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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
School-Home Crisis Communication During the First Wave of COVID-19
Communication studies, Vol.75(5), pp.592-612
2024
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Abstract
In early 2020, UNESCO acknowledged that the scale of educational disruption associated with COVID-19 was unparalleled. Schools were forced to react swiftly. However, while remote learning has received considerable attention, less is understood of how educational leaders communicated during the COVID crisis. The study of school leaders' initial crisis communications in response to government-mandated school closures is thus warranted. Accordingly, this study analyses a cross-section of seventeen Australian schools for the period late February through early April 2020 (i.e. term 1), with a focus on the emergency stage of schools' crisis response, rather than the later remote learning continuity planning phase. A mixed-method research approach was adopted. Phase one involved quantitative content analysis of e-mail frequency, words per-sentence, readability (as measured by Flesch), and grade-level communication pitched at (as measured by Flesch-Kinkaid). Surprisingly, parents required university education to effectively comprehend the e-mails. Phase two confirmed that schools performed well in the first four of Smith & Riley's (2012) five-step school crisis response model (getting the facts, implementing contingency plans, being decisive, showing concern), but were less effective at facilitating two-way communication. An additional (sixth) insight emerged in the form of school community.
Details
- Title
- School-Home Crisis Communication During the First Wave of COVID-19
- Creators
- Lee-Ann Ewing - Southern Cross UniversityHolly B. Cooper - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Communication studies, Vol.75(5), pp.592-612
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 21
- Identifiers
- 991013217511502368
- Copyright
- © 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Education; Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article