This Is Not Online Education. It’s Disaster Education”: A Qualitative Study of Remote and Hybrid School Climates during COVID-19

In evaluating the experiences of students and educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, considerable attention has been given to teaching and learning, with less research addressing school climate, which is an important predictor of academic outcomes. This study explores school climate in fully remote learning environments and hybrid learning environments between the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021. Leveraging the expertise of K-12 student services professionals (school counselors, psychologists, and social workers), we qualitatively compared perceptions of aspects of school climate (i.e., relationships, well-being, and self-efficacy) for students and educators. While we expected that hybrid schools may have had some advantages over fully remote schools for school climate, we found that similar issues, such as concerns about student isolation and the demands placed on educators, emerged across participant descriptions of school climate in both settings. The findings can inform planning for future disruptions and crisis events in schools. <br><br>This qualitative paper drew data from a more extensive mixed methods research study that explored SSP, adolescent, and parent perceptions of school-based mental health services and supports during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for students struggling with suicidal thoughts and behaviors (see Authors, 2023). In this arm of the research, we leveraged transcripts of in-depth interviews completed with SSPs to explore the similarities and differences between hybrid and remote learning environments on the experiences of students and staff. Specifically, we aimed to compare themes in the social and emotional components contributing to school climate (relationships, well-being, and self-efficacy) based on the learning environments they followed in the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021. <br>