Browsing by Subject "digitaidot"

Goals. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of teachers work arrangements, digital skills and age to teacher’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring 2020. Well- being was examined through three basic psychological needs of the self-determination theory. Three basic needs are autonomy, competence and relatedness. These needs indirectly affect the teacher's well-being, as the social and physical environment affects the satisfaction of the needs. It is important to examine and support the well-being of teachers because it affects students’ learning, well-being and success at school. Methods. The data (N=717) was collected from teachers around Finland during the Spring 2020 as part of the Bridging the Gaps – research project. Participants filled in questionnaires that measured well-being, work arrangements, digital skills and self-determination. Participants were divided into groups based on their work arrangements during the school closures. Differences in psychological needs between the groups were examined by analysis of variance. Two-way ANOVA was used to analyse the effects of teacher’s age, digital skills and work arrangements to teachers three basic needs. Finally, the long-term effects of the pandemic were examined with t-tests by dividing teachers into two groups according to the date of response. Results and conclusions. Generally, teachers’ well-being was strong during the pandemic but few differences between the groups were identified. Teachers working remotely experienced weaker relatedness than teachers working in classrooms. In addition, poor digital skills were found to be linked to a lower sense of competence and relatedness. Teacher’s age seems to be also linked to teachers' competence, autonomy and digital skills, with older teachers experiencing stronger autonomy and competence than their younger counterparts. Inversely younger teachers have better digital skills than teachers with more seniority. The results were mainly in line with previous studies, but in the future, closer examination of the effects of the pandemic would be necessary to be able to better support teachers in atypical situations.