First published 30 October 2024
Local schools need consistent resourcing and support before, during and after natural disasters, not just as physical disaster management hubs but as crucial settings to build community resilience in the aftermath, says QUT Associate Professor Naomi Barnes.
- Local schools often co-opted as disaster management hub
- Schools are both physical buildings but also community gathering places where resilience can be fostered
- The toll on teachers, principals and support staff during and long after the event not considered
- Schools need dependable funding, resources and support to continue the vital roles they play
In one of the papers in the newly released second series of multidisciplinary briefing papers from QUT’s Centre for Justice around the topic of disaster justice, Professor Barnes, from QUT’s School of Teacher Education and Leadership, said schools are critical social infrastructure for disaster response and recovery.
“A school has both the facilities and infrastructure to be an effective disaster management hub. They are likely places to be co-opted for shelter, and distribution of food, water, and information,” Professor Barnes said.
“However, natural disaster researchers and policymakers see schools’ role in disasters as confined to the location and structure of schools without addressing the fact they are natural social gathering places in which to build community disaster resilience.
“Repairing and opening the schools after a natural disaster is a policy priority – it enables, often traumatised children, to have some normality again, and free up adults to work on post-disaster recovery.
“However, little consideration is given to the impacts on teachers, such as greater workload caused by reduced contact time, loss of resources and destruction of assessment and reporting records, which is intensified when staff’s own family is affected.
“School principals have increased responsibility, as well as daily management they have to sign off on details of rebuilding, school closures and give up their free time to get the school functional.”
Professor Barnes said government education financial aid for families was reactive, uneven, competitive, lacked proper planning and was rarely long term.
“For example, the Australian Government in the 2024 North Queensland floods extended child-care subsidies and allowed unlimited absenteeism," she said.
“In contrast, in response to the 2019 flooding in North Queensland, the Australian Government supported reconstruction of only 25 independent schools and those which provided reduced fees to affected families.
“This inconsistent approach affects the schools’ ability to support their community during recovery.”
Professor Barnes said that to increase community wellbeing and resilience post-disaster, planners and policymakers must recognise that schools are one of the most important community meeting places.
“For community resilience to work, community bonding is the first step – the local school is a core social infrastructure in a community and one of the few gathering places given the lack of shared religion where once churches were a community hub,” Professor Barnes said
“A study from the Philippines, conducted after a landslide, found that the school was integral to community bonding where social and physical networks had come together and linked affected people with necessary supplies and support,” Professor Barnes said.
“We need to see schools not just as a physical asset to the community but an asset in the community and provide school leaders and teachers training in supporting school communities during a crisis that considers their own trauma post-disaster, as well as the role trauma plays in children and families affected by the disaster.”
QUT Centre for Justice director Professor Rowena Maguire said the briefing paper series showcased the depth and breadth of research from across QUT around disaster justice.
“This series highlights some understudied but important topics focused on exploring the human impact of disasters upon individuals, households, communities and public sector agencies,” Professor Maguire said.
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