Comparison of disaster preparedness of art teachers: towards developing a participatory crisis management plan

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) challenged the education system and put it in crisis mode. In the past, researchers paid more attention to risk management in higher education and teaching and rarely dabbled in the disaster prevention of art teachers, in particular. The goal of this research is to assess the disaster preparedness of art teachers in an educational district in China. One hundred eighty eight (188) art teachers were surveyed using the Disaster Preparedness Index. The results of the inquiry show that many respondents (31.4%) are poorly prepared in terms of disaster preparedness despite the two years of COVID-19. The top three disaster preparedness aspects of art teachers are acquiring a fire extinguisher, identifying the best evacuation route from home, and collecting the contacts of emergency services. The lowest ranking aspect of disaster preparedness is the knowledge of the community emergency warning system. There was a significant difference in the disaster preparedness of the respondents when grouped according to age, teaching years, and years in current work (p<0.05)—implying that disaster preparedness differs based on experience. A participatory crisis management plan was then developed to address the need for disaster preparedness.