Barriers to implementation of distance learning during the COVID-19 outbreak: Teacher perspective
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, distance learning has become one of the main educational issues globally. With the transition of all instruction to the online environment, teachers in Serbia have faced a number of challenges and barriers that have affected the quality of t...
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Published in | Zbornik Instituta za pedagoška istraživanja Vol. 53; no. 1; pp. 7 - 66 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Institute for Educational Research, Belgrade
2021
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, distance learning
has become one of the main educational issues globally. With the transition
of all instruction to the online environment, teachers in Serbia have faced
a number of challenges and barriers that have affected the quality of their
work. In this paper, we wanted to analyse the barriers that teachers faced
during the first months of distance learning. The research was conducted
combining quantitative and qualitative analysis of data collected on a
sample of 122 high school teachers from the Southeast Serbia (Nis,
Leskovac). The results show that teachers recognise evaluation barriers as
the predominant ones, followed by organisational-administrative ones, while
the least represented were material-technical barriers to distance learning.
The findings also confirm that material and technical barriers are most
common among teachers with the longest work experience, as well as that
organisational-administrative and socio-emotional barriers are the least
common among teachers of vocational subjects. Although the focus of the
paper was on the barriers in the implementation of distance learning, it can
be concluded that teachers recognise certain benefits of this type of
instruction and indicate that it can be used as a supplement to regular
instruction. The main pedagogical implications of the paper refer to the
empowerment of teachers through professional development in the field of
distance learning, but also to the need to create new professional
development programmes in this field which will enable the development of
functional knowledge and relevant competencies for the immediate situational
context of modern instruction. |
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ISSN: | 0579-6431 1820-9270 |
DOI: | 10.2298/ZIPI2101007J |