The current COVID19 pandemic has required several, mostly at short notice, school modifications. School leaders and educators have always worked in a complex world to ensure continuity for students, families, and communities. This notion has contributed to controversies about when schools should be closed; what actions, protective measures school leaders should take to benefit the school community without stopping teaching and learning opportunities for students. In this study, we explore how leadership in the early childhood education sector in Hong Kong is coping during this period to build resilience. This paper uses constant comparative analysis to illustrate the role of school principals' immediate reaction, short-term recovery, and time for reflection. The data collected from surveys and interviews are organised through coding, and themes were generated and further supported by case studies from the field to develop conceptual understanding. The article closes with a conceptual analysis that focuses on three sets of factors: dispositional, emotional, and contextual, to explain the changing role of ECE principals in uncertain times to develop resilience in teams and the ECE community. Copyright © 2021 the 9th European Conference on Education.
