COVID-19 as the Catalyst of E-leadership and ICT Implementation in Israeli Arab Sector Elementary Schools

Abstract

The article discusses the vicissitudes of practical implementation of distance learning by the use of ICT technologies in the elementary schools of Israel’s Arab sector, following the lock-down induced by COVID-19 pandemic. The author describes his own experience of distance learning as a pedagogical coordinator, while addressing various aspects of collaborative practices, parental cooperation, and leadership in the context of emergency management policies and methods. The experience is certainly both unprecedented and informed by lessons learned from previous emergencies: the author seeks to integrate the existing scholarly and practical frameworks of knowledge and the conclusions that can already be drawn from the experience that is entirely new, ongoing, and open-ended. The article discusses strengths and weaknesses of distant learning experience in the elementary school and provides tentative recommendations for the unknown and uncertain future.