The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Trust in teachers brings better results


In late December 2019, reports emerged from China that a cluster of viral pneumonia cases had been identified in Wuhan. As a result, the World Health Organization (WHO) began to work with Chinese authorities to track this new virus and provide advice on how to contain its spread. By January 23, Wuhan was completely locked down. Businesses and public spaces, including schools, were closed. 

As January progressed, other countries began to report cases of novel coronavirus, and by March 11, the WHO had declared a worldwide pandemic. Countries around the world locked down their borders and parts of their economies, including schools. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that 188 countries had closed their schools, leaving 1.7 billion children, youth and families without access to the buildings. Teachers, school leaders and families around the world scrambled to provide emergency remote learning online, over the radio or through prepared documents delivered to students. As the virus spread slowed, governments around the world began to reopen their economies and services, including schools. 

Reopening schools is important for children for many reasons. A 2020 OECD report indicates that “researchers have documented the effects of   ‘summer learning loss’ demonstrating that extended interruption of one’s studies causes not only a suspension of learning time, but causes a loss of knowledge and skills gained.” In addition, the United Nations pointed out that the impact of closing schools would be disproportionately felt by poor and marginalized populations. The UN identified concerns for students related to lockdowns, including physical safety, mental well-being, food security, extreme poverty and child abuse, to name a few. 

During the pandemic, the decision to reopen schools must be balanced against the overall context of each jurisdiction, the health and well-being of students, and the ability to provide safety through adequate health measures. In this regard, an April 2020 report coauthored by the UN, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Bank, the World Food Bank and the UN Refugee Agency advises, “School reopenings must be safe and consistent with each country’s overall COVID-19 health response, with all reasonable measures taken to protect ­students, staff, teachers and their families.”

While the specific details of school reopening vary from country to country, international organizations such as the UN, Education International (EI), the OECD and UNICEF have all issued broadly stated guidelines for the return to public school buildings.

The EI guidelines help the teaching profession because they not only speak to the role of society, families and students but also focus on what teachers and teachers’ organizations can do and have done to ensure safe schools reopenings. The EI report Forward to School emphasizes five key areas that are instructive to the work being done in ­Alberta by teachers, school leaders and ­system leaders as well as the Association.

1. Dialogue

Drawing from documents from the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), EI defines dialogue in two parts: social dialogue and policy dialogue. Social dialogue consists of information sharing, consultation and negotiation. Embedded within these foundational concepts is the notion that teachers’ organizations and school authorities hold equal weight in the dialogue and that there are formal mechanisms available for dispute resolution. 

Policy dialogue is also characterized by meaningful consultation and discussion, where expert knowledge is gathered and worked into the formation of appropriate policy for returning to schools during a pandemic. As described by EI, policy dialogue includes the expert voices of teachers, both at the grassroots and through teachers’ unions. EI also provides several examples from around the world where teachers’ unions have engaged in meaningful dialogue to ensure that students and teachers are safe as schools reopen. According to EI, dialogue is ­essential because “unfortunately, periods of crisis often tend to reinforce authoritarian and top-down attitudes, including in the field of education.”

2. Ensure health and safety of school communities

EI points out the importance of health and safety measures for both educational workers and schools. Health and safety must be supported by strong policy, the implementation of evidence-based public health measures and additional support for vulnerable students and marginalized populations. Providing access to medical care, including testing for COVID-19, physical distancing, handwashing facilities and cohorting, are among a few of the measures that will help limit the spread in schools. EI calls for resources to schools to be enhanced. Furthermore, EI calls for strong evidence-based measures to deal with cases of COVID-19 in schools. Finally, EI recommends that advisory groups, including health and education professionals, be established to ensure a safe return to public school buildings. EI recognizes that, on a worldwide basis, there are different needs—some countries are rich and others are not—but while the challenges may be unique to each country, the need for safety at school is not.

3. Equity

EI’s guidelines for return to schools insist that equity be made a central priority and that policies be designed to ensure that this can be assessed and improved. EI identifies that social divisions must be addressed, including race, class, disability, social dislocation (refugees) and gender. It recognizes that while many countries were in lockdown, many students had no access to the internet and education and that while away from school, vulnerable students were more likely to be subject to child abuse, child pregnancy or child labour as examples. 

“The pandemic has not caused ­inequalities in education, but rather it has greatly deepened existing inequalities and made them more visible,” the report states.

EI calls for equality gaps to be addressed intentionally by all stakeholders and provides several examples of what has happened around the world in that regard.

4. Well-being

EI notes the importance of robust physical and mental health at all times for teachers, school staff and students. Through a resolution passed at their 2019 EI World Congress, delegates highlighted the importance of mental well-being during the pandemic. Delegates asserted that “all teachers, education support personnel and students should be entitled to support for their mental health and well-being, and encouraged to access such support without criticism, penalty, or stigma.” EI also shared that there is a lack of research on the impact of COVID-19 on well-­being, though it does cite some examples, including the Alberta Teachers’ ­Association’s pandemic study conducted this past spring while schools were locked down.

5. Trust

EI points out that, on a worldwide basis, trusting teachers to exercise their professional judgment has allowed for the most successful continuation of education while countries were in lockdown. 

The Forward to School report noted that one of the main takeaways from policy discussions on the COVID-19 crisis is that jurisdictions that invested the tools, time and trust into educators before and during the crisis saw the greatest returns when it came to effectively transitioning into emergency distance education practices.

In many places, high-stakes testing was cancelled, and teachers were able to work collaboratively to develop lessons and pedagogical approaches as well as adapt to using new technologies. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that in countries where teachers are highly trusted, the outcomes are better, and this raises important considerations as we move through the pandemic and into a new normal.

The EI report, like other reports, emphasizes increased resources for schools through a collaborative approach; a focus on wellness and equity; support for teachers in terms of professional development; and the enactment of evidence-based policies and safety measures in schools to keep students, teachers and educational staff safe. As schools reopen around the world, we are seeing various approaches being adapted, and undoubtedly, we will continue to learn and adapt as the ­pandemic unfolds.