“I Feel Like Nothing Else Will Ever Be This Hard”: The Dimensions of Teacher Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

While the COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in numerous lockdowns, understanding how teachers experience the shift to remote learning and the person focussed skills and capacities they employ during this time is vital. We draw from an online qualitative study to examine questionnaire data from 137 Australian teachers. Using the four dimensions of teacher resilience as a lens for analysis, we highlight the multidimensional approach teachers employ to navigate the challenge of teaching remotely.

Keywords:

• Resilience
• wellbeing
• remote learning
• covid teaching
• education and pandemic

It is recognised that teachers require resilience in order to cope with the challenging demands of teaching and to support retention, commitment, and teacher wellbeing (Day & Gu, 2014; Mansfield et al., 2018). As a dynamic process, however, the process and outcomes of resilience need “to be examined over time” (Mansfield et al., 2014, p. 562). With the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there have been significant impacts to the ways teachers live and work. Not only have teachers experienced periods of teaching remotely from home, often in isolation from their colleagues, they have also been working on tasks about which they may or may not feel competent—new platforms, new pedagogical considerations, redesigning of curriculum delivery, and changes in communication including more involvement with parents, guardians and carers. Additionally, there are inequities present, and, in some cases, these have been exacerbated even further, regarding access to technology tools and devices, internet (Drane et al., 2020), safe spaces, and support outside the schools’ physical environment. Exhaustion and stress have commonly been reported (Hart & Nash, 2020; McDonough & Lemon, 2022) as teachers seek to cope with the challenges they face. This context provides a timely opportunity to consider teacher resilience during the pandemic, and in this paper, we draw upon a view of resilience which explores the person-context interface (Mansfield et al., 2012) to examine the resilience process and outcomes of teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this paper we present findings from a project that aimed to explore how in-service teachers are addressing the challenges of teaching in remote, flexible, and blended modes during the COVID-19 pandemic and the coping strategies they are drawing upon in this context. The project sought to identify what challenges and supports teachers named in teaching remotely or in blended mode during a pandemic and the impact of these challenges on their work and workload. As we worked with the data drawn from online qualitative survey of participants gleaned via a snowball method of recruitment centred around the authors social media networks, we identified resilience as a key outcome of the strategies that teachers were describing. In response to this emerging line of discovery, we applied the four dimensions of teacher resilience as a lens for analysis to provide some insights into the ways that resilience processes and outcomes occur in an authentic context. The data indicated that teachers drew on a multidimensional approach and a range of skills and strategies to navigate the challenge of teaching remotely. We argue that the dimensions of teacher resilience are dynamic and were operationalised by teachers during the pandemic across these dimensions in order to support the outcome of a resilient teacher who was aware of their wellbeing.

Literature Review

Education and the COVID-19 Pandemic

As identified in the introduction, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in significant shifts in teacher work with the development of new skills in distance and blended learning models (Darling-Hammond & Hyler, 2020), and an intensified workload for teachers (Allen et al., 2020). In an effort to slow the spread of the virus, countries across the globe have instituted closures of face-to-face schooling, moving to periods of remote teaching and learning. Teaching has been seen as “unforgivably complex” work (Cochran-Smith, 2003, p. 5), with this complexity only intensifying during the COVID-19 pandemic. The urgency of the shift to remote learning resulted in teachers from many countries moving to online and remote learning practices within days (van der Spoel et al., 2020).

Initial research into the impact of the pandemic on teachers’ work and practice has identified the multiple challenges that teachers have faced as they have shifted to remote learning, including: unclear expectations and processes (Kim & Asbury, 2020; Trust & Whalen, 2020); learning to use new technology (Allen et al., 2020); access to resources and infrastructure (Drane et al., 2020: Trust & Whalen, 2020); and reframing of curriculum and outcomes (Doucet et al., 2020). One of the other challenges identified in the emerging research was the balancing of work and home life, particularly when the geographic boundaries of these two spaces were dissolved (Czerniewicz et al., 2020; Kim & Asbury, 2020; McDonough & Lemon, 2022). This context required that teachers were able to be resilient, flexible, and adaptable in order to respond to the dynamic challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic.

