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

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 r...

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Main Authors: Tijana Jokić Zorkić, Katarina Mićić, Tunde Kovacs Cerović
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Ljubljana 2021-10-01
Series:Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1150
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author Tijana Jokić Zorkić
Katarina Mićić
Tunde Kovacs Cerović
author_facet Tijana Jokić Zorkić
Katarina Mićić
Tunde Kovacs Cerović
author_sort Tijana Jokić Zorkić
collection DOAJ
description 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.
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publishDate 2021-10-01
publisher University of Ljubljana
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series Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
spelling doaj-art-6116e1e5b7fe406387cb51e974b9a3e22025-08-20T01:50:59ZengUniversity of LjubljanaCenter for Educational Policy Studies Journal2232-26472021-10-0111Special Issue19521810.26529/cepsj.1150Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 PandemicTijana Jokić ZorkićKatarina MićićTunde Kovacs CerovićThis 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.https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1150disruption of relational trustremote and hybrid education during the pandemicdynamic storytellinganalysis of narrativesstudents’ and teachers’ perspectives
spellingShingle Tijana Jokić Zorkić
Katarina Mićić
Tunde Kovacs Cerović
Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal
disruption of relational trust
remote and hybrid education during the pandemic
dynamic storytelling
analysis of narratives
students’ and teachers’ perspectives
title Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
title_full Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
title_fullStr Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
title_short Lost Trust? The Experiences of Teachers and Students during Schooling Disrupted by the Covid-19 Pandemic
title_sort lost trust the experiences of teachers and students during schooling disrupted by the covid 19 pandemic
topic disruption of relational trust
remote and hybrid education during the pandemic
dynamic storytelling
analysis of narratives
students’ and teachers’ perspectives
url https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/1150
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AT katarinamicic losttrusttheexperiencesofteachersandstudentsduringschoolingdisruptedbythecovid19pandemic
AT tundekovacscerovic losttrusttheexperiencesofteachersandstudentsduringschoolingdisruptedbythecovid19pandemic