In teaching, like in any other profession, the feeling of isolation can be quite prevalent especially if you are coming into a new environment. In all individuals, the feeling of isolation can intercept at any point and take on any form be it physical, mental, social or emotional. Isolation in educators is usually drawn from the result of feeling excluded and unsupported. The support of peers and school leadership is essential to the success of educators.

Isolation has become a huge problem within the teaching profession. African educators, through Covid, have not had the benefit of online support. Their support structures in the actual school environment have been disrupted and on returning to school, they are faced with exacerbated behavioural issues, amplified social issues such as teenage pregnancy and the stress of catching up on the expected timeline for curriculum completion.

How can African educators combat this?

There are various ways in which we can tackle this problem, especially through finding digital solutions such as:

• Building supportive communities and structures that are able to connect educators to one another, can provide a sustainable solution for educators across borders.

• Having easily accessible programmes that aid professional development for educators.

• Hosting online teacher training programmes that anyone looking to upskill themselves in the educational sector can have access to.

• Promoting communication between related educational departments within the schooling environment.

It’s critical that within the 54 countries, the custodians of our education systems, address the challenges faced by African educators and that includes the unacceptably delayed digital transformation.