Understanding the mechanisms of the relationship between work and family becomes essential due to the evolution of society and the structure and functioning of work and families. Studying teachers, in particular, the conflict between work and family is very important since this profession has characteristics that give rise to it.

This study’s aim was to identify and characterize the work-family relationship mechanisms of basic education school teachers, understanding whether there are differences according to sex, age, having children, teaching level, and type of educational institution of the teachers. We also intended to understand the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the work-family relationship and what were the positive and negative influences of this pandemic perceived by teachers.

A mixed methodology was used, and the data was collected through a questionnaire made available online. Participated 334 teachers (265 women and 63 men) in the 1st, 2nd, and/or 3rd Cycle of Basic Education in Public Education and/or in Private and Cooperative Education in Portugal, aged between 22 and 66.

It was concluded that teachers experience work-family conflict (WFC), namely WFC based on time and tension, and difficulties in the segmentation between professional and family roles. The work-family relationship was negatively influenced by the pandemic of COVID-19, but both positive and negative influences of the pandemic on the work-family relationships were identified. The sex of teachers and the type of education in which they teach influenced work-family relationships, with women and public education teachers reporting statistically significantly higher WFC values. No statistically significant differences were found in the WFC considering the factors of age, having children, and teaching levels (1st, 2nd, and 3rd Cycle of Basic Education).

This study allowed us to explore the complex relationship between work and family and leaves us with very interesting clues for future work in this field.