Managing an Art School in the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Experience of Polish Principals

Purpose: The article aims to develop a model of managing art school by principals in the period of remote education, forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, in the context of the idea of educational leadership. In the theoretical approach, eclecticism was presented, which, in relation to the educational reality, has the best translation on the quality of the principal’s work. Methodology: The article presents the results of research carried out using the method of online narrative interview, partially guided, which covered all principals of art schools of a different type, from the region of Lublin (exhaustive research). The construction of the model was based on the identification of six categories in art school management. Both qualitative and quantitative research strategy was used in the result analysis procedure. Practical Implications: The conducted research has allowed for the construction of a model of art school management in the period of the global crisis in education caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The proposed empirical model can form the basis for further analysis in the context of educational leadership and management in crisis and the analysis of functioning schools in correlation with the personal resources of their principals. Moreover, it provides an overview of the situation of arts education, especially the key issues it faces in the post-pandemic reconstruction phase. Originality/value: Reports available in the world scientific literature analysing the functioning of schools during the Covid -19 pandemic do not include and do not refer to art schools. Nor has the method adopted by the authors analysed the functioning of schools during this period in the context of educational leadership.