The effects of confinement by COVID-19 through physical education and its impact on happiness. An analysis from the perception of teachers in Spain and Mexico

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a new reality to our lives, not only in the socialization process, but also in the way we perceive, feel and get emotional. Throughout this work, it is intended to delve into the metacognition referred to the concept of happiness of physical education teachers about their teaching actions during the period of confinement. We start from the negative impact that had on the well-being, physical and mental health of the students, which justifies the relevance of our study. This is a quantitative study of descriptive scope in which 235 teachers of different educational levels from Spain and Mexico participated. An anonymous ad-hoc telematic questionnaire was used. The results show similarities in the teachers' understanding of happiness and well-being of the students, however there are significant differences (p < 0.05) on the performance in both countries. Happiness variables such as emotional control and social relationships would receive a differentiated treatment according to the country, thus being seriously affected, taking into account physical and motor performance in Spain or self-knowledge and self-observation in Mexico. Despite this, PE teachers from both countries understand that their intervention improved the happiness index of their students throughout the pandemic.