Teaching in a Pandemic: An Exploratory Study into University Instructors’ Perceptions of Work-from-Home Opportunities and Challenges during the COVID-19 Lockdown in South Africa

Abstract

Recent studies have investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, organisations, and education in South Africa. However, research on the work-from-home opportunities and challenges during the COVID-19 lockdown is still scarce in the context of South Africa. This study, therefore, explored university instructors’ perceptions of work-from-home opportunities and challenges in South Africa. The study, guided by the SWOT analysis as the theoretical framework, was located within the qualitative research paradigm. It leveraged a sample of ten academics drawn from the Faculty of Education at a rural-based university using a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and analysis was thematically performed. The findings revealed that WFH arrangements offered opportunities for working from home without incurring the cost of travelling, saved commuting time, provided new ways of teaching and learning with evolving digital platforms, and allowed for prioritising of time for self-development and relaxation. WFH challenges included social isolation, disconnection from colleagues, fatigue from performing monotonous routines daily, inadequate data, and poor internet connectivity. Thus, the study recommends the provision of internet facility support and technological training of academic staff of universities on innovative and pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning for blended and/or online teaching in preparation for any similar disruption of education in the future.

Working From Home in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

“…Al-Dmour et al ( 2023) reported that teachers' had an of task completion within time because of other personal and family commitments. Because of being at home, Catană et al (2022) and Badaru et al (2022) found that some teachers suffered from a lack of motivation to teach and work online, and their loneliness levels increased. Furthermore, working from home increased internet and electricity bills (Irshad et al, 2022).…”

Divulging the Lived Experiences of Public School Teachers in the U.S.A. during COVID-19 Pandemic: Phenomenological Analysis

“…These include higher internet usage limits, unstable internet connections, and a lack of IT expertise, all of which are significant hindrances to online learning. There were few opportunities for working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown in South Africa, according to Badaru et al (2022), who studied how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the country's economy, organizations, and educational system. Difficulties included interpersonal isolation, alienation from co-workers, fatigue from the daily repetition of monotonous tasks, insufficient data, and poor internet connectivity.…”

A Systematic Review of the Practicum Experience in Preservice Teacher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…However, online education has some disadvantages, such as a lack of online teaching abilities among educators and the time-consuming creation of online lesson plans (Nuland et al, 2020). Several researchers reported different challenges that university instructors faced during the pandemic such as a lack of technological training for online teaching and learning and poor internet connectivity (Badaru et al, 2022) and a lack of student engagement (Kalloo et al, 2020). Despite the fact that online teaching skills are very important, especially when preservice instructors find themselves teaching online (Vakil, 2020), researchers have reported that virtual practicum experiences and online teaching skills are not covered in many teachers' education programmes (Sepulveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020;Vakil, 2020).…”