Article
Worry about COVID-19 and other extreme events amongst educators in Australia
Australian Journal of Education
(2023)
Abstract
The significant disruption of COVID-19 on schooling has heightened concerns about its impact on educators’ wellbeing. The current study examined how educators’ worry regarding the COVID-19 pandemic compared to their worry about other extreme events, such as natural disasters and critical incidents (a death or suicide of a child, young person, or colleague). Educators report that they were most worried about COVID-19. Educators working in preschools were more worried about COVID-19 and natural disasters than those in primary and secondary schools. However, worry regarding critical incidents increased with the age of students taught. Worry was influenced by socio-economic advantage (SEIFA), whereby educators working in higher SEIFA communities were less worried about natural disasters and critical incidents but shared similar levels of worry about COVID-19 as educators in lower SEIFA communities. With a better understanding about how different types of worry and levels of worry vary across different educator groups and different contexts, more effective supports can be developed and offered.
Keywords
- Anxiety,
- COVID-19,
- pandemic,
- natural disasters,
- teachers,
- primary secondary schools,
- preschools
Disciplines
Publication Date
April, 2023
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441231168447
Citation Information
Van Der Zant, T., & Dix, K. L. (2023). Worry about COVID-19 and other extreme events amongst educators in Australia. Australian Journal of Education, 00049441231168447. https://doi.org/10.1177/00049441231168447
Creative Commons license
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.