Distance learning in Primary Education in Greece in the midst of COVID-19

Abstract

The present study aims at probing the views of primary school educators on the use of distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in Greece. The survey registers the problems encountered by the educators due to their insufficient training in online teaching, the lack of equipment that they and their pupils faced, and technical problems when connecting to the distance-learning platform. The paper also describes the educators’ observations regarding the effectiveness of the learning process in terms of the degree of pupil participation, the percentage of material covered, and homework assignments. Furthermore, they present their experience in connection to the role that parents played in online teaching and their communication with them. Finally, they express their views on whether and how it might be possible to implement the learning process differently during the period of mandatory school shut-down because of the pandemic.