Date of Award
Summer 7-29-2022
Document Type
Project (696 or 796 registration)
Degree Name
Master of Science in Curriculum & Instruction
Department
Graduate Studies
Committee Chair
Ximena Suarez-Sousa
Abstract
Stress in the teaching career leads to burnout and teachers leaving the profession. That stress is compounded by the effects of teaching during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an autoethnographic study by a woman high school math teacher in the Midwest of the United States. The researcher performed deductive content analysis on emails from the school years of 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 to analyze her own personal experiences of teaching during the pandemic. The aim of the study was to answer the two research questions: (1) What factors contribute to the stress experienced by a math teacher during the pandemic?; and (2) In what ways does the stress experienced by a teacher reflect in the teacher’s performance, effectiveness, and job satisfaction? The stress identified by the data included but were not limited to behavior and academic needs of students, lack of support from administrators and other teachers, an overwhelming work load, lack of autonomy, lack of respect, and teaching during the pandemic. The consequences of that stress included but were not limited to burnout, dissatisfaction with the career, poor job performance and effectiveness, and leaving the career. This study can help bring awareness to the causes and consequences of stress in the teaching career. The researcher recommended that these findings be shared with administrators and teachers to influence small changes in practices that could make big changes in the stress felt by teachers.
Recommended Citation
Larson, Aloysia, "Stress and Burnout in Teachers as Caused by Teaching in a Post-Pandemic World: An Auto-Ethnographic Study by a Woman High School Math Teacher" (2022). Dissertations, Theses, and Projects. 722.
https://red.mnstate.edu/thesis/722