Abstract
The unanticipated changes in Higher Education settings brought about as a result of COVID–19 resulted in a range of personal, pedagogical and organisational challenges. This paper reports on research undertaken within a university in South West England, exploring how the pandemic impacted the working practices of academic and professional staff, the implications of those changes and the factors the respondents interpreted as influencing their resilience.
A mixed methods approach was adopted whereby data were gathered from 159 academic and professional staff members using an online survey. Nine respondents were then individually interviewed. The data were analysed using the Dynamic Interactive Model of Resilience (DIMoR) in order to explore protective and risk factors from the various systems surrounding the respondents, alongside their more personal vulnerabilities/invulnerabilities.
The results highlight the importance of considering individual and wider contexts when analysing the potential for resilience to emerge in times of disruption. The significance of movement of proximal and distal influences depending on the individual and their context also emerged, offering implications for university leaders to consider in supporting staff within their institutions. The value of the DIMoR is discussed as a lens for analysis to support understanding and future action.
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Author Biographies
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Sian Templeton, University of Gloucestershire
Sian Templeton is a Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Gloucestershire and a practicing Educational Psychologist working with teaching staff, children, young people and their families. She has worked in a variety of educational settings with a focus on supporting the social, emotional and cognitive needs of vulnerable learners to enable them to engage with education. She achieved this through working directly with the young people, with the families, teaching staff and a range of professionals from health and social care. In addition to direct work, she also believes in exploring more systemic opportunities for promoting and supporting access to education for all. She teaches on both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses within her University role across a range of areas within education and leads on a number of psychology-based education modules. She has recently been involved in ERASMUS + projects related to her areas of interest. Sian’s research includes resilience, emotional education and supporting young offenders in re-engaging with education and she is just commencing her DEdPsy at University College London.
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Jennifer L. Hill, University of Gloucestershire
Jennifer Hill is Head of Learning and Teaching Innovation at the University of Gloucestershire, UK, where she leads on learning, teaching and assessment on behalf of the University. Jenny is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow in the UK Professional Standards Framework. Jenny’s educational enquiry has focused on student partnership, assessment and feedback, the development of graduate attributes, learning spaces, the teaching-research dialectic, and student transitions. She has published over 100 journal articles, book chapters and co-edited books. Originally a geography academic, Jenny has chaired the Royal Geographical Society Higher Education Research Group (now GeogEd), served as an invited consultant on the OfS Degree Standards Project, and is currently a member of the International Editorial Board for Journal of Geography in Higher Education.
