School Leadership in Multicultural Contexts During COVID-19: The Case of Melilla, Spain

Abstract

Multiculturalism is increasingly present in schools, especially in Melilla (Spain), where cultural diversity is one of its defining features due to its geographical location on the border between Africa and Europe. In the light of the importance of educational leaders in dealing with this diversity, this research proposes two main objectives. First, to analyze initial and ongoing training in terms of interculturality, skills, and knowledge that an educational leader must have in their position, and second, to determine the impact of COVID-19 on school management in education centers. We used a qualitative methodology with semi-structured face-to-face interviews to collect data, and content analysis as a data analysis method. The participants (school leaders) represent the six districts that comprise the city of Melilla, nine infant and primary education and six secondary education school leaders. The results reveal that the training received by educational leaders is rather limited and not very useful in practice. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the inequality gap between families from the schools, given that the situation exacerbated their economic status.