The Effects of COVID19 on Student Teachers

The Effects of COVID-19

• The switch up of practicum and final year courses There are over 800 pre-trained teachers that were on par with completing their final year teaching practice between September and December of 2020, however due to the new norm, these students were forced into an alternative of completing their final year courses before their practicum instead. This alternative has caused total chaos as final year students who failed courses previously and desire to resit in the upcoming semester is unable to do so because: 1. Some courses are only offered in a specific semester which ends up being in the next year 2. Students are not allowed to resit courses while doing practicum

3. Students end up not graduating with their batches 4. Many students resort to taking leave of absence as student loans do not cover redoing of courses and many other reasons.

Limited R

Prior to the pandemic, there were multiple cries of not being able to afford tuition, limited access to resources such as Wi-fi, personal computers, laptops and books in order to complete their assignments. With such a drastic change, the country and the world at large were forced to make a full 360 degree turn without much warning. This 360 degree turn brought about by the Covid 19, has taken a toll on the minds of many student teachers. Though there were multiple complaints for the same, individuals were able to utilize the libraries and computer labs within their institution to gain access to some books, Wi-Fi on college campus and use of computer to complete their assignments.

Secondly, many individuals were able to work and pay their tuition via payment plans and other alternatives. Now with this pandemic, the options are limited as many parents and students themselves has lost their jobs and as a result the stakes are high; as tuitions fees are harder to come by and payment plans are higher to meet. In an era where technology has become the new norm, many are unable to purchase Wi-fi much less megabytes (data plan) to assist with online classes and to complete assignments. Imagine being in an household where there is no Wi-fi, parents have lost their jobs and needing to attend classes online but can’t afford it; or having data plan but is only able to attend the classes for a certain time in order to save megabytes for the other classes, so that way you won’t miss the remainder for the week or miss out on what is being taught.

Mental Health Status Under Attack

In being forced to study under the “new norm” of technology under these conditions, many of us as student teachers ask ourselves “will we ever complete our area of studies, how are we going to make it through, are these circumstances good for our mental health, how will we impact the children of tomorrow if we ourselves are not equipped and up to standard with the new norm and will this pandemic ever end?” As student teacher’s our mental health plays an integral role in how we will teach, how we interact with our peers and students of tomorrow. If our mental health as influencers of tomorrow isn’t stable and intact this will then leave a negative impact on us as individuals and the children we come in contact with.