Greek Primary School Teachers’ Narratives About Their Role Negotiation During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Abstract
No one can dispute the fact that the teaching profession seemed to be tested during the coronavirus pandemic. Teachers were called upon to perform a difficult and multifaced role, without help and support from the state. The issues that teachers had to respond to and solve are related to their autonomy, their digital literacy competences and their relationships/cooperation with students. The new working conditions terrified teachers, who had to manage their digital classroom through a violent readjustment. Under these circumstances, Greek primary school teachers’ narratives offer us their phenomenological perspective on how they coped with their teaching duties during this period of health and educational emergency. An initial attempt is made to empathetically approach the ‘world’ of four teachers, while the subsequent interpretive and critical analysis serves as a means to illuminate ‘hidden’ beliefs of their professional role, the reshaping of their identity, and their adaptation to the online teaching context. Through their narratives, the teachers reflect on the issue of the lack of support from the state. They also note that they found it difficult to manage their e-classes in such a short time. Finally, there is a need for more effective preparation of teachers in times of uncertainty and crisis.
Downloads
References
Abós, A., Haerens, L., Sevil-Serrano, J., Morbee, S., Julian, J. A., & García-González, L. (2019). Does the level of motivation of physical education teachers matter in terms of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion? A person-centered examination based on Self-Determination Theory. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162839
Alanoglu, M., Aslan, S., & Karabatak, S. (2022). Do teachers’ educational philosophies affect their digital literacy? The mediating effect of resistance to change. Education and Information Technologies, 27(3), 3447–466.
Aslan, A., & Z. Chang (2015). Pre-service teachers’ perceptions of ICT integration in teacher education in Turkey. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 14(3), 97–110.
Assidiq, F. Z., Rochsantiningsih, D., & Drajati, N. A. (2021). Unpacking teacher’s self-understanding in technology use during COVID-19 pandemic. Randwick International of Education and Linguistics Science Journal, 2(3), 364–373.
Assunção Flores, M., & Gago, M. (2020). Teacher education in times of COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal: National, institutional and pedagogical responses. Journal of Education for Teaching, 46(4), 507–516.
Azorín, C. (2020). Beyond Covid-19 supernova. Is another education coming? Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 5(3/4), 381–390.
Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84(2), 191–215.
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.
Chiu, T. K. (2021). Digital support for student engagement in blended learning based on self-determination theory. Computers in Human Behavior, 124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106909
Daniel, S. J. (2020). Education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects, 49(1), 91–96.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2002). Self-determination research: Reflections and future directions. In E. L. Deci, & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 431–441). University of Rochester Press.
Diefendorff, J., & Chandler, M. (2011). Motivating employees. In S. Zedeck (Ed.), APA handbook of industrial and organizational psychology, Vol. 3. Maintaining, expanding, and contracting the organization (pp. 65–135). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/12171-003
Fadaee, E., Marzban, A., & Karimi, S. N. (2022). Teacher autonomy and personality traits: A comparative study of Iranian male and female EFL teachers. International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 10(42), 53–66.
Ferraro, F. V., Ambra, F. I., Aruta, L., & Iavarone, M. L. (2020). Distance learning in the Covid-19 era: Perceptions in southern Italy. Education Sciences, 10(12), Article 355. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci10120355
Gagné, M., & Deci, E. (2005). Self‐determination theory and work motivation. Journal of Organizational Βehavior, 26(4), 331–362.
Hargreaves, A. (2021). What the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us about teachers and teaching. Facets, 6, 1835–1863.
Hobson, A. J., & Maxwell, B. (2017). Supporting and inhibiting the well‐being of early career secondary school teachers: Extending self‐determination theory. British Educational Research Journal, 43(1), 168–191.
Hökkä, P., & Eteläpelto, A. (2014). Seeking new perspectives on the development of teacher education: A study of the Finnish context. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(1), 39–52.
Hughes, J., & Kwok, O. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships on lower achieving readers’ engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 99(1), 39–51. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.99.1.39
Jimoyiannis, A., Koukis, N., & Tsiotakis, P. (2021). Shifting to emergency remote teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic: An investigation of Greek teachers’ beliefs and experiences. In A., Reis, J. Barroso, J. B. Lopes, T. Mikropoulos, & C.-W. Fan (Eds.), Technology and Innovation in Learning, Teaching and Education: Second International Conference (pp. 320–329). Springer International Publishing.
Kim, L., & Asbury, K. (2020). Like a rug had been pulled from under you: The impact of Covid-19 on teachers in England during the first six weeks of the UK lockdown. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(4), 1062–1083.
Klusmann, U., Richter, D., & Lüdtke, O. (2016). Teachers’ emotional exhaustion is negatively related to students’ achievement: Evidence from a large-scale assessment study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108(8), 1193–1203.
König, J., Jäger-Biela, D., & Glutsch, N. (2020). Adapting to online teaching during Covid-19 school closure: Teacher education and teacher competence effects among early career teachers in Germany. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 608–622.
Labbas, R., & Shaban, A. E. (2013). Teacher development in the digital age. Teaching English with technology, 13(3), 53–64.
Lavy, S., & Naama-Ghanayim, E. (2020). Why care about caring? Linking teachers’ caring and sense of meaning at work with students’ self-esteem, well-being, and school engagement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 91, Article 103046.
