**11. Impacts and opportunities: phase 1**

As expected, the pandemic and the closure of schools impacted on the participating Irish principals and teachers in many unexpected ways. The move from face to face teaching to online teaching caused many challenges initially, as did staff communication and agreement of ways or working, however what did emerge very strongly in the sub-theme was the opportunity that lockdown provided to address well-being in a more meaningful way than was possible when school buildings were open. Concurrent parallel analysis [55] of the individual quantitative CBI [32] data for individual participants alongside their qualitative interview data suggests that perhaps reducing the amount of time spent with colleagues and students has provided the opportunity for extra time to pursue such recreation out of doors and with family. More time for the self and with those with whom personal relationships are important, has been an unintended bonus which may shed light on why the participants reported significantly less client related burnout over time as reported above (Wilcoxon test statistic: −3.22, p. < .01). As we can see from the transcript data from Phase 1, which are presented below, the teachers and principals tend to put their clients' needs first in the normal course of events. The reduced time spent at school during lockdown provided the bonus of being at home, with the ability to take walks and be in the outdoors, which in turn likely contributed towards their overall reduced client-related burnout from Phase 1 to Phase 2. Both teachers and principals elaborated on practices they engaged in to support their self-care. The majority of the responses related to exposure to the outdoors and exercise: For example, one of the teachers explained that they were able to take the *time* to self-care:

*There are two main things: Definitely exercise, getting fresh air. I have done loads of yoga, I never have the time to do things like that normally, so it's been great, that kind of stuff. Definitely taking time out and moving away from family or the computer, just time to yourself and also as well, connection with all the people in my life that I couldn't see, that is so important be it via Zoom or else, but connection is so important because you realise more than ever what you have and all those things (Teacher 1 (T1), Phase 1).*

Although this teacher reported increased tiredness and exhaustion for some items on the CBI at Phase 1, they reported a lower degree of frustration, and never/ almost never thinking "I can't take it anymore" on Phase 2, which were improvements on Phase 1. In line with the significant reduction in client-related burnout on their CBI, this teacher also explained in their second interview that, "*in my experience, the engagement with parents and kids was far less stressful than engaging with the staff. I felt that the staff was the hardest bit because it was just a new way of working".*

*Principal 6 (P6) (Phase 1) explained further by stating; we're so blessed and thankful all the time that we're living in a rural area and everybody has access to rural country roads, back-gardens, fresh air, the weather was fantastic, people would have done very well out of school. But my emotions would be, kind of draining, that you're working and you're working from the laptop and you're not getting the face to face.* 

*And you're missing out on so much with the staff as well. …….I haven't been spending enough time with them [parents] over the past few years. Wellness for me, is having some time for myself to do something that gives me energy, whether it's exercise, or going for walks and being and nature.*

Although this principal's CBI personal burnout report showed a worsening of tiredness and exhaustion and the feeling of "giving more" than they get back, their client related burnout reduced.

Further examples of quotes from principals and teachers presented below indicate the impact of fresh air and exercise on personal self-care and well-being

*I am a lot less time in the car now, and not even for school. Like, I mean, in the past, you would have…we live about…like probably about ten or fifteen minutes' walk from a shop here in the countryside. But, in the past, I would start the car and driven to the shop, whereas now, I'm kind of like, you know, I'm actually going for a walk now; I want to go walk to the shop. I'm in the car a lot less because I have the time not to be in it (P3, Phase 1).*

*Well one very good thing that I have done throughout this lockdown is walking in the park every morning at 7. With a friend of mine on different sides of the road. When we want to chat, we chat, when we don't want to chat, we don't chat. That's one of the things that kept me going, exercise is always helpful (P8, Phase 1).*

*I think, I mean I've been just, really, I love the fact that I am able to get my running in the morning and I have the guts of an hour and 45 minutes drive to my school everyday, so not to have that I think I've been very lucky I kind of have taken up things for myself because when I am in school, I never stop, I am always working working (T7, Phase 1).*

As highlighted by the literature on well-being, these practices that the teachers engaged in support both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The activities that the participants engaged in were pleasant experiences for them thus supporting hedonic well-being. Indeed, they also supported eudaimonic well-being as it is clear from the responses from the majority of teachers that this extra time was enabling their personal well-being to flourish. The importance of "time" is evident in the selected excerpts below:

One teacher reflected that she neglected some hobbies in favour of fresh air, given the amount of time she was spending online daily:

*I spent more time outdoors than I usually would and I suppose, because I found that home and work environment were the one and yeah, I just am not as inclined to be reading as much unfortunately, or watching television or screens because I'm reading texts on a screen for most of the day now, so, yeah, more fresh air and exercise (T8, Phase 1).*

Another teacher lamented their inability to put time aside despite this opportunity:

