How newly qualified teachers are coping in the time of Covid-19

Newly qualified teachers (NQTs) have arguably always had tough challenges to overcome; two in every five NQTs experience mental health problems (Education Support Network, 2018). Challenges cited include the relatively short duration of some initial teacher education (ITE) routes; high expectations of their planning, teaching and assessment; making new relationships in their role; and balancing work and personal life. The pandemic has added to these challenges (Oberholzer, 2020), including rapid adaptations to ITE content delivery (Barnes et al., 2021; la Velle et al., 2020) and many involved in ITE and NQT support fear that the pandemic has created a ‘lost cohort’.