership competencies (Smith & Riley, 2012). Studies of leadership and the impact of different types of crises are present in the literature, such as school shootings, natural disasters, war, and public health crises (Direen, 2017). In addition to managing the COVID-19 pandemic, principals were dealing with the challenges of addressing numerous racial and economic inequalities, while developing strategies to educate an increasingly diverse population of students. Many new school principals’ first steps into their new roles began during this unprecedented and uncertain time.

The purpose of my research was to explore how new principals navigated the COVID-19 pandemic in their first year as a school principal in a public school. Specifically, this study examined the successes, challenges, and supports new principals experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in public school districts in southwestern British Columbia, Canada.

Much was learned by investigating the learnings and experiences of these first-year principals. Due to the complexity of a global shutdown of schooling for a period of time, my interest in learning more about what it was like for new school principals set the initial research in motion. The challenges for people around the world differed depending on their contexts, such as having access to resources, information, and basic human needs. We saw societal shifts and much debate about schooling and learning and if the pandemic was going to change schooling and learning forever.

Successes experienced by new principals

Although the principal’s role has become increasingly complex and challenging, which can be daunting for newly hired principals, we learned from their stories through the pandemic that many experienced resilience and overcome the challenges they were faced with. Many new school leaders embraced the uncertainties with curiosity; they focused on positive relationships, building trust and being flexible and adaptable.

Resilience through Relationships

In times of adversity, especially as a school leader who may be the sole administrator of the school, prioritizing relationships professionally and personally allows for connections to develop into a network of support that nurtures. The lasting connections can increase resiliency. One participant shared, “I think one of the silver linings for me as a first-year principal was being able to look at possibilities rather than barriers.”

Building Trust

Understanding the context enables you to determine how to best respond to what is happening around you, your school or department. Taking the time to listen deeply to others builds trust, fosters hope and psychological safety. New principals who prioritized building trust with their community, found that it made their work meaningful, valued, and helped grow their confidence.

Student Voice

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schooling for more than 1.5 billion students globally, with the most vulnerable feeling the greatest impact. New principals shared that it was revealing for them to learn more about their learners and what they were experiencing. For many families who were navigating school via a computer, trying to maintain structure was challenging; we also knew the mental wellbeing of many young learners was of concern. New principals who participated in this study shared how they prioritized opportunities to connect with their learners and ensured school and home communication was being maintained.

Crisis Leadership

Previous research on educational systems in times of crisis has focused on crisis events such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and school shootings (Direen, 2017). Research on educational leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic still remains limited. Participants in this study shared how they very much appreciated regular ongoing communication from their district office, as well as the support they received for navigating high emotions from many members of their school communities. Several participants in this study were also responding to other school community crises that were not related to the pandemic but added another layer of complexity. Some new leaders were also leading their schools through a flooding disaster and others were feeling the impact of community protests in relation to vaccine and mask mandates. Despite these additional layers of complexity, these new principals shared how hard they worked to ensure the wellbeing of their school community.

School Leadership Competencies During Uncertain Times

When I look back at my research as well as my experience as a district leader who works closely with school leaders, leadership competencies not only have value in supporting the growth and development of all learners, including staff, but they also create measurable outcomes that demonstrate improvements. The findings from my doctoral study revealed the following school leadership competencies that mattered most during a complex and uncertain time.

Clear Communication

The challenges to effective communication during the pandemic were mostly attributed to the changing nature of information, with guidelines and response plans being updated frequently, sometimes even daily. Providing honest, accurate, and transparent descriptions of what is occurring and being as clear as possible, fosters trust and understanding. There is also merit in the importance of utilizing more than one method of communication, as there may be unintentional existing inequities within school communities impacting the reception of information.

Context-Responsive Leadership

The principles of good educational leadership are context responsive leadership, and include having a clear vision, supporting others’ growth, managing others, and building capacity (Leithwood et al., 2020). Leading a school in the best of times is difficult, but leading a school in uncertain times can be daunting. Earlier research suggested that pandemic leadership is a type of “caretaker leadership” where leaders “establish themselves as caretakers of their school communities” by focusing on the mental health and wellbeing of staff, students, and families (Hayes et al., 2021, p.5). A challenge to being an empathetic leader is managing one’s own stress and emotions during difficult times. Harris and Jones (2020), noted in their work that self-care considerations need to be a top priority for all school leaders. Leading schools through changes and challenges that accompanied the pandemic required school leaders who put their own health and wellbeing first so they can assist others.

Distributed Leadership

The third essential quality of effective school leadership through the COVID-19 pandemic was distributed leadership, which “is constituted through the interaction of leaders, teachers, and the situation as they influence instructional practice” (Spillane et. al. (2004, p.10). Collaborative meetings characterize a distributed leadership model and includes voices of all stakeholders, not only those in official leadership positions. Clearly, the pandemic demonstrated the importance of parents/caregivers as pedagogical collaborators. Schools and families had to work together in order to keep student’s continuity of learning moving forward. According to Harris (2020), the pandemic created new networks and networking practices that are widely distributed and innately collaborative.

The Unique Challenges of New Principals During a Crisis

As a practitioner, most of my district leadership experience has been directly providing professional learning, coaching and consulting to school leaders in times of crisis, including school safety issues. Perhaps this is what drew to my research question. When starting the role as a new school principal, the preparation and support for first year principals, or lack thereof, can lead to work intensification and work-related stress. Just prior to the pandemic, Wang and Pollock’s (2020) research with school principals in British Columbia found that work intensification was a top concern of respondents, in addition to their own wellbeing, health and.

