Assessing Financial Freedom among Teachers in the New Normal

Abstract

Financial freedom is a status that all individuals aspire. Being such entails a state of being unconcerned with finances since a person believes that he or she has got it covered. Mindful of the adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the financial well-being of employees in practically every business, the said crisis has increased stress in a wide range of situations for teachers knowing that they nevertheless paid less than comparable professionals. The purpose of this study was to determine how teachers perceive their financial freedom in the new normal. To achieve, the researchers employed a qualitative-phenomenological approach to explore the reality in an in-depth manner. The use of a qualitative research design, on the one hand, allowed the researchers to properly consider the narratives which came from the personal lives of the chosen participants for this study. On the other hand, phenomenological approach in qualitative research was utilized for the exploration of the phenomenon. Through the utilization of this approach, the researcher was able to fully grasp the realities faced by the participants of this study. Twenty participants were chosen purposively to guarantee that they would provide the most substantial data. In-depth interviews were conducted and the participants’ responses were transcribed. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the bulk of data and organize theme to bring to light the most emergent theme. Results showed that the teachers had dissimilar financial situations since some of them said that they were financially challenged, some became more financially concerned, while others said that they were financially stable during the pandemic. Also, the pandemic setting made teachers to realize the need to observe financial judiciousness through the realization of the essentiality of financial sensibility and the necessity of financial austerity. Further, the teachers were able to gain significant insights such as the need to prioritize financial stability through well-managed finances, financial control, and financial integrity.