Teachers’ readiness to adopt online teaching amid COVID-19 lockdown and perceived stress: pain or panacea?

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-09-2020-0385
• Published date: 17 May 2021
• Date: 17 May 2021
• Pages: 1229-1249
• Subject Matter: Strategy,Corporate governance
• Author: Prashant Mehta

Teachers’readiness to adopt online

teaching amid COVID-19 lockdown and

perceived stress: pain or panacea?

Prashant Mehta

Abstract

Purpose –Prolongedclosure of educational institutionsprompted authorities to adopt online teaching as

an alternativemethod to impart education. The purpose of this study is to investigatethe readiness on the

part of teachers to switch/adopt online teaching as a part of their pedagogy. Also, this study analyses

relationshipbetween perceived stress (PS)and readiness to change (RTC)/adopt.

Design/methodology/approach –All the constructswere adapted from established scales,exploratory

factor analysisconfirmed item loadings on the appropriate constructs.Convenience sampling was used

for data collection; owing to COVID-19this appeared to be the only viable method. Partial least square

structuralequation modelling was used for analysis of data.

Findings –Results from this study indicatethat 32.2% variance in RTC is accounted for by exogenous

constructs perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and autonomy (AUT). Although f2 effect size

pointed towardsnon-significance of AUT in predictingRTC (path coefficients were found to be significant

for all the exogenous constructs). Also, RTC accounted for 32.6% variance in PS. To assess the

predictive relevanceof the model, blindfolding procedure was used to obtain Q2 values(Q2PS = 0.231;

Q2RTC= 0.243). Positive Q2 valuesprovide support for the model’s predictiverelevance.

Research limitations/implications –Data were collected from teachers employed in urban public

schools. A complete picture can be obtained by involving teachers from rural public and state-run

schools.

Practical implications –Teachers’ readinessto adopt online teaching as a part of their pedagogy may

act as a starting point for the policymakersto design properly structured training programs for teachers

that minimisestress levels.

Social implications –If not handled properly, the society may end with either loss of learning to one

generationor a major chunk of stressed-out teachingpopulations or both.

Originality/value –To the best of the author’sknowledge, this study is probably the first one focusing on

suddenshift to online teaching and PS.

Keywords Stress, Online teaching, COVID-19

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

Ever since it was reported in the Wuhan city of Hubei province in China, COVID-19 has

rapidly spread its tentacles across the globe (Li et al.,2020). Many countries across the

world imposed restrictive conditions in the form of lockdowns to control the movement of

people and to arrest the spread of virus (Yu and Yang, 2020). Now as the world tries to

stand on its feet after being knocked down by the devastating effects of COVID-19. It faces

question marks of different hues and sizes whether, to ramp up the health infrastructure to

effectively handle a repeat crisis of this magnitude, to resurrect the economy or to bring on

track the education system and take care of the future generations. UN Secretary General

Antonio Guterres has stated that COVID-19 pandemic has been responsible for most

Prashant Mehta is based in

Symbiosis Centre for

Management Studies –

Nagpur, A constituent of

Symbiosis International

University, Pune, India.

Received 7 September 2020

Revised 9 December 2020

16 December 2020

22 December 2020

Accepted 7 January 2021

DOI 10.1108/CG-09-2020-0385 VOL. 21 NO. 6 2021, pp. 1229-1249, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1472-0701 jCORPORATE GOVERNANCE jPAGE 1229

severe disruptions in the education system across the globe and is threatening a loss of

learning that may extend beyond one generation. “Now we face a generational catastrophe

that could waste untold human potential, undermine decades of progress and exacerbate

entrenched inequalities”(UNESCO, 2020a). At the peak of this crisis 94% (nearly 1.6 billion)

learners in more than 190 countries were affected owing to closure of educational

institutions. This figure althoughdown to 1 billion is still enormous (UNESCO, 2020a).

The latest combined report by UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank states that “school

children today currently stand to lose $10 trillion in earnings over their working lifetime,

equal to 10% of global GDP” (Leddra, 2020).The report further adds that:

[...] school children in low and lower-middle income countries were the least likely to access

remote learning, the least likely to be monitored on their learning loss, the most likely to have

delays to in the school reopening, and most likely to attend schools with inadequate resources to

ensure safe operations (UNESCO, UNICEF and World Bank, 2020).

Latest reports also indicate towards a sudden spurt in Corona Virus Disease-19 cases in

some of the European countries like Belgium, Russia, UK, etc. (“New Cases of COVID-19 In

World Countries –Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center,” 2020). The situation

therefore is far from being under control and may become serious as economic

considerations force thegovernments across the world to unlock or reopen.

It is not very easy to visualize the educational scenario post-COVID-19, particularly in light

of the community transmission challenge presented to institutions (Weeden and Cornwell,

2020). Cornell university’s network analysis indicates how universities are vulnerable, not

only a single student reaches the entire student body very quickly but also multiple

pathways connect nearly all the students and as such threat of indirect exposure always

lurks (Weeden and Cornwell, 2020). Closure of educational institutions was necessitated as

COVID-19 elicits fewer severe symptomsin young population (Yu and Yang, 2020).

Lockdown in India was imposed from March 25, 2020 (Dore, 2020). Educational institutions

too were closed as a part of the nationwide community mitigation initiatives. As per

UNESCO estimates, 320 million learners have been affected on account of closure of

schools (UNESCO, 2020b). To minimize learning loss teachers were instructed to engage

classes through online mode (CBSE, 2020). Whilst it may have been easy for some of the

teachers, for others mandatory onlineteaching may have been stressful.

It is not for the first time that online teaching has beensubstituted for face-to-face interaction

a similar approach was adopted in 2009 on account of H1NI threat (Allen and Seaman,

2010). However, the situation arising out of COVID-19 pandemic is different and difficult on

account of its virulence and threat of community transmission and therefore greater

challenge of containment (Yu and Yang,2020).

Most of these studies have dealt with gradual adoption of technology in a systematic and

phased manner. Whilst COVID-19-induced circumstances are forcing teachers to shift to

online mode of education overnight(Bao, 2020).

2. Theoretical foundations and hypotheses

2.1 Technologyacceptance in teaching

Review of literature indicates that adoption of technology or shift from face to face to online

teaching depends upon four broad themes –nature of a technology, individuals using the

technology, cultural and situation (of the organization) and strategies and actions of the

stakeholders (Liu et al.,2020). These four themes are further divided into sub-themes to

better understand the technology adoption process (Liu et al., 2020). The sub-themes that

define nature of technology are relative advantage in comparison to other alternatives

(Buchanan et al., 2013;Findik Coskunc¸ay and O

¨zkan, 2013), ease of adoption of

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