Disrupted Relationships, Moral Distress, and Teacher Professional Identity During COVID-19

• In Event: Engaging an Ethics of Care in Crises and Classrooms

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a multiple-case ethnography conducted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic on the formation and purposes of secondary teacher-student relationships and the pandemic’s impact on these relationships. The pandemic essentially diminished the relational rewards of teaching as teachers could no longer care for their students; they could only care about their students from afar. The pandemic, thus, acted as an insurmountable barrier to teachers’ sense of ethical practice because it prevented them from relating to students in familiar ways that conveyed care and concern. This situation led teachers to experience moral distress, a feeling of intense emotional discomfort when one is prevented by outside forces from doing what one believes to be right, which, in turn, triggered a breakdown in their sense of professional identity. The case of Ms. Weaver is used to illustrate the argument and implications are briefly discussed.

Author

• David R. M. Saavedra, Virginia Commonwealth University