“It felt a bit wartime”: Teacher perspectives of social and emotional well-being support in primary schools during Covid-19

Abstract

Although primary schools in the UK were required to provide access to remote learning for pupils during Covid-19 mandated school closures, there was less clarity for teachers and school leaders about expectations and priorities relating to the provision of social and emotional well-being support for children at home during this period. Using an existing whole-school approaches (WSA) framework we aimed to understand the extent to which well-being support was a priority for primary schools during closures, what structures were in place to support well-being, what factors facilitated or inhibited provision of remote pastoral care, and how schools supported pupil reintegration following school reopening. Twenty semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with teachers and school leaders in primary schools in three counties of southern England during February and March 2020. A hybrid inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach was used with a critical realist approach. Findings indicate that school closures were associated with radically disrupted home–school partnerships. Lack of national and local policy guidance limited the extent to which schools adapted remote well-being provision and maintained contact with families. This disruption contributed to a decline in children's emotional well-being, particularly for those children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Covid recovery recommendations center on a renewed emphasis on universal, ethos-focused interventions and a strength-based focus on curriculum change.