Teachers angry about media portrayals during the pandemic
Some teachers have expressed anger at how they were portrayed in the media during the pandemic in a new study published in a British Psychological Society journal.
14 February 2022
Researchers from the University of Manchester, the University of Glasgow and Manchester Metropolitan University undertook a series of UK wide surveys to gather data from 26 primary school teachers, 40 secondary school teachers, 101 Year 7 children and 88 Year 7 parents, using a mixture of open and closed questions.
All questions related to their experiences of the transition from primary to secondary school during Covid-19 lockdown.
BPS member and lead researcher Dr Charlotte Bagnall said:
"The transition from primary to secondary school is a major life event for eleven-year old UK children. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, transfer children faced even more uncertainty.
To date, there was no published research which has explored the experiences of transfer children, and that of their parents and teachers during the pandemic.
We wanted to explore the experiences of these groups as a way to provide better support in the future."
Analysis of the responses showed that teachers, children and parents felt that the pandemic badly affected their experience of school transition – practically, emotionally and socially.
There was a profound sense of anger expressed by some teachers at the lack of support from the government and the wider media reporting of teachers during the pandemic.
The study also highlights strategies and areas of good practice that have been developed into a set of recommendations supported by psychological theory for teachers, children and parents.
Dr Charlotte Bagnall cont:
"It is clear that teachers were heavily stretched during the pandemic.
However, the way teachers were portrayed during the pandemic in the media was additionally hard for them to cope with, as was uncertainty associated with not knowing when children would be returning to school.
We know teacher retention is a long-standing problem mainly due to the demands and stresses of the job.
We need to pressure policy makers to provide additional support at an institutional level, e.g. more teaching assistant support, and dedicated time and space in the curriculum for teachers to provide evidence-informed support for children during 'turning points' and uncertain times."
The study was supported by Dr Yvonne Skipper (University of Glasgow) and Dr Claire Louise Fox (Manchester Metropolitan University).
The full study 'Primary-secondary school transition under Covid-19: Exploring the perceptions and experiences of children, parents/guardians, and teachers' is published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology.