Principals’ Perceptions of Their Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This is a self-archived version of an original article. This version may differ from the original in pagination and typographic details. Author(s): Title: Year: Version: Copyright: Rights: Rights url: Please cite the original version: CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Principals’ Perceptions of Their Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic © The Author(s) 2024 Published version Elomaa, Mailis; Pakarinen, Eija; Eskelä-Haapanen, Sirpa; Lerkkanen, MarjaKristiina Elomaa, M., Pakarinen, E., Eskelä-Haapanen, S., & Lerkkanen, M.-K. (2024). Principals’ Perceptions of Their Work During the COVID-19 Pandemic. In R. Ahtiainen, E. Hanhimäki, J. Leinonen, M. Risku, & A.-S. Smeds-Nylund (Eds.), Leadership in Educational Contexts in Finland : Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives (pp. 281-299). Springer. Educational Governance Research, 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37604-7_14 2024 281 Chapter 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic MailisElomaa, EijaPakarinen, SirpaEskelä-Haapanen, andMarja-KristiinaLerkkanen Abstract The present study aimed to describe school principals’ perceptions of the changes and challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic and what kinds of support and new competences they found important for managing their work. Fifty-five Finnish principals completed an online questionnaire that included openended questions. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that principals experienced changes mainly in their workload, in the nature of their work, and at an individual level, such as in family-work balance and increased motivation. Information and communication technology skills were mentioned most often as new skills needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, though some principals argued that no new skills were needed. Principals highly valued support from the school community through discussions, flexibility, and teamwork, as well as clear instructions and guidelines from the upper-level administration. The results help in planning crisis leadership to ensure the continuity of high-quality education during exceptional circumstances. As other educational crises may follow the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis and change management are essential skills for principals, these skills should be taken into account when revising the preand inservice training curricula. Keywords School principals · Crisis leadership · Remote work · COVID-19 · Support · Competences M. Elomaa (*) · E. Pakarinen · S. Eskelä-Haapanen · M.-K. Lerkkanen Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] The original version of the chapter has been revised. A correction to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37604-7_20 © The Author(s) 2024, corrected publication 2024 R. Ahtiainen et al. (eds.), Leadership in Educational Contexts in Finland, Educational Governance Research 23, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37604-7_14 282 Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has caused numerous social challenges, including worldwide economic hazards, deteriorations in people’s well-being, and impacts on education. School systems around the world have had to adapt their ways of working to address various difficulties (Biag etal., 2021; Harris, 2020; Parveen etal., 2022). As the pandemic spread rapidly across the globe, there was an urgent need for school staff to cope with new demands and challenges to maintain education for students in exceptional circumstances. Many governments ordered schools to close totally or partly, requiring students and teachers to switch to remote learning almost overnight (Collie, 2021; Harris & Jones, 2020). Drawing from the conclusions of Biag etal. (2021), we can be sure that other educational crises will follow the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we need to learn from the current situation to prepare for new challenges and ensure high-quality education in the future. School principals play an important role in planning, overseeing, and supporting these processes. The global pandemic has created an unprecedented challenge, especially for school leaders (McLeod & Dulsky, 2021) who play a key role as mediators between national educational authorities and school staff. School leaders are positioned as the pinch point in the system, being reliant on guidance about COVID-19 responses, processes, procedures, and protocols from the upper administration (Harris & Jones, 2020). According to Thornton (2021), the challenges school leaders faced during the pandemic included preparing teachers and students for remote learning for an unknown length of time, supporting the well-being of students and staff, and communicating clearly and compassionately to all stakeholder groups. Salmela-Aro etal. (2020) found that organizing education during remote learning in spring 2020 decreased school principals’ job engagement. Worldwide, principals’ already heavy workloads have increased with the need to create new remote leadership practices and orchestrate teachers’ new and diverse learning environments (Biag etal., 2021; Harris & Jones, 2020). Although principals are used to handling smaller crises, most school leaders have never dealt with crises of this scale and scope for as long as this COVID-19 pandemic (McLeod & Dulsky, 2021). Thornton (2021) described five leadership practices undertaken by principals in crisis leadership: preparing, addressing wellbeing, communicating effectively, leading collaboratively, and taking opportunities to frame the discussion. She also indicated that crisis leadership demands agility, a willingness to embrace change, and a mindset of possibilities to resolve crises and position the organization for an improved future state (Thornton, 2021). Fernandez and Shaw (2020) suggested that to address possible future crises, school leaders should take advantage of opportunities to learn and evolve in the current one. Taking into account the unparalleled nature of the current crisis, it is important to understand how to support school principals in leading schools through immediate crisis and through change in the long term. In the current study, “principal” refers to a leader of a comprehensive school providing mandatory education for Grades 1–9, after which students enter secondary-level education. The main purpose of this study was to provide knowledge about principals’ work-related experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also investigated the kinds of new competences and support principals perceived as necessary during the M. Elomaa et al. 283 crisis. The results of the study provide important insights into factors that should be considered in supporting principals and preparing them for possible future crises. School Leadership During theCrisis In a school context, a crisis can be regarded as any urgent situation that requires school leaders to take fast and decisive action (Smith & Riley, 2012). Boin etal. (2010) defined crisis management as the sum of activities aimed at minimizing a crisis’s impact. The effectiveness of crisis management can be assessed in relation to taking action, making sure the task is completed and fulfilling a symbolic need for direction and guidance (Boin et al., 2010). The executive tasks of crisis management are early recognition, sensemaking, making critical decisions, orchestrating vertical and horizontal coordination, coupling and decoupling, meaning making, communicating, rendering accountability, learning, and enhancing resilience (Boin etal., 2010). These tasks are hard to accomplish in the best of circumstances, and the dynamics of crises make them even harder (Boin & Renaud, 2013). According to McLeod and Dulsky (2021), during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, some key challenges for school leaders were the unique nature of the crisis (i.e., most school organizations had not experienced a pandemic before), the rapid timeline, and the accompanying uncertainty that hindered effective responses. Leaders’ experience did not matter significantly when the COVID-19 crisis had few “knowable components” (McLeod & Dulsky, 2021, p.2). In their systematic literature review, Parveen etal. (2022) showed that the most significant challenges influencing school activities during the COVID-19 pandemic were related to well-being (self-care, safety issues, and emotional and mental health), distributed leadership, digital gaps, the cybersecurity of online education, and ensuring equity, learning continuity, and quality of education. Boin and Renaud (2013) observed that joint sensemaking is particularly important to effective crisis management; if decision-makers do not have a shared and accurate picture of the situation, they cannot make informed decisions and communicate effectively with partners, politicians, and the public (Boin & Renaud, 2013). Unfortunately, for many school leaders during the first months of the pandemic, the administrators and policy-makers often lacked an accurate picture of what was occurring and did not share what they knew with others in ways that enabled effective leadership responses and partnerships (McLeod & Dulsky, 2021). Effective communication is another consistent element of crisis leadership, and numerous scholars (Marsen, 2020; McLeod & Dulsky, 2021; Thornton, 2021) have emphasized the leader’s role in communicating with both internal and external audiences. Marsen (2020) noted that crisis communication must deal with both issue management during the crisis and reputation management after the crisis. Effective communication builds trust and helps create shared understanding and commitments across stakeholders (Lucero etal., 2009). Generally, school leadership involves positioning the school for the future and supporting and empowering staff and students in the pursuit of teaching and learning excellence (Smith & Riley, 2012). Based on a meta-analysis conducted before the 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic 284 COVID-19 pandemic by Smith and Riley (2012), the leadership attributes and skills required of school leaders in times of crisis are different in nature from those generally required as part of the “normal” school environment. In its primary focus, leadership in times of crisis is neither developmental nor future oriented but concerns managing events, emotions, and consequences in the immediate present in ways that minimize personal and organizational harm within the school community (Smith & Riley, 2012). In their study on school leaders perspectives toward their leadership practices during COVID-19 pandemic, Arar etal. (2021) found that the principals reported discovering or developing new digital skills that enriched their repertoire while leading in the digital era. According to Harris and