| The study explored how principals in Kenya responded to educational needs of their students, staff and the school’s external community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sought the perceptions of principals on lessons they learned from the pandemic and how prepared they felt they were with regards to effectively managing crises, especially unprecedented ones, such as natural disasters. This study falls under the “Institutional Leadership for Curriculum Delivery” since it sheds light on effective leadership preparation and its impact on creating an efficient and effective teaching and learning environment. The main research questions sought: a) to find out if and in what ways the roles and responsibilities of principals changed during the pandemic; b) if principals felt adequately prepared to deal with increasing complexities of today’s world, and c) what changes principals proposed to make them be better prepared for leadership today. This was a qualitative study in which 20 principals were purposively selected through a principals’ platform that is has representation of principals across all counties in Kenya. The sampled principals were from public, private, day, mixed, board, single-sex, primary, and secondary schools. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Findings indicated that principals’ roles experienced a dramatic shift from managers of school’s material and human resources, to that of counsellor, health manager and community mobilizer. The principals indicated experiencing a greater awareness and heaviness of their roles as decision-makers especially at the school level. They felt that their leadership preparation did not adequately prepare them to effectively manage challenges that arose from the occurrence of disasters, especially of the magnitude of a pandemic. They suggested capacity building in disaster preparedness, financial management, human resource management, resource mobilizer, and technological skills. As requested by the principals, there is need to ensure that principal preparation programs equip them with skills for effectively and efficiently responding to ambiguity and the unexpected in the learning environment. |
