Op-Ed: Schools play critical role in disaster recovery

Her research shows that rather than being peripheral players, schools functioned as community hubs; with principals as crisis managers, teachers as first responders and children as active citizens.

“As a former teacher and school leader myself, I saw that schools had huge expectations placed on their shoulders in terms of supporting not only their students but their students’ families and the wider community,” she says.

“But despite what was going on in their own lives, they fronted up day after day with quiet determination. No one had ever thought to document their efforts or bring them to wider attention.”

The Canterbury project has attracted international interest and resulted in peer-reviewed publications in top journals, speaking invitations and fellowships.

It sits in a cross-disciplinary position between disaster studies and education, and is informed by fields as diverse as leadership and trauma studies and community development.

Professor Mutch’s research has also informed policy and practice in the area of education and disaster recovery, with her ideas being taken up by teacher organisations, principal training providers and departments of education, both in New Zealand and overseas.

“I hope that because I’ve made my research available in engaging and accessible ways, it has made a difference to students’ and families’ emotional health and well-being in difficult times,” she says.

Supplied by The University of Auckland