What approaches have teachers taken to support children’s wellbeing in the post-pandemic classroom?

This study investigates how teachers supported children's wellbeing in the post-pandemic primary classroom. Schools globally, including Ireland, closed in March 2020 due to the spread of Coronavirus. The unprecedented closure of schools led to the introduction of remote learning through various technology devices. As the world adapted to this new way of life, schools were permitted to reopen in September 2020, with the addition of strict health and safety regimes as outlined in the Department of Education’s (DE) COVID-19 Response Plan for the safe and sustainable operation of Primary and Special Schools. This qualitative research study was undertaken to explore the lived experience of teachers on how they supported children's wellbeing on the return to the classroom. My interest in this topic stems from my own experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and my passion for supporting children’s wellbeing in the classroom. I found on the return to the classroom, there were significantly more challenges to supporting children’s wellbeing. Considering this, I sought to examine the various approaches teachers have taken to promote children’s wellbeing in the post-pandemic classroom. This research project was conducted on a small scale of 10 interviews with a variety of primary school teachers, ranging in age, and experience. Both genders were represented in the response, as well as a diverse range of educational settings including, Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS) co-educational schools (male and female students), single-sex schools (female students), Gaelscoil (curriculum taught through Irish), and a rural two teacher school. Once data was gathered it was analyzed through interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). The findings revealed six main themes: the difficulty in defining wellbeing, the negative impact of the pandemic on children's social skills and anxiety levels, teachers' priorities for wellbeing, diverse approaches to promoting wellbeing in the classroom, challenges such as time constraints and lack of suitable resources, and the need for teacher agency and professional development in wellbeing promotion. A number of noteworthy sub-themes emerged also, including the lack of recognition of the SPHE curriculum as a vehicle to promote wellbeing in the classroom, and the overreliance on commercial programmes. The lack of awareness of the guiding document the Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice (2018) was also an alarming finding, but it is indicative of the time constraints and overwhelming workload felt by teachers in today’s classroom. This study has the potential to aid future planning in wellbeing promotion. Agreeing on a shared definition of wellbeing would be beneficial to ensure there is no ambiguity around the widely used term of wellbeing. Expanding the study to include students' and parents' perspectives would provide a more holistic understanding of the pandemic's implications on children's wellbeing. Providing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to teachers around wellbeing would allow for a greater familiarity with the Wellbeing Policy Statement and Framework for Practice (2018) while also enhancing teacher’s confidence and knowledge around wellbeing. Finally, we must acknowledge the importance of instilling a sense of wellbeing in our students through the classroom atmosphere, rather than the overreliance on commercial programmes as the only method of supporting children’s wellbeing in today’s classroom.N