Date of Award

8-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice

Committee Chair/Advisor

Natallia Sianko

Committee Member

Andrew H. Mannheimer

Committee Member

Katherine Weisensee

Abstract

COVID-19 created many disruptions in the field of education as teachers and administrators navigated the many changing protocols affecting learning environments and pedagogy over the past two years. This thesis examines secondary teachers’ perceptions of managing these protocols through their lived experiences while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic through the 2020-2021 school years. Previous research has shown a teacher’s sense of self-efficacy is related to both learning situations and teacher performance. However, research exploring the impact COVID-19 has had on teachers and their learning environments is limited. This qualitative exploratory study fills the gap by investigating situational factors in learning environments that influenced participants’ sense of teaching-efficacy during the pandemic. The data were collected through nine semi-structured interviews with secondary teachers at a public middle school. Findings show that participants perceived workplace satisfaction and increased teaching-efficacy as dependent on emotional and material administrative support systems. Furthermore, these findings illustrate that successful management of instructional pedagogy and learning outcomes during hybrid learning are influenced by social structures and accountability dynamics within their school. Implications of this study are discussed in relation to: (a) the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on teaching-efficacy and (b) practical and social efforts to advance the understanding of teacher burnout and attrition rates.

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