Teachers’ perceptions and perspectives of school disaster management over the medium term following the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province China

This study aims to identify teachers’ perspectives regarding their experiences of the school disaster response and management in the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Since this event, the Chinese government has been working to develop a response and recovery structure in educational institutions. School leadership has been challenged to balance the need for standard operating procedures against an ability to bring flexibility to existing organisational structures in response to specific problems brought on by disasters. Teachers are expected by school leadership to take a more active role in providing essential services for students whilst also dealing with their own stress in post-disaster situations. For this reason, teachers’ well-being after disasters comes out as a central issue that is being explored in present research. This research began with a pilot survey (n=100) in November 2011. Through this process, a rigorous research instrument was developed and validated for the data collection of the current study. The scale reliability was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha; the data were found to be reliable (>0.8). The findings of this study report a particular situation of being stressed,it is held to be responsible for the success or otherwise of a massive, state-regulated school reconstruction process. In this context, it is not so much concerned with the nature of teachers’ stress as an indication of individual physical or mental health and well-being. I draw on the experiences, challenges and stress that the teachers reported. In addition, the results also suggest that teacher ‘personal experiences and professional environment such as students’ behavioural changes in response to disasters have important impacts on teachers’ resilience and well-being levels.