Positive Psychology in enhancing Teachers' Well-Being
Dasha Bunks
Liberty University
PSYC 775 - Teaching of Psychology
Dr. Winn
2022
Positive Psychology in enhancing Teachers' Well-Being
One of the major consequences of Covid-19 in educational settings has been the transition from
face-to-face instruction to emergency remote teaching in order to maintain teaching and learning
quality standards (United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organization, 2020; Garcia et al., 2021).
Studies have shown a marked increase in stress and burnout in school teachers (Pellerone, 2021) and
technostress among university teachers during the pandemic as a result of different reasons both
subjective and objective (Penado-Abilleira et al., 2021), moderate to low levels of stress, anxiety and
depression in school and university teachers (Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2021a). Fear of contagion and risk
perception in the school context, and teacher with higher levels of anxiety considered that the
possibility of reopening schools was not a priority (Weinert et al., 2021). A systematic review carried out
on teacher health in times of Covid-19 (Holguín, 2021) has found that physical, mental and social health
have been impacted. It is relevant to mention that only two studies were found related to this. One was
about interventions for the prevention of physical symptoms (Kayabinar et al., 2020) and the other
about emotional competencies (Roman, 2020).
Non-university teachers have reported an increase in psychosocial risks in working environments
regarding limited resources, difficulties in organizational justice, interpersonal problems, role confusion
and work overload, uncertainty management, psychosomatic disorders, and burnout as well as the
responsibility of being the primary learning facilitator of children and teenagers (Prado-Gascó et al.,
2020). One of the concerns expressed by teachers has involved assessments, including assessment tools
and strategies, monitoring student learning and ethical issues related to students' behaviors (Jelińska
and Paradowski, 2021).
In addition to other factors determined by education administrations, vaccination plans in some
parts of the world have contributed to the gradual return to face to face instruction or at least a hybrid
model of education. Nevertheless, teachers who have faced the prospect of going back to onsite
teaching have experienced anxiety about contagion risk as well as falling behind or having difficulty
keeping up with the planned teaching schedule and overall student progress (Wakui et al., 2021).
Teachers who have returned to face-to face lessons have reported high levels of anxiety, stress, and
even depression, all of which were likely exacerbated by the emotional experience they have gone
through during the lockdown period, the uncertainty about contagion in schools and managing their
workload from home (Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2021b).
Teaching staff are not coming back to what was considered a “normal” school environment
before the pandemic breakout (Darling-Hammond and Hyler, 2020; Ellis et al., 2020; Brunzell et al.,
2021; Pressley, 2021a). Educational institutions are reopening after high levels of Covid-19 and with a
current marked increase in variants such as Delta. In this context, it is worth considering that we may be
coming back to school experiencing collective psychosocial trauma (Bergren, 2021; Gonçalvez-Boggio,
