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 Book Review

2022 40(1): 323-325 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19

Published by the UFS
http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie

© Creative Commons  

With Attribution (CC-BY)

Teaching in and beyond 
pandemic times
A book review by Prof Mariëtte Koen
With more than 230 million cases of COVID-19 having 
been confirmed worldwide to date, the economic, social 
and mental disruption of the pandemic has left its 
mark on virtually every aspect of human development. 
The resulting school closures have likewise brought 
significant disruptions in education systems and in 
teaching programmes all over the world. South Africa 
has certainly been no exception and the loss of access 
to formal education has plunged our schools into a 
major teaching and learning crisis. Not only has this 
pandemic given rise to backlogs in terms of teaching and 
learning, but it has also exposed challenges in respect 
of inequality. Renowned researcher, Professor Jonathan 
Jansen, and the Fulbright Scholar, Emily O’Ryan, of 
Stellenbosch University captured learners’ experiences 
regarding pandemic learning in their publication entitled 
Learning under lockdown. The themes shared in this 
publication foregrounded that learners and teachers 
had been affected by COVID-19. This finding prompted 
Jansen and Farmer-Phillips to publish a second book 
entitled Teaching in and beyond pandemic times in 
which these authors share with readers an awareness of 
teachers’ lives during COVID-19. In the foreword, Jansen 
points out that the purpose was not to publish a standard 
academic book referring to research elements, but rather 
to use a narrative form to capture teachers’ stories while 
simultaneously dealing with issues peculiar to distance 
learning: maintaining effective contact with learners; 
finding inventive ways of dealing with unequal learner 
access to reliable data and devices; the effects ‒ on the 
transition to online learning ‒ of varying and age-related 
levels of technological competence present among 
teachers; post-lockdown emotional consequences 
to teachers of re-entry into the system and teacher 
deployment in cases where colleagues with comorbidities 
are allowed to work from home.

In aiming to address the above issues, the editors 
use five chapters to allow the reader to experience at 
first-hand what teaching during a lockdown entails. This 
book, however, does more than merely foreground online 

AUTHOR:
Prof Mariëtte Koen1 

AFFILIATION:
1North-West University 
Potchefstroom 

DOI: http://dx.doi.
org/10.18820/2519593X/pie. 
v40.i1.19

e-ISSN 2519-593X

Perspectives in Education

2021 39(4): 323-325

PUBLISHED:
04 March 2022

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19
http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=11341
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/530481521735906534/Overcoming-Poverty-and-Inequality-in-South-Africa-An-Assessment-of-Drivers-Constraints-and-Opportunities
http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19
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3242022 40(1): 324-325 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19

Perspectives in Education 2022: 40(1)

teaching as such. The strength of the book lies in the way it highlights the importance of 
the holistic learning and development of teachers amid a pandemic. It becomes clear that, 
while teachers have had to focus on developing learners’ cognitive skills, they have moreover 
had to be mindful of their own and the learners’ emotional, social and physical needs. Little 
surprise that the editors arrived at the important conclusion that changes in the educational 
landscape brought about by the pandemic have guaranteed that “teachers cannot simply 
resume business as usual”. 

In the first of the five chapters, David J Millar (former District Superintendent/Director 
of the Western Cape Education Department) pays a tribute to South African teachers by 
emphasising how the virus disrupted just about every facet of teachers’ lives. Without any 
warning or training, and with little support, teachers were forced to transition from contact-
learning environments to virtual-learning environments. Millar describes this overwhelming 
transition process that required teachers to be innovative, to develop new technological skills 
and to assist the learners while fulfilling various roles such as spouse, partner, advisor and 
Zoom controller. Readers cannot but feel obligated to applaud the way teachers went to 
incredible lengths to function as human beings and teachers. 

In the second chapter, Erin Chothia-Lakay (Fairbairn College Goodwood), dedicates a 
poem to teachers entitled Behind closed doors. Although this poem captures an individual 
experience during the lockdown situation, readers are taken on a personal journey designed 
to make them understand the emotional exhaustion brought on by a range of feelings such as 
uncertainty, anger, fear, despair, restlessness, guilt, sadness and hope. This poem will force 
readers to pause, reflect and gain insight into their own lockdown experiences. The poem 
ends by embracing the human condition. While the poem reveals the author’s emotions as 
she goes through episodes of upheaval while fulfilling the role of Erin, daughter, sister, wife, 
mom, aunt, friend, teacher and colleague, in the end she assures readers that she found 
solace by accepting ‒ behind closed doors ‒ that she is, after all, only human. The poem 
may inspire readers to start anew with eagerness, hope, joy and care for others behind their 
closed doors. 

In Chapter 3, co-editor Theola Farmer-Phillips (Yellowwood Primary School, Western 
Cape), as a practising teacher, shares her perspectives on the lockdown. The reader 
experiences how prayers gave her strength to find comfort and hope while navigating her 
commitments through the COVID-19 storm. It is described how the dual role of being a mother 
at home and a teacher in the Cape Flats made her feel unrecognised and caused feelings 
of apprehension. In addition, the equity challenges of social distancing in the community, the 
lack of a sanitising protocol and parents’ lack of either resources or education contributed to 
her feelings of fear and anxiety. However, despite these gruelling circumstances, the reader 
can celebrate with the author as she ends the chapter with the words: “I am grateful for the 
lessons brought along, but most of all, I remain grateful for the gift of life”.

In Chapter 4, the editors use a cluster of 11 topics as they share a structured collection 
of 65 teachers’ pandemic stories. These stories reveal how the pandemic made teachers 
feel simultaneously vulnerable and valued while they had to focus on the present and the 
future of teaching. Like the word pandemic, each of the 11 topics start with the letter p, and 
the concepts pliability, procurement and persistence serve to tie all the stories together 
in the face of a deadly virus. The topics are pressure; pedagogy; preparation; pioneers; 
poverty; privilege; perspective; parents and parent teachers; peer teaching; perseverance 
and pastoral care. 

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3252022 40(1): 325-325 http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19

Koen Teaching in and beyond pandemic times

The final chapter concludes with a summary of ten key lessons learnt from the teachers’ 
stories in the book. It seems the editors want readers to be reminded of how South African 
teachers navigated the uncertain waters during a pandemic, but that they also mean to 
stimulate readers’ thoughts regarding what an equitable and resilient education system could 
look like. It is highlighted that learners should no longer be seen as empty vessels waiting to 
be filled with knowledge. The reader’s attention is focused on the fact that the time has come 
to revise and plan the curriculum-assessment policy statements so as not only to lessen the 
teachers’ workload, but also to make learning more meaningful to the learners. The idea of 
collaboration between teachers, parents, colleagues, peers and district offices with a view 
of improving quality teaching is promoted in these lessons. The important theme that runs 
throughout the book, namely that teachers are frontliners, is especially evident on the last 
page of the publication where the editors point out that the “sudden lockdown of the nation 
and its schools could have [had] more catastrophic social and educational consequences … 
[had] it not [been] for the teachers and their sacrifices”. 

This edition of Teaching in and beyond pandemic times, dealing as it does with the lives of 
teachers during and immediately after the pandemic lockdown, will be of interest to everyone. 
The book succeeds not only in demonstrating to readers the nature of teaching and learning 
during a pandemic, but also how South African teachers emerged as champions and why we 
owe them a debt of gratitude. 

Authors:  Jonathan D Jansen & Theola Farmer-Phillips

ISBN (paper):  978-1-928314-01-1

eBook edition:  978-1-928314-49-3

http://dx.doi.org/10.18820/2519593X/pie.v40.i1.19

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