Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted education across the globe. For
developing countries like South Africa where the vast majority of schools have limited
resources, a lack of digital access resulted in learning losses for most children. To
mitigate the challenges experienced at an unprecedented time of crisis, new-age
leadership drew in resources for sound decision-making through collaboration and
dialogue beyond the traditional networks. It was the pandemic that catalysed the need
for online communication. Initially, the online platforms for communication, like
WhatsApp, ZOOM and TEAMs served as a lifeline for leaders to communicate with
staff and parents, but later offered spaces for further council and learning. It was the
latter observations that resulted in the need for this study. This study sought to engage
with a redefinition of the “leader” away from positional authority to a broader scope of
individuals who chose to make a difference during a crisis. Therefore, the participants
in this study are a group of education leaders who through participating in an online
platform, called Africa Voices Dialogue, showed how connectivism and online
networking provided the space and opportunity for leaders to support and learn with
and from one another. This study used a qualitative research design to obtain data
with observation and interviews being the main instruments for data collection. The
findings show that inclusive leadership, developing collaborative networks, listening to
learn and community engagement facilitates leadership support and learning during
the pandemic and beyond. The findings also highlight the challenges that participants
experienced which were linked to time, resources and connectivity issues that require
participation in such online forums to be considered as part of the work of leadership.
Participants in this study recommended that spaces for deeper learning beyond the
dialogue and “byte-size” learning videos should be considered so that many more
leaders are able to access collaborative learning.
KEYWORDS: Connectivism, Networks, Inclusive leadership, Learning communities,
Online learning and dialogue.