{
  "abstract": "Background Long COVID has caused substantial workforce disruption, with approximately 7% of working age adults experiencing Long COVID since 2020. The pandemic placed unprecedented pressures on frontline public service workers, with teachers facing significant challenges. Many have experienced Long COVID after infection at work. Investigation of the impacts of Long COVID on teachers and other essential frontline public sector workforces remains limited. This paper aims to improve understandings of teachers’ experiences of Long COVID and the challenges it presents to the retention of skilled staff in this critical workforce.Methods We conducted in-depth one-to-one interviews with 16 teachers self-reporting Long COVID as part of a wider study of the impact of Long COVID on frontline public sector occupations. Participants were recruited through multiple routes, including targeted social media. To accommodate participants’ symptoms, interviews were conducted flexibly via telephone or video conference platforms. The topic guide explored their experiences of: Long COVID and its impact on their career; disclosing the condition to colleagues and managers; sickness absence; (attempts to) return to work and negotiating workplace adjustments. Thematic analysis was conducted in NVivo using framework matrices.Results Many participants reported being unable to return to their original teaching positions due to persisting Long COVID symptoms. Participants who had left teaching described taking career breaks, entering ill-health retirement earlier than expected in their careers, facing redundancy due to diminished work capacity, or changing career. Those who remained in teaching often worked reduced hours, had negotiated adjustments to their work and described the difficulty of managing the demands of teaching alongside their ongoing symptoms. Participants described how many of the necessary characteristics of teaching (e.g., high energy and enthusiasm, ability to be ‘on’ all day in stimulating environments) were stripped away by Long COVID. When participants were unable to work because of this, it led to a profound loss of professional identity. Other emerging themes include feelings of inadequate support and understanding from colleagues/management and the difficulty of managing the unpredictable and episodic nature of Long COVID within the constraints of an occupation that affords relatively little flexibility, leading to uncertain futures.Conclusion Long COVID has significantly disrupted teachers’ careers and identities while creating significant organizational challenges for schools. These findings underscore the need to explore alternative ways of working, improved support systems, and cultural shifts within educational institutions to better support teachers with chronic conditions and prevent attrition within this crucial workforce.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Audrey Buelo"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Ashley Brown"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Kate Hunt"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Health, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Aileen Grant"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Evangelia Demou"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Healthcare and Community Research, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Edward Duncan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Erica Gadsby"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Scottish Ambulance Service, National Health Service, Glasgow, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Adam Lloyd"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Institute for Social Marketing and Health, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Alice MacLean"
    }
  ],
  "title": "OP51 ‘Your contract is to teach all day, so what adjustments could be made there?’: teachers’ experiences of long COVID and the challenges it presents to the teaching profession",
  "uid": "b8a10e46-ed7a-5448-b67f-1752cf72dd08"
}