Analysing reflections of academics through the framework of well-being

Abstract

Although South Africa is a developing economy, the majority of its people live in poverty, exacerbated by load shedding, which leads to issues relating to connectivity and access to technology. This affects the teaching and learning modes of academics in the higher education sector. Academics have previously, and during the pandemic, shown efficiency and effectiveness in moving to various modalities as and when expected. The same was displayed when they were asked to prepare for online or remote teaching platforms that some of them had previously used. Consequently, in academia, this shift resulted in an escalation of the adoption of novel pedagogies accompanied by increased stress and anxiety-related illnesses. In this paper, the researcher reported on the findings of a survey conducted via focus group interviews with departments at a university of technology in South Africa to analyse its impact on their work and/or work-life balance. Ryff’s (1995) theory of well-being was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings conclude that the lockdown and subsequent move to online teaching has had a negative impact on the well-being of academics. Significant outcomes of online teaching, along with positive outlooks, caring relationships, and support between management and colleagues, have been reported.