Factors that influence beginning teacher retention during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from one Canadian province

Abstract

Concern over early career teacher attrition has increased since the onset of COVID-19, but little is known about how the pandemic affected the personal and professional factors that play a role in successful teacher retention in Alberta, Canada. Starting in May 2021, a combination of survey design and focus groups were used to examine beginning teachers’ well-being, resiliency, and perceptions on early career teaching and pandemic considerations. Compared to the previous year of data collection administration in 2019-2020, participants reported significantly less positive responses related to professional factors, but in terms of personal factors, participants remained efficacious and resilient. Responses also indicated that beginning teachers were mainly dissatisfied with COVID-19 pandemic circumstances, but not the teaching profession. Therefore, despite facing numerous challenges over the past two years, beginning teachers’ passion and commitment to their chosen career appears to remain strong.

Introduction

The plight of the beginning teacher has always been fraught with challenges. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching was recognized as a stressful career (e.g., Steiner & Woo, 2021). Early career attrition is often at its highest in the first three to five years of teaching due to a variety of professional and personal factors (Clandinin et al., 2015; Kersaint et al., 2007). The pandemic has potentially exacerbated teacher attrition by creating additional job-related stressors for beginning and experienced teachers alike (Gillani et al., 2022; Steiner & Woo, 2021).

It has been shown that teacher retention is often highest when there are adaptive professional and personal factors (Clandinin et al., 2015; Mansfield et al., 2014; Schafer, 2013). For early career teachers, professional factors of particular importance include high quality pre-service teacher programming, mentorship and professional development opportunities, collegial working relationships while in the field, and student and parental support (e.g., Kurtz & St. Maurice, 2018; Naidoo & Wagner, 2020; Walker & Kutsyuruba, 2019). In regard to personal factors, early career teachers should be provided with ample opportunities to develop coping strategies, communication skills, and stress management skills through workshops, mental health supports, and personal relationships (e.g., Andreychuk, 2019; Mansfield et al., 2016; McKay, 2019; Squires, 2019). Regardless, it is important that beginning teachers feel supported both personally and professionally. This may, in turn, improve their emotional intelligence, teacher self-efficacy, sense of resiliency, and hopefully increase their potential to remain in the profession over the span of a career (e.g., Kutsyuruba et al., 2019).

The Job-Demand and Resources Theory (JD-R) is a useful framework to conceptualize the stress and attrition that beginning teachers may be experiencing (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). The JD-R theory suggests that job demands (e.g., workload, time pressure) and job resources (e.g., relationships with colleagues, professional development opportunities) collectively produce processes that elicit outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions (Granziera et al., 2021). Furthermore, the JD-R theory acknowledges how personal resources may influence teachers’ workplace experiences, including how they respond to job demands and resources. The JD-R theory is relevant to understanding teacher well-being and resilience, and how this influences workplace retention and attrition (Granziera et al., 2021).

While both professional and personal factors are critical components for successful early career retention, how those factors were directly impacted by COVID-19 conditions and restrictions is especially important to understand given that pandemic conditions remain ongoing. In 2021-2022 schools across Canada had rotating lockout protocols and school isolation procedures (i.e., social distancing, masking protocols). Each province and territory in Canada was responsible for composing COVID-19 protocols, which created variation in school responses. For example, from March 14, 2020, to May 15, 2021, schools in Ontario were closed to in-person learning for 20 weeks. Comparatively, schools in Alberta were closed for 19 weeks, Manitoba for 16 weeks, British Columbia for 12 weeks, and Quebec for 8 weeks (Alphonso & Stone, 2021). How beginning teachers have endured the start of their careers under such unique circumstances necessitates additional research to best understand how COVID-19 impacted not only classroom practices, but the psychological effects of stress and endurance for long-term career success. Currently, what is known from earlier research in Alberta is limited. In 2019-2020, Gunn & McRae (2021) found that 300 participating beginning teachers were efficacious and resilient under the shadow of impeding changes and challenges. In 2020-2021, during a complete school year of the international pandemic, we readministered a modified 2019-2020 survey to a new pool of beginning teacher participants in the hopes that similar levels of resiliency and efficaciousness as reported in the previous year's study would be present.

Therefore, utilizing several identical survey questions designed for longitudinal trend analysis (i.e., questions from 2019-2020 and their identical matches in 2020-2021 that were now modified to reflect the impact of COVID-19), in conjunction with three focus group discussions in 2020-2021, we aimed to answer the following questions:

• 1Despite COVID-19’s negative impact on teaching and education, were beginning teacher perceptions of professional factors and conditions from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 considerably less positive?
• 2Similarly, using the key personal factors of well-being and primarily resiliency, did the beginning teachers in 2020-2021 perceive themselves to be equally, or less resilient as the beginning teachers in 2019-2020?

Literature review

Provincial setting

Prior to the pandemic, teacher attrition for beginning teachers in Alberta, Canada, has not been of much concern. By national and international standards, loss of early career teachers has been historically low (e.g., with a high of 25% according to the Government of Alberta, (2011) and 2012 for beginning teachers, and 17% according to the 2018 OECD proxy measure of prediction of general teacher attrition; OECD, 2020), and continues to remain so even during economic, political, and public health challenges. Although there is no official database indicating why attrition occurs in the province, speculated reasons are family and personal obligations, guaranteed full-time permanent contracts in other provinces and international settings, and possible career changes (Alberta Teachers’ Association 2013).

