Teachers in northwestern Ontario emphasize burnout concerns, student issues with virtual learning

This story is part of a CBC Newsseriesexamining the stresses the pandemic has placed on educators and the school system.For the series,CBC Newssent a questionnaire to thousands of education professionals to find out how they and their students are doing in this extraordinary school year. Nearly 9,500 educators responded. Read more stories in this serieshere.

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Providing technical support, collapsing lesson plans to fit into new timeframes, and building new, interactive activities are just a few of the challenges teachers throughout northwestern Ontario continue to face duringthe COVID-19 pandemic.

A CBC News questionnaire, sent to educators across Canada with publicly accessible email addresses, highlighted concerns over burnout from constant change, as well as a desire for educators to be vaccinated as early as possible.

"We saved education this year, because there have been so many different changes, top down, being imposed on us, often with no details on how to execute on what we're supposed to change to," said Gordon Robitaille, Teacher/Occasional Teacher bargaining unit president for the Ontario Secondary Schools Teachers' Federation (OSSTF)in District 6B, which includes high schools in Nipigon, Terrace Bay, Marathon, Manitouwadge and Geraldton.

"Teachers are are really burnt out. I mean, we'vebeen really stretched thin this year and asked to basically completely redo everything that we would normally do,"Robitaille said, noting timeframes for classes have been split, with changes from the semester to the quad-mester system.

He said there has also been a shift in education over the past decade, having students discuss topics in classinstead of attending teacher lectures.

We're seeing a shift to more direct lecture instruction, in some cases, largely because there's a lot of students who don't feel comfortable participating digitally.- Gordon Robitaille, OSSTF District 6B

"Now with this virtual model, it's mostly we're seeing a shift to more direct lecture instruction, in some cases, largely because there's a lot of students who don't feel comfortable participating digitally.

"In order to try to minimize that lecture approach, teachers are now going out and and in some cases creating videos or finding videos. They're creating a lot of alternate ways for students to potentially engage in students," Robitaillesaid, noting the creation of videos for online classes takes up a lot of time.

He has heard from some teachers that they are looking at retiring early.

That observation correlates to the CBC News questionnaire, with just over 10 per cent considering early retirement.

While educators in Ontario have now been prioritized for vaccinations, when the questionnaire was sent to teachers, education workers were not prioritized for vaccination.

Just over 70 per cent of respondents felt COVID-19 vaccinations should be mandatory for school staff, while about 40 per cent of respondents had some concerns over working in schools for safety reasons.

Robitaille said many school buildings across Ontario are olderand have poor ventilation, so that sentiment is not a surprise.

Educators respond

Educators responding to the CBC News questionnaire were also concerned over vaccines and student success.

"All students in elementary, secondary, collegesand universities should be given priorities to get vaccinated because they can [learn] better in-person over remote learning," one educator wrote.

"Teachers' mental health is suffering during this time," another educator wrote. "Many of us are the textbook definition ofburnt out. Just as we are being kind, patient, and understanding with our students and theirfamilies, the public needs to offer the same grace to educators, along with all essentialworkers who are doing their best. It is unreasonable that teachers with young children don'tqualify for the same child-care options as other essential workers. It is impossible to teach fromhome while also parenting."

A Grade 11-12 teacher wrote: "Things aren't [worse] in education, they are different. The challengesfor students are different. Some that have not excelled in the classroom now thrive online.Some that have excelled in the classroom are now struggling online. There has been no timeto teach students how to be effective online and how to be self-directed in their learning.Teaching strategies need to be different and the ways of assessing students need to changefor the online-virtual format. Although individual boards have tried to provide someinstructional support to teachers, there is no time to learn these strategies."

No spokesperson was made available from the Superior-Greenstone District School Board, which operates the schools whereRobitaille'smembers work.