While there were a number of challenges and difficulties posed by remote learning, emerging research also identified positive outcomes such as increased interaction between teachers, students and parents/carers (Kim & Asbury, 2020; McDonough & Lemon, 2022; van der Spoel et al., 2020). Teachers described increased collaboration and shared professional learning (McDonough & Lemon, 2022), with Darling-Hammond and Hyler (2020) arguing that there is an “increased thoughtfulness on strengthening teacher learning across the professional continuum” (p. 461).

Teacher Resilience

Despite the extant literature regarding teacher resilience, the concept is contested with diverse views on the nature of resilience identified in both academic and popular literature where it is often identified as the personal ability to “bounce back” from a challenging situation. Early person-focussed concepts of resilience emerged from the field of psychology and focussed on the ability of children to navigate traumatic situations (Beltman, 2021). Process-focused views saw resilience as lying at the “interface of person and context, where individuals use strategies to enable them to overcome challenges” (Beltman, 2021, p. 15). As noted earlier, in this paper we draw from a view of resilience that recognises the impact of both personal and contextual resources on teachers’ ability to be resilient. Beltman and Mansfield (2015) argued that:

Resilience involves the capacity of an individual teacher to harness personal and contextual resources to navigate through challenges as well as the dynamic process whereby characteristics of individual teachers and of their personal and professional contexts interact over time, to enable the outcome of a teacher who experiences professional engagement and growth, commitment, enthusiasm, satisfaction, and wellbeing. (p. 26)

This view recognises that rather than a fixed, innate trait, resilience is dynamic and can alter over time and in different contexts. It is the interaction of the personal and professional that influences the resilience process, with Gu and Day (2013) explaining that teacher resilience is “the capacity to maintain equilibrium and a sense of commitment and agency in the everyday worlds in which teachers teach” (p. 5). In their early person-focussed work, Mansfield et al. (2012) identified four dimensions of teacher resilience: the profession-related dimension; the emotional dimension; the motivational dimension; and the social dimension. While having a person-focussed approach, their categorisation of the data also highlighted the role of context and of the person-context interface on the process and outcomes of resilience (Beltman, 2021). The multi-dimensional nature of resilience was highlighted in this work as the interplay between the four dimensions incorporates the personal qualities of teachers, along with the strategies and resources they draw on to navigate challenging situations (Mansfield et al., 2012). In previous work (McDonough & Lemon, 2022), we have examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers’ work and wellbeing at the systems level, and in this paper, we focus specifically at the person-focussed level to explore the ways teachers navigated the shift to remote teaching and learning.

The recognition of the dynamic interplay of both personal and contextual factors is vital in considering resilience as it incorporates the ways that systemic and broader social, political, economic and cultural forces impact on processes and outcomes of teacher resilience. Gu (2021) argued that what constitutes a resilient teacher is “not a homogenous concept. Different schools in different contexts and in different countries may require their teachers to possess different skills, qualities and capabilities to teach well” (p. viii). During the COVID-19 pandemic, our understandings of the skills, qualities, and capabilities required to teach well have undoubtedly been unsettled as teachers have been required to develop skills and capacities in online, and blended/hybrid models of teaching (Darling-Hammond & Hyler, 2020).

Methodology

This paper reports on a qualitative study conducted during June to July 2020 to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian teachers’ work and lives. The research took place at a time in the pandemic after some states in Australia had experienced initial periods of remote learning, and as teachers in the State of Victoria returned for a second period of remote teaching and learning.

In designing this research project, we were cognisant of asking teachers to participate in research during a pandemic (McDonough & Lemon, 2022), and therefore designed a short online qualitative questionnaire as a data collection method. The questionnaire was open to all teachers across Australia. We distributed the questionnaire to teachers through a snowball effect. Initially beginning with the social media platforms Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook, we as authors each shared the project details to our own followers and asked for the project to be shared within and across networks of those who may be interested. As the survey was anonymous, we did not know who completed the survey, beyond general demographic details collected (including gender, state, school sector). We had ethics approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee and recruited teachers as individuals through our social media and personal networks.

