Sources and consequences of teachers' stress during the Covid-19 pandemic

• Main Authors: Sara Pato (Author), Elsa Fontainha (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.34632/investigacaoeducacional.2021.10467; 1645-4006; 2182-4614
• Keywords: Online teaching and learning; Teacher stress; Covid-19; Portugal; Education; L
• Source: Revista Portuguesa de Investigação Educacional, Iss 22 (2022)

The Covid-19 pandemic has had severe and unprecedented consequences in multiple facets of education. Schools, teachers, students and their families were affected and the negative impacts will last for years. The aim of this paper is to identify and explain the sources and consequences of teachers' job stress and burnout during the pandemic as well as job and life satisfaction. Three sources of stress are emphasised: time allocation changes and workload; the behaviour of students; and the technostress. The empirical research is based on an original online survey applied to middle and high school teachers in Portugal. Information from four time references is collected: before pandemic; first school closure in 2020 (16th Mar - 16th Sep); second school in 2021 (15th Jan - 5th Apr)); at the time of the survey (June-July 2021) The data obtained include characteristics and changes about: teachers and their households; job satisfaction, stress and burnout; life satisfaction; working time and teaching roles; work-life balance; teachings goals, methods, and outcomes; work stressors; working conditions for telework; expectations for teaching year 2021/2020 about job and teaching methods. The results show that teachers' job stress increased during pandemic and the behaviour and performance of students is it main driver. The difficulties to conciliate work time and personal time are also predictors of teachers' job stress. Signs of increasing burnout exist.