Lortie, D. C. (2002). Schoolteacher: A sociological study. University of Chicago Press.
Martí-González, M., Alcalá-Ibañez, M. L., Castán-Esteban, J. L., Martín-Bielsa, L., & Gallardo, L. O. (2023). COVID-19 in school teachers: Job satisfaction and burnout through the job demands control model. Behavioral Sciences, 13(1), 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13010076
Mellon, C. (2022). Lost and found: An exploration of the professional identity of primary teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Journal for Multicultural Education, 6(1), 77–89.
Munthe, E. (2001). Measuring teacher certainty. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 45, 167–181.
Niemi, H. M., & Kousa, P. (2020). A case study of students’ and teachers’ perceptions in a Finnish high school during the COVID pandemic. International Journal of Technology in Education and Science, 4(4), 352–369.
Niemiec, C. P., & Ryan, R. M. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory and research in Education, 7(2), 133–144.
Nikolopoulou, K., & Kousloglou, M. (2022). Online teaching in Covid-19 pandemic: Secondary school teachers’ beliefs on teaching presence and school support. Education Sciences, 12(3), Article 216. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12030216
Phelps, C., & Sperry, L. L. (2020). Children and the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(S1), S73–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000861
Pokhrel, S., & Chhetri, R. (2021). A literature review on impact of COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning. Higher Education for the Future, 8(1), 133–141.
Poulou, M. (2020). Students’ adjustment at school: The role of teachers’ need satisfaction, teacher– student relationships and student well-being. School Psychology International, 41(6), 499–521.
Pressley, T., & Ha, C. (2021). Teaching during a pandemic: United States teachers’ self-efficacy during COVID-19. Teaching and Teacher Education, 106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103465
Rafsanjani, M. A., Pamungkas, H. P., Laily, N., & Prabowo, A. E. (2022). Online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic: Readiness and satisfaction among Indonesian students. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 12(3), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.12.3
Rasmitadila, R., Aliyyah, R. R., Rachmadtullah, R., Samsudin, A., Syaodih, E., Nurtanto, M., & Tambunan, A. R. S. (2020). The perceptions of primary school teachers of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 7(2), 90–109.
Reeve, J., & Halusic, M. (2009). How K-12 teachers can put self-determination theory principles into practice. Theory and Research in Education, 7(2), 145–154.
Reissmannová, J. S. (2021). Education in the area of human protection in emergency and crisis situations in the context of health education in the Czech Republic. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 11(4), 109–134.
Rousoulioti, T., Tsagari, D., & Giannikas, C. N. (2022). Parents’ new role and needs during the COVID- 19 educational emergency. Interchange, 53, 429–455.
Serdedakis, N., & Tsiolis, G. (2000). Biographical trajectories and identity: Traditional overdetermination and individualisation. Young, 8(2), 2–23.
Shah, S. S., Shah, A. A., Memon, F., Kemal, A. A., & Soomro, A. (2021). Online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: Applying the self-determination theory in the ‘new normal’. Revista de Psicodidáctica (English ed.), 26, 168–177.
Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, method and research. Sage.
Sokal, L., Trudel, L. E., & Babb, J. (2020). Canadian teachers’ attitudes toward change, efficacy, and burnout during the Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, Article 100016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100016
Stanley, L. (Ed.). (2016). Documents of life revisited: Narrative and biographical methodology for a 21st century critical humanism. Routledge.
Symeonidis, V. (2015). The status of teachers and the teaching profession. A study of education unions’ perspectives. Education International.
Trougakos, J, Hideg, I., Cheng, B., & Beal, D. (2013). Lunch breaks unpacked: The role of autonomy as a moderator of recovery during lunch. Academy of Management Journal, 57(2), 405–421.
Tsiolis, G. (2012). Biographical constructions and transformations: Using biographical methods for studying transcultural identities. Papers, 97(1), 113–127.
Tsiolis, G., & Siouti, I. (2023). Exploring biographies in a rapidly changing labor world. Current Sociology, 71(4), 587–606.
Van der Heijden, H. R. M. A., Geldens, J. J., Beijaard, D., & Popeijus, H. L. (2015). Characteristics of teachers as change agents. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 681–699.
Van der Spoel, I., Noroozi, O., Schuurink, E., & van Ginkel, S. (2020). Teachers’ online teaching expectations and experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43(4), 623–638.
Vargas Rubilar, N., & Oros, L. B. (2021). Stress and burnout in teachers during times of pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.756007
Veldmana, I., Tartwijkb J., Brekelmans, M., & Wubbels, T. (2013). Job satisfaction and teacher-student relationships across the teaching career: Four case studies. Teaching and Teacher Education, 32, 55–65.
Whalen, J. (2020). Should teachers be trained in emergency remote teaching? Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 189–199.
Willig, C. (2012). Qualitative interpretation and analysis in psychology. Open University Press.
Winter, E., Costello, A., O’Brien, M., & Hickey, G. (2021). Teachers’ use of technology and the impact of Covid-19. Irish Educational Studies, 40(2), 235–246.
Wong, C. Y., Pompeo-Fargnoli, A., & Harriott, W. (2022). Focusing on ESOL teachers’ well-being during COVID-19 and beyond. ELT Journal, 76(1), 1–10.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
- The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.