Teaching in Uncertain Times: What Does Teacher Well-being Look Like During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

 While the World Health Organization claimed a pandemic in March 2020, different online platforms started to be used all over the world, including Turkey. The increasing workload with distance education and the health concerns affected the psychological health of teachers. Even though enhancing well-being support to increase the quality of work and physical health gains importance, the psychological perspective is ignored during the covid-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to understand the effects of COVID-19 on teachers’ well-being. Emotional changes, personal experiences, and the situation of their work were analyzed to understand the teachers’ perspectives on their well-being. The mixed-method research design was used to understand the nature of the existing state. Quantitative results were analyzed by using a t-test. As a result of the content analysis of the semi-structured interviews, there are four main themes emerged, coping mechanisms, positive emotion, interaction with school components, and areas that need to be improved. This study demonstrated that the psychological needs of teachers should be taken into consideration during the outbreak. Well-being programs should be developed for teachers in the scope of their in-service training to support teachers and meet their psychological needs.