Jones (2020), crisis and change management are now essential skills for school leaders. They argued that running an effective school in disruptive times requires more than routine problem-solving or occasional firefighting. Instead, all school leaders should be engaged in constant crisis and change management, which requires support and collaboration from all staff (Harris & Jones, 2020). As a consequence of the high-speed changes caused by the pandemic, a high degree of trust among principal and teachers is needed to ensure that issues are addressed collectively as they arise (Harris & Jones, 2020). Previous research has shown that key attributes for effective crisis leadership include the following: assessment of the situation and decision-making that involve sensemaking and skill synthesis (Wooten & James, 2008); decisive decision-making under pressure (Smith & Riley, 2010, 2012; Wooten & James, 2008); flexibility and lateral thinking (Smith & Riley, 2012); and, to a reasonable extent, risk taking (Wooten & James, 2008). During the crisis, communication with different stakeholders should also be effective (Fernandez & Shaw, 2020; Thornton, 2021; Wooten & James, 2008), providing certainty and engendering hope with empathy and respect (Harris & Jones, 2020; Smith & Riley, 2012). Boin etal. (2010) found effective crisis leadership to involve recognizing emerging threats, initiating efforts to mitigate the threats, and dealing with their consequences, as well as reestablishing a sense of normality once the acute crisis period has passed (e.g., Daniel, 2020). In addition to challenges, researchers have recognized that crises provide opportunities for learning and development. As Smith and Riley (2012) stated, crises can create major opportunities for a school by giving it a chance to refocus, reenergize, and try new ideas. Remote Leadership Values and purpose, combined with intrapersonal and interpersonal knowledge, have been identified as central to effective leadership (Harris, 2020). The same applies to successful school leadership in remote settings, in which principals are required to lead individuals they rarely see (Daniel, 2020). While Kelley and Kelloway (2012) noted that leading virtually might not be as interactive and effective as in face-to-face situations, Contreras etal. (2020) proposed that remote leadership can be advantageous for not only companies’ productivity but also the environment and people working there. However, to thrive in remote work environments, managers must adjust the companies’ structures to make them less hierarchical and develop new M. Elomaa et al. 285 abilities to establish strong and trusting relationships with their employees while retaining genuine concern for their employees’ well-being (Contreras etal., 2020). Harris (2020) suggested that in times of challenge, school leaders need to establish and sustain a collaborative culture involving connected networks among people. Fernandez and Shaw (2020) found that educational leaders’ ability to establish a culture of trust, collaboration, and shared leadership prior to a crisis will more significantly influence institutions’ ability to withstand times of crisis. According to Smith and Riley (2010), the question of how to develop appropriate crisis attributes and skills for both present and future leaders has not been addressed in the literature. Moreover, the existing literature on crisis leadership concentrates mainly on crises triggered by natural hazards, such as Hurricane Katrina (Boin etal., 2010), earthquakes (Much, 2015), or human interventions (Katsiyannis etal., 2018) rather than on crisis similar to the one caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Despite growing awareness of the nature of principals’ work, relatively little is known about how school principals experience their work (for exceptions, see Bellemans & Devos, 2021; Elomaa etal., 2021; Mahfouz, 2020), particularly during crises (for exceptions, see Arar etal., 2021; Thornton, 2021). As the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is unique in its prolonged nature and breadth, it is important to record principals’ perceptions of the kinds of challenges they have been facing during the current crisis and the kinds of support they perceive as necessary to assist them during the crisis and prepare them for future crises through inand pre-service training. Aim oftheCurrent Study The present study first describes the principals’ perceptions of the changes and challenges they faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then elaborates on the support for leadership and competences they perceive as needed to manage their work. The specific research questions are as follows: 1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected principals’ work? 2. Which new competences did principals need to manage their work during the COVID-19 pandemic? 