International School Leaders' Experiences During Times of Crisis: A Qualitative Study

Introduction

The research will include qualitative methods to obtain information on how international school leaders cope during times of crisis because the goal of the study is to explain the phenomenon by relying on the perception of people's experiences.

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For the purposes of this research, the data collection tools for conducting the research will involve the use of a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews. For the interviews, the participants will participate in 45 minutes to an hour, semi-structured, open-ended interviews that were audiotaped, transcribed, and thematically coded for analysis. A research consent form and letter of request would be sent to each individual participant. The researcher developed specific questions whose aim is to identify participants' feelings and opinions regarding the research questions.

In this study, the sample members who were selected had a special relationship with the phenomenon of cases of crisis under investigation and sufficient and relevant work experience in the field of international school leadership around the world. Within this context, the participants of this study were current and former international school leaders.

Grounded Theory Methodology

The study will include a way of moving from individual knowledge to collective knowledge. It is such that theory could emerge by methodically coding interviews with terms that succinctly and conceptually summarize each phrase, line, and even word. The research will apply the methodology to review the experience of international school leaders, including the former and current heads of schools and principals, to take note of the incidences of crisis and how they handled the cases in terms of the leadership strategies that they put into use. The results will identify why crisis leadership is relevant for future international school leaders because they will have a better understanding of how to handle danger, and faculty and staff emotions, in critical life-and-death situations (Boin et al., 2013). Thus they need to manage their own emotions and what decisions they will need to adapt and avoid during a crisis. The goal of this study is to understand how international school leaders cope during times of crisis and to develop a way to help international school leaders muddle through challenging times.

Research Plan

The research plan is to interview leaders while covering the areas in the research topic. The leaders will have to give their opinions on how they have handled instances of crisis within their institutions. There are many factors that put international schools' heads of school, superintendents, and principals at risk, ranging from natural disasters, revolution, political unrest, economic recession, devaluation of the currency, and terrorism (Holt and Wood, 2017). These are the main forms of crisis that may make the school leaders apply different strategies. When problems occur in an international school, the leader must exercise some form of cultural sensitivity because his or her decision is not only for the safety and concern of the expatriate teachers.

Study Participants

The participants of the research will be former and current heads of schools and principals. The number of participants will be 12, and they will include both males and females. The role of schools is to pass education to the students, providing appropriate access and the right curriculum for everyone. Leaders have a unique position in turbulent times. Followers look to their leaders for actions, solutions to the crisis, and explanations that will help them interpret and respond to perceived threats and uncertainties (Holt and Wood, 2017).

Principals are the heads of schools and are tasked with the responsibility to lead to the best of their ability as they give the students an excellent foundation to live productively. Only a few of the school leaders are well-trained and supported for the role of leadership, and even fewer have the guidelines concerning the expectations, especially during disaster response as well as recovery. Interviewing the leaders will be a great way to establish how they have been able to deal with crises in the past and their preparations.

Procedures

The procedures will include first selecting the institutions and the particular leaders to cover. Because the purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of international school leaders and how they cope during a crisis, a qualitative approach is the most appropriate choice. The second procedure is to send a research consent form and letter of request to the leaders who will participate in the study. There will be development of certain questions whose aim is to identify participants' feelings and opinions regarding the research questions.

The research will support the statistics showing that 67% of international school leaders report that workplace stress impacts negatively their professional performance, with a similar number reporting interference with their personal lives (Dowell et al., 2011). A third of the international school leaders say that they have felt close to breaking point at some point. It is clearly a significant issue that is in the interests of the whole international school community to address (Holt and Wood, 2017). It is vital to know how to prioritize school leader wellbeing and provide international school leaders with the support they need.

Analysis Method

The research will likely show that a certain percentage will report that they found leading an international school emotionally challenging work. Leaders experience difficulties and challenges when performing the duty of being responsible for a large number of students across cultures where they all report to the leader (Boin et al., 2013). It can be tiresome to individually handle cases of students when conflicts arise, and it is even more complicated when the leader has to do it every other day.

Another percentage will show that feeling emotionally challenged at least two to three times per week when they have to deal with a large population of students. There will also be a percentage that will report encountering these challenges on a daily basis. The complexities of dealing with cross-cultural relationships and the emotional climate generated by the constant transition of an internationally mobile population pose specific challenges for international school leaders who are not encountered elsewhere. Loosening rather than tightening communication and decision-making structures during a crisis may be more appropriate.

In other questionnaires, leaders may report that the relationships with parents are somewhat challenging, citing cultural dissonance around parents' expectations as the main reason for conflicts arising. These include issues relating to dissatisfaction with the current educational program or proposed curriculum changes (Boin, 2016). International school leaders may also report significant parent pressure to deliver learning in traditional ways with the overemphasis on the importance of core skills development and testing, and hostility towards 21st-century approaches to learning.

International school leaders require leadership attributes and skills in times of crisis that are different from those that they need during a typical school environment. When leaders have strong school leadership, they are able to position the school for the future, and they empower and support the staff in pursuit of teaching and learning excellence. School leaders play a significant role, mostly when a crisis occurs.

Ethical Concerns

It is with serious concern that the head department of education looks keenly into the matter of how international school leaders respond to crises. The leaders will need to be trained to handle crises in a different manner than their average day environment at school. If faced with such a situation, the first enemy is the barriers in the leader's mind. These barriers may present themselves in many ways, such as anxiety, fear, and instability to comprehend, and thus create an emotional toll on the leader. The research understands how international school leaders cope during times of crisis by strategizing properly and using practices that are competent for the students and the entire staff.

The research will ensure the validity and reliability of the information because when the participants provide inaccurate information, it is difficult for the triangulation process to be effective, thus making it harder to validate the information as reliable. The fact that the research uses qualitative studies, it will be necessary to be aware of the interjecting of their own personal bias through the manipulation of the information gathered during the data collection process. Reliability and Validity will be determined when the researcher reaches the threshold of measuring what was intended to be measured, such as the research question to validate the results of the study on how international school leaders cope during times of crisis.

References

Boin, A. (2016). The Transboundary Crisis: Why we are unprepared and the road ahead. J Contingencies and Crisis Management. 2019;27:94–99. https://doi.org10.1111/1468-5973.12241Boin, A., Kuipers, S. and Overdijk, W. (2013), "Leadership in times of crisis: a framework for assessment," International Review of Public Administration, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 79-91.

Dowell, G. W. S., Shackell, M.B., and Stuart, N. V. (2011). Boards, CEOs, and surviving a financial crisis: Evidence from the internet shakeout, Strategic Management Journal, 32(10), 1025-1045.

Holt, S.S. and Wood, A. (2017), "Leadership and emotional intelligence," in Marques, J. and Dhiman, S. (Eds), Leadership Today: Practices for Personal and Professional Performance, Springer, Berlin, pp. 111-138.