Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic left more than three-quarters of the world's children and young people unable to physically attend school. The crisis is putting pressure on educators and teachers to change the way they give lessons, which might be creating more stressful situations for teachers. Based on an online questionnaire administered nationwide to 6,064 Chilean teachers—enrolled through a non-probability sampling strategy during the pandemic in 2020—, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and linear regressions were performed, using structural equation modeling, to determine the participants' psychological distress level and how it relates to resources and demands of their educational environment as well as to sociodemographic and contextual factors. Overall, results show that the toll on psychological well-being has been heavier for female teachers, those who take care of minors and adults, and those who work in non-subsidized private schools. In addition, having more time to plan lessons and being able to balance work and home duties was found to reduce teachers' psychological distress index. Contrary to expectations, having more resources to facilitate remote work is associated with an increase in teacher psychological distress. These findings lead to reflection on the need for interventions and policies focused on teacher well-being within the context of the ongoing pandemic