When schools around the world switched to online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, studies found that children from low-income families were hurt the most, owing to the lack of (1) monitoring, motivation and sharing by working parents, (2) internet access and space at home, (3) communication between schools and parents, (4) parents’ knowledge of how to use digital technologies, and (5) teachers’ and students’ readiness for e-learning. 

The prolonged school suspensions also presented unprecedented challenges for educational leadership. Although schools moved classes online using a variety of electronic learning materials, real-time classes, and other online learning methods, an online survey in Hong Kong in February 2020 found that nearly 70% of parents of kindergarten children and over 80% of primary school parents found that their children had difficulty learning at home, and they were concerned about their children falling behind.

Despite the increasing number of studies on educational leadership during the pandemic, little attention has been paid to the intersections of different educational experiences and perspectives of school leaders, students, and their families that occur both inside and outside of schools.

Dr Trevor Lee Tsz-lok, Assistant Professor at the Department of Education Policy and Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong, explored the challenges and strategies of online learning, focusing on effective leadership practices to support economically disadvantaged students during the pandemic in a study. Drawing on eight case studies of public primary schools in Hong Kong, the research project examined school leadership strategies adopted by principals and teachers at different levels working as a team to navigate and respond to online learning challenges experienced by economically disadvantaged students. 

The study sought to determine (1) what the main challenges were for students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in online learning, and (2) what schools with a large number of these students did to improve online learning and maintain educational continuity for students during the class suspensions.

A systematic triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data was conducted to perform a more holistic analysis of leadership practices in both school and family contexts for students’ online learning during the class suspension.

The findings drew attention to the broader context of school-family-community relationships within which principals and teacher teams provided strategic support to economically disadvantaged students and their families. Specifically, four main themes were identified in the eight schools: (1) capitalising on community resources for digital hardware essentials; (2) increasing flexibility to support a poor learning environment at home; (3) empowering parents as partners; and (4) understanding the stress of online learning for parents.

The study found that school leaders and teacher teams demonstrated strategic leadership practices, prioritising and responding to the needs and constraints of economically disadvantaged students and their families, and that school–family–community collaboration provided an enabling environment to support the learning of primary school students regardless of their background. 

The findings showed how the experiences and perspectives of principals, teachers, students and their families regarding online learning during the pandemic overlapped and intersected, shaping the ways school leaders assessed, framed and responded to the challenges and the importance of collaboration among schools, families and the wider community in the shift to online learning.

To learn more about the project, please click here.