Abstract:

School safety is commonly agreed to hold intrinsic value. This safety is shaken by many threats from both inside and outside schools. Threats that cannot be resolved by existing skills or means, may turn into crises. Crises faced by schools form a threat to school safety. The covid-19 lockdown was a global wakeup-call for schools, poignantly demonstrating the criticality of crisis management (CM) and preparedness. School leaders needed to handle a variety of crises following the breakout of the pandemic. National governments published lists of preventive measures for schools aimed to stop the virus from spreading. Teachers, students and families alike were in great need of support with emotional and academical issues following the lockdown. School leaders had an important role as caregivers and creators of optimism.

Simultaneously, the daily work in schools required clear guidelines to sustain basic functions of the school. In fact, these basic functions were re-invented in the midst of a strict call to maintain social distance and hygiene. Altogether, schools came face-to-face with a completely new way of schooling. There was no opportunity for long-term planning because uncertainty was continuous, and circumstances could change overnight. The situation required creativity on behalf of the school leadership, as well as the ability to make decisions with little or no information.

This narrative review summarizes the elements of crisis management process (CMP) in the context of school leaders. The data consist of four previous CM models, one of them focusing on healthcare leadership, one on universal CM and two of them focusing on school leaders’ CM. The four previous models were thematically analysed for elements of CMP, and as a result of the analysis draws a model of school leaders’ CMP elements. These elements are focus on crises in educational contexts, without being tied to a particular context or certain types of crises.

At the onset of covid-19 pandemic schools were not well-prepared to face the crisis caused by lockdown. This highlights the importance of understanding CMP in schools as a dimension of school management. The leaders and staff of schools should have knowledge of the basic elements of CMP to be able to prepare for turbulent times.

The goal of CM is to return status quo with minimum damage. The model presented here seeks to unpack the elements of school leaders in times of crisis, such as that of covid-19, to sustain the performance and functionality of a school unit. Future research could test the usability and validity of the model and develop it further.

Keywords:

crisis management, school leaders, educational leadership