Educational Leadership’s Impact on Blended Learning Instruction Within Saint Lucian Primary Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected education systems forcing school closures which elicited the introduction of mandatory social distancing, and a resulting shift to distal learning modalities sanctioned by UNESCO and UNICEF working in tandem with MOEs, to safeguard lives while simultaneously attempting to engender learning continuity. A Mixed Methods Convergent Parallel research was conducted to investigate educational leadership’s impact on transitioning from the face-to-face instruction to Blended Learning (BL) among primary schools in Saint Lucia. The research which was framed by Change, Shared and Adaptive Leadership theories subsumed under the Complex Adaptive Systems Theory. Using Stratified Random Sampling and Stratified Purposive Sampling for the quantitative and qualitative elements, respectively, one hundred and fifty-two (152) participants inclusive of school leaders (SL) and teachers, supervising and implementing BL, were selected. Numerical and textual data were collected using a questionnaire, and an interview and focus group discussion for the quantitative and qualitative aspects with data analyses comprising the utilisation of descriptive and inferential statistics, and thematic analysis, respectively. The research findings revealed that the educational leadership factors namely; a) level of ICT training (p=.012); b) level of teacher pedagogical training (p=,044); c) curriculum implementation (p=.003): d) work ethic and commitment (p=.001); and e) monitoring and evaluation (p=.012) were statistically significant to the change to BL. Age of participants, Gen Y and Z having different work ethic also impacted transitioning. SL (M=3.04) and teachers (M=3.11) registered means reflecting neutrality in their attitudes and perceptions towards their roles as supervisors and implementers of the policy, influenced by the absence of facilitating conditions.
Feedback from SL interviewed suggested the existence of retrogression favouring face-to-face instruction in the post Covid-19 era because of under-preparedness and unpreparedness among primary schools. To avoid the potential repeat of un-productivity registered during the crisis period, the recommendation was given for the enactment of a Crisis Leadership Framework to guide SL in strategically approaching the future disruptive occurrences within school systems. Further, governments are to invest in upgrades to ICTs, alignment of the curriculum to suit BL and ensure teacher buy-in for future academic performance during periods of calamity.