Exploring preservice teachers’ digital skills, stress, and coping strategies during online lessons amid covid-19 pandemic in Ghana

Abstract

There are concerns about the association between the level of students’ digital skills and the amount of stress they experience. However, evidence from both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies is limited. The main aim of this study was to address this gap in the literature by examining the relationship between preservice teachers’ digital skills and stress. The study employed an online cross-sectional survey, which was completed by 661 pre-service teachers enrolled in colleges of education in Ghana. The findings showed that preservice teachers’ low digital skills were associated with higher stress levels during the period of online teaching and learning necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study further revealed that preservice teachers’ limited access to resources was a significant cause of stress. Preservice teachers’ main coping strategies for reducing stress were positive framing, such as seeking advice from friends and family, seeing something good in what is happening and learning from the experience. Recommendations include providing more training on digital technologies during the initial preparation for teachers.

Keywords

• digital skills
• preservice teachers
• covid-19 pandemic
• stress
• coping strategies
• online lessons