Teachers’ response to the sudden shift to online learning during COVID-19 pandemic : implications for policy and practice

Abstract

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the eventual closing of schools in March 2020 throughout the world caused major disruptions to the educational experience of all learners. Teaching and learning began to be organised and delivered from within the homes of educators. With little time to prepare and make the necessary arrangements to transfer devices from schools to teachers’ homes, technological investment financed over several years remained largely idle behind the closed doors of school buildings. This paper looks at the experiences of teachers in primary and secondary schools in Malta as they rapidly shifted their work to online modes of teaching and learning during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Data gathered through an online questionnaire captured the views of 407 Maltese educators, working with learners aged five to sixteen years. Through a series of open and closed-ended questions, interesting data was yielded on the approaches they were adopting to deliver learning. Findings indicate teachers used both real time and asynchronous approaches. Benefits and disadvantages of both systems emerged from their responses. Rich insights into the challenges educators faced with both modes of remote online instruction are outlined. Maltese teachers’ voices on the support they received from their leaders and school authorities, and the ways they kept track of learning and learners during the times of COVID-19 are presented. The implications of how teachers and schools responded to the emergency shift to technology-mediated schooling, the influence of previous investment and training in the use of digital technologies and the impact on learners and learning are also explored.