Abstract
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted schools at an unprecedented rate. We are witnessing changes in the education field that were unimaginable just a few short years ago. At the same time, technology and digital advancements ushered in by the fourth industrial revolution have transformed the way we engage and communicate at an exponential rate, disrupting the ‘physical’ status quo of how we lead and teach. School leaders have experienced a quantum shift in context, where leading has become more complex, interdependent, diverse and digital.
The global pandemic response required enforcement of strict social distancing and lockdowns which left many leaders feeling alone and isolated during a time when the world was looking to leaders for guidance and certainty. The leadership of schools cannot exist in a vacuum. It is no longer possible for one school leader, team or community to have all the information and solutions. An online platform provided the ideal socially distanced space with which to deliberately connect with other leaders and colleagues (not just in South Africa, but across Africa) and ignited the possibility of co-creating solutions together while apart.
Leaders across Africa were provided with the opportunity to unite in a virtual space to dialogue, make space for each other, and share knowledge and insights. Spurred on by the pandemic, teacher well-being was brought to the fore as a critical area for leadership focus to enable the continuation of effective education. This research focused on the use of an online platform namely, African Voices Dialogue (AVD) as a mechanism for the facilitation of dialogue and action around teacher wellness so that school leaders can be better supported and equipped to lead teacher well-being in these uncertain times. To explore the research focus, a qualitative approach was taken using a purposive sampling method to select two principals from primary schools in Limpopo and one teacher from each of their schools to participate in the study (who had participated in the AVD Wellness dialogue series).
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The research findings suggest that teacher well-being has been severely challenged and tested in numerous ways by the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of the online platform AVD was instrumental in enabling school leaders across Africa to connect and dialogue around pertinent teacher wellness issues they were experiencing and how they were addressing them. It empowered a sense of community, sharing of wisdom and beneficial insights to support school leaders in implementing their own teacher well-being strategies within their local schools in the Limpopo province. These strategies were underpinned by a strong humanising leadership approach coupled with understanding the dynamics of job demands/job resources and the drivers of adult well-being that are key to leading teacher well-being. The study found that online platforms can be an effective tool for creating spaces for dialogue with school leaders across Africa and that it goes beyond mere dialogue into practical application (action) within their local schools and environments allowing for a meaningful upliftment of teacher well-being. Recommendations from the study propose that while the pandemic brought teacher well-being to the forefront as an essential leadership focus, this momentum needs to be maintained for lasting impact. Virtual technologies need to continue to be explored as relevant platforms for leadership connection, engagement and dialogue. Keywords: Humanising leadership; Hands, Head and Heart model; COVID-19 pandemic; Online platform; Leading teacher well-being; Pedagogy of care.