Teaching in the Suburbs: Participatory Action Research Against Educational Wastage

Supporting Team Reflexivity During the COVID-19 Lockdown: A Qualitative Study of Multi-Vision Groups In-person and Online

Introduction: The professional self is often hindered by a lack of self-care and poor work-life balance, and cannot be considered an unlimited resource. Given this, the reflexive team is an important organizational tool for protecting workers' well-being. The non-profit organization Maestri di Strada (MdS) ("Street Teachers") conducts action research (AR) in the area of socio-education. The main tool used by the group to protect the well-being of its members is a guided reflexivity group, inspired by the Balint Group and termed the Multi-Vision Group (MG). In March 2020, because of the COVID-19 lockdown, the MdS team had to quickly revamp its working model, and MGs were held online for the first time. Aim: Through qualitative research that takes a longitudinal approach, the aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of the MG in supporting the team's reflexivity in this new online format. Methods: This article considers MGs during two different time periods: pre-pandemic (T1) and early pandemic (T2). During T1, the MdS team met 18 times in person, while during T2 the team met 12 times through an online platform (always under the guidance of a psychotherapist). During all sessions in both time periods, a silent observer was present in the meetings, and they subsequently compiled narrative reports. The textual corpora of the reports were submitted for a Thematic Analysis of Elementary Contexts through T-Lab Plus, in order to examine the main content of the groups' discourse. Results: The results (five clusters in T1; and five in T2) show that, during T2, the group devoted considerable time to experiences tied to the pandemic (T21: schools facing the pandemic crisis; T2.2: the pandemic: death, inner worlds, and thought resistance; T2.3: kids' stories involving physical distancing and emotional proximity). The group also came up with innovative educational initiatives that defied the lockdown (T2.4: fieldwork: the delivery of "packages of food for thought"; T2.5: the MdS group: identity and separation). Based on these findings, the MG most likely contributed to the emergence of MdS as a "resilient community," capable of absorbing the shock of the pandemic and realizing a fast recovery response.

School Burnout, Relational, and Organizational Factors

Work stress and burnout affect teachers to a significant extent. The objective of this study is to evaluate and compare the impact of relational and organizational factors on teacher burnout in two samples of primary school teachers, one Italian (Naples) and the other Swiss (Cantone Ticino). The hypothesis is that, given the socio-cultural and economic differences of the two contexts, the variables under investigation impact teacher burnout differently. We collected data through a self-reported questionnaire containing the following scales: Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Life Orientation test, organizational identification, colleague support, and workload. The Swiss sample consists of 964 teachers (26% kindergarten and 73.7% primary school teachers); the Italian sample consists of 104 teachers (20% kindergarten and 80% primary schools teachers). Descriptive analyses, mean comparison (t test), correlational analyses, and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted. There are no significant differences between the two samples with respect to burnout, colleague support, and workload. Correlations between burnout and the variables under investigation are significant in both samples, except for optimism in the Italian sample. Regression analysis shows that optimism and colleague support have an impact on burnout only in the Swiss sample; organizational identification has a stronger impact on burnout in the Italian sample.