To better understand the personal and professional career conditions of beginning teachers during the 2019/2020 school year, the The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) both surveyed and invited participants to attend focus groups to discuss how prepared they felt in their first three years of teaching (Gunn & McRae, 2021). Topics included professional factors such as demands of the classroom, types of mentorship and induction opportunities available, levels of administrative support, and school and classroom challenges. Personal factors such as stress and coping challenges, personal well-being, and resiliency perceptions were also addressed. Results indicated that the 300 participating beginning teachers felt supported, prepared, and were provided with professional development and mentorship opportunities. Respondents also felt optimistic, mentally healthy, and personally resilient to meet both personal and professional challenges. Most noteworthy, 77% of the participants believed that they could see themselves being a teacher for the next 10 years (Gunn & McRae, 2021).

COVID-19 and its impact on beginning teachers’ overall ability and mental well-being

Although beginning teachers in Alberta felt optimistic about their early career start in 2019/2020, news of economic cuts to education operating expenditures (Statistics Canada, 2022, 2023), combined with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, led to concerns that the subsequent 2020/2021 school year would professionally and personally harm teachers at all stages in their careers (Alberta Teachers’ Association 2020d). Starting in March 2020 and reoccurring until early spring 2022, Alberta was confronted with varying degrees of pandemic responses such as online instruction, social distancing protocols, masking policies, cancellations of school events and extra-curricular events, and so forth. This created ongoing concerns regarding health and safety measures for many administrators and school personnel in addition to the students and their families. Seven Pulse Surveys were deployed by The Alberta Teachers’ Association to gauge reactions of teachers beginning in Fall 2020 until Fall 2022 (Alberta Teachers’ Association 2020a, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2020b, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2020c, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2020d, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2021a, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2021b, Alberta Teachers’ Association 2022). Results indicated that overall, teachers were extremely concerned about their careers, their physical and mental well-being, and their students in 2020/2021. Furthermore, it appears that very few early career teachers participated in these surveys as compared to more experienced teachers (i.e., less than 10% of the overall participants).

These scenarios and subsequent impacts are not unique to Alberta. Internationally, there have been similar reports citing the difficulties of educational cuts and pandemic effects on educational program delivery and teacher mental health. In early 2020, schools across the globe were shut down in approximately 186 countries, impacting 1.5 billion school aged children, or 87% of the world's youth population (e.g., Dvir & Schatz-Oppenheimer, 2020). With so many teachers and students moving to online instruction, conversations have centered upon online instruction (i.e., technological and internet suitability, student independence and self-directed learning, and teacher stress and burnout). These topics have appeared in current research from around the world as teachers grappled with feelings of being under- and ill-prepared for online instruction and pedagogy (e.g., Dilberti et al, 2021; Dvir & Schatz-Oppenheimer, 2020; Murray et al 2020; Song et al 2020); struggling to meet the needs of the curriculum and student achievement (e.g., Bailey et al 2021; Kaufman & Diliberti, 2021; Truzoli et al., 2021); and confronting feelings of stress and burnout (e.g., Farley & Chamberlain, 2021; Kaufman & Diliberti, 2021; Kim et al, 2022; Roeser et al, 2022; Sokal et al., 2020, 2021).

It is worth noting that both experienced and novice teachers were, and continue to be, challenged by COVID-19 with respect to their teaching self-efficacy and ability to meet and fulfill pedagogical and curricular standards. Even for the most experienced teachers, many stated that they were opting to leave the profession (Dilberti et al 2021).

In December 2020, the RAND American Teacher Panel (ATP) surveyed a capped sample of 1,000 former public-school teachers. Participants were categorized as those who left the system up to two years prior to the pandemic and after it started, and those who left under and over 40 years of age. The results indicated that since March 2020, of the US public school teachers who left the profession during the pandemic period, 74% left early and voluntarily. The most common reasons cited by almost half of those teachers (44%) were specific to COVID-19 stress and a dislike for how things were being run at their school. When coupled with salary, the most frequently selected reason for those voluntarily leaving under the age of 40 was that “the pay was not sufficient to merit the risks or stress” and “child care responsibilities” that are exacerbated by the pandemic (Dilberti et al 2021; p. 7). For older teachers, having “a health condition” that puts them under greater risk by exposure to COVID-19, risking a “loved ones” health by working in the public, and not being prepared for “online instruction” by way of training were cited reasons for early leaving (Dilberti et al 2021; p. 7). The January 2021 RAND report identified similar findings of teacher frustration, reports of potential attrition, low levels of career satisfaction, and poor teacher well-being (Marshall et al., 2022). In addition, Canadian research at provincial and national levels similarly identified high levels of teacher burnout and stress as evidenced in the beginning and secondary stages of the pandemic (Sokal et al., 2020, 2021). Therefore, regardless of age and experience levels, COVID-19 has challenged classroom teachers personally, regionally, and globally.

