2026 Theses Doctoral

School Leadership: Rethinking the Role of Principals After Covid-19

Bresan Linhares de Luca, Ana Carolina

This action research study aimed to explore the perceptions of elementary school families and principals regarding the education of families for their growth and development within the school environment. The process began with the researcher carefully designing and leading a workshop called GROW!, which was offered to families at a specific elementary school in Brazil. The two-evenings workshop introduced families to key concepts such as Transformative Learning (Mezirow, 1991) and Adult Development (Drago-Severson, 2009), laying the groundwork for understanding how adults can develop critical thinking skills (Brookfield, 2012).This study resulted in recommendations that would help principals, families, adult learning specialists and policymakers understand the needs, and gain insights pertaining to the learning of families for their growth and development within the school environment.

The researcher drew data primarily from a focus group conducted with 7 elementary school families who had participated in the research workshop intervention, and from interviewing 4 elementary school principals in different cities of Brazil.

The findings with respect to the learning were: (1) all the participant families who attended the workshop described that the workshop is helpful, meeting their learning needs; (2) all the participant families perceived that the knowledge imparted in the workshop was valuable; (3) all the participant families and all the participant principals reported that there is need to foster Family-School Learning Partnerships, and; (4) all of school principals reported that interventions would help them create an environment that meets the adult learning needs of today's elementary school families. However, three out of four of them find themselves incapable of implementing such interventions. And two out of four of them are concerned about parents' engagement in attending such interventions.

The principal recommendations from this study are: (1) principals should take a proactive role in the learning process of their schools families by seeking support from adult learning professionals and implementing programs that foster critical thinking for growth and development; (2) families should recognize that overcoming parenting challenges offers opportunities for personal growth and development by actively engaging in learning; (3) adult learning specialists should explore the professional opportunities arising from families' needs for development and support, creating innovative, community-centered programs; (4) policymakers should empower principals to turn schools into community hubs by providing access to resources and training that enhance family learning for growth and development.