What can school principals do to support students and their learning during and after natural disasters?

Abstract

Natural disasters can happen at any time. The impact they have on students, their families and the teachers relies on strategic and calm leadership by school principals. As schools are situated within communities, principals not only have a role leading within the school, they are also viewed as community leaders. This paper focuses on six New Zealand primary school principals and their experiences and responses during and after the Christchurch earthquakes. The principals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. The qualitative data and their analysis found that the school leadership teams adapted the types of digital technologies used to communicate with the school community to fit with rapidly changing contexts. The principals displayed qualities of moral courage and actively worked towards improving learning conditions for students. They supported the students and teachers within their schools who were showing symptoms of post-traumatic after effects. Also, the principals provided leadership in a variety of ways in the wider community.

Keywords:

• leadership/management
• primary/elementary years
• schools
• students
• teachers

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.