Desafios à comunicação interna nas organizações educativas durante e a pandemia Covid 19: estudo de caso de dois colégios privados em Lisboa

The covid-19 pandemic required an adaptation of internal communication practices in educational organizations. This new challenge led to a different way of communicating with different stakeholders, as well as changes in the way of teaching, motivating our research question: How have educational organizations adapted their internal communication in times of pandemic? Regarding the more specific objectives, we intended to understand, in the educational organizations under study, the functioning of internal communication, the main changes, barriers and opportunities, and to analyze the perception of the effectiveness of communication between the various stakeholders over three periods from the year 2020, before the pandemic (January to March), during blockdown (March to June) and back to school (September to December). The present investigation is of the multiple case study type, having involved two private schools, located in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon. Based on a mixed methodological approach, an analysis of normative documents of the school was carried out, and we collected the data through semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. From the collected information, it is possible to establish as main conclusions, that: structure, culture and leadership influence communication in educational organizations; that the context of crisis reinforced the role of communication in these organizations and that the challenges imposed by the pandemic situation resulted in profound changes in the way of communicating among stakeholders. Following these conclusions, this investigation marks a period of communicational transformation in educational organizations, making it possible to obtain relevant contributions for the academy and for communication professionals, who seek to implement good communication practices in the school context.