Teacher Resilience in Facing Changes in Education Policy due to Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This is a descriptive study aiming at investigating resilience among university teachers, especially in dealing with changes in education policies during the covid-19 pandemic. The participants of this research were lecturers at the English education study program at a state university in West Nusa Tenggara Province. The data were obtained through an online questionnaire which was distributed to all potential respondents. Among 39 teaching staff, 26 of them completed and returned the form. Based on the data analysis it was found that most of the teachers (86.6%) are classified as having high and very high resilience, only 13.4% having moderate resilience, and none as low nor very low resilience. Based on gender, the level of resilience for both male and female lecturers is within the same level of high resilience with the female having a slightly higher rate than the male by 59.5 and 63 (within the range of 17-85). There is an interesting finding on how resilience relates to the length of tenure. Based on this final category, it was found that length of tenure negatively correlates with the level of resilience with tenure group of 1-6 years, 7-21 years and 21 years and above having 63.7, 61.7, and 56 respectively, although on average all groups are still categorized as having high resilience. The majority of these university professors also perceive the changing education policy as something inevitable. With regards to how they expect to be assisted to better adapt to the changes and maintain their resilience, for any new policies there should be clear planning of the policy, proven working well (not a trial-and-error policy), early socialization, adequate training and coaching, and evaluation on the effectiveness of policies being implemented.