Emotional state of school and university teachers in northern Spain in the face of Covid-19

Abstract

Background: Since the start of non face-to-face learning classes in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers have been accumulating stress. Since then, the teaching staff have had to adapt to the new telematic classes, and in September 2020 they have had to return to face-to-face classes, taking different hygiene measures to prevent contagion. The changes in teaching methods and the lack of guidelines for the new teaching challenges have created a lot of uncertainty in this sector. The aim of the present study was to measure the levels of stress, anxiety and depression of teaching staff in the face of the reopening of schools and universities after 6 months of absence from face-to-face classes.

Methods: A total of 1,633 teachers from the Department of Education of the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC) took part, all of them professionals working in different educational centres, from early childhood education to university studies. The questionnaire, DASS-21, was applied to measure the symptomatology presented by the teaching staff in relation to the reopening of the centres.

Results: The results show that 32.2% of the participants had symptoms of depression, 49.4% had symptoms of anxiety and 50.6% had symptoms of stress.