I was not surprised to hear from the participants in my study that a network of support had important benefits for their wellbeing and leadership development. As a district leader who supports school leaders at all stages of their leadership journey, I am proud of the collective leadership supports we provide as a district team in Surrey Schools. Whether we are supporting those new to role, through the Leadership for Learning series for new Principals’ and Vice Principals’, or through a focused series of sessions on student mental wellbeing, safe and caring schools or inclusive leadership practices, we build in opportunities for mentorship along the way. It is lovely to witness new principals become a peer mentor to their colleagues within a few years.

Studies continue to show that an effective, prepared, and supported principal is a critical element in school reform efforts (Manna, 2015). To facilitate their success, new school principals must be provided with structured and meaningful support from their professional network to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to be effective school leaders. First-year principals in this study found the following supports helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic.

District Support: All participants mentioned the positive impact of their school district support in their first year.
Network of Support: The notion of a network of support was shared by all participants, revealing how their network of support helped them in their first year of principal. In this context, a network of support refers to peer support which that could extend beyond their school district.
Mental Health Resources: Participants noted access to mental health resources were a great support to them and their families.

Recommendations for Future Practice

Based on this study, five key recommendations emerged for supporting new principals during times of crisis and uncertainty.

Training for Crisis Response: Opportunities for school leaders to learn about best practices and how they can mitigate the consequences of a crisis can help them with a variety of concerning issues that they may need to respond to. There are many types of crisis and each have their own ways of creating impact. The more prepared school principals are in responding to those impacts, the healthier the school community will be.
Training on Navigating Opposition: We continue to see increasing polarization in many aspects of life today that is also impacting education. The recommendation for further training or learning opportunities for school leaders, specifically on how to have difficult conversations that can present as a challenge.
Digital Learning: When teaching and learning moved online during the onset of the pandemic, inequities in access to technology became evident as many principals contended with inequitable access to computers from both staff and students. As we continue to see rapid changes in technology and the advent of AI, we are now grappling with future implications for teaching, learning and beyond.

Student and Family Wellbeing: In this study, all participants noted the prioritization of the wellbeing of their students and families and expressed the need for this issue to be prioritized post-pandemic. The world was flooded with grief during this time and many families and communities were not able to mourn their loved ones due to restrictions. Exploring opportunities for health organizations and school districts to partner and leverage mental wellbeing supports and services for school community members is worth considering.

Being Trauma Aware: Participants referenced how their learning around trauma informed practices improved during the pandemic. Developing trauma awareness, for beginning principals especially, will not only help students thrive, it will also support educators in their direct work with students. School districts may consider providing strategies, knowledge and training on ways to increase understanding of what trauma awareness means.

The nature of school principals’ work has been altered because of the pandemic (Harris & Jones, 2020). Today, principals are expected to be exceptional managers and excellent leaders in a time where the pace of change has increased exponentially Leading schools during a pandemic has meant that principals are extending their roles around safe schooling, setting contexts for future schooling, and extending their role from instructional leader to digital instructional leader (Pollock, 2020). For educational systems, supporting principal development must include crisis leadership training, self-care strategies, and robust support networks. The critical role of principals in creating conditions for teacher and student success remains paramount, particularly during times of uncertainty. There is an increasing awareness that principal leadership has a significant, albeit indirect, influence on student learning (Grissom, 2021). Principals influence student achievement by creating conditions that allow classroom teachers to improve their instructional practice (Louis et al., 2010).

The principals who began their leadership journey during the COVID-19 pandemic represent a unique cohort who faced unprecedented challenges. Their experiences, documented through research, provide a valuable contribution to our understanding of educational leadership during crisis. As one participant in this study reflected, “This experience changed me as a leader forever. I learned to lead with both strength and vulnerability, to make decisions with limited information, and to hold space for the emotions of an entire community while managing my own.” These transformed principals, forged in the crucible of crisis, will continue to shape educational leadership for years to come.

References

Direen, G. (2017). School leadership after a crisis event: The impact of the Canterbury schools’ rebuild. TESOL Journal, 10(3), 307-324.

Grissom, J. A. (2021). How principals affect students and schools: A systematic synthesis of two decades of research. The Wallace Foundation.

Harris, A. (2020). COVID-19 – school leadership in crisis? Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3/4), 321-326.

Harris, A., & Jones, M. (2020). COVID-19 – school leadership in disruptive times. School Leadership & Management, 40(4), 243-247.

Hayes, L., Mansfield, C. F., & Stanton, R. (2021). Pandemic, crisis, and change: School principals’ emotional wellbeing during COVID-19 social isolation. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 53(3), 1-16.

Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2020). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership revisited. School Leadership & Management, 40(1), 5-22.

Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. L., & Anderson, S. E. (2010). Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning. The Wallace Foundation.

Manna, P. (2015). Developing excellent school principals to advance teaching and learning: Considerations for state policy. The Wallace Foundation.

Pollock, K. (2020). School leaders’ work during the COVID-19 pandemic: A two-pronged approach. International Studies in Educational Administration, 48(3), 38-44.

Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. B. (2004). Towards a theory of leadership practice: A distributed perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(1), 3-34.

Wang, F. (2020). School principals’ wellbeing and work-related stress: Their context, causes, and coping strategies. International Journal of Educational Reform, 29(2), 165-186.

Wang, F., & Pollock, K. (2020). School principals’ work and wellbeing in British Columbia: What they say and why it matters. Canadian Association of Principals.

Meet the Expert(s)

Dr. Selma Hageleit-Smith

Director of Instruction, Surrey School District

Selma Hageleit-Smith, Ed.D., is Surrey School District's Director of Instruction for Continuous Learning. She has over 25 years of experience in supporting and leading school communities, as a school counsellor, school-based administrator and district leader.