Context

In an effort to maintain professional assistance for, and knowledge of early career teachers in the province, the ATA regularly administers a comprehensive province-wide survey. The purpose is to gather longitudinal data using a trend cohort method of data collection and analysis.

Method

Participants

An invitation was sent by The Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) in mid-May 2021 to association members who were in the first three years of their career. The final response rate included 815 beginning teachers. When asked if any would be interested in participating in a voluntary focus group via Zoom, 26 participants signed up for one of three scheduled sessions.

Instrument

The instrument was comprised of 49 Likert and open-ended questions that aligned with current literature regarding beginning teachers professional and personal factors as well as a modified version of a World Health Organization COVID-19 tool regarding well-being. The survey was designed to take no longer than 20 to 30 minutes to complete and the focus group participation was no longer than a two-hour commitment. Questions were semi-structured and designed to elicit more in-depth perceptions and thoughts regarding early career teaching and pandemic considerations.

Procedure

Modifications to the original instrument, focus group questions, and consent forms were made to reflect pandemic teaching and learning conditions. They were submitted to the University of Lethbridge, Office of Research Ethics, in accordance with the University policy and the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (#2019-086) for renewal.

In May 2021 beginning teachers were sent an invitation via the ATA listserv of teachers in their first three years of teaching to complete the anonymous and confidential survey. Given that the respondents must be in the first three years of their career, there is a possibility they could have responded to the survey in 2019-2020. No identifying information is collected or kept, but the surveys are deemed to part of a longitudinal trend analysis design. A participation reminder was sent out four weeks later, which was a few days before the closing date. At the end of the survey, participants had the option to follow a separate, external link to sign up for a focus group option on three available dates. No incentive was provided.

Analysis

The 2019-2020 and the 2020-2021 versions of the Beginning Teacher Surveys have slight variations. The former version consisted of 41 Likert and open-ended questions with a Cronbach's Alpha of .78 while the latter was expanded to 49 Likert items and open-ended with a Cronbach's Alpha of .75. Only selected Likert-based data from the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 survey instruments concerning well-being, resiliency, and coping under pandemic and COVID-19 contexts were included in this discussion. Items were first tested using the Shapiro-Wilk for normality and subsequently analyzed using inferential statistics after meeting assumptions (i.e., Paired Sample t-tests) (Sprinthall, 2011). For the open-ended responses to the Question #19 and #37 in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, respectively (i.e., “As a beginning teacher, what do you consider to be the greatest personal need in your current teaching assignment?”), basic categorical themes were created using frequency counts to the number of times a response was provided. Focus group data collection in 2021 followed the protocol of semi-structured questioning of group participants whereby each participant was provided the opportunity to respond to each question if they were comfortable in doing so. Responses were recorded by way of Zoom video and audio, but participants were not required to keep their camera on if they chose not to. Participants were also allowed to put their responses in chat if that was more convenient due to levels of clarity, time constraints, or communication preferences for certain points they chose to emphasize. Interactions were also observed for non-verbal responses where possible. All data was analyzed using basic thematic analysis.

Results

As previously mentioned, this study is part of a longitudinal research program focused on examining trends in beginning teacher experiences in Alberta. It is designed around a common set of research-based professional and personal factors often considered when studying early career teaching experiences (Andreychuk, 2019; Mansfield et al., 2016; Naidoo & Wagner, 2020; Walker & Kutsyuruba, 2019). Core questions that underscore each factor were developed for standard administrations with additional questions later developed and added, as warranted, to further assist the ATA to better understand how to address particular socio-political and economic conditions that may impact beginning teachers in the province. In 2019-2020 the core survey was established, and in 2020-2021 it was modified according to the impact of COVID-19. Specifically, it should be noted that the Personal Factors questions remained largely identical from the 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 administration of the survey (with the exception of the stress and coping questions), while the Professional Factors questions were reframed to consider how COVID-19 affected daily classroom conditions and the level of support the beginning teachers experienced during the pandemic by specifically drawing attention to the “school year 2020/2021.”

Professional factors

Professional factors that are frequently identified in the literature include the type of induction and mentoring beginning teachers receive at the start of their career, the atmosphere and nature of the school context in which they start, and the level of communication, respect, collegiality, and support they receive from their colleagues, parents, students, and their administration (e.g., Beck & Servage, 2018; Burger et al., 2021; Thomas et al., 2019; Whalen et al., 2019). Questions that were specifically tailored to address the impact of COVID-19 upon those professional factors were included throughout the instrument.

The responses to questions found in Table 1 demonstrated how beginning teachers perceived the impact of COVID-19 during 2020-2021 as compared to responses to the same questions in 2019-2020 pre-pandemic. Statistical changes were evidenced in almost every question with the exception of only three, indicating a significant shift in beginning teacher perceptions. While the mean scores still suggest that the participants’ perceptions were not in serious decline, their scores were significantly less favourable than they had been during the previous survey administration. It is important to note that the administration of the 2019-2020 survey was administered in late October 2019 while the 2020-2021 administration was in May 2021; approximately 18 months later and throughout the duration of the pandemic in the schools.

Table 1.

Paired samples t-tests 2020-2021 comparing personal factor questions.

