Breakfast with colleagues: virtual action leadership education in northern Canada

Purpose We report on a virtual participatory action research project team conducted with educators and educational leaders in a northern Canadian school division. This leadership education project was co-constructed between the superintendent of the school district and our seminar research team at the University of New Brunswick. Design/methodology/approach A virtual learning platform embedded within a constructivist paradigm was selected to deliver the seminars since a distance of 4,000 kilometers separated the research/project team and the leadership education participants. The two-year project consisted of six leadership education seminars with each one taking place on a scheduled Saturday morning. Findings Initial data was collected through the world café activity and analyzed through a constant/comparative method. Findings revealed five thematic social realities that the leadership participants were confronting in their district. The themes are (1) Lack of human resources, (2) Increasing professional dialogue and development, (3) Structures impacting teaching and learning, (4) Community change and (5) Mental wellbeing. Practical implications Research-based virtually delivered leadership collaborative projects can be strategically planned and implemented widely across the world and bring university and public school educators, school leaders, and district superintendents together at low cost to both groups. Virtual leadership education projects impact education positively and foster leadership growth inside the school districts, which is critical for remote Canadian school districts. Originality/value This two-year project combined professional learning, leadership education, and research. The findings are valuable because, in year 2, the research team and the leadership participants worked together to create educational leadership strategies to address their challenges.