Teachers Stress: A Narrative Inquiry during COVID-19 Pandemic

ALMA T. GURREA^1,

¹Cebu Normal University, Cebu City, Philippines

Cite this paper:
ALMA T. GURREA. Teachers Stress: A Narrative Inquiry during COVID-19 Pandemic. American Journal of Educational Research. 2021; 9(6):382-387. doi: 10.12691/education-9-6-9

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the teacher's stress among public and private colleges brought by the COVID-19 Pandemic which was identified in China last December 2019 and has spread around the world. The participants of the research consisted of 11 teachers in the public and 11 teachers in private schools. The data were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis method and divided into themes, sub-themes, and codes. Revealed in the study was that teachers in the public and private tertiary schools experience stress from the different demands at work, specifically on workload in terms of number of classes online per day, the number of students in the Google classroom for large classes, number of hours spent online in correcting students activities and outputs. The fact that teachers need a strong support system now more than ever and it is important to stay positive and reflect on what the teachers can learn during this time about instructional innovation and transformation. Besides, recommendations have been put forward that online teaching will be effectively implemented shortly along with teachers’ significant training. Teachers have had to deal with symptoms and causes of psychological issues from the start of the pandemic. The lockdown and the travel restrictions changed the dimensions of the teaching profession, as schools had to close to deal with the threat of the pandemic. The teaching situation, therefore, has been grim over the years with less focus on how it affects the teachers. This study, therefore, used a sample of 22 teachers from public and private schools to select teachers from all sides of the teaching sector. They were given a questionnaire, which helped to determine and measure anxiety, stress, and depression. The outcome and discussion proved that teachers have indeed suffered from the pandemic and show a high percentage of stress and depression. There are however other variables such as job stability, which formed the basis for including both private and public college teachers, age, and gender of the teachers. This paper advocate for the protection and safeguarding of the teachers' mental welfare and helps maintain the standards and quality of teaching for the benefit of the students and the teachers.

Keywords:
teachers stress online learning COVID -19

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