Participants

There were 137 participants in the research, with the majority of participants identifying as female (82%). 67% participants were aged between 31to 50 years (with a split of 31to 40-year-olds = 44; 41–50 to year olds = 49). 20% were aged between 21 to 30 years (n = 28), and 16% were aged between 51to years (n = 16). Respondents were based primarily in the state of Victoria (n = 119). Participants were drawn from both the primary and secondary sectors of schooling and from a diverse range of educational sectors (n = 57 independent schools; n = 52 public schools; n = 27 Catholic school sector).

Data Collection

The data were collected through an online questionnaire via the Qualtrics platform. The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions, including five demographic prompts. The remaining nine questions invited participants to describe the ways their work had changed during the pandemic; impact on work hours; things they found challenging; resources drawn upon; positive impacts; things that surprised them; strategies that supported them and the impact of media discussion on teachers’ work during the pandemic. Having these prompts as the focus for the questions enabled us to connect to our project aim of identifying what the impact on workload is and what challenges and supports teachers during the shift to remote, flexible and blended learning. These questions were all “opt-in” voluntary questions, thus response numbers varied across each question. Questions were a combination of drop-down multiple-choice options from which multiple responses could be drawn and open text response. Designing the questions to be opt-in was a deliberate choice designed to give participants ownership over the aspects to which they wanted to respond. While we aimed to provide some sense of agency for respondents during the time of the pandemic through this method, it has limitations on the ways that we have been able to process and work with the data, which we outline below.

Limitations of the Research Method

As noted above, in order to provide participants with agency and choice when completing a questionnaire during a pandemic and time of increased workload, we made completion of questions voluntary, and participants did take the option to not respond to each question in the questionnaire. This had implications for the ways that we worked with and analysed the data and we have not provided coding frequencies in this article due to the variation of completion rates between questions, and the ways we have applied the conceptual model to the data. Given that we are not working with coding frequencies in this paper we have not included the response rates for individual questions as our coding is drawn across the data set rather than individual questions. Our analysis seeks to focus on the lived experiences of participants and authentic representations of their voice. We acknowledge that while it would be beneficial to have an understanding of the relative importance of each dimension through examining coding frequencies, we have not interrogated the data in this way. A future possibility for research could be to investigate which dimension(s) were most frequently mentioned and develop understandings of why this might be.

While we collected some data on the broad teaching context in which participants worked (i.e. public/independent/faith based schools), we did not collect other specific demographic information related to school context. For the purposes of this paper, we have not drawn upon sector differences in examining teachers’ responses given the limited context details that we collected. There have now been multiple periods of lockdown and remote learning across the country of Australia, and at the time this data was collected, one virtual and remote teaching period has been undertaken by teachers in the state of Victoria, and a second was being entered into for the city of Melbourne. Future research could examine data across sector differences, taking into account where teaching was being conducted and at what point of lockdown/remote learning time to provide a more specific account of the sector and temporal influences on the resilience process and dimensions of teacher resilience.

Data Analysis

We conducted thematic analysis of the data by working with the whole data set and coding across each of the questions using the same analytic process. The process began with each of us independently inductively coding for key concepts or phrasing that aligned to the four broad dimensions of teacher resilience represented in Table 1 as identified by Mansfield et al. (2012): profession-related; emotional; motivational; and social.

Table 1. Outline of four dimensions of the teacher resilience framework (adapted from Mansfield et al., 2012).

Dimension	Outline
Profession-related	Involves aspects concerning the practice of teaching including organisation, preparation, use of effective teaching skills and being reflective.
Emotional	Involves aspects concerning emotional responses to teaching experiences, emotional management and coping with stress.
Motivational	Involves aspects including self-efficacy, focussing on continual improvement and learning, persistence and perseverance.
Social	Involves the relational aspect of participation in the work environment involving building relationships, developing a support network, asking for assistance and taking advice, and utilising communication skills.

