Impact of COVID-19 and related measures on the professional life of school staff based in Switzerland: challenges, strategies, and benefits.

Abstract

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, schools closed and moved to remote learning in many countries and municipalities. At the time of this study, Switzerland maintained the position that schools should be prioritized to remain open. The state of knowledge regarding the challenges that school staff encountered during the pandemic was limited. The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the impact of COVID-19 and related measures in Switzerland on the professional life of school staff in terms of challenges, strategies, and benefits. Data were collected between November 2021 and March 2022. We conducted interviews with 47 participants working in nurseries, kindergartens, primary, middle, special, and after-schools across Switzerland. The majority were women and part of the teaching staff. Most had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants reported various challenges such as isolation, loneliness, and 'dryness' of work, pedagogical alienation and deontological distress, privacy loss, and confusion regarding health measures. They also cited different strategies, namely resuming simple activities, finding the right degree of transgression, recreating normality with children, and continuous adaptation. Finally, they identified some benefits, i.e. improvements in education regarding hygiene standards, greater acceptance of illness and death as a normal part of life, recognition of the privilege of being able to attend school in-person, and valorization of cultural diversity. We highlight the importance of listening to staff's concerns, enacted strategies, and perceived benefits and taking them into account when developing appropriate and effective public health and communication efforts.