COVID-HL School Principal Survey
Leading schools in times of crises
Working situation and health of school leaders
Beyond the impact on educational development and outcomes, school closures are associated with increased health risk and negative consequences and worse health outcomes for children and adolescents. Since the pandemic started, some research has been conducted in child and adolescent populations. However, there is very limited research available exploring the effects of the pandemic on school and educational professionals. This is surprising given that school teachers are exposed to a whole new working situation and environment with numerous challenges they have to master (e.g. shift in teaching and learning due to the pandemic), associated with an increased likelihood of negative health outcomes for teachers as well as students. Even less attention is paid to school principals, who are responsible for all aspects of the school life and therefore have to cope with particularly high demands as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pre-pandemic research shows that school principals report high work-related stress and more frequently psychological and physical burden compared to other professional groups. In addition, it is well known that there is an association between teacher health and teaching quality. In this context, the COVID-HL School Principals Survey aims at exploring burden and stress that school principals and school administrators (e.g., deputy principals or members of the school management team) experience in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the study focuses on the following research questions:
- What is the level of work-related stress for school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- How are school principals dealing with work-related stress?
- To what extent school principals apply maladaptive coping strategies at the workplace?
- What is the mental health situation of school principals?
- What is the relationship between the current working situation of school principals and their mental health?
Health resources of school leaders and health promotion in schools
Supported by the World Health Organization, the Health Promoting School (HPS) is considered the most promising approach to promote and maintain good health and wellbeing in the school setting. In contrast to behavioural interventions, the HPS framework is rooted in a determinants-based and structural approach, referring to a holistic intervention approach in which health is promoted in a systematic and asset-based way. In context of school closures and restrictions, the question arises whether and to what extent health-promoting measures are currently undertaken by the school.
In addition to the implementation of health promoting activities, there are a number of other (work-related) resources: Health literacy, the ability to access, understand, appraise, and apply health information, has shown to be highly relevant to navigate the complex information environments and to deal with the over-abundance of information in relation to COVID-19. Moreover, previous studies found an association between health literacy of school principals and the degree to which health promotion activities are implemented in the school setting. Sense of Coherence (SoC) is the main concept of the salutogenesis theory and can be described as a global orientation towards viewing one’s life as comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful. SoC is particularly relevant in stressful and demanding situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore a useful capability for school principals. A positive attitude towards work is regarded as an important health resource that enables an individual to better cope with stress and burden (e.g., stress and burden resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic). Therefore, in addition the following research question will be pursued by this study:
- What is the SoC level of school principals in the time of COVID-19?
- What is the level of corona-specific health literacy among school principals?
- Are there any associations between SoC and health literacy and school principals’ health?
- What school health promotion measures are implemented in schools during COVID-19?
11
Countries
Worldwide, 11 countries were involved in the COVID-HL-School Principal Survey.
6000
Respondents
So far almost 6000 school leaders completed the COVID-HL-School Principal Survey
13
Publications
So far, 13 scientific papers have been published and more are in preperation.
Main goals
Work situation & stress
Assess the work situation and stress arising from work of school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic
Health information & literacy
Explore information satisfaction, attitudes and health literacy among school principals during the COVID-19 pandemic
School health promotion
Capture activities on promoting and maintaining the health of pupils and school staff during the COVID-19 pandemic
Personal health situation
Asess the health of school principals and the health needs of pupils & teachers in times of the COVID-19 pandemic
Countries involved
Germany
Professor Kevin Dadaczynski
Fulda University Fulda
Professor Orkan Okan
Technical University Munich
Professor Melanie Messer
University Trier
China and Hongkong
Professor Angela Yee Man
Polytechnic University Hongkong
Ass. Professor Padmore A. Amoah
Lingnan University
Dr. Sam Lau
Hong Kong Baptist University
Denmark
Professor Venka Simovska
Aarhus University
Dr. Rune Müller Kristensen
Aarhus University
Greece
Ass. profesor Evanthia Sakellari
University of West Attica
Italy
Assoc. professor Guglielmo Bonaccorsi
University of Florence
Ass. professor Chiara Lorini
University of Florence
Assoc. professor Veronica Velasco
University of Milano-Bicocca
Lebanon
Assoc. professor Carmel Bouclaous
Lebanese American University
Poland
Ass. Professor Karina Leksy
University of Silesia
Professor Mariusz Duplaga
Jagiellonian University Krakow
Switzerland
Professor Anita Sandmeier
PH Schwyz
Professor Guri Skedsmo
PH Schwyz
Simona Betschart
PH Schwyz
Taiwan
Ass. professor Duong Van Tuyen
Taipei Medical University
Professor Chih-Feng Lai
National Taichung University of Education
Assoc. professor Sheng-Chih Chen
National Chengchi University
Professor Cheng-Yu Lin
Shih Hsin University
Turkey
Professor Sibel Sakarya
Koç University
Ass. Professor Pınar Soylar,
Firat University
Dr. Özlem Öztürk
Ankara University
United Kongdom
Dr. Emily Marchant
Swansea University
Professor Susie Sykes
London South Bank University
Professor Gill Rowlands
Newcastle University