Back to School After COVID-19: The Views of Psychological Counselors at Schools About the Effects of the Pandemic on Students

This study aimed to determine the effects of the pandemic on students returning to school after COVID-19 from the perspective of school psychological counsellors. The research was designed as a qualitative study using a phenomenological design. The study group of the research consists of 11 psychological counselors at schools working in public schools in Türkiye, who were determined by maximum diversity and criterion sampling from purposeful sampling methods at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year. The data were collected using a semistructured interview form created by the researchers. MAXQDA 2020 program was used to analyze the data. As a result of the analysis, themes were obtained regarding the effects of the pandemic on students. These themes include the changes in students’ emotions, thoughts, behaviors, and academic dimensions, the topics that school psychological counsellors included in their programs after the pandemic, and the topics they suggested to be included in the program in the following years. The results of the study reveal that after the pandemic, there is a need for practices on emotion regulation, conscious use of technology, development of social skills, reducing bullying, improving psychological resilience, and increasing school motivation and academic success. It is thought that the research may contribute to the development of practices that can reduce the harmful effects of COVID-19 on students and positively affect students’ mental health at school.