In using this as a lens for the coding structure we were drawing on the work of Mansfield et al. (2012) and applying Kumpfer and Glantz (1999) framework specifically for examining teacher resilience. Table 1 provides an overview of the skills, capacities, and strategies associated with each dimension. As we coded the data into the four broad dimensions, we began to identify and code the skills, capacities, and strategies that we were identifying in the data. These codes were representative to us of the types of skills, capacities, and strategies that the participants were describing, mapped against the four dimensions. This initial coding structure was then cross-checked between us, as a way of determining if we were identifying similar codes and patterns as we categorised the data within the four broad dimensions. We present our codes and categorisation as mapped across the four dimensions in the following section of the paper.

Results

In Figure 1 we present the results of our data analysis mapped across the four dimensions, but we note that these are not presented as a checklist, coded frequencies, or list of attributes of teacher resilience. Rather, we drew on participants’ descriptions and insights into being a teacher during a pandemic at a specific moment in time (June–July 2020) when there was a combination of remote and flexible delivery of learning occurring within schools (teachers on site and students at home) and from home (all teachers and students off site) across Australia. We used the framework of the four dimensions as a way to show the overarching and overlapping nature of the skills, capacities and strategies of the resilience process and outcomes that occurred during that time. In the outer circle, we use the language of Mansfield et al. (2012) in order to demonstrate the skills, capacities, and strategies related to the resilience process that we coded for and identified in the data as aligned to the four dimensions of the teacher resilience framework. The inner circle of the diagram represents the skills and capacities associated with the resilience process of teachers as identified by Mansfield et al. (2012). Both the inner and outer circles are framed by the four dimensions as articulated earlier.

Figure 1. Dimensions of teacher resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Representing the Dimensions of Teacher Resilience in a Pandemic

As illustrated in Figure 1 through mapping the data across the four dimensions of teacher resilience, we were able to identify some of the skills, capacities, and strategies that contributed to the outcome of a resilient teacher in the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognise that teacher resilience through a pandemic has been complex and multi-dimensional, with teachers engaging with a variety of skills and strategies to enable resilient outcomes and cope with adversity. Importantly, these dimensions did not exist in isolation from each other, rather each informed the other and at times, we identified that skills, strategies, and capacities could have been applied across multiple dimensions. Mansfield et al. (2012) also noted the challenge in pointing out the dimensions as the “potential overlap between dimensions” (p. 362), while still acknowledging the authenticity of their participants. In our work, where we have identified that skills, capacities, or strategies might have been applicable across multiple dimensions, we have aligned the data with the dimension which we identified as the primary association, while acknowledging that others might have aligned them differently depending on their perspective. This decision was also made in light of our coding strategy which was to represent the descriptions and experience of our participants, but not to use coding frequencies in order to do so. In Table 2 we have provided a more detailed exploration of the data, introducing the skill, strategy, or capacity that contributed to resilient outcomes, as mapped across the four dimensions and illustrated with relevant examples of data from the survey. In the following section of the paper, we briefly explore each of the dimensions in light of this data presentation.

