Cases of Principal Leadership Responses in a Volatile, Uncertain and Complex School Environment

1. Introduction

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, top management has been confronted with changes that have caused volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) [1]. For the principals, administering the schools in the face of the coronavirus’s marauding torrent has been unfathomable. Principals had to deal with systemic challenges such as deteriorating infrastructure, a lack of basic sanitation, and a politicised school atmosphere. In both primary and secondary schools, the unsustainable redesigned classroom was unable to handle the staggered phasing in of all grades. Existing discrepancies between the previous ex-model C and House of Delegates to the township and rural schools added to the woes of the ongoing contestations between the National Education Ministry policymakers and the Joint Teacher Unions, further complicating these complex difficulties. The reports from the Joint Teacher Unions were contradictory.

The responses of school principals in maintaining school functionality in a turbulent, uncertain, and complicated school environment are examined in this research. It looks at how social distancing has affected timetabling, as well as teaching and learning. It examines how each principal in their leadership has chosen the types of models to ensure that all grades are phased in at school. It demonstrates some of the difficulties that schools were confronted with, when teachers or students were infected with the coronavirus. Finally, it highlights the principals’ leadership in ensuring that, despite debilitating conditions and the possibility of the coronavirus, programs for recovering lost time were developed at school.

The following are the key research questions:

1. How did principals handle school management and the implementation of policy directives?

2. How did the principals deal with the loss of control?

We feel that the information gathered while answering all of these questions will be useful in understanding how principals responded to COVID-19’s disruptive effects on school operations. It is critical that, before looking for empirically generated answers to these concerns, we review what is currently known in the literature about the pandemic’s overall disruptive effect on the educational system.

2. Literature on the subject

We conducted a general evaluation of the current literature on COVID-19’s disruptive influence on the educational landscape. We looked at the research on the harmful consequences of lockdown policies on the educational system. These included the impact of lost teaching time on student advancement, as well as the impact of social distance measurements on learner accommodation in classrooms and teaching time. We also addressed the mitigation of lost teaching time through the use of catch-up and rehabilitation programs.

Darvasi [2] noted on the unpredictability and unusual nature of the effect of 1–1.5 m of social separation in crowded classrooms. As a result of social distancing, the available school spaces may not be able to accommodate all of the students, as was the case before COVID-19. The screening of teachers and students necessitated the implementation of isolation measures to prevent the potential of retaliation. Catch-up programs, according to Montoya [3], can help schools mitigate the loss of teaching time caused by the COVID disruptive effect. During the first and second terms, most schools did not participate in Easter vacation, winter camps, or Saturday classes as part of their catch-up and recovery programs. Professor Nicky Roberts, an education expert, proposed that the Basic Education Department look into other solutions for students who were having their academic year disrupted by the COVID-19 outbreak [4]. The gap between fee-paying and non-fee-paying students are widening, according to Roberts.

She feared that the 4-week school closure would burden the study of grade 12 students even more [4]. Mthethwa [4] discovered that some grade 12 students were highly concerned about their prospects and preparation for the upcoming National Senior Certificate in his conversation with them. The staggered phasing in was further disrupted as the Joint Teacher Unions put pressure on the Education Ministry to close schools as more evidence emerged that schools had been impacted by the quickly expanding pandemic during the peak period of June to July 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa has stated that the second term will be adjourned from the 7th to the 12th of August. We must remember that this abrupt shutdown followed a brief period of reopening on June 8th for only grades 7 and 12 as exit classes. Due to these uncertainties and disruptions, policymakers at the National Education Ministry was faced with the difficult task of finalising the school calendar, which resulted in a great deal of academic instability.

After a protracted period of debates about the return and phasing in of the remaining grades, namely grades 1–6 and 8–11 in the primary and secondary schools, finality was reached. After a long period of debates over the return and phasing in of the remaining grades, grades 1–6 and 8–11 in the primary and secondary phases, respectively, finality was reached. Another factor that affected the substantial alterations to the school the calendar was the pressure from Joint Teacher Unions on the Education Minister to close schools because of an increase in infections during the peak period of July and August 2020. This led to a 2-week hiatus beginning on August 7th and ending on August 12th, when the school reopened for the third term. As a result, depending on how the school organised the phasing in of the other grades, some students were only allowed to return to school on August 12th. The final calendar, as shown in Table 1, was approved by all important parties. The third term begins on August 12th. As a result, depending on how the school organised the phasing in of the other grades, some students were only allowed to return to school on August 12th. The final calendar, as shown in Table 1, was approved by all important parties. A careful examination of the calendar reveals that the academic year has been pushed into the first 2 weeks of December, something that has never happened before. After the presidential declaration of the movement to go from Level 4 to Level 1 measures on September 19th, there was a sense of stability. Teachers who had previously sought for temporary release based on underlying comorbidities were recalled by the District Offices to resume work on September 21, 2020 [5, 6, 7].

