A Comparative Study of the Consequences of Covid-19 on Public School Secondary Educators: Experiences of Those Early in Their Career Compared to Experience of Veteran Teachers

The shutdown of schools on March 17, 2020 was an unplanned and unprecedented disruption to the field of education which led to catastrophic consequences for students, teachers, parents and the education system as a whole. The drastic decision to shutdown schools was made as the state of Kansas faced the looming realities of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing public health crisis. The conclusion of the 2019-20 school year along with the two subsequent school years will likely remain some of the most challenging years in the field of education. This study was designed to give a voice to educators who taught through the pandemic, and it sought to provide a comparative analysis for the experiences of new to the profession educators and veteran educators. This qualitative study utilized interviews with six educators who had taught for three to five years as well as six educators who had taught for more than twenty years as of the 2021-22 school year.The secondary educators selected for this study were purposefully chosen from the same school district and based on their years of experience. The semi-structured interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded to reveal themes that addressed the three research questions. This study allowed readers to have a deeper understanding of what teaching through the shutdown of schools in 2020, the year of learning mode changes in 2020-21 and the year of mask mandate changes in the 2021-22 school year was like. Navigating these nuances while still meeting the regular demands of the job was a massive challenge that negatively impacted teacher mental health and well-being and has ultimately had a drastic impact on the nation-wide teacher shortage. The analysis revealed that a teacher’s years of experience did not make navigating the consequences of the pandemic easier or harder. Educators have never experienced anything like the pandemic and therefore, navigating it was a collective effort by all educators. The only significant finding that revealed differences between new to the profession educators and veteran educators was the perception and impact of the political fallout that occurred because of the pandemic where teachers were questioned about the content they taught, societal distrust grew and mandates became controversial. Yet the loudest similarity among all educators was the renewed focus on the whole student, being more in tune to students’ social emotional needs and adapting classroom instruction and expectations to meet the needs of students post-pandemic.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Jones, Jenna K.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Saatcioglu, Argun

• Secondary education
• Covid-19

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright held by the author.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

http://dissertations.umi.com/ku:18906

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/38845