3. What supportive elements did principals need for their leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic? Methodology Data andParticipants The current study is part of a larger project investigating teachers’, students’, and principals’ well-being and related factors (TESSI; Lerkkanen & Pakarinen, 2016–2022). The study was approved by the university’s Committee of Ethics. The participants of the present study were 55 principals from 12 Central Finland 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic 286 municipalities. All the principals of comprehensive schools (delivering compulsory basic education to students in Grades 1–9) in those municipalities were asked to participate in the study. All participants filled out an informed consent form. The participants’ ages ranged from 33 to 66years (mean [M]=51.3years, standard deviation [SD]=7.7). Their working experience as principals varied from 0.5 to 30years (M=12.2years, SD=9, missing four). Of all 55 participants, 5 did not have a teaching obligation (one missing), and the number of teaching hours ranged from 1 to 27 per week (M=13.2hours, SD=8.5, missing six). School sizes ranged from 20 to 1100 students (M=373 students, SD=279), and the number of staff members in each school ranged from 1 to 151 persons (M=37 persons, SD=33). Overall, 3 participants reported leading 3 schools, 10 reported leading 2 schools, and 42 participants reported leading 1 school. The participants were assigned random ID numbers from 1 to 55 to ensure confidentiality. Of all 55 participants, 33 worked remotely to some extent at the time of data collection in spring 2020. The proportion of remote work in the participants’ total working time varied from 10% to 100% (M=60.8, SD=32.1). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 33 participants already worked remotely as part of their regular work arrangements, with the proportion of remote work varying from 1% to 35% (M=10.5, SD=8.7). Procedure The principals were asked to complete an online questionnaire in spring 2020 during the school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The questionnaire included the following three open-ended questions: (1) What kind of support do you feel you need for your leadership at the moment? (2) How has the ongoing COVID-19 situation/pandemic affected your work? (3) What new competence has the COVID-19 situation required of you? The responses varied from very brief descriptions of 1 to 5 words to answers of more than 100 words. Analysis The present study was conducted using inductive reasoning and data-driven content analysis (Patton, 2015). Initially, the first author performed the analysis independently, after which all the authors discussed the analysis. During the discussion, possible findings that needed to be changed were highlighted. Open coding was used to remain receptive to the data and to identify concepts and themes for categorization (Patton, 2015). The data were first organized into broad themes (Williams & Moser, 2019). First, the principals’ answers to open-ended questions were coded for emergent descriptions. Second, repeated codes were identified and drawn together to develop subthemes (Blair, 2015). This process led to the development of three main themes concerning the ongoing COVID-19 situation’s effect on M. Elomaa et al. 287 the principals’ work, six main themes concerning new competences needed, and eight main themes on the support needed for leadership. Third, the existing literature was examined. Because the data analysis results did not support any existing conceptualization, results, and/or theories, the analysis of support needs, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on principals’ work, and the new necessary competences remained inductive (see Tables 14.1, 14.2, and 14.3 for the results and examples of the analysis processes). The themes and subthemes that emerged are presented and further discussed in the results section below. Throughout the analysis, we were particularly careful not to overinterpret the principals’ very brief self-reports. Results Effect oftheCOVID-19 Pandemic onPrincipals’ Work The study’s first aim was to discover how principals experienced the COVID-19 pandemic as affecting their work. Thus, the principals’ self-reported descriptions were divided into three main themes, which were then divided into subthemes based on the patterns emerging from the data (Patton, 2015). These themes are as follows: (1) changes in workload, which was divided into increased workload in general, constant planning and making new arrangements, hurry, extended working hours, and decreased workload; (2) changes in the nature of the work, which was divided into changed work description in general, unpredictability, and remote learning; and (3) individual level, which was divided into increased motivation, family-work balance, and no significant changes (see Table14.1). Changes inWorkload Thirty-four out of 67 principals reported changes in their workloads. Participants described a generally increased workload. For example, P4 said, “After a normally already full work description, there is a corona [COVID-19] bonus that has undermined the basic tasks.” Under the same subtheme, another principal described how the increased workload influenced their well-being: “[The COVID-19 pandemic] has significantly increased the workload and, through it, also affected my/one’s own coping” (P21). The second most-mentioned subtheme under this theme was planning and making new arrangements, such as continuous arrangements and making rapid changes in plans on a tight schedule. As P51 explained, “I am overworked. I need to react quickly to changing situations without ready-made operating models—developing a new model, organizing, and implementing it on a tight schedule.” Principals’ working hours were extended, as one principal described: “Working hours have stretched—easily up to 12 hours per day. Remote work takes 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic 288 Table 14.1 The ongoing COVID-19 situation’s