Table 2. Dimensions of teacher resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Profession-Related Dimension
Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Overview of the Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Examples from Data
Engaging with the digital	Ability to adapt Greater awareness for delivering content online Resourceful in embracing the cognitive skills required to innovate ways of learning and teaching Flexibility to support students	I feel like I was able to adapt quite well - better than I expected Working remotely has been a big learning curve. It has meant that I have had to explore online communication methods and platforms to use. Changing a practical classroom music program to online content has been extremely challenging. I have had to reassess all lessons and develop different ways to deliver lessons to students in a rural area who may not have reliable internet access.
Enhanced student support	Differentiating curriculum for individual circumstances Personalised feedback Structure of online lesson design: Time for small groups, one-on-one, whole group	There has also been significantly more feedback to students, follow up of work and reporting on progress - these elements have been improvements in my teaching. I have also included more individualised learning programs for students therefore differentiation has been greater. It has also meant that I have connected with families more and worked collaboratively with them. More focussed teaching happened as there were no extra curricular activities. There were less behaviour issues although more personalised communication with vulnerable students/families.
Reflection in and on action	Self-awareness of how practice was changing. Opportunity to identify how practice might change on return to face-to-face	It gave me time to reflect on my planning process and evaluate my lessons, rather than always being overwhelmed with day-to-day issues in the classroom. Through having used video chat and having created videos, I am now aware of how I can better use these to assist students within a regular on-site schooling program e.g., being able to teach and assist students live from home when ill.
Confidence and self-belief	Greater confidence in ability as an educator. Confidence in integrating technology. Increased confidence in identifying and engaging with students’ learning.	I feel really confident in my ability and knowledge as an educator, whereas before I thought of myself as a graduate teacher. Confident use of the platform and continuing to use this in my teaching. Recognising I do not need to talk the whole time but allow my students to develop their own learning. My ability to gain and utilise evidence of teaching - I've become better at identifying students’ zone of proximal development.
Reframing curriculum outcomes and teaching and learning	Re-examination and reframing of curriculum outcomes Modifying curriculum and assessments for online Strategic thinking of student learning needs	It has allowed us to focus on learning rather than examining [assessment]. I have to pre-empt everything that may happen in the classroom and plan for all the ways the class may change depending on the student’s needs. I honestly feel that there is potential to develop a hybrid teaching and learning system of on-site and remote learning. There has already been discussion at my high school around the possibility of creating a remote class per year level for self-motivated and capable students. These students can lose out in a regular classroom where disruptions occur and where differentiation which suits all students’ learning needs can be difficult.
Emotional Dimension
Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Overview of the Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Examples from Data
Cares for own wellbeing	Building a wellbeing literacy and expanding a self-care toolbox for wellbeing Flexibility of time to balance work and personal/family life. Engaged with self-care strategies to support wellbeing Set boundaries around work-life balance Ability to work from home freeing up time in day Use of daily rituals to support break time	More time with my kids and slower pace life Not rushing around, travelling to work and juggling kids drop offs and pick-ups I made sure I included non-work elements into my day, every day. Whether that be a walk, some gardening or even the grocery shopping. If I found I was sitting idle, with minimal work to do, I would step away from the computer and complete alternative tasks As part of my own self-care I limited how much media discussion I read/listened to.
Self-awareness to cope with demands	Awareness of emotions and to cope with increased work demands Awareness of shifting expectations in the online space around communication with parents Makes adjustments to address emotional stress and challenges due to intersection of work and home lives	I feel like nothing else will ever be this hard haha. I have adopted elements of different learning methods, particularly asynchronous. [This time] just made me more aware of what I actually do when I tried to support some of my parents with endless questions. I feel we gained greater respect out of this whole pandemic. Taught my own children from home and juggle full time work
Motivational Dimension
Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Overview of the Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Examples from Data
Perspective and persistence	Persistence to navigate change Ability to work collaboratively to create change	We worked solidly together; we took on specific roles within our teams. We then championed those. At least it spread the workload, but the workload was intense as we were creating resources e.g., slideshows, videos etc. to go with the lessons. And being novices at this, it took us forever because we wanted things to be professional as parents were also viewing and seeing us in action. It took some time to adjust but by the end of the teaching period, I was in a groove
Professional learning and continual improvement	Rapid development of new technological skills Increased time for reflection on professional skills and capacities	[I have an] improved understanding of a range of online tools and how these can be used effectively chance to reset and ditch the unimportant”.
Open mindedness to new ways of working	Personal and systemic openness to new ways of working Motivation to engage with creative and flexible learning experiences	We tried new ways of running pracs for VCE and this was effective. Generally, I felt like I learned a lot and that is one of my favourite things about teaching I have become increasingly aware of how successful remote learning can be. I’ve also learnt a lot more about my students.
Social Dimension
Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Overview of the Skill/Capacity/Strategy	Examples from Data
Building and maintaining supportive relationships	Support from leadership and colleagues Enables support and connection during remote learning and counters isolation of working from home	More social and emotional support with my colleagues and leadership to feel more involved and valued/supported work environment amongst staff was positive, everyone helped each other
Seeking support	Seeking social and pedagogical support Use of social media networks for support Use of professional networks	Friends who work at other schools that have different approaches Facebook support group for online teaching

Strategies, Capacities and Skills Associated with the Profession-Related Dimension

