Post-Pandemic Educational Management Resilience: Building Adaptive Systems for Future Health Crises in Public Universities in Rivers State

Authors

  • Princess Kelvin-Ture Nagbo Department of Educational Management, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51699/ijise.v4i3.653

Keywords:

Post-Pandemic, Resilience, Educational Management, Health Crisis

Abstract

This study investigated the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational management systems and develops a comprehensive framework for building institutional resilience against future health crises.  The study was guided by three objectives from which three research questions were drawn. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study was 10, 542 staff of the three public universities in Rivers State. (University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education). The sample size of the study was 385 respondents. The Taro Yamane formula was used to determine the sample size of the study while the proportionate stratified sampling technique was adopted in selecting the sample of the study. The instrument used for data collection in the study was a structured questionnaire titled “Post-Pandemic Educational Management Resilience: Building Adaptive Systems for Future Health Crises Questionnaire”. The instrument was validated by the three experts, two in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation. The internal consistency of the instrument was determined by using Cronbach Alpha statistics to determine the reliability of the instruments. Reliability coefficients of 0.85,0.77 and 0.81 were obtained for the three clusters of the instrument. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study revealed that strategic frameworks for enhancing the resilience and adaptability of educational management systems in public universities during health-related disruptions are development of institutional emergency response policies, regular risk assessments and scenario planning exercises and adoption of technology-driven learning platforms among others. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that public universities in Rivers State should urgently develop and institutionalize comprehensive crisis-response policies that incorporate flexible academic delivery methods such as blended and hybrid learning.

References

[1] F. T. Adeleke and M. Salami, “Institutional Capacity and Leadership in Emergency Education Response,” J. Afr. Educ. Res., vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 22–35, 2023.

[2] C. Azorín, “Beyond COVID-19 supernova. Is another education coming?,” J. Prof. Capital Community, vol. 5, no. 3/4, pp. 381–390, 2020.

[3] S. Carvalho, J. Rossiter, N. Angrist, S. Hares, and R. Silverman, Planning for School Reopening and Recovery after COVID-19. Center for Global Development, 2022.

[4] L. Chen, E. Dorn, J. Sarakatsannis, and A. Wiesinger, “Teacher shortage and learning recovery: A longitudinal study of pandemic impacts on K-12 education,” Educ. Res., vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 23–36, 2023.

[5] V. C. Chukwuemeka and Y. Bello, “Collaborative Frameworks for Managing Educational Disruptions,” West Afr. J. Educ. Plann., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 33–48, 2022.

[6] A. Doucet, D. Netolicky, K. Timmers, and F. J. Tuscano, “Thinking beyond the return to school: Preparation for educational resilience,” Prospects, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 419–437, 2022.

[7] P. O. Ede and D. Okoro, “Financial and Infrastructural Challenges in Nigerian Public Universities Post-COVID,” Int. J. High. Educ. Policy, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 101–116, 2022.

[8] M. Fullan, The Right Drivers for Whole System Success. Center for Strategic Education, 2021.

[9] S. Giannini and S. Grant Lewis, “Three ways to plan for equity during the coronavirus school closures,” UNESCO GEM Report, 2021.

[10] A. Hargreaves and M. Fullan, “Professional capital after the pandemic: Revisiting and revising classic understandings of teachers' work,” J. Prof. Capital Community, vol. 5, no. 3/4, pp. 327–336, 2020.

[11] A. Harris and M. Jones, “COVID-19 – School leadership in disruptive times,” Sch. Leadersh. Manag., vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 243–247, 2020.

[12] C. Hodges, S. Moore, B. Lockee, T. Trust, and A. Bond, “The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning,” Educause Rev., vol. 27, pp. 1–12, 2020.

[13] L. E. Kim and K. Asbury, “Teacher resilience during COVID-19: Understanding teacher stress and coping strategies,” Educ. Res., vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 310–326, 2022.

[14] A. U. Mosanya, A. Ezekwelu, and E. J. Ugochukwu, “Factors associated with post-pandemic acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines among students in three Nigerian universities,” PLOS ONE, 2024.

[15] J. W. Neal and Z. P. Neal, “Nested or networked? Future directions for ecological systems theory,” Dev. Psychopathol., vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 80–94, 2023.

[16] D. M. Netolicky, “School leadership during a pandemic: Navigating tensions,” J. Prof. Capital Community, vol. 5, no. 3/4, pp. 391–395, 2020.

[17] OECD, The State of Global Education: 18 Months into the Pandemic. OECD Publishing, 2023.

[18] K. Okoye and B. Ogbuagu, “Post-COVID Education Systems in Nigeria: Towards Strategic Technological Integration,” Niger. J. Educ. Manag., vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 55–70, 2023.

[19] K. A. Olaniyan, T. Ibrahim, and S. N. Okafor, “Strategic Planning for Resilient Education Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Afr. J. Educ. Dev., vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 60–78, 2023.

[20] F. M. Reimers, “Leading educational change during a pandemic: Reflections of hope and possibility,” Prospects, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 437–451, 2021.

[21] J. W. Richardson, D. Holmberg, and K. Dixon, “Planning for the next crisis: Educational management lessons from COVID-19,” J. Educ. Adm., vol. 60, no. 3, pp. 227–241, 2022.

[22] R. Shah, Resilience in Education: Concepts, Contexts and Connections. Springer, 2021.

Downloads

Published

2025-06-26

How to Cite

Nagbo, P. K.-T. (2025). Post-Pandemic Educational Management Resilience: Building Adaptive Systems for Future Health Crises in Public Universities in Rivers State. International Journal of Inclusive and Sustainable Education, 4(3), 164–173. https://doi.org/10.51699/ijise.v4i3.653

Issue

Section

Articles

Similar Articles

1 2 3 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.