effect on work (N=51) Verbatim text Meaning Subtheme Main theme Mentioned N (%) After a normally already full work description, there is a corona [COVID-19] bonus that has undermined basic tasks. As a new principal, nothing follows a routine during the first year, and leading a large unit is very challenging Extra workload Stretching workdays Extra time-consuming tasks Increased workload in general (n=19) Changes in workload 34 (67) I am overworked. There is a need to react quickly to changing situations, without ready-made operating models. Developing new practices, organization, and implementation and a tight schedule Continuous arrangements Rapid changes in plans New developments Planning and making new arrangements (n=20) Hurry has increased, and normal spring tasks have shifted to summer Rush and urgent tasks Hurry (n=5) Working days have extending—easily stretch up to 12hours per day. Remote work takes time in a different way Stretched working days Working on weekends Extended working hours (n=6) There is no need for teaching or hiring deputies while working remotely. More relaxed A calmer work situation Decreased workload (n=2) Work description changed completely in a couple of days. Although working remotely has also been part of the job description in the past (evening and weekend work at home), its nature was completely different from now The nature of the work has changed Remote work Changed work description in general (n=8) Changes in the nature of work 14 (27) The whole spring went new. And now we think about the time after 14.5, and we are afraid that the ambiguity will continue in August Hard to prevent Ambiguity Unpredictability (n=4) Most of the contact teaching has been shifting to distance teaching and learning Transition from face-toface to remote learning Remote learning (n=3) I am more motivated now Increased motivation (n=1) Individual level 5 (10) Work is constantly interrupted when three children and a wife are also at home. There is a lot of staring at the screen and calling. There is enough to organize in changing situations Working at home while other family members are also there Familywork balance (n=2) In the end, surprisingly little, but of course there have been new things to think about No significant change (n=2) M. Elomaa et al. 295 skills for school leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beauchamp et al. (2021) underscored the need to build and maintain new teaching methods and content and communication systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such developments may be beneficial in the future and not only in crisis situations. Supportive Elements forLeadership Our findings showed that principals need support from the school community through discussions in the work community, joint effort, flexibility, and teamwork. Communication and cooperation in general, clear instructions and guidelines from the upper-level administration, and support from supervisors and other principals in the field were highly valued. Principals’ support needs seem to be partly the same as before the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Elomaa etal. (2021) found that principals need informational support resources (cooperation, instructions and guidelines, and relevant information), support from colleagues, supervisors, and other principals, and social support in general. However, during the pandemic, clear instruction and guidelines from the upperlevel administration seem to have been particularly crucial, while the lack of clear instructions caused a problem (Arar et al., 2021; McLeod & Dulsky, 2021). As McLeod and Dulsky (2021) observed, during the first months of the pandemic, administrators and policy-makers failed to share information with school leaders, which may have hindered effective leadership responses. According to Fotheringham etal. (2020), the quality, quantity, and frequency of top-down communication contribute to school leaders’ stress, while horizontal communication and collaboration between school leaders and across school communities support leaders during rapid change. Arar etal. (2021) found that the decisions the Ministry of Education made about closing schools were communicated in ways that increased uncertainty; most principals were left to fend for themselves and did not have a clear idea of what to do or how to proceed. At the same time, school leaders may not fully understand the responsibilities and demands of strategic leaders in the upper-level administration (Boin & Renaud, 2013), suggesting the need for open-minded communication and cooperation between different stakeholders to support successful school leadership during a crisis. As Lucero et al. (2009) have outlined, effective communication builds trust and helps create a shared understanding and commitment among stakeholders. Giving attention to and managing processes of communication, collaboration, and change may also support school leadership by allowing better policy-making (Fotheringham etal. 2020). Researchers are increasingly recognizing the importance and benefits of not only describing but also learning from a crisis. Boin etal. (2010) highlighted the unique opportunities that crises provide for reshaping and reforming organizations. Thornton (2021) described taking the opportunity to learn at all stages of a crisis as one of five effective leadership practices. This opportunity to learn is particularly relevant to school leadership. According to Harris and