The factors determining teachers' satisfaction with online teaching and learning at Sarpang and Chukha districts, Bhutan

Abstract

The flexibility of online education provides opportunities for teachers and students to interact and keep updating classroom learning during the absence of and pandemic. The study aimed to determine factors influencing teacher satisfaction with online teaching and learning and the factors affecting the self-reported health problems resulting from online teaching and learning. A cross-sectional study was carried out in the Sarpang and Chukha districts of Bhutan. The Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure (OISM) questionnaire was employed with 403 teachers. The data were analyzed using mean±SD, univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. The results revealed that 50.4% of teacher participants had low teaching satisfaction in the OISM instrument scores. The mean±SD of the institutional support was 2.75±0.72, indicating the lowest score among OISM subscales. The factors associated with teacher satisfaction for online teaching and learning were teacher training certificate (TTC), teacher qualification (AOR=2.287, 95% CI=1.009-5.184; p=0.047), the location of school: rural schools (AOR=2.014, 95% CI=1.022-3.972, p=0.043) and location of school: semi-urban schools (AOR=1.888, 95% CI=1.182- 3.014, p=0.008), school facilities (AOR=0.361, 95% CI=0.231-0.563; p<0.001), and digital literacy (AOR=0.137, 95% CI=0.028-0.676; p=0.015). The mean±SD scores of self-reported mental health and physical problems were 3.55±0.76 and 3.49±0.9 respectively. The mean±SD of overall self-reported health problems was 3.5±0.73. Moreover, the factors associated with self-reported health problems were gender (AOR=0.489, 95% CI=0.290-0.825; p=0.007), age 20-29 years (AOR=0.190, 95% CI=0.040-0.911; p=0.038) and age 40-49 years (AOR=0.200, 95% CI=0.042-0.951; p=0.043), location of school: rural (AOR=0.296, 95% CI=0.125-0.702; p=0.006) and location of school: semi-urban (AOR=0.457, 95% CI=0.244-0.859; p=0.015). IMPLICATION OF THEMATIC PAPER The factors influencing teacher satisfaction and the factors affecting the self-reported health problems resulting from online teaching and learning would be the first kind of study in Bhutan. This study would support how to enhance teachers' satisfaction and improve teachers' health problems during online teaching and learning by identifying the needs of teachers during online education. Moreover, the findings can provide a guideline for policymakers in the Ministry of Education of Bhutan for teacher development.