MotherScholar, TeacherScholar, MotherTeacher: MotherScholars in Education Faculty's Work-Life Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: The Lived Experiences of Motherscholars as Teacher Educators in the Time of COVID-19

Abstract

We conducted a mixed methods study focusing on university policies that address the presence of children on campus and the ways in which the enforcement/non-enforcement of said policies affects the personal and professional lives of women faculty who are also mothers, or “MotherScholars.” Because this study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey and interviews addressed how explicit policies, implicit practices, and both internal and external communication from university administrators about MotherScholars’ work lives and expectations changed during Spring 2020. This paper focuses on the ways in which study-participants from education fields were impacted by and perceived their universities’ COVID-19 policies and practices relevant to children when the pandemic thrust them into unique roles: as the day-to-day teachers of their own children who were suddenly engaged in remote learning and as teachers of their own students wherein their mothering experiences and lenses impacted their teaching and scholarship.
A mixed methods research design was employed. Purposive sampling was used to distribute a survey in academic social media groups and professional organization listservs (Palys, 2008). Among other things, the survey asked participants to report how well they thought their university was handling the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that, compared to MotherScholars in fields other than education, those MotherScholars in Education reported their institutions as doing worse. On a scale from 1 (not well at all) to 5 (extremely well), MotherScholars in Education (M = 2.73) reported that their institutions did a worse job of communicating expectations to faculty during the COVID-19 pandemic than did MotherScholars from other disciplines (M = 3.19), t(150) = -2.30, p = .02. Using the same scale, MotherScholars in Education (M = 2.57) reported that their institutions did a worse job of communicating that faculty were doing a good job despite the COVID-19 pandemic than did MotherScholars from other disciplines (M = 3.08), t(151) = -2.24, p = .03.
In addition, we conducted 19 semi-structured interviews with MotherScholars who from a range of academic disciplines, ages, and institution types, until we reached theoretical saturation (Strauss & Corbin, 1998); 8 participants are MotherScholars in education departments and are the focus of this paper. The semi-structured interview protocol included questions about the impact of COVID-19-related policies, practices, and messaging regarding children on participants’ job satisfaction and work/life balance. We completed the interviews in July 2020 and will complete data analysis in Fall 2020. We will engage in open and axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) and then the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and will triangulate data by comparing interview and survey findings, engaging multiple researchers in the analysis, and conducting peer debriefings (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994; Lincoln & Guba, 1985). Initial data analysis suggests that although all participants shared some common experiences, MotherScholars in Education had some divergent experiences and perspectives that will be useful to achieving greater equity amongst male and female education faculty and to furthering efforts towards greater job satisfaction and work-life balance for education faculty, particularly women and mothers.

Authors

• Heather K. Olson Beal, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Lauren E. Brewer, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Lauren E Burrow, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Shelby Laird, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

• Chrissy J Cross, Stephen F. Austin State University

• Brittany Fish, Sam Houston State University