Abstract
The process of transferring to online teaching during the pandemic COVID-19 lockdown has been a core issue for teachers around the globe. The main aim of this paper was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of emotional intelligence (EI) and general self-efficacy on the adaptability to online teaching (AOT). A multiple-mediation model was proposed, including the mediating effect via the teacher’s Facilitator role and teacher’s concrete experience learning mode (CE-LM), as defined in experiential learning theory (ELT). Methods: Data were collected from a sample of 330 preschool and primary school teachers (84 males, Mage = 38.3, SD = 9.14). Path analysis was performed based on maximum likelihood estimation with the resampling method. Results: The findings showed that the proposed model fit the data well. A serial mediation path between EI and AOT via the teacher’s Facilitator role and CE-LM was obtained. In addition, CE-LM mediated the relationship between general self-efficacy and AOT. Conclusion: To date, this is the first study to analyse the direct and indirect effects of dispositional traits, such as EI and general self-efficacy, on AOT in the framework of Kolb’s ELT. Our results highlight the mediating mechanisms of this relationship, that is, the teacher’s Facilitator role and CE-LM. The current research provides an empirical body based on which new instructional strategies will be developed to improve the quality of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Highlights
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led to the closure of schools in countries from Europe 20 countries and the closure of preschools in 19 European countries and Central Asia
80 percent of all students returned to their schools, but later, depending on the rate of COVID-19 infection locally, they switched back to online learning
It was found that 19.1% of teachers had the highest score on emotional intelligence (EI) (n = 63), 27% were characterised by high adaptability to online teaching (AOT) (n = 89), and 18.2% obtained the highest scores on the facilitator role (60)
Summary
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led to the closure of schools in countries from Europe 20 countries and the closure of preschools in 19 European countries and Central Asia. This has affected 49.8 million children, from preschoolers to high school students, who had a very disrupted last school semester, which culminated in the closure of schools [1]. In Romania, an estimated three million students from kindergarten to high school started learning online on 16 March 2020, until the end of the school year. In. September, 80 percent of all students returned to their schools, but later, depending on the rate of COVID-19 infection locally, they switched back to online learning. There are still no concrete statistics related to the national practice of online teaching in the first semester of the 2020–2021 school year in the country.
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