Experiencing is different to knowing: recognising the importance of principals’ informal professional learning in Brazil

Abstract

ABSTRACT Looking at opportunities for learning during moments of chaos and disequilibrium can lead to the understanding of contingency as a resource for learning. Internationally, the pandemic enabled new ways of learning-practice and has had important implications for the learning and development of teachers and of school leaders. In this paper, we aim to discuss the informal learning experienced by school leaders in Brazil during the pandemic. This period provided an opportunity for principals to experience new ways of learning about and resolving issues of equity within their schools. New relationships between schools and families emerged as differences in social justice became apparent. When schools were closed, many principals visited the homes and families of their students for the first time. Experiencing the challenges of their students changed the mindset of principals and caused many to reconceptualise the purpose of school leadership and the need to think laterally and informally about their own professional learning. The intention of this article, then, is to highlight the implicit professional learning that principals in Brazil experienced during the pandemic, to make it more explicit and to highlight the necessary, but limited, value of formal leadership development in complex cultural situations.