Mental Health and Well-being of Elementary School Teachers Affected by Hybrid Teaching during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Hybrid Teaching Approach (HTA) has been one of the reasons for the increased psychological burden for teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much research has shown that teachers became drained physically and emotionally due to HTA. Hence, this research is designed to explore the challenges and how adapting to the HTA during the Covid -19 pandemic has affected the Mental Health and Well-Being (MHWB) of elementary school teachers. This study is significant to identify and understand the importance of addressing teachers' mental health and well-being. A qualitative study was done employing 35 elementary school teachers with different teaching experiences, who were involved in hybrid teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic as samples. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaire via Google Form, interviews, and field notes. The findings revealed that notwithstanding hybrid teaching enhances the learning experience and develops a rather more broad-minded atmosphere for education, it has implicated various negative effects on elementary school teachers. Elementary school teachers were worn-out and had concerns of getting anxiety attacks due to the workloads and need of additional focus for both in person and online students at the same time. Furthermore, teachers also struggled to balance their family life and work life and ended up stressful as hybrid led to longer working hours for lesson planning. Further research studies propose to investigate pre-school teachers’ mental health and well-being.