*I have discovered that working from home wouldn't be the best job for me. I realised now that maybe if there was more time then maybe I would learned how to deal with it. …….Yeah, yeah for me, I didn't have a strategy of how to put a limit on how*  *Teacher Self-Care Practices to Support Well-Being during the Covid 19 Pandemic DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110428*

*to manage working hours. I should have put a limit around half five, that's it. You know what I mean? Half five is my switch off time of work, but my phone would get a notification and I go open the computer and that really frustrated me. That kind of made me a bit neurotic, and I have heard people that they said they have a contact limit there. I should have done that from the start and it's too late to do it now. So yeah, I didn't have enough strategies in place and I didn't know how to approach it and that would have helped mentally as well, so maybe if we have gotten more guidance on (unclear) if schools go on lockdown again, that there is some more formal education, this is the guidelines for teachers, these are their obligations and these are their limits. And I think I went too far over the limits which I should not have done for my own sake (T7, Phase 1).*

In addition to exercise and the outdoors, both principals and teachers spoke about the additional time that they were gifted to spend with family, which they felt was enabling both well-being and self-care

*I spent loads of outdoors time with the kids which was great, we'll never get the chance to spend that much time with them again so we just made the most out of it. Realistically, but really during the week it's only an hour per day but what can we do? We're doing enough, we're doing what we're asked to do, yeah, so just the positives and spending time with the kids and thankfully the weather was good so we got to spend a lot of time with the kids so it worked for us (T6, Phase 1).*

*It sounds very sad to say but I gave my wife and children definitely an hour each morning, which I wouldn't have been able to give them if I were in school, we went for walks, we picked flowers, that was a lovely experience, it really was, it really was time to be able for an hour, which is pathetic in my mind as a man, I should have given them, it shouldn't have been timetabled and, but given the professional obligations and burdens, we were all dealing with a new education world (P10, Phase 1).*

*I think it's just having good personal relationships with people that are close to me and also have time for myself to do the things that give me energy, on a personal level. I do think back in the first two weeks, the time when we had the two weeks of work prepared, those two weeks, I had them almost to myself. I got up each morning and I check the computer, check the email, that type of stuff, then I went to my parents who were living a mile over the road and then we'd just be outdoors and spend a couple of hours there. Those couple of weeks, I look back (unclear) it's time that, as principal over the 8, 9 years I haven't, I have been caught up in the job so to have those hours to spend over there and do bits of jobs, I'm really grateful for it. I realised that maybe I was missing that, missing wellness, the balance of me and the time that I spend with my parents, that's probably, I haven't been spending enough time with them over the past few years (P6, Phase 1).*

*… home and it made it like…a very happy place and very happy of me for my two, my children of five, nearly six actually, and three. And so, because we're both at home and they just really started playing together, just happy out doing bits and then myself and my husband we were…we have plenty of time to just say "I need to go out, you need to go out" and if then I need to do schoolwork, there was never any…there was no problem finding that balance (T11, phase 1).*

Brady and Wilson [16] in defining teacher well-being, consider both the personal and professional elements of this construct. The data presented above highlights that the balance of personal with professional was enabled more by the pandemic, particularly from the perspective of having more time to balance the personal with the professional.

Other self-care practices that supported people included a focus on hobbies and a revert back to activities that teachers and principals had neglected in recent times:

*I would have quite enjoyed gardening and so I nearly became a professional gardener during the.me and I really found it…I was like "oh God, I would give up this teaching life and just take up gardening" because it was just really calming and enjoyable (T11, Phase 1)*

*The farm to me was my mental health space. I am not into reading, listening to music, I love music, during Easter I used to go out for walks and just watch the trees (unclear) just standing and taking time really, just to try to process it. The silence was lovely, I think the silence around that time, we'd live close to the motorway and the motorway was dead (T9, Phase 1)*

*So now during lockdown, I am cooking more, I am baking, I am playing my instruments, I am doing a florist course soon, so I am going to take this time for me and just check in and make sure that I am trying to think of myself as well rather than, and I think principals and teachers as a profession, there's no doubt about it, everyone I've come across, are very hard working and really working to do right for their students and their parents. Teachers and principals do take their jobs very very seriously probably to the detriment of themselves, we'll probably be at the end of the list in terms of who needs to be looked after because we're constantly giving. So lockdown has allowed me to kind of look at myself and think of what am I doing for myself to feel a little bit happier and better (P3, phase 1).*

As Noddings [19] highlights, care practices involve caring for both the carer and the cared for person. The data excerpts above highlight that the pandemic enabled more time for the carer to attend to their own care needs. Indeed, there was probably less emotional work with students on a daily basis during remote working and this did promote teachers' own subjective well-being.
