Experiences of technostressors during the Covid-19 pandemic among Finnish comprehensive school teachers

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic caused significant changes to teachers’ work, including a rapid switch to remote teaching. This increased the role of ICT in teachers’ work and made teachers susceptible to technostress. In this study, we aimed to identify ICT-related stressors (i.e., technostressors) in comprehensive school teachers’ work in Finland during the Covid-19 pandemic. The data, consisting of answers to two open-ended questions, were gathered as part of a questionnaire (n=361), and qualitative content analysis was applied. Based on the analysis, technostressors were divided into five categories: rapid ICT adoption, technological inadequacies, ICT-related pedagogical challenges, limitations in social interaction, and multichannel communication and availability pressure. The findings indicate that schools were not prepared for the pandemic-induced online teaching, which showed in inadequate resources and support for teachers. Moving forward, schools could reduce technostressors by, for example, organizing technical and pedagogical support, developing shared practices to decrease the digital communication load and availability pressure, and fostering interaction and collaboration in online environments.