Browsing by Author "Johansson, Joona"

Aims. Student’s participation is one of the most important aspects in primary school. Participation means that students’ views and opinions are being heard and considered, and that they have a say in matters concerning them. Students should also be involved in matters and choices in their schools. Student participation should be encouraged and supported. Student’s participation has been researched in regular classroom setting but not in distance education. Due to the Covid-19 situation in March 2020 schools were closed and studying in classrooms changed to distance learning at homes. The aim of this study is to research teachers’ views on student participation in distance education. Harry Shier’s and Johanna Kiili’s theories of children and student participation are being used in this study. Methods. This study is a qualitative research made with the theory-based analysis of the content method. The research data was collected from teachers who participated in distance teaching during school years ¬2019–2020 and 2020–2021. The data was collected from February to April in 2021 using e-forms, which asked teachers to describe their views on student participation during distance education. 19 teachers participated in this study. Results and conclusions. The participation in distance education did not differ much from classroom learning. Teacher’s saw the importance of taking student’s views into account and their freedom to make choices during both distance learning and classroom learning. The sense of community in participation was decreased during distance education. The use of information and communication technology provided new ways to participate. The students who were less likely to speak in classroom had more chances to have their voice heard during distance education. There were different kinds of learning environments for students during distance education since studying did not happen in classrooms. Those students’ who were self-determined were able to benefit from the participation in distance education. Those who needed more support during studying faced more challenges during distance education. The teachers utilized their knowledge and information about their students in different ways during distance education.