Mentorship – Level of Agreement*
	2019-2020		2020-2021		t	p
	Mean	(SD)	Mean	(SD)	value	value (two-sided)
When I need advice or assistance, I have a colleague that I can turn to.	4.55	0.62	4.14	1.01	- 4.98	< .001
I have been provided with opportunities to connect with educational partners and mentors.	4.08	1.05	3.31	1.28	- 6.49	< .001
Administrative Support – Level of Agreement*
My employer believes that work should be the primary priority in a person's life.	2.18	0.90	2.50	1.04	3.24	< .001
My employer believes that the ideal employee is the one who is available 24 hours a day.	1.89	0.94	2.26	1.09	3.57	< .001
My employer believes that individuals who take time off to attend to personal matters are not committed to their work.	1.90	0.87	2.19	1.04	3.02	.003
I have had a variety of opportunities to become involved in professional development events.	4.26	0.79	3.52	1.23	- 6.86	< .001
My workload and extra-curricular combined together are manageable for me to feel successful. (2020)/ My workload and additional teaching modifications due to COVID-19 (combined together) are manageable for me to feel successful. (2021)	3.49	1.00	2.89	1.18	- 5.54	< .001
I feel I have more to do that I can comfortably handle.	3.30	1.14	3.26	1.20	- 0.33	0.74
My work schedule/workload often conflicts with my personal life.	3.66	1.15	3.59	1.28	- 0.64	0.52
School Context – Level of Agreement*
There is an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect in my school.	4.34	0.82	3.89	1.07	- 5.18	< .001
Overall, my school allows me to feel that I am a respected colleague and professional.	4.44	0.71	3.96	1.03	- 6.07	< .001
Teachers in my school feel comfortable raising issues and concerns which are important to them.	3.95	0.87	3.72	1.07	- 2.67	< .001
Teachers in my school work together to improve teaching and learning.	4.27	0.79	4.01	0.80	- 3.55	< .001
Parent Support – Level of Agreement*
I believe I have support from parents.	3.86	0.77	3.72	0.91	- 1.18	0.06
My interactions with parents have been positive.	4.11	0.74	3.96	0.89	- 1.99	0.04

^⁎1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Not Sure, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree

Personal factors

Similar to the 2019-2020 survey focus on beginning teacher Resiliency (Table 2 ) and Stress and Coping (Table 3 ), the 2020-2021 survey remained the same, but with the additional emphasis on how COVID-19 was impacting the well-being of early career teachers. The resiliency questions were replicated, and responses demonstrated almost no pandemic-related impacts. Unfortunately, the phrasing of the stress and coping questions were too dissimilar from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021, rendering them non-comparable for statistical analysis. Only the open-ended question remained the same over both administrations (i.e., “As a beginning teacher, what do you consider to be the greatest personal need in your current teaching assignment?”) (see Table 3).

Table 2.

Paired samples t-tests 2020-2021 comparing resilience survey questions.

Resilience (adaptability; relationships; self-awareness; courage, commitment, and persistence; self-efficacy; and reflection) – Level of Agreement*
	2019-2020		2020-2021		t	p
	Mean	(SD)	Mean	(SD)	value	value (two-sided)
When something goes wrong I find it difficult to find a solution.	2.17	0.77	2.22	0.84	0.52	0.60
I enjoy new challenges.	4.17	0.62	4.05	0.78	-1.86	0.06
I tend to dislike major life changes.	3.03	1.07	3.25	1.11	2.03	0.04
I am aware of my professional strengths and limitations.	4.08	0.65	4.08	0.61	- 0.16	0.87
Positive personal relationships rejuvenate me.	4.54	0.53	4.54	0.55	- 0.09	0.92
When plans change, I'm alright with adapting.	4.07	0.61	4.12	0.74	0.63	0.52
The best part of teaching is being with the students.	4.55	0.69	4.56	0.68	0.06	0.94
Thinking of new ways to deal with issues is a personal skill of mine.	3.71	0.76	3.75	0.80	0.42	0.67
People have described me as committed to what I do.	4.31	0.78	4.34	0.66	0.49	0.62
I know that I am an excellent teacher.	3.76	0.86	3.81	0.85	0.59	0.55
When I run into difficulties, I am confident that I can resolve them effectively.	3.91	0.61	3.99	0.66	1.11	0.26
I think it is important to regularly set time aside to reflect on my teaching practices.	4.29	0.62	4.18	0.70	-1.73	0.08
Talking with others about the joys and pains of teaching is crucial for my professional growth.	4.41	0.68	4.31	0.80	-1.39	0.16
I can see myself being a teacher for the next 10 years.	4.12	0.99	3.97	1.09	-1.58	0.11

^⁎1 = Strongly Disagree, 2 = Disagree, 3 = Not Sure, 4 = Agree, 5 = Strongly Agree

Table 3.

Stress and coping.

