‘The pandemic is over but it’s not over’: health teachers’ perspectives post-pandemic lockdown

ABSTRACT

This research sought insights into ways in which health teachers understand their roles, particularly as relates to health curriculum and supporting students’ transition back to in-person learning following the post-pandemic lockdown. Interviews were conducted with urban and rural, elementary and secondary health teachers and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. Analysis revealed how teachers adapted their instructional strategies based on their observations of ways students needed both mental health supports and were tired of talking about mental health. In addressing issues related to the pandemic, teachers remained as neutral as possible, and resisted perpetuating polarizing public discourses without avoiding them. Participants also connected with social justice issues, employing gender-inclusive language, displaying supportive symbols of 2SLGBTQ+, and working with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers. Support of students’ transition back to in-person learning after the lockdown informed development of the grounded theory model: health education as œuvre d’art, nothing short of a work of art.

KEYWORDS:

• Health education
• health teacher
• lived curriculum
• planned curriculum
• critical health education
• constructivist grounded theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Centre for Educational Research Collaboration & Development (CERCD) Faculty of Education, University of Regina.

Notes on contributors

Twyla Salm

Twyla Salm is currently the Associate Dean (interim) in the Faculty of Graduate Studies of Research at the University of Regina. Her research focuses on teaching and learning in higher education, with specific interests in developing the professional educator, socially just health education, and curriculum studies.

Lace Marie Brogden

Lace Marie Brogden serves as Dean of the Faculty of Education, St. Francis Xavier University and President of Association of Canadian Deans of Education. Her research interests include language teacher education, negotiating subjectivities, social justice in education, and autoethnography as method.

Amanda Kornaga

Amanda Kornaga is a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina and a superintendent in a rural school division in Saskatchewan, Canada. Her research interests include student wellness, comprehensive school health, and boundary spanning across professions.