Teachers Survive Together: Teacher Collegial Relationships and Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 disrupted the ecology of schools and negatively influenced teacher mental health and retention. This mixed-methods study investigates the relationship between teacher well-being and teacher collegial relationships after a year enduring COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. By analyzing data collected through surveys (N = 185) and interviews (N = 27) with U.S. teachers in Spring-Summer 2021, we explore how teacher collegial relationships influenced teacher well-being and unpack how teachers collaborated and supported each other during the pandemic. We find that positive teacher-teacher and teacher-administrator relationships were significantly associated with greater teacher well-being and that teacher-teacher relationships deepened as colleagues engaged in innovative and supportive pedagogical problem solving and provided emotional support, a "silver lining" in education that arose during the pandemic. By sharing and affirming stories of how teachers organized, collaborated, engaged in professional sensemaking, and supported each other's emotional health and resilience, educational leaders can help reaffirm this narrative of teacher collective strength. Moving forward, schools should also create more opportunities for deep teacher collaboration, taking advantage of this opportunity to intentionally build on teachers' growing skills, trust, and capacity to address broad organizational and curricular innovation together. Impact and Implications During COVID-19, positive teacher relationships with teachers and school leaders were associated with greater teacher well-being. Teachers described deepening collegial relationships: teachers collaborated in innovative and supportive pedagogical problem solving and provided mutual emotional support. While COVID-19's deleterious effects on teaching and learning are widely known, strengthened teacher relationships are a COVID-19 "silver lining" that must be shared, supported, and utilized to advance teacher well-being, collective strength, and future educational innovation.