Personal Needs - As a beginning teacher, what do you consider to be the greatest personal need in your current teaching assignment?
2019-2020*			2020-2021⁎⁎
Theme	f	%		f	%
Time for family/self-care.	68	35	More time to plan at school/free evenings/weekends.	198	89
Time for everything I need to do.	24	12	Communication/support from mentors/admin/colleagues.	171	77
More resources to learn content/subject/ assessment.	22	11	Mental health supports/how to live with stress.	89	40
Time to prep.	22	11	Mental health days.	51	23
Administrative support.	19	10	Less negative judgement from others.	31	13
More mentor support/time.	16	8	More time for friends and family	20	8

^⁎2019-2020 = 195 open ended responses

^⁎⁎2020-2021= 223 open ended responses

Resiliency

Table 2 presents Paired Sample t-test data results with respect to resiliency levels of agreement from 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. Only one statement produced a significant change, otherwise all other selected responses were virtually identical suggesting that despite pandemic stressors and conditions, beginning teachers were managing their personal well-being and reporting adaptive levels of resilience.

Stress and coping

As indicated, the forced choice stress and coping questions varied considerably from 2019-2020 to 2020-2021. However, an open-ended question was asked in both survey administrations in an attempt to understand what the beginning teacher's greatest personal needs may be. Table 3 covers the most commonly identified themes mentioned by frequency and percentage for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. It is interesting to note that although the number of open-ended responses did not increase dramatically in 2020-2021, they became more focused on specific themes such as freeing up after-school hours, receiving more communication and support, and acquiring more help and a greater focus on mental health needs.

Focus group

A total of 26 teachers engaged in one of three focus groups. Participants met for two hours over Zoom after school in three separate groups. No personal information was collected and only pseudonyms were used. There were a range of classroom experiences including Kindergarten to Grade 12, online to in-person teaching contexts, and an assortment of social distancing, vaccination, and masking requirements. Some of the participating beginning teachers were in schools during March 2020 as pre-service teachers, substitute teachers, or first year teachers when the schools were completely shut down. For a few participants, this was their first year. While each story was varied and unique, the levels of confusion as to what was “normal” was consistent among participants suggesting they were concerned with how much longer each scenario would continue and whether they would have a job next year.

Professional factors

Mentorship

In terms of professional factors, it was important to understand how the beginning teachers began their school year with 2020-2021 COVID-19 restrictions (i.e., social distancing, online requirements, classroom configurations, staff meetings) while receiving basic mentorship regarding district and school methods of communication, procedures, protocols, and policies, to name a few. Interestingly, the participants in all three focus groups claimed that formal mentorship programs were essentially non-existent for the year, and for the majority of the participants, they did not realize that formal programs existed at all. For most, they simply found friendly faces in the school or district that were willing to answer what they claimed to be “stupid questions”. As indicated by one participant: “I was afraid to ask or bring anything up in case I seemed confrontational or incapable”. In another group, one beginning teacher stated that she found a mentor teacher who was not in her teaching department just so any ‘stupid’ question couldn't be held against her: “There were often times I wouldn't want to ask the department head in case it was a dumb question– so they wouldn't think I messed up and it would ruin my reputation and I wouldn't get hired again”.

Unfortunately, avoiding being perceived as incapable not only hurt the beginning teacher, it also hurt the students . In one case, a beginning teacher participant indicated that when she did build up the courage to ask, she received what she referred to as a “pandemic response”. The conversation went as follows: “You're fine, you're showing up. You're doing great so keep it up! The kids are good!’ And I'm like ‘Some of them can't read and some grades are below average! I need help!” While the respondent surely did not mean to harm the students, the response appeared to be one provided by a system that was exhausted by months of complete confusion of a lack of resources for teachers, parents, and students.

Feedback

Along with mentorship, many of the beginning teachers were needing more feedback from mentors, colleagues, and administration. While some beginning teachers received feedback because there were no students in the school and the administrator could simply pop into a Zoom session or listen in while the Zoom session was in an empty classroom, other beginning teachers received no feedback at all. In some cases, there were no opportunities for administrators and colleagues to visit their classrooms, but typically there was no opportunity for face-to-face meetings given social distancing requirements. Therefore, the majority of beginning teachers used their own intuition to gauge whether they were meeting expectations and doing “okay”. A comment frequently repeated by several participants was “is it okay if I admit that I may not know what I'm doing as a new teacher?”

Support

Often in the early stages of a teacher's career, administration, colleagues, professional communities, and parents can assist in helping the beginning teacher feel that they can manage challenges in adaptive ways (e.g. Kutsyurba et al., 2019). Through discussions in each of the focus groups, it seemed that while the majority of participants felt they were supported as much as they could be, at certain points during the pandemic it felt insufficient. COVID-19 has been an unprecedented occasion and for beginning teachers who were already struggling to make sense of their new careers and teaching workloads, instability and a lack of clarity can be frightening. Comments that summarized the need for support, information, and direction were as follows: “I don't know if a first year teacher can be everything to everyone. Just give us realistic expectations to aim for because we can't do everything perfectly when we don't know what a normal day looks like.” And “It's so hard knowing you busted your butt all year only to lose your job at the end of the year. That's a hard pill to swallow.”

