The Intensified Academy: A Pre-Post Pandemic Analysis Of Workload Redistribution And Well-being Among Higher Secondary Teaching Faculty In Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu

The global COVID-19 pandemic catalysed an unprecedented and involuntary transition of education from traditional classrooms to digital platforms, profoundly transforming the landscape of academic labour. This dissertation examines the lasting ramifications of this transformation on both the workload and subjective well-being of higher secondary school faculty in Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu a region representative of India's semi-urban educational milieu. Utilizing a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach, the research commenced with the collection of quantitative data from 327 teachers through a stratified random sampling survey, which assessed multiple facets of workload (instructional, administrative, digital, emotional) alongside well-being indicators. Subsequently, qualitative insights were garnered via phenomenological interviews with 24 purposefully selected participants to elucidate their lived experiences in depth. The findings reveal a pronounced post-pandemic intensification and reconfiguration of academic labour, not only in terms of increased working hours but also through a qualitative broadening of responsibilities, encompassing digital content curation, continuous online communication heightened emotional labour. Importantly, this restructuring has significantly blurred conventional work-life boundaries, precipitating notable declines in faculty well-being and elevating the risk of burnout. Although institutions demonstrated resilience, this was often achieved at considerable personal cost to teachers, with the burden unevenly distributed along lines of gender and school type. The study ultimately contends that the post-pandemic educational milieu constitutes a regime of intensified academic workload. It advocates for urgent policy measures that extend beyond mere technological integration to holistically address the work ecology of teachers, positioning faculty well-being as a core determinant of both educational quality and sustainable institutional resilience.