The gap in the number of lost teaching days owing to the enforced lockdown from the 16th March to the reopening date on the 8th June 2020 is shown in Table 1. The dates in brackets refer to the dates on which teachers were expected to begin their tasks at school before students arrived. Due to the increased spread of the coronavirus, the modified schedule shows a reduction in the number of days available for teaching and learning in schools, particularly in term three. The worst-case scenario was that students in grades 8–11 had to make sacrifices to accommodate grade 12 trial examinations and final examinations in late September and early November, respectively, to the 15th of December. This adds to the problem by causing some schools to lose instructional time for these grades.

3. VUCA as the conceptual framework

VUCA refers to how the principals dealt with the unpredictable nature of the school environment from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic through the end of the final exams, as a conceptual framework that underpins this article. There are several features and emphases of the VUCA world’s application that may or may not apply to this paper. However, we will only consider those factors that help to explain the quandary that our schools faced after reopening till the end of the semester. The study examines the principal’s management of the school’s operations throughout a challenging and uncertain academic year. There are different interpretations and application of the concept VUCA.

Volatility has a connotation for meaning an unstable change, where information is available and the situation is understandable, however change is characterised by being frequent and unpredictable. Uncertainty pertains to a situation where the lack of knowledge may be considered to be not showing any relation between cause and effect. What makes the situation look complex is the multiple parts that are interconnected, whereas ambiguity is the nature of doubt that comes into play in understanding whether there is a cause and effect relationships [8].

Certain groups agree that in a VUCA-oriented school climate, leadership is thrown out the window. In terms of their leadership and management of the schools, the principals were unable to cope with such a high level of unknown, unpredictable, and complex issues, which could not have been learned in any recent educational leadership textbook. The purpose of this article is to learn how these secondary school principals dealt with these problems in a tumultuous school climate. Complexity in this paper refers to the interconnectedness and interdependence of numerous components in the educational system that points to the school’s functionality [1]. When it comes to intricacy, scholars must bear this in mind. Because of the non-linear interaction and interdependencies among diverse actors, as well as the complex activities and interactions at the school, the outcomes of a consciously managed settings are surprising.

4. Data presentation and methodology

The goal of the study on which this report is based was to examine how principals used their leadership skills in response to the interruptions to school operations caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. The study used a case study methodology to conduct a qualitative investigation. It incorporated both quantitative and qualitative information. The Mpumalanga Circuit Manager, who supervises the 10 secondary principals, cleared all of the initial ethical issues with the Kwazulu-Natal Department of Education, Office of the Director in Pinetown District and the Chief Education Specialist (CES) at Umhlathuzana Circuit Management Centre. Participating principals were handed questionnaires with informed consent letters from these authorities, who were asked to sign their letters of consent to participate in the study. To protect their identity, schools were given pseudonyms. All the 10 selected secondary schools are located in the Mpumalanga Township across the circuit. The Mpumalanga Circuit has 32 schools, 10 of which are secondary schools, whilst 22 are primary schools. Amongst the 10 selected there are only two female principals, whilst the rest of the eight are males. The Mpumalanga Township is located outside of the EThekwini Metro.

The enrolments from the 10 selected secondary schools range from 350 to 940 learners. Their quintiles range from 1 to 4, and six of them are no fee schools, although all are provided with the feeding scheme for learners.

Closed and semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data, while free-form interviews were used to obtain qualitative data. During the peak of the epidemic, questionnaires were sent to 10 secondary schools in the Mpumalanga Circuit through email. When collecting a big amount of quantitative data, the respondents are advised [9]. Short face-to-face interviews with principals supplemented the semi-structured and closed questionnaires to gain clarification on how they performed trials examinations, catch-up programs, and pre-planning for the final upcoming assessments. After the pandemic’s tremendous storm had passed, 10 secondary school principals participated in free attitude interviews. As part of following the research protocols, pseudonyms were allocated to the names of the schools and principals. Attitudes that are free interviews allow people to express themselves freely. This guarantees that participants are treated with respect rather than being marginalised [10]. Audio recordings of free attitudes interviews were made and subsequently transcribed verbatim into themes. As part of the investigation, questionnaires were circulated using emails to 10 secondary schools in the Mpumalanga Circuit during the peak of the pandemic. Questionnaires are recommended for the collection of a large volume of quantitative data [9]. The semi-structured and closed questionnaires were supplemented by short face to face interviews with principals to seek clarity on how they conducted trials examination, the catch-up programmes and preplanning for the final oncoming examinations. Free attitudes interviews were conducted after the great storm of the pandemic was over with 10 secondary school principals. The pseudonyms were assigned to the names of the schools and principals as part of observing the protocols for research. Free Attitudes Interviews enable the participants to freely express themselves. This ensures that participants are respected and not undermined [10]. Free attitudes interviews were audio-recorded and then, they were transcribed verbatim into themes. We read each transcript numerous times to ensure that we were comfortable with the interview facts in general [11]. We then extracted ideas from each transcript and analysed them. Then, using descriptive codes, we came up with topics and categories [12]. We also noticed ethical principles including non-maleficence, participant autonomy as evidenced by voluntary engagement, informed consent, confidentiality, and anonymity [9, 13]. The questionnaires’ analysis showed several features of the schools’ functionality. These were analysed, and the results are given in the following tables as part of the paper’s quantitative findings. Open-ended questions were provided to clarify some of the replies from the questionnaires, and content analysis was utilised to analyse them.