Jones (2020), most school 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic 296 leadership preparation and training programs prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were likely to be out of step with the challenges school leaders face today. In many cases, the existing preparation and training programs, along with the leadership models they espouse, will require radical rethinking to remain relevant to aspiring and practicing school leaders (Harris & Jones, 2020). Because cooperation and support from the school community were highly valued by principals, distributed leadership, which refers to leadership exercised by multiple leaders who work collaboratively across organizational levels and boundaries (Azorín etal., 2019), might be beneficial for handling crises. Harris and Jones (2020) noted that distributed leadership became the default leadership response during the pandemic, requiring more school leaders at all levels to connect, share, learn, and network their way through the issues. Including crisis management in school leaders’ preparation and in-service training programs might help support principals now and in the future. Furthermore, reflecting on the results of the current research, differences in principals’ needs should be taken into account when planning support for them. Likewise, as noted by Arar et al. (2021), in future leadership development, professional communities should pay attention to different contexts and cultures while sharing best practices and designing new policies. The results of this study suggest that different approaches to crisis management and leadership are needed, depending on the nature of the crisis. For example, Boin and Renaud (2013) observed that the first phase of crisis management is early recognition, while Thornton (2021) highlighted the importance of preparation, yet neither activity was possible for principals in the COVID-19 crisis because the pandemic struck so rapidly. However, despite the differences in the nature of crises or in comparison to the “normal” situation, the role of principals as responsible for successful school functioning remains the same, with one of their key concerns being to ensure high-quality education in all situations. Similar to the results of the current study, before the pandemic, Elomaa et al. (2021) found that principals needed support from the school community, supervisor, and upper-level administration. While the need for clear instructions and guidelines seems to have increased during the crisis, it should be noted some of the challenges that appeared during the crisis may have already existed before the crisis and become apparent because of the exceptional circumstances. Considering the possibility that other educational crises will follow the COVID-19 pandemic (Biag etal., 2021) and that crisis and change management are now essential skills for school leaders (Harris & Jones, 2020), these unearthed challenges should be taken into account when revising the curricula for preand in-service training. Limitations The study has some limitations that should be carefully considered in future research. First, although the sample was large enough for qualitative analysis, the sample size was rather small. Further research with a larger sample is needed to gain M. Elomaa et al. 297 a fuller understanding of principals’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, the data were collected in Finland concerning the Finnish educational context, which might have an impact on the generalizability of the results. More comparative cross-country and cross-cultural research is necessary to address the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on principals’ work worldwide. Different cultural and educational systems have different leadership systems and practices from which best practices can be learned. Moreover, the data were collected only once in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. To gain a deeper understanding of crisis leadership, more longitudinal research should be conducted, particularly concerning the post-pandemic period. Conclusions Principals play a key role in school functioning in rapidly changing crisis situations. Not surprisingly, the already-high workload of principals increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The essence of their work changed due to remote learning, which required different new skills and competences. In carrying out their important role in society, educational systems, and schools, principals need clear instructions and guidelines from the upper-level administration, as well as support from their work community and other principals in the field. How principals experience their work is influenced by various external and internal factors; thus, their perceptions should be considered when planning support and effective preand in-service training for them. In learning from the COVID-19 crises, it is important to evaluate which new practices should remain and which former practices should be given up so we can be better prepared for future challenges. Appendixes References Arar, K., Sawalhi, R., Chaaban, Y., Zohri, A., & Alhouti, I. (2021). School leaders’ perspectives towards leading during crisis through an ecological lens: A comparison of five Arab countries. 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If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. 14 Principals’ Perceptions ofTheir Work During theCOVID-19 Pandemic