St Catharines university professors want to survey 250 Ontario teachers over effects of COVID-19

With everyone watching, wondering and worrying about children and youth returning to Ontario school one month from today, two Brock University professors are concerned about another group flying under the radar.

Professor of Child and Youth Studies Dawn Zinga and Associate Professor Danielle Sirianni Molnar are equally concerned that teachers’ voices should be heard as schools reopen.

“I think of teachers as being front-line workers of a different sort (during the COVID-19 pandemic),” Zinga told the campus newspaper, The Brock News.

“They were there with the students face-to-face and they were there in students’ homes virtually during long periods of the pandemic, yet we didn’t hear a lot about that side of things,” she added.

So the pair have created a survey of teachers as part of their study “Teachers’ Perspectives on the Pandemic.”

The research team, being led by master’s student Melissa Blackburn and other research assistants, is looking for 250 elementary or secondary school teachers who are certified with the Ontario College of Teachers.

However, more importantly, they must have at least two years of teaching experience in this province, meaning simply they have worked both pre-pandemic and through it.

Teachers interested in participating are asked to email: [email protected] to enrol in the study, which consists of three online surveys, each spaced two months apart.

For each survey completed, participants will receive a $20 Amazon gift card.