Parent-educators' explorations of learning and role tensions during and 'after' Covid-19

Anitra Goriss-Hunter, Peter Sellings, Amy Darby Walker, Amy Claughton, Catherine Oxworth, Deborah Robertson and Katrina Griffiths
Federation University Australia, Australia

This paper investigates the insights that we, as parent-educators gained from our children's learning experiences throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and how this impacted our approaches to learning and teaching. All authors are teacher education academics working at a regional Australian university. The rapid and extensive changes in our personal and professional circumstances provided an opportunity for us to critically examine the ways in which we promoted learning for our children and our students. Our reflections on these investigations form the basis of this article. To explore these issues we drew on a method involving narrative inquiry and the Indigenous concept of yarning that we call collaborative narrative inquiry and the theoretical framework of Antonovsky's salutogenic approach. Key findings of the research demonstrated tensions between the roles of parent and educator with a growing focus on the former and an increasing emphasis on health and well-being. These issues impacted the ways in which parent-educators facilitated learning for all students.
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Authors: Dr Anitra Goriss-Hunter (corresponding author) is the Director of Learning and Teaching, Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University Australia. Her research and teaching focuses on the development of inclusive teaching approaches; ways to improve female participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; and women's career progression in higher education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9423-3283 Email: a.goriss-hunter@federation.edu.au Dr Peter Sellings is a senior lecturer in mathematics education at Federation University Australia. Peter's teaching focuses on engaging learners to develop a deep understanding of mathematical content knowledge and contemporary pedagogy content knowledge. His research interests include supporting university learners in mathematics, learner engagement, assessment, and school and university partnerships. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5042-3445 Email: p.sellings@federation.edu.au Dr Amy Darby Walker is a lecturer in the Master of Teaching program in the Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University. Her courses focus on facilitating pre-service teachers' development of their teaching skills. Amy's research interests include student aspirations and pre-service teacher education. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9740-2089 Email: a.walker@federation.edu.au Dr Amy Claughton researched in the field of disability studies in education, with interests in the area of inclusion, inclusive education, play and disability. She explores the connections between disability studies and childhood studies to explore the social constructs around play, learning, disability and childhood. Affiliation: Institute of Education, Arts and Community, Federation University Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1271-9800 Email: a.claughton@federation.edu.au Dr Catherine Oxworth is a lecturer and researcher in the Institute of Education, Arts and Community at Federation University Australia. Catherine has had extensive experience in education for more than 25 years. Catherine investigates issues of social justice that consider the complexities of identity, gender and feminism, post-colonialism, culture and creativity. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1999-9101 Email: c.oxworth@federation.edu.au Mrs Deborah Robertson is an experienced teacher and academic evidenced by her employment in a range of secondary schools and tertiary education settings over the past 28 years. Deborah explores issues around diversity and inclusive education which has resulted in conference presentations and publications in teacher education based journals. Affiliation: Institute of Education, Arts and Community, Federation University Australia. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7132-5975 Email: d.robertson@federation.edu.au Mrs Katrina Griffiths is an experienced teacher and academic evidenced by her employment in a range of secondary schools and tertiary education settings over the past 25 years. Katrina has completed her Master of Education by Research and is co-authoring publications on teacher education, pedagogy and assessment. Affiliation: Institute of Education, Arts and Community, Federation University Australia. Email: katrina.griffiths@federation.edu.au Please cite as: Goriss-Hunter, A., Sellings, P., Walker, A. D., Claughton, A., Oxworth, C., Robertson, D. & Griffiths, K. (2023). Parent-educators' explorations of learning and role tensions during and 'after' Covid-19. Issues in Educational Research, 33(3), 974-991. http://www.iier.org.au/iier33/goriss-hunter.pdf