One point of conversation that frequently arose concerned increased workload and reduced preparation periods. For the majority of the participating focus group teachers, having a resource bank of unit and lesson plans would be a welcomed resource. Beginning teachers felt that they were already exhausted having to prepare for new courses, particularly when they were suddenly moved online. Making adaptations was difficult so time was spent constantly preparing, adapting, and uploading. This was especially difficult when some of the more senior teachers were unable to, or disinterested in, sharing their materials. It was especially difficult given their unfamiliarity with the technology being utilized as some of their materials did not adapt well to online platforms and teaching methods. A number of participants noted their desire to learn from experienced teachers and their desire to be a part of a teaching community, but as articulated by a few of the participants, sharing was not always possible:

• ○“I would love more time and space to collaborate with more senior teachers to learn and hone in my craft.”
• ○“Most teachers are unwilling to share. I have no time for myself. I spend around 10 hours every day at school planning, marking, prepping etc. which is due to no planning time during the day, no grade level group planning, and a lack of shared school resources. I have to start from scratch.”
• ○“Some senior teachers struggled with examinations and assignments over Zoom as well as attendance so it was hard to learn what to do with protocols and dealing with parents. There's so much to learn and I felt like it wasn't always easy to understand.”

While teaching online was challenging for the beginning teachers, being face-to-face with the students also had its own challenges. One beginning teacher in a rural teaching setting stated that he was waking up at 3:00 a.m. to prepare for the day, leaving for school at 6:00 a.m., returning home at 8:00 p.m., and barely seeing his own children. Other participants shared similar stories regarding late night preparations and driving to rural schools in the early morning hours. Although the beginning teachers knew they were being supported by parents, colleagues, and administration, there was no way to minimize the difficulties they experienced every day, especially when the sentiment amongst colleagues is “oh well, we're all in it together! That helps, but it doesn't……ya know”!

Being online also left some of the participating beginning teachers feeling left behind in terms of support for professional development opportunities. Many were experiencing technology fatigue, so the few opportunities they were presented with they opted to forgo. Several participants stated that the professional development in their schools was delivered through Zoom. So, although opportunities existed, it felt exhausting and isolating to partake.

Feeling valued

While feeling supported is critical for early career success, perhaps feeling valued is even more important (e.g., Gunn & McRae, 2021). For many of the participating beginning teachers, being appreciated by experienced teachers for their adaptability was instrumental for feeling successful. One participant stated that a highlight during the pandemic has been “the older and the newer teachers coming together” to build such amazing teams. They remarked that many of the older teachers appreciated how the beginning teachers assisted with online technologies and creative approaches toward assignments and activities.

Others commented how even parents stated that the work that their children were doing was greatly appreciated, and that for some families, it is a place that their children felt they belonged even when they had no friends to socially interact with otherwise. Conversely, a few participating teachers felt very devalued when they had to enforce social distancing rules and masking policies. In some communities, children came to school repeating statements from parents such as “COVID-19 doesn't exist” and “masking is a stupid rule” followed by “my child doesn't have to wear one”.

Personal factors

Focus group conversations often centered on the personal factors and feelings of the participating beginning teachers. As expected, classroom conditions and experiences were expressed along with how well individuals coped and how resilient they were throughout the year.

Coping

There were a variety of different coping strategies cited that fell within several categories such as general mental health, physical well-being, socio-emotional status, and family relationships. Implementing coping mechanisms is particularly crucial for beginning teachers as they are often faced with the difficulty of creating a balance between professional and personal obligations (e.g., Dias-Lacy & Guirguis, 2017). The majority of the focus group participants resonated with this need for balance, and for those who taught prior to the pandemic, it was very familiar. As stated by one teacher who was working in an alternative high school in an inner-city setting for the second year:

One of my goals is to better emotionally distance myself and just not feel so drained. I was talking to a colleague and he asked what do you do when you leave here and I said ‘I just cry…I sit in my car and cry’. Many of my students are in serious trouble and I have to learn to cope and now I have a therapist so that helps. The emotional release helps.

As she stated, some of her students came to class only once every few months just to check in for companionship or for something to eat or to do. For this participant, coping involved an emotional release and ended with speaking to a mental health professional. In alignment with this participant's statements, others stated that access to mental health resources is at a high demand and availability was extremely stretched, making it difficult to seek support. Another participant stated the following:

Older teachers are struggling more. They feel like they can't do this and pivot into a new way–which is therapy. Counsellors and psychologists are fully booked and I feel guilty if I take resources away from those who need it more.

Conversations implied that some administrators and school districts recognized that not everyone can or needs to utilize professional mental health resources, so there were some programs that started in the district or in the school. For example, one participant identified a program in her school with incentives for exercise and mindfulness “because of how difficult this year has been”. Another worked in a school that decided to make days longer Monday to Thursday with Fridays off. She stated that “it is the most amazing thing that has ever happened. The kids are more excited, and it gives me a day to get stuff done around the house before I have to get ready for the week”.

For others, exercise programs for themselves or within the school have helped. They started clubs, or they took time after school because they realized they were engaging in unhealthy behaviours . Typical comments included the following:

• ○“Exercise was huge for me in my life but now I go days without anything. I had to let things go”.
• ○“I don't know if I'm coping very well and now I've stressed and gained a ton of weight with no exercise. The wellness group from last year was disbanded so now I have to figure that out in a state of isolation”.
• ○“I stopped doing homework on Sundays and since I decided not to replace that with working out, I now run with my kids every day after school to get some exercise and just be with them”.

