Abstract
Teacher socioemotional health has always been an important area of study, but the global COVID-19 pandemic made it a priority. The emotional well-being of teachers is so important because it directly impacts on their teaching abilities and as a result on students’ well-being and learning. This article documents how a university-based professional development center addressed these SEL needs of teachers during the year of the pandemic, how teachers felt about this support and its implications on their teaching practices. We show how immediately after schools closed and teachers had to teach online, their priority was to learn about the technology and how to teach online. We also show as the year progressed, how the basics of technology had been covered, how teachers sought professional development to care about their own mental health, and detailed how the intersection of SEL made the teaching practice more meaningful. The lessons learned this year and data gathered from other organizations that offered free of charge professional development suggest a possible shift in how schools may perceive the need to offer professional development to teachers, and therefore embrace a teacher training program that incorporates holistic self-care strategies and mental health related training.
Highlights
The socioemotional health of teachers has been an increasingly researched area in the past decade
It was reported that teachers experienced considerable stress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was related to declining mental health outcomes, coping ability, and teaching (Baker et al, 2020)
Conclusion & Recommendations Considering both the research on the socioemotional health of teachers and the feedback about our webinars collected by our center, these are my recommendations:
Summary
The socioemotional health of teachers has been an increasingly researched area in the past decade. Vol 6, No 1, 2022 negative impacts for teachers but their students too This has always been an important area of study, it is increasingly important to consider during the current times of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was reported that teachers experienced considerable stress as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was related to declining mental health outcomes, coping ability, and teaching (Baker et al, 2020). This same article details that both lack of connection and lack of support from administrators/coworkers were highly reported as contributors to stress (2020). It is of utmost importance that teachers are supported emotionally, as it is essential for the effectiveness of teaching and student learning
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