School leadership during times of crisis: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Purpose Despite growing interest in examining the role of school leadership during times of crisis, there remains a lack of cross-crisis integrated and synthesised evidence to guide effective crisis management practices. The purpose of this research is to synthesise qualitative evidence on crisis leadership in order to provide a comprehensive conceptualisation of crisis school leadership based on findings from qualitative studies. Design/methodology/approach Following established systematic review procedures, including identification, extraction, analysis, and synthesis, and utilising recognised tools, such as PRISMA and SPIDER, this meta-synthesis examines 64 qualitative studies indexed in Scopus. Findings The findings reveal five key themes and various sub-themes: (1) Crisis response leadership, emphasising early detection, communication, preparedness, and immediate response; (2) Supporting mental health and well-being, highlighting the critical role of emotional leadership from immediate caregiving to systemic well-being initiatives; (3) Community engagement and partnership, including collaboration with local authorities, effective communication with parents and students, resource integration, and collaborative decision-making; (4) Instructional and digital leadership, focusing on flexible instructional planning, and digital learning; and (5) Adaptive leadership, emphasising an adaptive mindset, innovation, and reflective practice for continuous improvement. Originality/value By integrating insights from diverse crisis contexts through a cross-crisis synthesis, this meta-synthesis provides a comprehensive framework for crisis leadership, offering practical guidance for school leaders to enhance their preparedness and response capabilities. It also offers evidence-based insights for educational policymakers on concrete actions to better prepare principals and schools for crisis management. Finally, it provides research directions for addressing significant issues related to crisis management.