As articulated in Table 2 the profession-related dimension was associated with what Mansfield et al. (2012) described as the aspects associated with professional standards and the practice of teaching. In categorising skills, strategies, and capacities as part of the profession-related dimension, we identified the way that teachers described their professional practice of teaching changing during COVID remote and flexible orders. Darling-Hammond and Hyler (2020) argued that teachers have had to develop a range of new professional skills and capacities, and in analysing the data, we identified how this development and deployment of skills in the profession-related dimension indicated teachers’ ability to draw on personal skills, resources and strategies to enable resilient outcomes. The types of skills, capacities, and strategies employed by teachers included: engaging with the digital; enhanced student support; reflection in and on action; confidence and self-belief; and reframing curriculum outcomes and teaching and learning. These aspects referred to the teachers’ descriptions of the ways that they were able to pivot to online learning, modify curriculum and teaching practice, and develop both pedagogical skills and confidence in those skills through reflection on practice. While it might seem that confidence and self-belief was associated with the emotional dimension of a resilient teacher, we coded this as belonging to the profession-related dimension as it was most strongly associated with the ways that teachers described a growth in confidence as using digital tools and technologies for teaching with learning and to engage with their students, something which was associated with their ability to navigate the quick shift to an online learning environment.

Strategies, Capacities and Skills Associated with the Emotional Dimension

Chen (2020) identified that emotion plays a central role in teacher wellbeing, with teachers who are able to regulate and navigate challenging emotions able to maintain wellbeing and job satisfaction. In analysing the data for this dimension, we have drawn on specific references to emotion and to strategies, skills and capacities associated with wellbeing and management of emotions as outlined in Table 1. Mansfield et al. (2012) described the emotional dimension as including aspects related to “emotional management and coping with stress” (p. 362). As we analysed the data and categorised them within this dimension, we identified that teachers employed a number of adaptive and proactive coping strategies as they navigated professional and personal emotions and expectations during the shift to remote learning. Teachers enacted rituals and routines that placed their own wellbeing at the forefront of their way of being, embodying the chance to continue those practices that were already in place or to try new strategies as the concept of time had altered, especially for those who were teaching from home. We identified two central capacities associated with this dimension: cares for own wellbeing; and self-awareness to cope with demands. Within these two broad capacities, we were able to identify a range of strategies and skills associated with this capacity. In caring for their wellbeing, teachers were able to describe and build a language around wellbeing and what we identified as a self-care toolbox for wellbeing. This enabled teachers to set boundaries and use daily self-care rituals to support their wellbeing as they worked from home and experienced the geographic boundaries between home and school collapsing. We identified that the capacity of self-awareness was represented in the ways that teachers demonstrated an awareness, and ability to manage their emotions during the shift to online learning. While it might seem that some of the strategies teachers described, such as shifting expectations in the online space around communication with parents might be considered to be a profession-related skill, we coded it in the emotional dimension as it illustrated the ways that teachers were proactively setting out to manage the emotional demands and stress of the shift to online/flexible/remote learning.

Strategies, Capacities and Skills Associated with the Motivational Dimension

Within the motivational dimension, Mansfield et al. (2012) identified a resilient teacher as one who is positive, optimistic, persists, focuses on learning, sets goals and has confidence and self-belief. Engagement with positive emotions focuses the coping strategy of positive reappraisal, supports the concept of benefit finding and is associated with reduced stress and improved wellbeing (Garland, 2013). Analysis of the data indicated that teachers were able to activate skills and capacities to maintain motivation and enthusiasm during the shift to remote learning. The teachers in our study described drawing on persistence and perspective to work collaboratively to navigate and create change, which was associated with their description of the ways that they coped and were able to get into “a groove” with remote learning. This appeared to be associated with a positive self-belief which was reflected in an open mindedness to new ways of working that enabled teachers to have the motivation to engage with remote learning. Teachers also described the strategy of engaging with professional learning and continual improvement as a way that they could rapidly develop new skills and set goals for their own capacities as a result of reflection. As highlighted earlier, reflection on practice was also associated with the profession-related dimension, however, we mapped professional learning and continual improvement in the motivational dimension as it was associated with having the motivation to use reflection on practice to identify future personal learning goals and engage with professional learning.

