Challenges of online teaching and adaptation strategies among Iranian female teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused the closure of traditional education (physical classroom) and the spread of virtual and online education. Considering the persistence of COVID-19 and the need to use online education alongside traditional education, it seems necessary to identify the challenges and problems teachers face. Hence, the present study aims to explore and analyze the challenges of female teachers at all levels of education in online teaching and strategies to adapt to it during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran. This qualitative research was conducted with an interpretative phenomenological approach among 40 female teachers selected by snowball sampling. Data collection was done with semi-structured interviews until data saturation was reached. Data analysis was carried out using the Colaizzi approach in MAXQDA-2018 software, and the Guba and Lincoln criteria were used to improve the quality of the findings. After analyzing the data, two main categories, 14 subcategories, and 133 initial codes were obtained: 1-Challenges and problems (access problems, increased costs, weakness of skills, loss of teachers' supervision and authority, challenge of preparing educational videos, threat to privacy of teachers, being under supervision, physical problems, not taking virtual education seriously, reduction of social support), 2-adaptation strategies (involving parents in the teaching and learning process, improving technological skills, solving access problems for underprivileged students, providing a place suitable for educational activities). The findings showed that female teachers experience many challenges in online and offline teaching and use unique strategies to reduce their effects and adapt to new conditions. Therefore, removing the obstacles of online teaching requires comprehensive attention at different levels of planning, decision-making, and policy-making.