Work Stress of Female Primary School Teachers During Covid-19 Pandemic and Demographic Differences

Abstract

Recent research shows teachers report their job being very stressful (OECD/TALIS). The Covid-19 pandemic caused many changes in education, which put teachers under additional strain (Sokal, Trudel & Babb, 2020). Female teachers in Slovak primary education outnumber male teachers by a ratio of 9-to-1. Even though women spend as much time in work as men, women´s involvement in household chores is more than double. This creates an even greater challenge. The paper has several aims – the first aim is examination of the stress level of primary school female teachers during the pandemic. The second aim is an examination of the intensity of measured stressors. The third aim is to compare work stress in female and male teachers. The forth aim is to investigate the role of variables (age, work experience, education stage) on work stress. The research sample consisted of 473 teachers (426 female). According to results, over 58 % of female teachers reported quite a bit (34 %) or a lot of (24,7 %) experienced work stress. Overall, female teachers perceived most stress in stressors: having too much administrative work to do, uncertainty associated with frequent changes in education caused by pandemic and social acknowledgment. Female teachers compared to male teachers experienced significantly more stress in several stressors, for example: being held responsible for students’ achievement and perfectionism. Younger and less experienced female teachers perceived significantly more stress in specific stressors. 2nd stage female teachers experienced more stress in specific sources of stress compared to 1st stage female teachers.