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Chapter I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world and it had great impacts on

different sectors, like the economic, political, and most especially the education

sectors. Many businesses and establishments were closed, including the

schools. Due to the threat of COVID-19, people are not allowed to go out, and

schools were closed, and technically, there are no pupils who will go to the

schools.

An outbreak of COVID-19, a cluster of acute febrile respiratory illness, was

first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The World Health

Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, after infections

were reported in 110 countries and territories. As of June 4, 2020, COVID-19 had

spread to 216 countries and territories, infected 6, 416, 828 individuals and

caused 382, 867 deaths worldwide. This pandemic has created profound

economic and social disruption, with the potential for widespread psychological

impacts. Given the lack of specific treatments for the prevention and
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management of the COVID-19 infection and the rapid acceleration of the virus

transmission, the negative impacts of COVID-19 are rippling through every

aspect of society. Markedly, guidelines and new regulations had been put in

place to promote self-isolation in order to limit the spread of the virus. As a result,

most inpatient and outpatient health services cut down non-essential services.

Several offices and businesses asked their employees to work from home; others

reduced work hours or terminated jobs. Schools and universities were closed

with some of them offering distance education. Overall, the pandemic situation

has changed the core aspects of people’s lives in a unique and complex manner.

Teaching is the most noble profession, and teaching has been found to be

one of the most important jobs in a country. It is also one of the most stressful

jobs compared to other occupations as Adams cited. It is therefore important to

attend to the teachers’ welfare. This is because teachers do not only teach

content, they also motivate and encourage pupils, trying to be up-to-date, and

expected to be accountable, to come to class prepared, to be skilled in

assessment, and to positively interact with pupils, parents, co-teachers, and

administrators, all in their quest to facilitate learning. (Rabago-Mingoa, 2017). In

the journal written by Sarabia and Collantes (2020), they said that it was a

holistic part of teachers’ well-being, which was linked with the teacher’s physical
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health, the stability of school, the teacher‘s effectiveness, and students‘

achievement. The importance of teachers’ well-being is aligned with the

operation and effective function of an educational system. Thus, addressing

work-related stress should be concurrent with the promotion of mental health in

order to improve the overall effectiveness of school.

Stress had often been accompanied by symptoms of anxiety, depression,

and sleep disturbance as a consequence of the increased workload resulting

from home teaching. Recent studies had pointed out that during lockdown,

teachers had suffered stress from having to adapt (in record time) in order to

provide online classes (Besser et al., 2020). The pandemic has not only affected

the mental state of students (Cachón-Zagalaz et al., 2020), since teachers have

also accumulated a high level of stress since the beginning of the crisis. Burnout

is often experienced as “a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion

caused by long-term involvement in emotionally demanding situations” (Gilliland

& James, 2017). It became stressful for teachers because of the significant

changes they must make to meet the needs of pupils learning in the midst of a

pandemic. Recent changes since the pandemic have resulted in new challenges

for the teachers that shaped technological advancement, quality assurance,

standardization, and cost maximization in education. They need to attend various

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webinars, learn new things that make them go with the flow, and the like. It is

most challenging and stressful for the teachers who are ‘legendary’, from being

‘teka-teka’ to becoming ‘techie’ as long as they are in service, they need to

embrace that change that is needed in education.

Stress had become a problem to which people of all walks of life may

relate, affecting the actions of the individual on both professional and personal

levels. In the field of education, administrators often report a high level of stress,

sometimes referred to as burnout. Much has been written about teacher stress,

but very little research has been done on the stress encountered by elementary

principals. According to Maslach and Leiter (2016), for many years, burnout had

been recognized as an occupational hazard for various people‐oriented

professions, such as human services, education, and health care. The

therapeutic or service relationships that such providers develop with recipients

require an ongoing and intense level of personal and emotional contact. Although

such relationships can be rewarding and engaging, they can also be quite

stressful.

It is important for teachers to handle stress well because, according to a

longitudinal study conducted by McLean and Connor, elementary school

teachers who have greater stress and show more symptoms of depression
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create classroom environments that are less conducive to learning, which leads

to poor academic performance among learners. Pupils who began the school

year with weaker math skills and had a teacher with more depressive symptoms

had the lowest rate of achievement. Teachers who report greater burnout early in

the school year have classrooms with more behavior problems. When teachers

are highly stressed, children show lower levels of both social adjustment and

academic performance. (Hoglund et.al). In his study, Alson (2019) said that the

ability of teachers to deliver knowledge and skills to students is affected by the

learning environment, assigned tasks, and financial security, which further define

their levels of professional performance.

Background of the Study

Stress is defined as a constraining force or a state of both mental and

emotional tension that result of reacting to difficult, unpleasant, demanding

circumstances or exterior pressures or factors. Stress is a state of mental tension

and worry caused by problems in your life, work, etc. It is an excessive physical

and/ or mental demand on the capabilities of one’s mind and body.

