Being a school leader in Filipino-Chinese basic education schools in Metro Manila during COVID-19: A phenomenological study

• Main Author: Tan, Angeline K.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: Educational leadership—Philippines; School management and organization—Philippines; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020- —Influence; Educational Leadership
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdd_elmd/22; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=etdd_elmd
• Institution: De La Salle University

Never has a biological phenomenon occurred as pervasive and extensive within the last century as the COVID-19 pandemic. It drastically brought massive changes in peoples’ personal lives and accelerated shifts in the learning modality throughout the world. Being a rare occurrence, very little has been written about how school leaders deal with the crisis brought by such an event. This study contributes to the emerging body of literature that explores the lived- experience of school leaders during this worldwide crisis and describes how they have brought about the needed changes in the instructional modalities and helped their faculty and staff. Specifically, it hopes to answer the following questions: 1. What are the Filipino-Chinese school leader’s lived experiences? 2. How has the pandemic (COVID 19) shaped the concept of school leadership in general and in a Filipino Chinese school in particular? Following Moustakas’ methodology of Transcendental Phenomenology, this study interviews 10 Filipino-Chinese school leaders in Metro Manila using open-ended questions while ‘bracketing’ the researchers’ own experiences and perspectives. The analysis finds that the essences of these leaders’ experiences center on a set of values very much compatible with Confucian and Moral Leadership concepts. This study indicates that as these Filipino-Chinese leaders are confronted with communication, personal, school financial challenges, they shift to a leadership style governed by this set of values. The findings of this study have implications not only on Filipino-Chinese school leadership but also on value-based educational leadership practices especially in times of crisis. Keywords: Educational Leadership, Filipino-Chinese School Leadership, Moral and Crisis Leadership, Confucian Leadership Values, Phenomenology