University teachers’ well-being during a pandemic: the experiences of five academics

ABSTRACT

The global pandemic of 2020 has changed the ways that university academics do their work and manage their time, including teaching, engaging with graduate students, conducting research, and working with colleagues. The mode of delivery of higher education has substantially moved to the digital, and workspaces have shifted to home. Having to work from home has placed unique demands on academics, including adapting to working entirely on ascreen and adjusting their work/life balance. Despite much anecdotal evidence that the well-being of academics is being adversely affected during this global pandemic, there is currently little published research about this issue. As five academics who work in an education faculty at an Australian university, we present our collaborative autoethnographic reflections of this time. We share these experiences of being academics in 2020 through curated narrative vignettes, with analysis of the meaning of these vignettes. Employing aphenomenological approach, we craft understandings of our experiences and explore the immediate world of these experiences, constituted in our practices as academics and our personal lives in this challenging time of unexpected change. We note the phenomenon of feeling unsettled, distracted, overwhelmed and lacking focus, and being conflicted between various roles.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• pandemic
• well-being
• academics
• collaborative autoethnography
• work/life balance
• phenomenological analysis

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Edwin Creely

Edwin Creely is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. His research includes digital literacy, creativity, inclusion, initial teacher education and higher education, and wellbeing practices. He has published widely in phenomenological research and postqualatitive writing.

Stella Laletas

Stella Laletas is an educational psychologist, lecturer, and researcher in the field of educational psychology and inclusive education at Monash University. She has published several papers that explore the experiences of educators teaching and supporting children who experience adversity in their lives. Phenomenological inquiry features centrally in her research.

Venesser Fernandes

Venesser Fernandes is a lecturer in educational leadership in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. Her areas of teaching, research and publishing include school leadership, quality management systems and educational policy. Venesser works as an educational consultant with schools and school systems focusing on whole school improvement.

Pearl Subban

Pearl Subban is a senior lecturer in the faculty of education at Monash university Australia. As a mixed methods researcher, Pearl’s areas of interest include accommodating student diversity, utilizing differentiated instruction, and inclusive teaching practices.  A believer in social justice and equity, Pearl’s research has spanned Australia, Singapore and South Africa.

Jane Southcott

Jane Southcott is a Professor, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia. As a phenomenologist, Jane researches higher education, arts education, cultural identities and hybridity, and lifelong education. A revisionist historian, Jane researches music education in Australia, Europe, England, and the USA. She is Co-editor International Journal of Music Education and a life member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Research in Music Education.