Although the global COVID-19 pandemic has passed, its impact on schools continues to shape how educators think about preparedness, leadership, and well-being. The challenges schools faced during that unprecedented period revealed both vulnerabilities and strengths within education systems. By reflecting on what educators learned during the pandemic, district and school leaders can better prepare their communities to respond effectively to future crises.
In an article SRI and our partners at the University of Missouri recently published in the Journal of Education, “Educators’ Experiences and Lessons Learned through the COVID-19 Pandemic from a Qualitative Lens,” authors describe the reflections of high school teachers who we interviewed at the pandemic onset and again one year later. The teachers describe their new understanding of the importance of district leadership, educational technology adaptations and enhancements, acting on concerns about students, and supporting educator wellness. The authors develop and use the 3C model that interconnects teacher coping skills, classroom management competence, and associated context (i.e., expectations, resources, and policies) to understand how to better support teachers with enduring stressors and in any critical traumatic event (e.g., other natural or human-influenced disasters) that they may confront throughout their careers. In this blog, we highlight findings and suggestion related to our district and school leaders can co-create and promote supportive contexts that build teacher’s foundation coping skills and competence.
Collectively, the teachers’ perspectives promoted policy and practice suggestions for district and school leaders that we have summarized below.
- District leaders need to listen to, guide, and support teachers with clear messaging and consistent guidance. Leaders must convene early and often to supply their teachers with consistent rules, expectations, and communication to reduce stress levels and enable teachers to provide high-quality instruction and support of their students in any learning environment. For example, teachers, students, and families need information about homework, grading, and attendance policies; logistics to obtain necessary technology resources; curriculum and standardized testing supplies and procedures; and consequences for not meeting new academic or behavioral expectations. Further, leaders must provide teachers with personal attention, empathy, resources, and grace to build their trust, confidence, and competence and to empower their coping skills. Teachers must feel like the district leaders “have their backs” and are ready to mobilize resources that directly support the school community’s workforce in their critical roles in the wake of traumatic events.
- District leaders must ensure that useful technological resources and support are immediately available. Teachers cautioned that this technological support must include ongoing maintenance and resource support, with special emphasis on actions to prevent and address disruptions in services. Proactively, leaders could screen and purchase software applications and platforms to have the proper tools at the ready and provide professional development to enable all educators, staff, and students to develop a high level of comfort and confidence in the use of educational technology. No one wants to be caught with having to successfully navigate a steep learning curve or surprising platform limitations—or for schools to lack the resources to provide IT support to students struggling with connection and usability issues.
- District leaders should supply teachers with methods to gauge and support students’ academic engagement and social-emotional well-being. Teachers called for more resources to meet the diverse range of student needs during a traumatic event, including students’ extreme levels of academic disengagement, instability in the home environment (e.g., due to sickness, death, loss of income/benefits, food or housing insecurity, lack of sufficient child care/supervision) and emotional distress. Further, administrators must provide continued academic and behavioral support at all levels of need (i.e., universal, targeted, and individualized tiers) that accommodate to new learning environments—such as remote or hybrid learning.
- District leaders must acknowledge and support educator wellness. For teachers to perform at their optimal levels, they need to have clear and healthy personal and professional boundaries and balance. To encourage routine check-ins with students and families in adapted learning situations, districts could proactively devise communication tools and protocols, such as internet-deployed chat groups and phone numbers that don’t require teachers to provide personal cell phone numbers or emails available 24/7. Teachers also need resources to combat both their own personal and secondary traumatic stress, and infrastructure to continue to build community with their colleagues to reduce isolation and burnout.
“The biggest issue is blurred lines. As my professional life becomes more demanding and time commitments increase, the only way to accommodate is to take time from my personal life.”
In summary, teachers recommend that district and school leaders consider the following to proactively prepare for any crisis or traumatic event:
| Have communication protocols and processes in place that allow you to frequently and clearly inform the entire school community in multiple ways (e.g., text and email alerts, phone calls, newsletters, public service announcements). | Ignore concerns about personal-professional boundaries, privacy, safety and security, and work-life balance in your communication methods. |
| Proactively plan for crises by having rules and expectations about academics and behavior delineated and technology in place (for remote/hybrid learning). | Be in crisis mode and make decisions on the fly or frequently change rules and expectations. |
| Remember your teachers and support staff need personal attention and support in the wake of a crisis. | Extend your support and empathy only to some members of your school community. |
| Pilot and purchase software applications and platforms to have the proper tools at the ready; provide training and support in the use of educational technology. | Assume teachers, staff, students, and families can acquire, use, and trouble-shoot technology quickly and on their own. |
| Be prepared to mobilize community resources and specialists to support staff and students’ basic needs, emotional well-being, and academic enrichment. | Burden teachers with responsibilities to check on the welfare and serve all the comprehensive needs of their students. |
We encourage you to read the full article and work in your school communities to advocate for and enact these recommendations widely and proactively, so that we’re all prepared for response and recovery from any crisis.
To learn more about teacher mental health and consequences of secondary trauma, please check out our blog post: When helping students hurts: Secondary Traumatic Stress. In addition, we’ve compiled relevant resources for districts and administrators seeking additional support in addressing some of the mental health needs of teachers. Please use and pass on this information to your colleagues.
- Teachers’ Mental Health Has Suffered in the Pandemic. Here’s How Districts Can Help
- Educator Emotional Support Video Series Now Available for All Tennessee Teachers
The study presented here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A180013 to SRI International. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.