Double trouble: the legacy of COVID-19 for early-career teachers and their pupils in wales

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper highlights the potential double trouble of early-career teachers, who were negatively impacted by a disrupted Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and/or induction period, being charged with supporting pupil cohorts whose learning was also uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from interviews (n = 40) and an online survey (n = 465) with initial teacher education (ITE) stakeholders (school and HEI-based) from across Wales. The data illuminated how ITE students’ experiences of practice were profoundly impacted as schools responded to the constantly changing learning and teaching context. Concerns articulated portray an uncomfortable picture with extensive and multifaceted inequalities identified in terms of both pupils’ and student teachers’ experiences - with vulnerable learners in both groups reported to be the most impacted. This paper highlights the likely legacy of the pandemic on the ongoing development of both pupils’ and student teachers’ (now early-career professionals) and the double trouble this may present. We suggest that there is an ongoing need to further support the professional formation of these early-career teachers impacted by the pandemic in a sustained and individually tailored way. This will be particularly important in equipping them to support the complex needs of the multiple COVID-19 impacted cohorts they will continue to teach.