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Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the Covid-19 Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic overtook the world in 2020, which forced children out of the
classrooms and schools. This left a lot of the student's education up to the parents as homeschool
became the new normal. As students finally were able to begin reentering schools the following
year, it was obvious to educators how much improvement,rehabilitation, and recovery were
necessary to assist students in getting back on the right path. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Theory can pertain to the situation as educators were responsible for meeting their students'
needs. Teachers and educators viewed Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, and educators did what
they were able to to help meet their students physiological, educational, and safety requirements.
Teachers also aided in helping their students heal from trauma, depression and anxiety gained
during the pandemic. Teachers expressed to their students the same kind of love that Jesus
expressed upon returning to the classroom.
Background and Significance
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a theory that contains five different categories of human
needs; these necessities help to dictate a person's behavior. One of Maslow's beliefs is
that the first category needed to be satisfied before moving onto the next one. The
different categories begin by identifying the most essential and physiological needs. We
then move onto our safety needs, which include things like self esteem, love, the feeling
of belonging, and self- actualization. (Mcleod, 2020) Most of these needs people assume
are met at home, including proper air quality, clean food and water, and a safe shelter.
The sad reality is that almost fifteen percent of children ages six to eleven live below the
poverty line. (Nadeau et al., 2021) The children that live in these conditions might not be
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going home to a stable environment that needs all of their psychological needs. One of
Maslow's beliefs is that if children do not get their needs met at home, they aren't going
to do their best in the classroom. In public schools, multiple programs and organizations
aid in helping those students and their families. Some of these include the National
School Lunch Program (NSLP). This program assists with providing free school lunches
to all students whose families cannot afford school lunch (Ansorger, 2021). Organizations
like the NSLP are crucial to have within the schools. Multiple students are dependent on
these types of programs. Sadly, during the 2019-2020 school year, these programs came
to a halt because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Whenever the world and schools started to close down due to the pandemic,
organizations like the NSLP and several others had to come to a halt due to the school
systems not being prepared, and not knowing how to manage a situation like this,
considering we have not had a situation like this before. Several children suffered due to
the lack of availability of these programs,and many suffered abuse. Physical abuse was
reported by ten percent of students, and emotional abuse was reported as well. (Krause,
2022) School and classrooms were safe havens for many students, this is where they were
able to have their safety and educational needs met in a comfortable, reliable and secure
environment. Schools always provide hot meals at least twice a day, but when the
pandemic hit the world all of that went away. Most were left wondering how the needs of
these students were being met.
Practical Application for Differentiation
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Whenever teachers finally returned to their classrooms after about a year of virtual
learning, many things needed to be done to ensure the students had a smooth transition
back into school in order for them to thrive. Several teachers and counselors helped their
students process the trauma and anxiety that the pandemic caused. The level of severity
from a pandemic that the world was not ready for resulted in educators taking time to
figure out how every one of their students were affected individually. Maslow's Hierarchy
of Needs was prominent in the classrooms upon returning from virtual learning.
In the classroom, teachers realized the problems their students were facing, and other
educators did not know what the next step was in order to return to normalcy. There was
a lot of stress introduced to adults' lives as well as the children in them. The stress of the
pandemic affected almost everyone, including in the classroom. Teachers dealt with their
students issues and problems they were facing while simultaneously trying to get them to
readjust to life back in the classroom. Several students did not absorb much of the content
taught in the past year due to circumstances beyond their control at home. Because of
this, many of the students were a year behind some of the other students.
Educators took extra time during the 2021-2022 school year to reestablish and
demonstrate what happens in a classroom for students, and show them the way school has
to be post pandemic. Teachers worked hard to make sure their students were comfortable
and adjusting even though Covid procedures were changing daily. With things always
changing, students needed extra time during the beginning of the school year to adjust
and gather a better understanding of what was happening around them. Children had to
work on their socialization skills and relearn on how to interact with classmates inside the
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classroom. Educators personalized their lesson plans and days to include breaks for their
students, as full school days weren't what they were used to and they needed a time
period to adjust to things. The extra breaks and time the children were given helped to
fulfill the love and belonging category of Maslow's pyramid; whenever children are given
extra attention, love, and care, they make friends easier and better adjust to life back in
school.