These were analysed, and the results are listed in the following tables as part of the paper’s quantitative findings. Open-ended questions were posed to clarify some of the responses from the questionnaires, and content analysis was used to analyse them. The scope of this paper was narrowed because school functionality is a broad aspect that contributes to a conducive environment for teaching and learning. It was limited to the reengineering of classrooms and their configurations, the implementation of COVID-19 policies, revision planning, catch-up and recovery programs, and final examination planning. We present the analyses and comparative tables based on the responses from the 10 secondary schools, and how they contribute to the functionality of the school. In the reviewed literature we investigated the disruptive effect of the COVID-19 on school functionality, teaching and learning and timetabling and the reconfigured classroom.

The pseudonyms allotted to each of the secondary schools are presented in Table 2. These are the pseudonyms of the 10 secondary schools in the Mpumalanga Circuit.

5. Data presentation

The COVID-19 Committee activities, the staggered phasing period, assessment and revision plans, and catch up programs are among the issues that emerged from this research. These are deliberately recognised as significant characteristics of the school’s functionality to better understand how principals coped in a highly VUCA-oriented educational environment. These features of school functionality may not be congruent with existing literature because no literature on the subject was available at the time. However, in such a chaotic school climate, school leadership and management may not contradict the construct and conceptual literature on VUCA.

6. Findings

The conclusions touch on a variety of topics related to the school’s operation. We have condensed these for this study to concentrate on the most important points. The findings suggest to early confusion in the system and structures that administrators had set up to apply the defined policies and procedures, particularly when there were reports of both teachers and students being infected with the coronavirus. The COVID Committees did their screening and cleaning tasks at all 10 schools, reporting any irregularities to the administrators. As the system and structures became more stable, the principals followed the procedures and reported to the circuit managers, which enhanced alignment with the local health clinics. Principals were pressured by the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) to close schools at the height of the pandemic to put pressure on the National and Provincial governments [14].

Second, due to the early closure of schools from August 7 to 12, the staggered phasing-in method for grades 8–11 was delayed and disrupted. It was more of a case where we decided that a slice of bread was preferable to not having even half a loaf. To accommodate the phased grades 8–11, Principals and SMTs had to juggle subject allocation and change the timetables.

Finally, studies show that principals’ troubles were exacerbated by their preparation for the trial and the final NSC examinations. Due to the need to prepare for trials and NSC exams, principals prioritised grade 12 students. For grades 8–11, the unanticipated consequences meant more missed time for teaching and learning. The administrators were optimistic that the grade 12 students would meet their goals, given the effectiveness of the catch-up programs, notwithstanding some concerns.

Finally, the catch-up programs that were scheduled once the school reopened benefited only grade 12 students. These catch-up programs aided grade 12 students in their preparation for the Trial exams. The catch-up programs also helped students feel more secure about sitting for final exams, which began on November 5th and ended on December 15th. The principals were successful in guiding the schools through both internal and external assessments, but with significant compromises in teaching and learning for students in grades 8–11.

7. Conclusions

We can make conclusions from the above discussion. In terms of lost interaction time between teachers and learners, the staggered phasing-in method had a negative impact. However, proclaiming that grade 8–11 students would be required to stay at home until the next year became the worst-case scenario.

Second, because neither the biweekly nor the alternate day’s models were imposed on the teachers, they were accepted. The principals and staff made decisions based on what was appropriate and practical in their situation.

Third, we may deduce that some of the disciplines that were not taught will negatively affect those learners in terms of content and skills as they go through the grades and even to the level of tertiary education entrance due to a lack of specialism in specific areas. We can say that there will be students who are taken into consideration.

Fifth, it is understandable that some of the lost teaching time could have been prevented if our schools did not have such a strong union culture. On the other hand, if active unionism had not existed, school instructors and students would have been forced to work in surroundings that would have become epicentres for the coronavirus pandemic, The school-level reactions to the pandemic have educated and prepared principals for the delayed opening of schools in February 2021, yet the most concerning element was the amount of casualties caused owing to the new form of the virus.

We feel this study is unable to make any claims, but it does have the potential to do so. We feel that while this study cannot make any claims, it can add to the expanding body of knowledge that informs school administrators, policymakers, researchers, and teachers about how to plan for the coming academic year. Finally, the study may inform stakeholders about the pandemic’s approaching effects and the necessity for collaboration among people interested in education. The findings may contribute to filling some of the identified gaps in the literature study in terms of the primary leadership in handling pandemic concerns, therefore allowing for the implementation of VUCA studies.