Browsing by Subject "covid-19"

In the spring of 2020, primary school students were transferred to distance education for health safety reasons. Distance education environments were set up from a wide variety of teachers’ and schools’ starting points at the expense of equality. The need for design-based research on IT-mediated teaching expanded from adult education environments to primary school, where the importance of self-determination was emphasized. The purpose of the study was to form recommendations for the primary school distance education provider by looking at the experiences of the guardians. For the description of distance education arrangements during the 2020 state of emergency this is a case study, and a design research for the development of distance education recommendations. The foundations for the thematic analysis was the theoretical distance education description by Simonson and Seepersaud (2019). The secondary data was received from an extensive national distance education and well-being project. 526 Helsinki-based guardians’ multi-perspective open text form responses were demarcated for examination. In the phenomenographic research method, experiences of the guardians were summarised using quantification. Recommendations for teachers, education organisers and guardians were formed through interpretation of the data. The perspective of guardians was well suited for the educational design research. According to the results, the most challenging situation in distance education was caused by weak selfdeter-mination of primary school aged children, which was best supported with the help of the teacher, if not the pupils’ own parent. Inequality was highlighted both in the quantity and quality of teaching provided by the teacher and in the home's ability to support the child. Surprisingly, the results described the normal conditions of modern school as a scene of noise, fears, bullying, stress and strain. About 10 % of guardians described distance education as a better learning environment for their child compared to normal conditions. As a guideline based on the design research, it is recommended that the primary school teacher provides daily support and assessment for the pupil, instructions available to the pupil, contact at home - but flexibly to case-by-case and depending on the teacher's competence, and continually developing one's own work.

Aim. The aim of the study was to examine teacher’s perceptions of a smooth transition from pre-school to school during the covid-19 pandemic. The aim was also to examine especially how the cooperation between the pre-school and school has been during the pandemic. Previous research has shown that the transition from pre-school to school is a very critical and vulnerable stage in a child’s life. At the same time we know that everyday life has been very different due to the pandemic. In addition, the ecological theory highlights that the surrounding environment is meaningful for the child’s experience of the transition. Previous research about cross-sectoral relationships in turn illustrate the importance of the cooperation and connections between pre-school and school. This study therefore examines teachers perceptions of working towards a smooth transition from pre-school to grade one during the covid-19 pandemic. In addition, the study examines teachers perceptions of the cooperation between the pre-school and school concerning the transition, during the covid-19 pandemic. Methods. The data has been collected with semi structured interviews with five teachers, two pre-school teachers and three classroom teachers. The interviews have been analyzed by a thematic model. Results and conclusions. The perceptions of the transition are many and varying. Some experience that the changes and challenges haven’t been so vast, when others express that the pandemic has had an impact. Five themes were identified as significant for the smoothness of the transition. It appears that the role of the school and the contact with the caregivers have suffered the most due to the pandemic. The teachers however seem to have a more similar view regarding perceptions about the cooperation. Four themes were identified as significant. There has been less cooperation and the physical restrictions have especially had an impact on the joint activities with the children. By using alternative working methods the teachers have tried to compensate the loss. The cooperation between the staff has been quite similar. The results confirms the ecological perspective on transitions. The fact that it is work on many levels that is required for a successful transition has perhaps become clearer during the pandemic, when these different structures have been restricted and challenged in different ways.