Planning For Unmet Social Needs In Pandemics: Teachers' Experiences Of Unacknowledged Care Work

Area of Science:

• Education
• Sociology
• Ethics

Background:

• Pandemic preparedness plans focused on service continuity and infection control.
• These plans did not account for the relational and moral labor of non-clinical frontline workers.
• COVID-19 responses created new barriers to care and human connection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine Australian teachers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through a care ethics lens.
• To analyze the improvised, context-specific care practices of teachers.
• To highlight asymmetries between initiated and requested care and address structural inequities in care work.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative research approach.
• Conducted 32 in-depth interviews with teachers in Australia.
• Analysis of teachers' experiences and care practices during the pandemic.

Main Results:

• Teachers engaged in improvised, context-specific practices of care.
• Asymmetries were identified between care initiated by teachers and care requested of them.
• The pandemic exacerbated existing inequities in the distribution and valuation of care work.

Conclusions:

• Existing care ethics frameworks inadequately explain community care provided by teachers.
• Pandemic planners must anticipate needs created by public health restrictions.
• Care must be acknowledged and centered as a communal good, recognizing the everyday labor that sustains society during crises.