Digital Education without Protection? Unpacking Policy Gaps between Remote Working Expansion and Academic Staff Well-Being in Higher Education Institutions in Tanzania

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the mismatch between digital education policies and the well-being of academic staff in the lived realities of remote work as it expands in higher education institutions in Tanzania. Although these policies seek to improve access, flexibility, and continuity, they often overlook hidden workload, psychosocial pressures, and the wider human costs of digital academic work. Guided by the Job Demands–Resources (JD–R) Theory and supported by Self-Determination Theory (SDT), the study uses a PRISMA 2020-informed systematic review of 35 papers from Scopus, ERIC, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online, together with selected national and institutional policy documents, reports, and related publications, including the National ICT Policy (Tanzania), the Tanzania Education and Training Policy, institutional digital learning guidelines, and the TCU Guidelines for Online and Blended Delivery Modes of Courses for University Institutions in Tanzania of 2022. Sources were selected using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and were analysed thematically. The findings reveal a clear mismatch between policy priorities and academic staff well-being, as policies emphasise technological adoption, access, and efficiency while underestimating invisible labour, workload intensification, technostress, and work–life boundary erosion. The study concludes that digital education policies in Tanzania remain insufficiently aligned with staff well-being and calls for more human-centred frameworks that integrate workload regulation, psychosocial support, and recognition of digital academic labour to improve the sustainability and effectiveness of higher education. The study is significant because it shifts thinking by showing that job demands, resources, and well-being are shaped not only by how work is designed, but also by the policies that guide it. It highlights that without workload-sensitive, human-centred policies, remote work can put more pressure on academic staff rather than supporting their well-being.