Unequal Occupational Conditions When Work Turns Digital: The Case of Schoolteachers.

IF 1.1 Q3 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy Pub Date : 2025-11-01 Epub Date: 2025-07-21 DOI:10.1177/10482911251360367

Ellen MacEachen, Jennifer Whitson, Stephanie Premji, Janice Aurini, Pamela Hopwood, Michaella Miller, Yasmeen Almomani, Ishrat Sultana

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Telework has significantly increased in the aftermath of COVID-19 lockdowns. However, it is unclear how working conditions for the same job differ when work is conducted in-person versus remotely and online, and whether occupational health risks can be considered as equal across formats. Our study examined schoolteachers to understand online versus in-person teaching work and health conditions. Focus groups and interviews about online teaching took place in 2023 to 2024 with 47 Canadian teachers and tutors who teach from kindergarten to Grade 12. We identified 5 key areas where synchronous online teaching conditions diverted from traditional classroom teaching and posed particular occupational health challenges for teachers. These are digital surveillance, technostress, loss of control over the teaching environment, difficult student engagement work, and moral discomfort. We recommend that teachers' job contracts and collective agreements should distinguish between in-person and online teaching and take into account the different related risks.

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工作数字化时的不平等职业条件：以学校教师为例。

在2019冠状病毒病封锁之后，远程办公显著增加。然而，目前尚不清楚的是，当面对面工作与远程和在线工作时，同一工作的工作条件有何不同，以及是否可以将职业健康风险视为不同形式的相同风险。我们的研究调查了学校教师，以了解在线教学与面对面教学的工作和健康状况。在2023年至2024年期间，对47名从幼儿园到12年级的加拿大教师和导师进行了关于在线教学的焦点小组和访谈。我们确定了同步在线教学条件偏离传统课堂教学的5个关键领域，并对教师提出了特殊的职业健康挑战。这些问题包括数字监控、技术压力、对教学环境失去控制、学生参与工作困难以及道德上的不适。我们建议教师的工作合同和集体协议应区分面对面教学和在线教学，并考虑到不同的相关风险。

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来源期刊

New Solutions-A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH-

CiteScore

3.50

自引率

4.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： New Solutions delivers authoritative responses to perplexing problems, with a worker’s voice, an activist’s commitment, a scientist’s approach, and a policy-maker’s experience. New Solutions explores the growing, changing common ground at the intersection of health, work, and the environment. The Journal makes plain how the issues in each area are interrelated and sets forth progressive, thoughtfully crafted public policy choices. It seeks a conversation on the issues between the grassroots labor and environmental activists and the professionals and researchers involved in charting society’s way forward with the understanding that lack of scientific knowledge is no excuse for doing nothing and that inaction is itself a choice.