Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This paper aims to help understand how relational trust between students and teachers embedded in the teaching-learning process unfolded during the emergency distance and flexible hybrid education in Serbia in 2020. It also identifies niches in student-teacher relationships that hold potential for repairing and building trust. For the student-teacher relationship to be trust-based and thus conducive to students’ learning and wellbeing, a consensus about role expectations must be achieved. As the Covid-19 crisis interrupted schooling and education, participants faced uncertainties and ambiguities in role enactment, and the cornerstones of relational trust were disrupted. In an effort to understand 1) the context in which trust was challenged, 2) the ways in which trust was disrupted, and 3) the opportunities for its restoration, we relied on a multi-genre dynamic storytelling approach to data collection and values analysis for data processing. A total of 136 students and 117 teachers from 22 schools wrote 581 narratives in three genres: stories, letters and requests. The analysis yielded 22 codes that allowed further understanding of how changes in structural and institutional conditions affected both students’ and teachers’ expectations of each other, and how incongruence of these expectations fed into feelings of helplessness for both students and teachers, disengagement from learning for students, and heavy workload and poor performance for teachers. In addition, the narratives account for positive outcomes when these expectations were met, and for opportunities for trust-building if students’ and teachers’ perspectives are brought to each other’s attention and negotiated locally. Finally, recommendations for restoring trust are given.

Distance Learning and Teaching in Group Settings at Primary Music Schools in Slovenia

“…Moreover, school closure decreased the motivation for work among both teachers and pupils (Kustec et al, 2020; and increased problems in providing adequate equipment for individual pupils (Šef, 2020), as well as specialised teaching equipment and specialised classrooms for schools (ZASSS, 2020). Similar observations were made in various countries, namely a lack of IT devices, insufficient IT skills of students and teachers (Nedzinskaite-Maciuniene et al, 2022), a lack of children's interest in learning (Drvodelić & Domović, 2022), difficulties with following students' development especially in the area of assessment and evaluation (Özgür Karataş, et al, 2021), and heavy workload and poor performance of teachers (Zorkić, et al, 2021).…”

A systematic review of social classroom climate in online and technology-enhanced learning environments in primary and secondary school

“…Although the promotion of a positive classroom climate is often viewed as the responsibility of the classroom teacher, examining and including students' perspectives and ideas is vital. This is illustrated in the work by Zorkić et al (2021), where teacher and student views offer interesting parallels, and Smith (2013) who found contradictions between students' and teachers' responses. Students' perspectives on student-teacher relationships in face-to-face learning environments has provided useful insights for educators (García-Moya et al, 2020), and should especially be considered in online and technologyenhanced learning environments due to their advanced experience with technology.…”

“…Analysing the narratives of students and teachers, Zorkić et al (2021) found disruptions of trust between them. For instance, students reported disruptions in respect, noting teachers expressed anger, lack of patience, or increasing demands.…”

“…Teachers noted their attempts to maintain caring communication and support, yet also stating that students are lacking in respectful communication and behavior (e.g., politeness, cheating). Based on students and teachers expressions, Zorkić et al (2021) stated that teachers are encouraged to engage in caring communication and providing social-emotional support that makes students feel safe to repair trust; furthermore, expectations concerning responsibility and conduct should be agreed upon. Kovacs et al (2021) found that primary school teachers noted a lack of physical interaction as a concern, that they struggled lost connections, and invested energy to maintain student-teacher relationships.…”

Navigating Confidentiality Dilemmas in Student Support: An Institutional Ethnography Informed Study

“…While support systems are welcome, our experience is that there are often tensions between the institutional expectations for reporting and record keeping and the need to build trust and relationships between those tasked with student support and the students they support [5,6]. For example, institutional protocols on documentation can create a sense of surveillance [5].…”