THE PHILIPPINE EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN TIME OF COVID-19

Educational Leadership has never been important in this time of pandemic. For more
than a year now, schools, colleges and universities across the Philippines have been
toppled because of the unending surge of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Schools were forced into lockdown; teaching and learning is forced to shift in
different learning modalities as prescribed by DepEd Order no. 12 series 2020
otherwise know as Adaptation of the Basic Education Learning Continuity Plan or
School Year 2020-2021 in the Light of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.

A school system is plunged into lockdown; teaching and learning is forced online
with no time to prepare; a new COVID infection is discovered in the local community;
students – or teachers – are reporting critical wellbeing issues.
Sometimes, the news has been inspiring. Teachers developing a richer repertoire of
online pedagogies; unprecedented collaboration between school, parent and child;
some students revelling in a less confronting online environment; agentic leaders
ignoring directives for standardised practice in favour of an education that meets the
needs of their particular student community.
It’s important we continue to share and reflect on stories of educational leaders in
Australia responding to these situations. We can learn so much from dialogue about
these experiences, and about how they’ve shaped the way we think about and “do”
educational leadership, COVID or no COVID.