Strategies, Capacities and Skills Associated with the Social Dimension

Within this study the social aspects of resilience were interesting to explore, given that teachers were working remotely. In their work on the social dimension, Mansfield et al. (2012) identified that the social aspects of resilience were least frequently identified by their participants. Categorising our data using the social dimension as a lens indicated the ways that teachers were drawing on their interpersonal skills to develop supportive networks and relationships during the period of remote learning. We identified that some of the strategies at the social dimension were similar to some of those that we coded into the emotional dimension, with cross-over between these concepts as teachers drew on social networks and connections to support and manage their emotional wellbeing. Mansfield et al. (2012) contended that resilient teachers engage in support and help seeking, and so in considering the social aspects of resilience to be primarily associated with seeking support behaviours and strategies, we identified two central ways that teachers were engaged in this: building and maintaining supportive relationships, and seeking support. Teachers described a central form of support as coming from colleagues and school leadership during periods of remote learning as a way of countering geographic isolation. Seeking support was a proactive strategy described by teachers as they reached out to friends and colleagues in other schools or turned to social media and professional networks for support in navigating the challenges they faced.

Discussion: Learning about Teacher Resilience in a Pandemic

One of the identified challenges in teacher resilience research was that “it may only be evidenced in contexts where adverse circumstances are present” (Mansfield et al., 2012, p. 365). The shift to remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic provided the opportunity to consider teacher resilience in an authentic context, with these initial results indicating that teachers draw upon multiple skills in the process to enable resilient outcomes during this adverse situation. In our analysis we identified that teachers were able to have been able to articulate personal resources and strategies that enable them to be resilient and that support their wellbeing during the pandemic.

The Four-Dimensional Framework of Teacher Resilience

Drawing on the four-dimensional framework of teacher resilience (Mansfield et al., 2012) has enabled us to identify the personal skills, capacities, and strategies that teachers activated and employed during an initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated shifts to remote learning and teaching. In doing so, we have illustrated how the four dimensions were operationalised by teachers during that time. The examples presented in this paper highlight the interconnected and multi-dimensional nature of the skills, capacities, and resources that teachers employed in order to navigate the challenges they were faced with.

Teachers indicated that they drew upon their resources and networks to enable them to be resilient and adaptive to the changing context, highlighting that personal resilience cannot be divorced from the contexts in which teachers activate strategies to enable resilient outcomes. In the social dimension, we identified teachers drawing social and pedagogical support, which then mediated the other dimensions of their practice (motivational, emotional and profession-related). The data suggested however, that more intentional forms of support would be beneficial for teachers, with Trust and Whalen (2020) suggesting that “socially-connected, learner-centred activities that allow educators to develop knowledge and skills to help them teach with technology in any format or situation, including online, remote, or blended settings” (p. 193).

The collapsing of the geographic boundaries between home and work as a result of the shift to remote learning has posed challenges around work-life balance for teachers, particularly those with caring responsibilities and those who are juggling childcare and work (Czerniewicz et al., 2020; Kim & Asbury, 2020). Teachers also identified, however, the ways they were able to enact strategies to support their self-care, wellbeing, and resilience during this time and how the flexible nature of the boundaries enabled them to make time for family or self-care practices in ways that might not be possible during ‘regular’ school hours.

The Intersection of Context and the Dimensions of Teacher Resilience

While the four dimensions were person-focussed and examined the skills, strategies, and processes used to result in the outcome of a resilient teacher during the COVID-19 pandemic, as noted above these dimensions did not exist in isolation from each other or the context. The four dimensions focussed on the personal level of resilience, decisions made, and behaviours enacted to bounce back, grow, and learn. All dimensions did not contain an equal number of skills and capacities, as was seen in the way that we presented the emergent themes. What was revealed, however, was that teacher resilience during a pandemic was complex and required that teachers drew on a range of skills and capacities across all four dimensions. This was especially true during the implementation of new ways of working where the blurring of personal and professional boundaries was challenged in ways that teachers would never have expected prior to the year 2020. This paper highlights that resilience at this time has been multidimensional and dynamic. One teacher may have drawn on strategies and skills associated with the emotional dimension, but did not do so independently of skills that were associated with other dimensions. We saw this for example in the way that social networks and contacts provided support within the social dimension, but also within the emotional dimension.

