Teachers' Work During the Pandemic

This book examines teachers’ work in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, where educators grappled with a worldwide virus that profoundly affected teaching and learning. This difficult situation allowed educators and researchers to reflect critically on the enduring labor experiences that persist through this uncertain period, some of them rooted in conditions prevalent long before the pandemic hit. Written from a perspective that cuts across labor studies and education, the book explains how cultural and legally inscribed expectations of teachers have been remarkably impermeable over time. In particular, the volume focuses on the educational transformations that have taken place worldwide since the pandemic occurred, including reduced educational resources, labor strife, and contradictory governmental directives. As the book articulates, these changes affect some of the most persistent educational topics, including student achievement, student health, and teacher satisfaction.

Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Layers of Change: Ontario’s Policy Regime Chapter 3: Teachers’ Work and Working Conditions Chapter 4: Teachers’ Work During the Pandemic Chapter 5: Sense Making and the Educational Hierarchy Chapter 6: Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Ontario’s Teacher Organizations & Teacher Advocacy Chapter 7: Conclusion: Building Back Better: The Missing Agenda Appendix A: How This Book Came to Be Appendix B: Interview Participants Index

Nina Bascia is a Professor in the Educational Leadership and Policy Program and founding Director of the Collaborative Specialization in Educational Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.