Policy, Teacher Education, and Covid-19: An International “Crisis” in Four Settings

Abstract

A great deal of evidence is accruing that illustrates the considerable stress and pressures that teachers have experienced round the world due to the Covid “crisis” (La Velle et al., J Educ Teach 46(4):596–608, 2020; Ellis et al., Eur J Teach Educ 43(4):559–572, 2020; Baker et al., Co** Teach School Psychol Rev 50(4):491–504, 2021). Many teachers have had to manage teaching their own children at home while working on line to support their students in school. Some of these teachers have found online teaching stressful and something they have not been well prepared to tackle. Concerns have also been expressed about teachers considering leaving the profession due to unmanageable workloads and sometimes because of health risks to themselves and their families (Phillips and Cain, ‘Exhausted beyond measure’: what teachers are saying about COVID-10 and the disruption to education. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/exhausted-beyond-measure-what-teachers-are-saying-about-covid-19-and-the-disruption-to-education-143601, 2020; Fuller, Teaching and leadership. Supply and quality. Education Policy Institute, London. https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/the-pandemic-and-teacher-attrition-an-exodus-waiting-to-happen/, 2021). While much is known about the case of teachers and the challenges they face, much less is known about those training to become teachers.

This chapter is based on a cross-national account of some policy work in four national settings: Norway, Greece, Japan, and Australia. The case studies consider policies aimed at addressing the problems posed by the Covid-19 pandemic for teacher education. Each account starts with a brief review of contextual factors that play into policy enactment, then they explore how their nation’s policies have responded to the pandemic “crisis,” how responses been implemented and enacted “on the ground,” and the longer term policy implications for teacher education. The chapter ends by attempting to draw together some useful lessons for policy in the context of teacher education that arise from these four studies.