According to multiple media sources, the Department of Education

(DepEd) is mourning the death of a teacher and has stated that they will
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investigate the matter and that it is unrelated to work. A small number of teacher

suicides in the Philippines produced disturbing effects on the Philippines'

education system (BusinessMirror, 2018). The Department further adds that the

teacher's workload should not be blamed for his or her suicide because other

variables may have played a role (Mateo, 2018; Reyes, 2018). While the

Teachers' Dignity Coalition (TDC) met with DepEd officials to raise concerns

about the alleged workload, one of the reasons given by the teacher who killed

herself in one incident of teacher suicide in 2018 was the excessive burden of

paperwork.

As cited by Healthline (2017) on the study of Truch, ‘Physical or mental

stress can be positive or it can also be negative and harmful, and this body

reaction of a person can be described in three stages: (1) Alarm reaction stage

when the body identifies and reacts to stress and release hormones to help

defend against the stressor; (2) Resistance stage when the body continuously

resists the stressors; and (3) Exhaustion stage – when the body and mind can no

longer adjust to resist the stressor, leading to physical and/or mental exhaustion’.
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Conceptual Framework

The researcher used the IPO Model. Input, Process, and Output.

In the first frame; Input, it contained the profile of the teacher-respondents,

the different stressors of teachers in various terms, and the teaching skills of a

teacher.

While in the second frame: Process, include the process used, like the

ways of gathering data, different statistical treatments used, and analysis,

interpretation of the data.

And the last frame: Output, showed the ways to managed the stress of

teachers to improve the teaching skills amidst the pandemic.

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Research Paradigm

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

1. Profile of the teacher 1. Data Gathering

respondents in terms through:
of: 1.1. Questionnaire
1.1. Age 1.2. Unstructured
1.2. Gender interview
1.3. Marital status
1.4. Length of service 2. Statistical
1.5. Highest treatment
Educational 2.1. Person r
Attainment 2.2. Analysis of
variance
2. Impact of stress of the 2.3. Percentage
teachers in terms of; 2.4. Mean
2.1. Physical 2.5. Weighted
2.2. Mental mean
2.3. Social 2.6. Frequency Improved teaching skills
2.4. Emotional count of teachers amidst the
2.5. Financial 2.7. Ranking pandemic

3. Level of teaching 3. Analysis and

skills of teachers in interpretation of
terms of; data
3.1. Communication
skills
3.2. Critical thinking
skills
3.3. Problem-solving
skills
3.4. Leadership skills
3.5. Technological
skills

Figure 1: Paradigm of the Study

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Statement of the Problem

The study aimed to determine the impact of stress of teachers in their

teaching skills amidst the pandemic in selected public schools in District I in the

Division of Navotas.

Specifically, the study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the teacher-respondents in terms of:

1.1. Age;

1.2. Gender;

1.3. Marital status;

1.4. Length of service; and,

1.5. Highest Educational Attainment?

2. What is the impact of stress of teachers amidst the pandemic in terms of:

2.1. Physical;

2.2. Mental;

2.3. Social;

2.4. Emotional; and,

2.5. Financial?
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3. What is the level of teaching skills of teachers amidst the pandemic in terms

of:

3.1. Communication skills;

3.2. Critical thinking skills;

3.3. Problem-solving skills;

3.4. Leadership skills; and,

3.5. Technological skills?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the impact of stress of the teachers

and their teaching skills amidst the pandemic?

5. Is there a significant difference on the impact of stress of the teachers when

grouped according to their profile?

6. What are the problems encountered by the respondents on the impact of

stress of teachers to their teaching skills?

7. What are the proposed solutions to the problems encountered by the

respondents?
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Null Hypotheses

1. There is no significant relationship between the impact of stress of the

teachers and their teaching skills amidst the pandemic.

2. There is no significant difference on the impact of stress of the teachers

when grouped according to their profile.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study dealt with the stress of the teachers from selected elementary

schools from District I, Division of Navotas. It evaluated the relationship between

stress and teaching skills of the teachers.

In order to address the needs for this study, the researcher limited the

scope of the study of two (2) elementary schools from 1st District of the Division

of Navotas. Sixty-five (65) teachers from Dagat-Dagatan Elementary School and

fifty-three (53) teachers from Kapitbahayan Elementary School with a total of one

hundred eighteen (118) teacher-respondents.

Significance of the Study

This study is undertaken to find out if the stress is affecting the teaching

skills of the teachers.

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Moreover, it will be beneficial to the following:

Learners. The learners will benefit because the teachers can handle their

stress well. So, they can perform better and bring out their best for the learners to

learn in the midst of pandemic.

Teachers. It will assist teachers in learning how to manage stress

effectively so that it does not interfere with their ability to teach. It will provide

them with a possible way to help them manage their stress so they can become

productive and do their job better.

School Administrators. They will be given an idea that stress can affect

the teaching skills of the teachers. In line with this, they can, at least, suggest

easing up the workloads of the teachers and having a harmonious relationship

with their teachers.

