Work-related stressors of female teachers during COVID-19 school closure

Abstract

In Slovakia, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown in the educational sector lasted for three months and caused unexpected changes with demands on pupils and their parents, students and teachers. The global school closure at all educational levels occurred suddenly and caught the school system and its actors unprepared. Teachers were forced to quickly adapt to the “new” work approach with minimal and/or confusing directions. Female teachers who predominate at primary schools in Slovakia, around 90%, faced even greater challenge and experienced stress, as many of them simultaneously took care of their own children and households. The aim of the presented paper is an examination of stress level that primary school female teachers experienced during the schools´ lockdown period. Two measures of stress were used: Teacher stressor questionnaire (Clipa, Boghean, 2015) and the Perceived stress scale (Cohen, Kamarck & Mermelstein, 1983). Additionally, an open question was added to learn about the teachers´ subjective perception of work pressure caused by the lockdown. The research sample consisted of 103 female primary school teachers (47 at the first primary education stage, 56 at the second primary education stage). Data were collected online in April 2020, with teachers being invited to participate via teachers´ online forums. Significant differences in the perceived intensity of work stressors were present between the first and the second stage primary school teachers. The most frequent problems teachers reported were the challenging preparation of teaching materials, unclear directions from school management and strenuous communication with children and their parents. Teachers also suffered from work uncertainty, strain from too much use of PCs and other technology, and problems with time management.