The ability to endure.

As a teacher I have learnt to be flexible. This doesn’t even seem to apply to a lesson going wrong, this applies to the ongoing amount of change and disruption to students learning environments.

But even as all this goes on, we remain the constant.

I have learnt in my past 3 years teaching that despite our constant whinging that they aren’t, kids are, in fact, incredibly resilient. However, this is only if they are in the right environment.

Teachers play a huge role in keeping students happy(ish) and in a routine.

In my past three years I have taught through some significant school community traumas, a death of a student, bushfires closing and effecting our school and now with the COVID-19 virus it seems to be escalating in calamities.

What I notice is that schools, regardless of geographical location, play a vital role in keeping the community going in times of crisis. While there are calls to shut schools, I understand the unwillingness to shut a place that provides stability and wellbeing for the younger generation and their families.

There are many valid reasons to close schools. I watch as my colleagues on both sides of the ditch cry in outrage that we are essentially put on the front line to deal with a virus while everyone else gets to hide. There is ongoing trauma for us as we must talk to students over and over again about a situation we don’t even understand. Teachers are upset that they could be transmitting the virus to their loved ones just by going to work. We as a community do not feel like our voices are being heard nor respected.

And yes, we get the irony of social distancing in a school.

But there are aspects of a our job that is vitally important at this minute, the ability for us to go to work and reduce mass hysteria by educating students, talking to them, counselling them and even by baby sitting them in some circumstances means that society can continue. When schools shut, we are essentially saying “that’s it, you can panic now”.

If schools’ close parents will be forced to stop working to look after their children, this must already be a huge financial burden for many parents struggling to get by. I’m not saying I go to work to babysit the communities children, I hope to god they’re learning something from me, but I do understand the ease of having your child preoccupied for 7+ hours is a great help for many families.

I also know that to reduce panic and hysteria there needs routine and normality to remain in our students lives, school being a key aspect of that. The fact that we turn up every day to teach these kids is really important to their wellbeing. I understand the amount of responsibility that goes with this, for me it’s why I am on the “front line”.

I don’t have easy answers, I’m thankful I’m no where near to a position of power that makes decisions over closing schools. I don’t know what the solution is for such a complex problem, but I do know that by going to work right now I am helping a little, even if this puts me at risk.

I am in this weird position though, I’m stuck overseas and my loved ones who are vulnerable are a million miles away, I wonder how I would feel if I was back at home with the possibility of putting them at risk going to work, not that that is a possibility right now. It’s with a degree of sadness that I write this because I am stuck in New Zealand right now until this all calms down.

Ultimately I can’t reduce fear, I’m not superwoman, but I can turn up to let them whinge about English every day to forget their troubles for a little bit and I take pride in that.