Teaching Online in the Post-COVID Lockdown World: Health and Safety Needs of Online Teachers in Ontario and Bangladesh
Post-COVID lockdown, work has increasingly been online. This two-year New Frontiers in Research Fund study examines the work organization and occupational health impacts for elementary and high school teachers and tutors of teaching online. Working closely with our Stakeholder Advisory Committees in each country, the researchers are examining online teaching needs of Ontario and Bangladeshi teachers and conducting a related scoping review of international literature. The study will contribute to economic recovery policies that are useful to Canadian and Bangladeshi education workers and policymakers.
University of Waterloo (Canada) Research Team: Ellen MacEachen, Jen Whitson, Janice Aurini, Stephanie Premji, Pamela Hopwood. Michaella Miller, Yasmeen Almomani, Sharia Hoque
North South University (Bangladesh) Research Team: Ishrat Sultana, Tauhid Hossain Khan, Maria Maskura, Iffat Jahan, M.D. Moniruzzaman Khan
Advisory Committee
Canada
Jules Arntz-Gray, Director – Ontario Ministry of Labour, Occupational Health and Safety Branch, Training and Skills Development
Mary Gellatly – Community Legal Worker Group Lead, Parkdale Community Legal Services
Nathan Hautch – National Representative for OHS, Canadian Labour Congress
Sultana Jahangir – Executive Director, South Asian Women’s Rights Organisation (SAWRO)
Anindya Sen – Associate Director, Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute
Patrick Miller – Principal, Simcoe District School Board
Camille Williams-Taylor – Director, Durham District School Board
Noorin Manji – Co-Owner, Curriculum Creator & Instructor, Love of Language Tutoring Service (Mississauga Ontario)
Bangladesh
Neal Ahmed – Chair, Dhaka Education Board, Ministry of Education, Bangladesh
Mustafa Akhtar – Chair, Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Chittagong, Ministry of Education, Bangladesh
Jasmin Uddin Shikder – General Secretary, Bangladesh Secondary School Teachers’ Union, Bangladesh
Sarah Hossain – Honorary Executive Director, Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust
Imam Hossain – Labour Lawyer, Bangladesh Supreme Court
Nazrul Islam Khan – Secretary General, Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies
Jalal Uddin Sarker –Vice President, Government Secondary School Teacher Association, Bangladesh
Publications
Khan, T., MacEachen, E. (SRA), Sultana, I. Z., Hopwood, P., Whitson, J., Aurini, J., Premji, S., Miller, M., Almomani, Y. Effects of online teaching on teacher health: a critical interpretive review. Submitted to Safety and Health at Work on February 1, 2025.
Presentations
Ishrat Sultana, Ellen MacEachen, Tauhid Khan, Janice Aurini, Jennifer Whitson, Stephanie Premji, Iffat Jahan, Yasmeen Almomani, Pam Hopwood, and Michaella Miller. Impacts of Digital Teaching on Teachers’ Life in Bangladesh and Canada. CSA-SCS Annual Conference, 2025. June 1 – 13, 2025. Hybrid.
Hopwood, P., MacEachen, E., Sultana, I., Aurini, J., Whitson J., Premji, S., Khan, T.H., Almomani, Y., and Miller, M. Online teaching and occupational health: A meta ethnographic review of qualitative literature. Canadian Association of Research on Work and Health 2025 Conference. Ottawa, ON. June 2-4, 2025.
Miller, M., MacEachen, E., Sultana, I., Aurini, J., Whitson J., Premji, S., Hopwood, P., and Almomani, Y. Working online during the pandemic and beyond: How modality impacts occupational health of online teachers. Canadian Association of Research on Work and Health 2025 Conference. Ottawa, ON. June 2-4, 2025.
Almomani, Y., MacEachen, E., Sultana, I., Aurini, J., Whitson J., Premji, S., Hopwood, P., and Miller, M. Surveillance and online work: The case of parental involvement in online teaching. Canadian Association of Research on Work and Health 2025 Conference. Ottawa, ON. June 2-4, 2025.
Almomani, Y., MacEachen, E., Sultana, I., Aurini, J., Whitson J., Premji, S., Hopwood, P., and Miller, M. Exploring Inequities in Online Teaching: Social Transformations in a New Normal. BSA Annual Conference 2025: Social Transformations. April 23-25, 2025.
Khan, T.H., Sultana, I.Z., and MacEachen, E. Lack of Legal Framework Leaves School Teachers Vulnerable in Bangladesh: A Sociological Study. 10th International Integrative Research Conference on Governance in Society, Business and Environment, Feb. 23-24, 2025. Comilla, Bangladesh.
Almomani, Y., MacEachen, E, Hopwood, P., Whitson, J., Aurini, J., Premji, S., Miller, M., Hoque, S. Online teaching and privacy. Workers’ Health and Return to Work in a Changing World of Work, Ottawa, June 9-11, 2024.
MacEachen, E., Hopwood, P., Sultana, I., Whitson, J., Aurini, J., Premji, S., Khan, T. Technostress, privacy, and making connections: Work and health conditions for online teachers. International Congress on Occupational Health, April. 27-May 2, 2024. Marrakech, Morocco.
MacEachen, E. The Post-COVID Work-From-Home Phenomenon: Implications for Work, Health, and Rehabilitation. 8th International Conference on Work and Health, January 25-26, 2024. Olten, Switzerland.
MacEachen, E., Hopwood, P., Whitson J., Aurini, J., Premji, S., Miller, M., Almomani, Y., and Sultana, I. How do working conditions change for in-person versus digital work? The case of schoolteachers. European Journal of Public Health, 2024, 34(Suppl 3). DOI: 10.1093/eurpub/ckae144.2281.
MacEachen, E., Hopwood, P., Sultana, I., Whitson, J., Aurini, J., Premji, S., Khan, T. : Technostress, privacy, and making connections: Work and health conditions for online teachers. Employment and Society Conference, Glasgow, U.K., 13-15 September, 2023.