Homeschooling in Norway During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Unequal Opportunities and Little Digital Innovation

• In Event: Supporting K–12 Teaching and Learning With Online Resources and Tools

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced an unprecedented global shutdown of schools. We report on how school shutdown has affected the students in Grades 1–10 across Norway, where teachers in March 2020 were asked to perform all their teaching from home, through digital devices and remote teaching. Drawing on a national survey administered to parents (N = 4,642) about how digital homeschooling was organized, we have investigated what kind of educational opportunities students were offered during the period of remote teaching. Key findings are that digital homeschooling mostly consisted of students doing individual tasks, with limited support from their teachers, especially in the lowest grades. Despite good technological infrastructure, there was little real time teaching and collaboration.

Authors

• Cecilie Pedersen Dalland, OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University

• Marte Blikstad-Balas, University of Oslo

• Kirsti Klette, University of Oslo

• Astrid Roe, University of Oslo