Teachers' Perceptions About Working Conditions and Impact on Health: Case Study in Technological and Professional Secondary Education in Uruguay

Abstract

This paper aims to present the perceptions about the effect of working conditions on the health and professional work of teachers in a public center for professional technical education, belonging to the General Directorate of Professional Technical Education (DGETP) of Montevideo, Uruguay. The researchers inquired both about working options during the COVID-19 pandemic and how emergency remote teaching conditions affected teaching and social-emotional health. Moreover, the investigators based the research design on the convergent-type mixed methodology and combined data from a survey applied to 171 teachers and another carried out with 12 members of the center's teaching staff, between November and December 2021. Regarding the results, these indicate that the development of different administrative tasks, as well as communication issues between teachers and the management team of the center represent the main stressors declared by the participating professors. Likewise, the work situations that arose as a consequence of the pandemic, the difficulties related to the Internet connection, the condition of the student's devices, and the lack of support from different instances impacted the teachers' health, causing feelings such as tiredness, stress, anguish, and burn-out syndrome. As recommendations, the researchers suggest evaluating how the educational system could strengthen the socio-emotional skills of in-service educators, and thus be able to address aspects related to the pedagogical-didactic support provided by departments and inspections, with an emphasis on teacher digital skills.