industry & reform
It is imperative that policymakers reflect on teachers ’ voices and experiences .
Hard lessons
Teachers ’ ‘ lived experience ’ of switching to online learning during the pandemic .
By Wade Zaglas
An international team of academics has published research examining how teachers experienced the swift transition to online learning as COVID-19 impacted face-to-face learning across the world .
The team , which comprised researchers from Australia , New Zealand , the US and Singapore , was led by Associate Professor Louise Phillips of Southern Cross University .
“ We wanted to understand what the lived experience actually looked like for teachers ,” Phillips said . What were the issues they struggled with ? What supports would ’ ve helped ?
“ For states like NSW , where they are already anticipating a shortfall of 2,425 teachers by 2025 , it is particularly important that we understand how teachers experienced this transition . If we understand the impact , we are more able to help address the issues , and hopefully retain more teachers in the system .
“ Our research has shown that this has been an incredibly tough period for our teachers . It is imperative that policymakers reflect on teachers ’ voices and experiences .”
THE STUDY AND FINDINGS The research team developed a survey consisting of 22 questions to better understand teachers ’ experiences . Six of the questions were demographic , while the other 16 provided participants with the opportunity to respond in a range of ways .
Survey responses from 624 participants were received , with almost half ( 43.5 per cent ) from teachers who had been practising for more than 21 years . The most common issues cited by the teachers were :
• the shift to online teaching and related technology issues
• maintaining connectivity with students and families
• concerns about the quality of teaching they were providing . “ Teachers were suddenly expected to be digital learning designers and facilitators ,” the authors state . They add that the move to remote learning was labour-intensive for many teachers , as highlighted in the following response :
“ Although I am getting paid for three days of work , I need to work five days in order to prepare the online lessons , make sure students are supported , email students , and make the videos ,” one teacher said .
Another mentioned that downtime was virtually non-existent , and they received little support .
“ Parents are emailing constantly looking for extra support in delivering content , the media and the court of public opinion are attacking teachers as lazy and selfish while they work all day to produce resources , supervise essential worker ’ s children , respond to parent and student emails , mark student work AND manage their own families through this crisis .”
Study participants reported that equity issues relating to devices and connectivity further complicated online learning . The authors also note that the Australian government spent 1.8 per cent of GDP on education in recent years compared to the world average of 4.429 per cent .
“ The reality is that some children have missed incredibly large chunks of faceto-face learning , and there will be costs associated with making sure these kids are where they need to be .
“ Governments , both in Australia and abroad , are going to need to ensure they make that funding available if they want these students to transition smoothly .”
The study also revealed that the pace of the shift to online learning , coupled with the types of information teachers received , “ were not necessarily conducive to supporting teachers ”.
“ The reality is that there was too much of it , un-curated , and teachers didn ’ t really know where to go for support and guidance ,” Phillips added .
“ Some teachers were trying to work out how to engage their students in homes where devices were shared , or there wasn ’ t enough data for all the family to be operating online ,” Phillips stated .
“ It was very clear from the responses that teachers felt lost in how to help those students .”
THE ‘ BUSINESS OF TEACHING ’ AND THE FUTURE “ Teachers also responded that it was incredibly hard to do the actual business of teaching ,” the lead author said .
“ They struggled to connect in the online environment , and many reported that it was only by moving to online that they realised how much of their practice was informed by body language . Keeping the attention of their students , and proper monitoring of engagement were particularly difficult .”
The research team argues that the impact of the pandemic on the future of the teaching profession needs “ serious strategic consideration ”.
“ We were already facing a teacher shortage in Australia – we need to listen to the voices of our teachers to ensure that shortage isn ’ t compounded by the challenges they ’ ve faced while keeping our students engaged and up-to-date .” ■
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