Developing a guiding model of educational leadership in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A grounded theory study

OpenAlex İngilizce

This research aims to explore educational leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspectives of higher education students and to develop a guiding model of educational leadership for ‘new normal’ with the novel emerging components. This research is conducted using grounded theory method and social network analysis. The first study group includes 32 participants, second study group includes another 26 participants, and final group includes 12 participants. Participants in all groups are university students studying in a higher education institution in Turkey. Written documents, personal interviews and group discussion are used for data collection. Based on analysis, a guiding model is developed which illustrates the concept of educational leadership for the new normal, which is composed of “networking, enhancing educational practices, calmness & compassion, analytical & strategical thinking, and transparency”. Also, the social network analysis shows that “encouraging online communities, promoting social interaction, creating a safe and inclusive learning environment, providing learning resources, leading under pressure, emphasizing optimism, making data-driven decisions” are cornerstones in terms of educational leadership for the new normal. In addition to those substantially noted key concepts, some higher education students also seem to be in need of some other aspects of educational leadership such as inspiration for learning, open dialogue, risk planning and leveraging capacity of community. The participants also indicate that successful educational leadership is about understanding others’ perspectives, rather than sticking to leader’s perspective.