Intense public pressure on teachers to "get back to school" during the COVID-19 lockdowns deepened an already widespread sense that they were undervalued, and left some actively rethinking their careers, research shows. The finding comes from newly published research, following on from an earlier study with a small group of primary and secondary teachers during lockdown. Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and York monitored the group for almost two years from March 2020, charting an overall decline in their wellbeing and mental health.
In the new report, they show how this was linked to the portrayal of teachers amid wider debates about whether schools should lock down, and for how long. While other frontline workers were lauded as 'heroes', teachers felt they were being left out of this narrative and even perceived as 'lazy', despite their key worker status, the study shows. In particular, continual news stories during mid-2020 clamouring for schools to reopen led some teachers to believe that parents, and wider society, thought they were neglecting their duties.
In reality, teachers were shouldering higher workloads as they adjusted to ever-changing government guidance. The researchers describe the aggregate effects of their public portrayal as "psychologically costly" and suggest it may have worsened a well-documented retention crisis in the profession. Dr Laura Oxley, from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: "Although lots of parents may n.
