**2. Irish context: school closures as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic**

It was in late February 2020 when it was first reported that the Coronavirus pandemic had reached the Republic of Ireland (Ireland). On February 29th, the first confirmed case of Covid 19 was announced in Ireland. On March 11th, the first fatality of the virus was announced and on the next day, the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Dr. Leo Varadkar announced the closure of schools, colleges and childcare facilities until March 29th. The announcement was made mid-morning and schools were given until 6 pm that same day, to vacate the buildings. This was extremely short notice to take almost immediate effect. As schools were due to begin their Easter holidays from Friday April 3rd, many people anticipated that schools would re-open after the Easter break on April 20th. However, on March 24th, the announcement was made that schools would not re-open on March 29th as originally indicated and on May 1st the Taoiseach announced that it would be September 2020 when schools would re-open. Schools did re-open in September 2020, with a roadmap issued from the Department of Education in relation to procedures for schools to adopt to support minimal risk and spread of Covid 19 [3, 4]. Although the number of cases of Covid was rising significantly in Ireland in September and October 2020, and a 'second wave' of the virus resulted in further lockdown restrictions from October 19th 2020, schools remained open during this time frame. By December 2020, a third wave of the virus was clearly underway in Ireland. Schools closed for their Christmas holidays and on January 6th 2021, it was announced that schools would remain closed until February 2021. An agreement between the Department of Education and teacher unions was reached that schools would re-open on a phasedin basis. In terms of primary schools in Ireland, classes from Junior Infants to second class returned to school on March 1st 2021, while classes from 3rd to 6th returned to

*Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Well-Being during the Covid 19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110428*

school on March 15th. School buildings have remained open since. Since the 28th of February 2022, the wearing of masks by school staff or practices in relation to social distancing are no longer required.

The impact of the pandemic on education and indeed on well-being is considerable. Ghagte and Parasar [5] highlight that the education sector, which plays a crucial role in determining a nation's economic future has been severely disrupted. Pravat [6] believes however that the pandemic has provided educational institutions with a variety of challenges and chances to improve their technology infrastructure and knowledge. The realities of engaging with education at the various different sectors from early childhood to third level and beyond from home brought numerous considerations into the mix: the availability of devices to engage with learning, the availability of space in the home, the availability of parental support in particular for younger students, parents' own education levels and the competing demands of the home environment are but a few. Understandably, the pandemic impacted on the general population's psychological well-being and level of physical activity. Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė et al. [7] outline that the pandemic caused prolonged self-isolation with resulting psychological effects including post-traumatic stress disorder, despair, bewilderment and worry. Other aspects of the pandemic generated a very real sense of vulnerability among the public including; separation from loved ones, mobility restrictions, and a general feeling of lack of control over things. These impacts have also been noted globally.

The next section considers the concept of well-being and specifically teacher well-being.

#### **3. Well-being**

O'Brien and Guiney [8] argue that hard to define concepts are everywhere. Well-being can certainly be categorised as a hard to define concept and for numerous reasons: It is complicated by unclear spelling which depends on the author, it is a 'wicked problem', which according to [9], is a problem that lacks definition, it is defined in broad terms and encompasses multi-disciplinary concepts and many subsets and there is no satisfactory conceptual model of well-being in education. Indeed, ([8], P. 343) confirm that well-being is a 'complex, fluid, slippery and contested concept and construct'.

Despite the complexity in its understanding, the idea of well-being has long been heralded as vital to the good life of all human subjects [10]. Historically, many concepts of well-being distinguish between hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being. Quite simply, hedonia represents the maximisation of pleasure and the minimisation of pain. A hedonic approach to well-being emphasises one's feeling about life, including how 'pleasant' it is- an affective approach. Eudaimonia represents human flourishing and the ability to live up to one's full potential (self-actualisation) [11]. Eudaimonic approaches extends past the notion of how the subjects feel and locate the idea of being happy or 'happiness' in relation to the ethics or practice of a good life. It also addresses a way of being part of and within communities [10]. Aside from these differences in approach, most researchers now accept that well-being is a multi-dimensional construct, complicated by the fact that it applies across the field of education, psychology, philosophy and politics, all of which take a different approach [12]. Well-being is also understood from many perspectives or domains including social, emotional, spiritual, physical, cultural, psychological, political, medical and psychological whereby well-being can vary across each domain.

There have been many influences of the conceptualisation of well-being in education. These include the field of medicine and initiatives such as the health promoting schools, the development of social and emotional learning programmes and in recent years in particular, a very strong focus on the area of mental health in children and young people [12]. In the field of education, both nationally and internationally there have been a number of offerings of definitions of well-being to enhance understanding of the concept at whole-school level.

