SUMMARY
The aim of this paper was to gain deeper insight into Bachelor of Education Honors (B.Ed. Hons) students’ self-leadership actions in response to the social impact of COVID-19 on their academic lives. Notwithstanding the growing body of literature showing the impact of COVID-19 on education, the social influence of the pandemic on the academic lives of students in higher education institutions (HEIs) remains contentious. Since the implementation of lockdowns and social isolation internationally, COVID-19, as a social phenomenon, has required creative responses from students in HEIs to advance academically. Through a phenomenon-based learning (PhenoBL) enquiry and applying narrative methodology, students’ responses were analyzed by means of McCormack’s (2000) four lenses, namely the lens of language, the lens of narrative processed, the lens of context and the lens of moments. Emails were sent to all B.Ed. Hons students to express their views and understanding of the influence of COVID-19 on their academic lives as postgraduate students. Five students responded and were afforded the opportunity to provide their insights and understanding of the phenomenon whilst exploring self-leadership actions for change toward transformative practices in their learning spaces. The results revealed that, through engaging in PhenoBL activities, students were able to employ adaptive practices and inquiry-based activities to enhance self-leadership abilities through self-influence and self-trust. The paper recommends that HEIs should consider PhenoBL activities for self-leadership as transformative practices of social justice to address the social complexities of the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on the academic lives of university students.https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.7.1