Curriculum Maker. This study will guide them to make or develop a

curriculum that is less stressful for the teachers yet effective for the learners to

learn. They can also have an idea that stress can affect the teaching skills and

performance of a teacher. Through this study also, they can ease the workload

like some paper works that are not really necessary for teaching.
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Future Researchers. The outcome of this study will help and guide future

researchers and may serve to make some innovation and solution that will

manage the stress of teachers that will enhance their teaching skills.

Definition of Terms

Asynchronous Learning. Teacher use this learning modality to allow the

learner to work at their own pace and within a set amount of time. During a one-

or two-week period, they can access and complete lectures, readings,

homework, and other learning resources at any time.

Burnout. Type of exhaustion brought on by a persistent feeling of being

overloaded. An excessive and prolonged emotional, physical, and mental stress

causes it and frequently linked to one's employment.

Communication Skills. The ability to effectively communicate information

or ideas with the pupils or peers. The receiver of the message clearly

understands the information transferred to him/ her.

COVID-19. The virus that spread around the world and it caused many

things to an individual. It affects the people including the teachers and their skills.

It cause the establishments to close including the schools.

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Critical thinking Skills. The ability to think clearly and rationally. This is

used in making decisions. An ability that can make teachers engage in reflective

and independent thinking.

Department of Education (DepEd). The governing body in charge of

ensuring access to, promoting equity in, and improving basic education quality. It

is the primary agency in charge of managing and governing the Philippine basic

education system.

Distress. These are the unpleasant sensations, moods, ideas, conditions,

or actions that a teacher can experience. Everyone, including the teachers, can

experience this, especially amidst the pandemic.

Educational Technology. Field of study that looks at how to improve

teaching and learning by studying, designing, developing, implementing, and

evaluating the instructional environment, learning materials, learners, and the

learning process.

Emotional Stress. Psychological strain and uneasiness caused by

situations of danger, threat, and loss of personal security, as well as internal

conflicts, frustrations, loss of self-esteem, and grief also known as emotional

tension.
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Eustress. A type of stress that can be experienced by the teacher that is

good for your health, motivation, performance, and emotional well-being. It is the

opposite of distress.

Face-to-face Classes. A teaching approach in which a group of learners

is taught course content and learning material in person. This allows a learner

and an instructor to engage in real time. It is the most common method of

educational instruction.

Financial Stress. Being unable to keep up with rising living costs. It can

have an impact on physical and emotional health, as well as relationships.

Hybrid. An educational strategy in which learners spend at least half of

their time learning online and the other half in traditional classrooms. Some

schools are using this kind of strategy in today’s limited classes.

Leadership Skills. These are the skills and abilities that individuals

display to assist them manage procedures, lead initiatives, and guide their

learners toward achieving their objectives. Skills that guide the learners through

intense study and hard activities. And both inside and beyond the classroom,

they take on additional leadership duties.

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Mental Health. Teacher’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being

are all factors. It has an impact on the way we think, feel, and act. It also

influences how we deal with stress, interact with others, and make decisions.

Mental health is vital at all stages of life, including childhood, adolescence, and

maturity.

Mental Stress. The sensation of being overwhelmed or unable to cope

with mental or emotional pressure is referred to as stress. A type of stress that

happens as a result of how one perceive events in one's external or internal

surroundings, resulting in psychological distress and worry.

Occupational Hazard. A hazard that occurs at work. It can include a

wide range of hazards, including chemical, biological, psychosocial, and physical

hazards. A workplace condition that causes a risk to employees or teachers.

Online Class. It is a class that takes place over the internet. They're

usually run through a learning management system, which allow learners to

monitor their course syllabus and academic progress, as well as connect with

their classmates and instructor. Self-paced in most cases, giving users more

freedom in completing education.

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Physical Stress. A biological reaction to factors that can have a negative

impact on your overall health. It is our body’s reaction to a challenge or demand.

Problem-Solving Skills. An ability of a teacher to describe a problem,

discover the origin of a problem, and, identifying, selecting, and implementing

solution. This skill helps the teacher to distinguish why the issue is happening

and how to solve it.

Social Stress. It is the stress caused by one's interpersonal relationships

and the social environment in general. It threatens one’s relationships, esteem,

or sense of belonging within a dyad, group, or larger social context.

Stress. A condition of mental strain and worry brought on by problems in

life, career, or other circumstances. something that makes feel anxious or

worried. To put oneself under physical or psychological strain. It is the body's

reaction to a challenge or demand. It can be beneficial in short bursts, such as

when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline.

Synchronous Learning. Implies that the learners will virtually attend a

class session each week, at the same time the instructor and classmates,

despite the fact that you will be learning from a distance. The class is a one-time,

weekly commitment that cannot be changed. Learners’ preparation, combined

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with the instructor's devoted agenda, guarantees that each class session is

productive.

Teaching skills. These are what help a teacher keep their classroom

engaged and interested in learning. Teaching skills are the hard and soft skills

that help a teacher keep learners engaged. These skills can also help teachers

position themselves as an educator, earning the attention and respect of their

students.

Technological skills. It refers to your capacity to use computer-based

technologies and other related technologies to interact and execute activities.

These tasks can either be digital or physical and sometimes and typically

classified as hard talents.