Essentially, many participants attempted to make more time for themselves and to incorporate quality personal and family time. Spending time with partners, being with their children after school, going for walks, reading, and putting their children to bed at night instead of prepping for the next school day became a crucial part of being a productive person and in turn a better educator.

Resilience

Consistent with the survey results, when focus group participants were asked whether they believed that they were resilient people prior to the pandemic, the majority of participants vehemently agreed. When asked whether they felt resilient now, participants more or less agreed, but all added additional information as to how they could feel more resilient, and how they work hard to retain the resilience that they currently have.

One of the themes related to resilience was teaching online. For some teachers, being able to work from home and not having to commute to the school provided them with one less thing to think about. Forgoing this step in their day was especially comfortable for those who claimed to be somewhat introverted, not feeling their best physically, and those who worried their children were not being productive while unsupervised at home.

For others, knowing that their presence in the school was the only lifeline for some children who could not socialize with others, and who would have been completely alone at home. Comments included the following:

• ○“Knowing there is weight in what I do and having parents tell me that their kids love being in my class makes me feel small successes. It's worth it as I find little gems to make what I do so meaningful. Especially when I have really bad weeks I hang onto these moments”.
• ○“I know it's crazy but these are the things that are going well for all of us, and I need that kind of positive feedback”.
• ○“I could be the only person this kid talks to today! I am this kid's contact to the outside world so I have to be on and okay”.

In other words, when it comes to students, what gave so many beginning teachers the ability to rise above their own struggles and remain resilient appeared to be the knowledge that the students truly needed them. This, in turn, helped rejuvenate their commitment and ability to adapt to even the most difficult circumstances.

Another interesting finding was that despite how difficult it became at times, many participants commented that they knew it would not and could not last forever so they just need to stay committed and on-track. The following comments indicate that regardless of what they were experiencing, open conversations and thoughts of positive experiences from more senior colleagues and personal reflections provided the opportunity to keep moving forward:

• ○“Last year I thought of giving up a number of times, but I kept going. This year was better and I think it will continue to be so. I'm getting more resilient as time goes on”.
• ○“Veteran teachers said it's the most stressful year they've ever known, so if we made it through this, we'll probably be okay”.

The next 10 years

Resilience is known to play an important role in teacher retention (e.g., Kutsyuruba et al., 2019). In particular, building personal strengths and knowing what will sustain you into the future are crucial components in becoming a resilient person and teacher (e.g., Goodman et al., 2017; Mowbray, 2014). Asking early career teachers if they can see themselves teaching in 10 years helps to gather insight as to whether the foundation for resiliency exists. While the survey results indicated that 71% of the respondents could see themselves still teaching in 10 years, those numbers were also reflected by the tone and words of the focus group participants.

For those who did not see themselves continuing, some indicated that cuts to the provincial teaching budget could destroy the positive aspects of teaching. There was concern that responsibilities will continue to become too burdensome, the hours too long, and societal recognition for educators too insignificant. One beginning teacher added that while she feels she is good at what she does, she simply does not “love it” enough to continue for an entire career. Another participant stated, “I love being busy, but I don't love never seeing my house and friends”. Finally, another participant suggested that she would consider leaving if she did not feel that she could affect change any longer; that is, if class sizes became so large that learning becomes impossible that it only brings harm to students, and only the most capable and ambitious can succeed, teaching and learning will no longer be enjoyable. This comment is consistent with demoralization theory that suggests when teachers believe they can no longer provide their students with good instruction, they begin to experience shame and frustration (Santoro, 2011, 2018). Fortunately, it was an isolated comment amongst the focus group participants, but it is too early to know if it is a sentiment that may become more prevalent over time.

For those that expressed openly that they could not imagine leaving the profession, they spoke of the “joy that it brings”, and how they could not imagine “doing anything else”. Many had found teaching after being in other careers and stated that absolutely nothing has fulfilled them in the same way as being a teacher. As one male teacher who had an entire career before beginning as a teacher at 29 years of age stated, “I can't see myself doing anything else! Even with the pandemic I can't see doing anything else! And the victories I experience and see every day in the classroom are the best part!”

What has fueled many beginning teachers is knowing that they are in the right place doing the right thing despite the challenges they face. Even those who are not certain if they want to continue being a teacher did not imply that they want to quit, rather they simply do not know if they want to be a teacher forever.

In conclusion, one participant summed up the tone and spirit of all three focus groups, and in doing so, provided an especially poignant comment concerning the best way to move through and beyond a pandemic year:

"If I can quickly give a piece of advice? It's okay to fail! I love to laugh at myself and at things, but you have to laugh and get over it! And failure….I learned it's okay to fail. Accept failure and have a laugh about it and roll on".