In the Irish context, the definition of well-being that is presented in the Department of Education's (DE) 'Well-being Policy Statement and Framework for Practice' draws on the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition of well-being as being "present when a person realises their potential, is resilient in dealing with the normal stresses of their life, takes care of their physical well-being and has a sense of purpose, connection and belonging to a wider community", (WHO 2001, cited in DE, 2019, p. 10) [2]. It is a fluid way of being and needs nurturing throughout life [2]. This framework sets out an approach to well-being that schools should adopt in the coming years, which is based on self-evaluation of their own practices. This framework also collaborates with the Irish National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development ([13], p. 53) resonating with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 4 "Quality Education" [1]. In line with these global and national perspectives, the approach to well-being for this present research is focused more on social emotional well-being, rather than physical health and illness variables. Of relevance and interest to the present study, although the Policy statement from the DEES takes a whole-school approach to the development of well-being practices, there is very little attention paid to the concept of teacher well-being.

#### **4. Teacher well-being**

One of the references to the issue of teacher well-being that is found in the DE, is in the context of pupil well-being, citing the OECD's (2017, cited in DE, 2019, p. 15) [2] finding that the teacher's role is "paramount" and the relationship between teacher and pupil is key to pupil well-being. Thereafter, the policy document notes that support for the well-being of staff is essential and crucial to sustaining staff engagement, enthusiasm and ability to model resilience [2]. This can hardly be considered a meaningful approach to or a considered understanding of teacher well-being. Indeed, as with well-being, teacher well-being is hard to define. Roffey [14] considers that teacher well-being is often described in deficit terms in the literature, detailing how stress is impacting on teachers' burnout and problems with retention. Acton and Glasgow [15] have synthesised literature on the topic of teacher well-being and consider a definition which takes account of its hedonic, eudaimonic and relational aspects: "Teacher well-being may be defined as an individual sense of personal professional fulfilment, satisfaction, purposefulness and happiness, constructed in a collaborative process with colleagues and students ([15], p. 102)". Brady and Wilson [16] endorse this definition of teacher well-being as they feel it entails a personal-professional dimension and it accords with literature which suggests that teachers' work is highly emotive and intertwined with their sense of personal as well as professional identity. Weare ([17], p. 6) determines that teacher well-being is shaped by "individual, relational and contextual factors". At the individual level, teacher well-being is concerned with a need for autonomy, a sense of competence, a capacity for emotional intelligence, a positive

attitude and a healthy work-life balance. The quality of teacher-student interactions and positive professional working relationships are again essential for teacher well-being as is an inclusive whole-school culture with positive and affirming leadership. The Teaching Council in Ireland do acknowledge the importance of care of self [18].

## **5. Care and teacher self-care practices**

The Irish National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) Well-being Guidelines acknowledge that Irish teachers "are in the front line of the work" ([19], p. 29), which they may find difficult if they themselves feel "uncared for and burnt out" (p. 29). This resonates with Noddings' relational approach to caring which highlights the importance of caring for both the carer and the cared-for person. Noddings' [20] ethic of care is frequently evident in teachers' attributions about their caring purpose and role [21]. Caring as a component of teaching has positive implications and is often cited as a reason for teachers entering the profession [22]. Conversely as noted by the NCCA, teachers' caring work may result in burnout.

Like well-being, care and caring are everyday terms that are difficult to define. O'Connor [8] has captured the affective and behavioural components, and defines caring as "those emotions, actions and reflections that result from a teacher's desire to motivate, help or inspire their students" ([23], p. 117). This definition resonates with the findings of Irish researchers who have also identified the importance of care in positive pupil-teacher relationships for positive student outcomes [24, 25]. England and Farkas [11] refer to this process as "emotional work" because it takes time and effort for teachers to build positive empathetic relationships with their students. This may contribute to performance requirements for caring in teaching as a form of emotional labour [26, 27]. Emotional labour was initially conceptualised as the commodification of certain emotions required in the workplace and emotional display rules, such as putting on a smile for customers or clients, usually achieved through surface or deep acting [28]. Surface acting tends to be artificially created through an employee masking and suppressing their authentic emotions such as anger or annoyance, while deep acting accesses and expresses genuine emotions which the employee is able to generate. Hargreaves [21] found that while sometimes teaching can be described as a labour of love, the emotional labour involved in teaching can lead to burnout. This will depend on the ways that teachers regulate or manage their emotions during the many and varied interactions they have with colleagues, administrators students and their families on a daily basis. Teachers most commonly-use expressive suppression such as holding down their anger, or cognitive reappraisal such as changing their thoughts to change their emotion, the latter being better for their well-being [29]. Suppression of anger and other strong emotions that activate the release of cortisol, are more likely to lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout in teachers [30, 31]. Therefore, in times of extreme societal trauma where teachers are in the front line under stress, having to put on a brave face, such as in the current COVID context, their risk of burnout is higher. During these times therefore, teachers should ideally be feeling cared for so that they can in turn care for and support the well-being of their students, without experiencing burnout.

Burnout is a tripartite syndrome of physical and psychological fatigue and exhaustion usually resulting from workplace stress, and occurs frequently in teaching which is a highly stressful occupation at the best of times [32]. A significant component and predictor of burnout is emotional exhaustion, which is experienced as overwhelming tiredness and fatigue at work, leading to a loss of energy, enthusiasm and confidence [33, 34]. Workload and time pressure are strong predictors of emotional exhaustion in teachers [35]. The detrimental effects of time pressure on well-being are in line with [36] theory of stress as the result of one's perception of present demands on the self as being in excess of one's personal resources such as energy or time available [37]. This has been shown through higher cortisol levels in work contexts compared to weekends not in work [37]. Having the freedom to make one's own decisions can mitigate this effect [37].

Recent international research on the impacts of the pandemic on teacher well-being confirm the exacerbation of burnout risk [38, 39]. Garcia-Alvarez et al.'s review found that in general, positive psychology interventions focusing on intra-and inter-personal strengths may improve teachers' mental well-being. Other research has found that New Zealand teachers' and principals' enjoyment of their work declined during the early Covid lockdown, and this was associated with perceived less support [40]. Workloads for both teachers and principals had increased enormously. This was more evident in Auckland which was locked down for a longer period of time compared to the rest of the country. The NZCER report recommended practical support such as improved availability of staffing, and professional well-being support to assist with managing workload and improving life satisfaction. McMakin et al. [41] found that teachers self-initiated various individualised self-care practices such as "prayer, walks, exercise, getting tasks done that they didn't want to, reading, spending time alone, and putting themselves first" (p. 12). However, opportunities for these self-care activities can be limited depending on the scheduling and workload demands on teachers.

One of the significant new stressors was the move to online teaching. As described by [42] the boundaries between work and home lives "vanished" (p. 1151) with demands from all sources causing teachers feeling increased pressure to be continually available for online meetings and teaching, let alone preparing their teaching material while also ensuring their students had the resources they needed. In addition, this type of disaster is a pervasive one, so that teachers would also be dealing with caring for their households and experiencing the same grief as their communities, while also being "entirely available" throughout [43]. In the Irish context, as indeed is the case internationally, the majority of the teaching population are female. The statistics provided on the Government of Ireland website for the 2021/2022 school year highlight that at primary level in Ireland 35,518 teachers are female out of a total of 42,012 teachers [44]. It is well recognised that females undertake the main responsibility for care needs and labour tasks in the home environment, so many female teachers would have been juggling the demands of home and school throughout the duration of school closures. This is consistent with findings reported for SDG 9 Gender Equality, in the most recent UN Sustainability Report (2022), that working women have been "disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic" (p. 27) including reduced hours and job losses "due to increased unpaid care work at home" (p. 37). For teachers in particular, institutional support has been highly needed yet not always ideal [42]. This has meant that teachers have had to rely on their inner resilience and resources to self-manage the emotional and physical demands of teaching with a pedagogy of care, while also ensuring that they manage the emotional labour that is entailed [45]. As [46] stated, "When I am not so emotionally drained, I am able to care more for my students". Collie [13] found that "subjective work vitality" meaning "having energy for and feeling excitement about work" (p. 4) was negatively impacted by time pressure as inherent in job demands. Subjective vitality is a central well-being outcome in self-determination theory.

#### *Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Well-Being during the Covid 19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110428*

Caring for the self or "self-care" is a pro-active approach that is "often described as a process, an ability, and often as engagement with behaviours that have one engaging with different well-being science that promotes subjective well-being" [47]. Lemon notes that self-care tends to be currently perceived as the individual's responsibility, through a Western medical model approach. Supporting teachers in their self-care is an important area of well-being that will need more attention as the world continues to cope with the changing face of the pandemic. Hidalgo-Andrade et al. [48] found that teachers' emotional well-being was maintained through a number of individual processes including "exercising, practising yoga, having a healthy diet and maintaining daily routines" (p. 938). These imply a work life balance that may not always be achievable in situations where teachers are continually accessible as noted above.
