7. How Teachers’ Experienced the Separation from their Students During the Pandemic

Chapter 7 describes teachers’ relationships to the students as individuals. That is, it engages the question of one-on-one connection between teachers and students during the emergency remote teaching and learning (ERTL) that occurred during the pandemic. To provide context, there is a description of how the expectations of teachers in this regard have evolved over time, as represented by Ontario curriculum and policy documents. The work of Doris Santoro, which highlights teachers who choose to leave the profession on ethical grounds, is relevant here. Her work on professional integrity is used as a lens to explore how teachers experienced the effects of ERTL on their relationships with individual students.