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to better understand how COVID-19 impacted the beginning teachers of Alberta following a reported year of successful early career data analysis in 2019-2020. Data had been collected prior to a world-wide lockdown in March 2020 (i.e., survey data was collected in fall 2019 and focus groups were conducted in February 2020), indicating that 300 beginning teachers reported very positive professional and personal perceptions of education (Gunn & McRae, 2021). However, since the onset of the pandemic there was no available research to determine whether beginning teachers’ perspectives and situation in Alberta had changed as it had elsewhere in the world. Throughout the pandemic, emerging literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on education indicated that teachers world-wide and at all stages of their careers were feeling stress and fatigue, exhibiting signs of burnout, and having thoughts of leaving the field (e.g., Dilberti et al 2021; Marshall et al, 2022; Sokal et al., 2020, 2021; Will, 2021). It was speculated that beginning teachers in Alberta may feel similarly.

To better understand provincial conditions for beginning teachers since March 2020 in Alberta, in May 2021 a revised survey designed to reflect COVID-19 impacts on education was administered. Results indicated that the 851 early career respondents were predictably less positive about the professional factors as compared to their 2019-2020 counterparts. They were also considerably less satisfied with the mentorship opportunities, which is expected given social distancing policies. Distancing policies also disrupted opportunities for professional development, categorized under administrative support.

All School Context statements significantly changed from the 2019-2020 administration to the 2020-2021 administration. Possible explanations for these changes may be a consequence of social distancing policies or limited opportunities to meet online.

Despite the difficulties that teachers faced, personal factors were largely unaffected; particularly those concerning resiliency. The responding beginning teachers remained as efficacious, optimistic, and as confident as they had been prior to the pandemic. The only significant change concerned the statement “I tend to dislike major life changes”, and the mean trend was toward Strongly Agree. With only one category significantly changing during the pandemic, it is difficult to understand why beginning teachers remained resilient according to scale items but it is possible that they are more adaptable to change, motivated for a returning contract, familiar with current technology, and familiar with the pressures of preservice teacher preparation and university programming.

Perhaps more telling were the open-ended responses regarding requested personal needs for Stress and Coping. The frequency by which beginning teachers asked for more time to prepare and plan during school hours, and to receive more personalized support and feedback was revealed. It spoke to the level of isolation and during school hours and after school hours beginning teachers experienced. They felt more alone not only because of society lockdowns and pandemic restrictions, but even during school hours they had little time to partake in the activity of “engagement” with colleagues, administrators, students, and later with friends and family. This was also reiterated in the focus groups. Many became teachers in order to engage with others and to make a difference, and this was being stifled during COVID-19. In turn, mental health supports and mental health days were being requested. Therefore, it became evident that levels of dissatisfaction were with the “pandemic” and not always having professional and mental health support.

Limitations and future directions

As previously noted, a limitation of this study is that the data was analyzed from the perspective of longitudinal trend analysis. Identifying information by respondents is not collected as the intention is simply to understand perceptions of beginning teachers while in the field, thereby creating unpredictable participant response returns. In 2019-2020 the survey garnered 300 participant responses and in 2020-2021 there was a total of 815. In addition, the focus group numbers also jumped from six participants to 26 participants, respectively. By more than doubling the responses over two years, it is fair to say that the weighting of opinion from one year to the next shifted. While this may influence perceptions to some extent in the open-ended comments (i.e., with more comments potentially influencing weightings of frequencies of categorical themes), statistically it was controlled during parametric analysis.

Additional research has been conducted since June 2021. Another beginning teacher survey was administered in June of 2022 as pandemic conditions continued into the Fall of 2021 and Spring of 2022 in Alberta. School closures and online programming also continued in various school districts in January 2022 for an extended period of time as they did in other parts of Canada. Data is currently being analyzed to better understand how pandemic programming impacts early career teachers longitudinally as they navigate their future career pathways in the classroom.

Conclusions

Examining beginning teachers experiences during COVID-19 in Alberta is an important endeavour in working towards understanding how long term emergency events can disrupt teaching conditions. Once considered an unlikely event, extreme conditions such as emergency health outbreaks, political threats, and climate change may no longer be unthinkable disruptions to educational institutions regionally and worldwide. The current pandemic, which has yet to completely subside, still has implications for teachers and for those who are just beginning their careers. Even in 2020-2021, despite teaching conditions being less favourable for early career teachers to begin their professional growth in the field, their passion for students and the profession was less negatively impacted than expected. However, it is difficult to know if it will be a lasting sense of resiliency. The teaching profession is known to be a stressful occupation with a high rate of attrition (e.g., Madigan & Kim, 2021; Nguyen et al., 2020). While that has not been the case in Alberta, Canada, there is some indication that economic cuts and political dissatisfaction with government influence in education may change teaching conditions over time (Gunn & McRae, 2021), in turn causing beginning teachers to face greater dissatisfaction. That said, for now, the results of this survey indicate that pandemic conditions from COVID-19 have not dissuaded beginning teachers from wanting to remain in the classroom

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

Informed consent from all subjects was received. This study was approved by the University of Lethbridge Ethics Approval Committee.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:

There are no financial interests/personal relationships that may be considered as potential competing interests or conflicts. Funding was provided by way of a research grant provided by the Alberta Teachers’ Association to conduct, analyze, and report the researching findings. The Principal Investigator was the independent academic who primarily created and compiled the instrument, conducted the study, analyzed the outcomes, and reported the research. Approval by the University of Lethbridge Office of Research Ethics was garnered. The second and third authors were not active investigators.