How do teachers feel about work after preschools reopened during the COVID-19? Evidence from China

As the threat of COVID-19 recedes, China has entered a new phase of pandemic prevention and control and preschools have resumed offline education. This study examined 1,553 Chinese preschool teachers' work experiences, data for whom were collected since the new pandemic prevention and control measures were implemented in China. All preschool teachers experienced work challenges during the post-epidemic era. The direct relationship between work overload and job satisfaction was non-significant. Both work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict played indirect roles between work overload and job satisfaction. The findings contribute to an understanding of the preschool teachers' work-related lived experiences during the current era of pandemic prevention and control. This highlights the need for interventions that can improve preschool teachers' job satisfaction in view of the standardised pandemic prevention and control protocols.