The best of times, the worst of times: Continuities in school leaders' work in uncertain times

A new article based on school leadership research carried out by Professors Pat Thomson and Toby Greany has been published in Educational Management Administration & Leadership, a publication belonging to the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS).

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic created new challenges for school leaders. They worked very long hours in difficult circumstances. Improvising and responding quickly to poorly timed central guidelines had an adverse effect on their health and wellbeing. Our mixed methods studies show that leaders’ pandemic work was largely directed to establishing new management routines as well as dealing with people. Henri Lefebvre's rhythmanalysis allows us to see that leaders managed their pre-, during and post-pandemic work by working ‘after hours’. The analysis suggests that tackling wellbeing and workload and developing more sustainable leadership careers requires a fundamental redesign of the ways in which leaders’ work is carried out.

Please visit the publisher's website to read the article.