Keyword: pandemic

ABSTRACT: In deep northeast Brazil, pedagogical actions, educational practices, and socioemotional development are at a crossroad. The return to in-person classes after the COVID-19 pandemic was marked by reports of emotional crises, where cases of anxiety and depression prevailed among students. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the dynamic and creative process of pedagogical actions and perceived students’ socioemotional development with teachers working in Itabaiana, a small city 60 kilometers off the coast, in Sergipe state’s backlands. This is a region that has lived with social, economic, and political problems for centuries. The methodology was qualitative and divided into two stages. The first stage consisted of three 90-minute art-education workshops with two groups of ten teachers, where Vygotsky’s mediation was an essential component. In the second stage, individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data collected in the workshops indicated that reading, whether on psychological topics or other areas of knowledge, is not part of teachers’ daily lives. Paradoxically, participants also demonstrated a strong need for these readings. They also revealed that thinking of the classroom as a zone of proximal development is still a distant reality. This phenomenon is associated with the lack of adequate training on psychology topics in teacher training and the absence of psychologists in schools. This lack of knowledge was also present in the interviews. Of these, three categories emerged as crucial: (a) pedagogical actions in the post-pandemic; (b) knowledge of psychology; and (c) socioemotional development of students. Results showed that pedagogical actions in the post-pandemic marked by readaptation and by an intense emotional burden and socioemotional development of students were perceived as negative emotions. Opportunities for progress are limited to private conversations undertaken without assistance from psychology professionals. Although this study was done with a limited number of
participants, the results point to two recommendations to policymakers: (a) bring psychology closer to schools and (b) provide extensive training in socioemotional development for teachers who work in public schools. These recommendations are of paramount importance for the future of Brazil.

ABSTRACT: Concern continues to grow over the changing nature of work that initially formed a “new normal” within higher education institutions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation is now being further impacted by subsequent economic and political
challenges in the sector, which in turn shifts the workplace towards an even “newer normal”. The purpose of this article is to (1) methodically and logically review the extant literature and research linking the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic to the organizational culture of higher education institutions in the United Kingdom (UK), and (2) based on a bibliometric analysis, to offer a road map for further empirical research in the future. Researchers have found that changing workplace norms, such as remote and hybrid working and other forms of flexibility in approaches to learning and the availability of delivery modes, have become increasingly common, which has changed the nature of working practices and underpinning aspects of organizational culture. Therefore, it now appears opportune to update existing knowledge on organizational culture theory within the UK higher education context to support policy development and enhance workplace practices in the post-COVID-19 period. From a theoretical perspective, this article contributes to organizational culture literature by assimilating a dataset of nascent studies generated through keyword search on Clarivate Analytics Web of Science that have examined the impact of COVID-19 on organizational culture in UK higher education institutions. This emergent dataset was analyzed using VOS Viewer, with the results of subsequent quantitative bibliometric analysis identifying the main existing research fronts as well as potential research directions for the empirical development of organizational culture. Based on this bibliometric analysis, the main suggested future research agendas that need to be addressed linked to organizational culture in the UK higher education sector in the post-COVID period are as follows: (a) to further examine changing cultural norms and expectations; (b) hybrid approaches to working; (c) academic identity; and (d) organizational culture and the changing psychological contract. Such research is important as the UK higher education sector now progresses towards an even “newer normal”.