When specifically looking at intersections of the four dimensions, we began to see patterns of how one dimension led but was supported by others, for example, in the profession-related dimension, reframing curriculum outcomes could not have been possible without open mindedness to new ways of working (motivational) while drawing on seeking support (social) and balancing this with self-awareness to cope with demands (emotional). Engaging with the digital (profession-related) provided opportunities for professional learning and continual improvement (motivational) and was assisted by building and maintaining supportive positive relationships (social) with colleagues, parents and student relationships. Additionally, the concept of caring for one’s own wellbeing identified more attention being made to enacting varied actions of self-care (Lemon, 2021a). Highlighted were the intersections across other dimensions, especially the place of supportive relationships (social) as new negotiations emerged in the home space where the variable of time shifted from less commute time and possibility to cultivate and actually action (more) time for self-care. Of note was self-awareness to cope with demands(emotional) that was able to be expressed in the form of appreciation and gratitude during time of uncertainty (Lemon, 2021b). These are some examples, but what the data revealed was that while we categorised the data within one dimension, usually more than one other dimension was associated in enacting the skill to enable a resilient outcome.

While teachers described the development of new skills, particularly in relation to the use of technology, these varied across school context and were dependent on localised good practice, rather than good practice at the systemic level. The systemic level was more commonly reported as a site of frustration for teachers as they attempted to enact strategies to be resilient and were frustrated by mixed messages at the systems and government level, or by a lack of resourcing (McDonough & Lemon, 2022).

As identified in the literature, teachers were required to be flexible and adapt quickly to implementing remote learning (van der Spoel et al., 2020), with this intensifying the workload for many teachers during this period. While teachers demonstrated skills among all four dimensions that enabled them to respond to this challenge, they also identified that having more time and professional learning would have further supported their shift to remote learning and teaching. Trust and Whalen (2020) argued that teaching remotely during times of emergency has occurred at different points throughout history and they argued that there are opportunities in both initial and ongoing teacher professional learning to prepare teachers for teaching remotely. While the use of digital tools and platforms in all facets of society seems somewhat ubiquitous, exposure within schools still remains mixed. Variables between schools around access to equipment, infrastructure issues, lack of training, and tensions between content focus or pedagogical focussed philosophies (for example Becta, 2004, Bingimlas, 2009; Drane et al., 2020: Selwyn et al., 2018; Taimalu & Luik, 2019; Valtonen et al., 2019) mediated the ways that technology has been employed in schools. The COVID-19 pandemic has only emphasised the variation among contexts, and so while teachers may have employed personal skills and capacities, their ability to be resilient was mediated by the broader contexts in which they and their students lived and worked. While an examination of this variation was beyond the scope of this study and paper, it is worthy of further investigation as the pandemic continues to impact on schools and education more broadly. As the data for this paper were collected at one of the early and first stages of lockdown and remote learning in Australia, we also note that continued shifts to remote learning, along with the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic are likely to lead to variations in teachers’ perceptions of their resilience, and to the processes and strategies they employ. Further study to examine to the ongoing impact on teachers and on their processes for resilient outcomes would be beneficial therefore in helping to generate understandings of resilience throughout time and in different contexts.

Conclusion

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented shifts to the nature of teaching and learning in schools as teachers and systems responded to the need to engage in periods of remote learning. This shift has provided a unique opportunity to examine in an authentic context the ways that teachers engage in strategies and processes that enable resilient outcomes. The complexity of teachers’ work during an initial stage of the pandemic is revealed through applying the four dimensions of teacher resilience to identify the skills, capacities, resources, and strategies that teachers draw on and the ways that these intersect with context. This has provided an insight into the process of teacher resilience during a significantly challenging moment in human history and has also highlighted the ways that resiliency can and does change during times of uncertainty.