During the pandemic, children were forced to be at home learning on a computer
virtually, and many parents were out of work as well, which forced families to be isolated
together. For some families, having all of that extra quality time together was great, but
the sad truth of the matter is that abuse rates were on the rise, and students came back to
school reporting physical and emotional abuse during their time at home. (Fessler, 2021)
Many students upon reentering the classroom struggled with feeling safe and
comfortable, because many have not had that environment in a year. Safety also includes
health and well being, and the Covid-19 pandemic caused students to worry about their
health and have anxiety being in public worrying about what could be around them.
Covid testing is one of the things everyone needed to get used to doing as well, and for
some schools tests needed to happen every time a student came in contact with a Covid
exposure. This can be traumatizing and stressful for younger, elementary aged students in
particular. One of the safety needs that struggled to be met was mask wearing.Teachers
had to constantly remind students to wear their masks properly and stay six feet away
from other students and people in the classroom. Handwashing and use of hand sanitizer
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was also important. Being educators, we had to put some kind of fun twist on the
situation to make light of it. Some got fun face masks with different patterns and colors,
others made fun signs reminding students to wear masks and wash their hands to put
around the classroom. Some, however chose not to talk about it or address the issues
based on how their students act and what they have been through personally. If a student
had a family member die from Covid-19, obviously the teacher isn't going to make light
of the disease.
Before schools closed due to the pandemic, they provided two hot meals daily to students
and had programs that helped provide students food over the weekends. Once the
pandemic started, many of these programs were put on pause while the school system and
the state tried to figure out what the next steps were. The lack of availability of these
programs caused several children to have insufficient food at home. The school systems
eventually figured out how to get students and families food through drive-in food
pick-ups and other programs that provided daily meals. Once these programs were in
place, families did not struggle with worrying about their next meal. Upon returning to
the classroom, one of the issues educators dealt with was food insecurities due to
students' parents being laid off or having to quit their jobs because of Covid-19 or
because their students were learning from home. (Fessler, 2021). With parents earning
less income or loss of income completely, some families could not pay their bills and lost
their homes before the government was able to assist them. The stress of being displaced
or not knowing where their next meal was coming from led many children to not having
their physiological needs met. Teachers helped students manage and work through these
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issues by giving them breaks and cool down spots, providing snacks and a safe
comfortable safe for them to be themselves.
While reentering the classroom after the pandemic, teachers had to meet their students
with a lot of patience and love. Jesus was the best example of that, as he showed us
unconditional love no matter what we had done or been through. Jesus said, "Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (New International
Version,1978/2011, John 13:34). Teachers working through the pandemic had grown a
love for their students just as they had for their own families and coworkers. While the
world was falling apart around many, teachers were there to support their students. They
were able to provide that love, patience and understanding to students as Jesus has given
to us, that need to be loved and have a sense of belonging was being fulfilled, as well as
safety needs as students were given a safe environment to express themselves.
Conclusion
Teachers were one of the most critical support systems for students' needs during and
after the pandemic.Teachers did all they could to make sure students had a safe,
supportive and loving atmosphere which assisted in fulfilling requirements such as
shelter and food as many families struggled to meet these needs. Educators displayed
God's love during this time and supported and showed love for their students no matter
what. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs played an important role in students reentering the
classroom as teachers assisted their students in reaching their highest potential.
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References
Ansorger, J. (2021). An Analysis of Education Reforms and Assessment in the Core Subjects
Using an Adapted Maslow's Hierarchy: Pre and Post COVID-19. ProQuest. Retrieved
November 24th, 2022, from https://www.proquest.com/
Fessler, P. (2021, March 18). HUD: Growth of homelessness during 2020 was 'devastating,' even
before the pandemic. NPR. Retrieved November 24th, 2022, from
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/18/978244891/hud-growth-of-homelessness-during-2020-was-deva
stating-even-before-the-pandemic
Krause, K. et al (2022, March 31). Disruptions to school and home life among high school
students during the COVID-19 pandemic - adolescent behaviors and experiences survey, United
States, January–June 2021. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November
25th, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/su/su7103a5.htm
Mcleod, S. (2020, December 29). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology. Retrieved
November 25th, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html#:~:text=There
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New International Standard Version Bible (2011) NIV Online.
https://www.bible.com/bible/111/JHN.15.12-15.NIV
Nadeau, S. et al. (2021, November 3). The basic facts about children in poverty. Center for
American Progress. Retrieved November 25th, 2022, from
https://www.americanprogress.org/article/basic-facts-children-poverty/#:~:text=
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