Teaching with technology during the pandemic: A global survey of teachers’ experiences

• In Event: Emerging trends in the use of technology for teacher professional development in low- and middle-income countries.

Proposal

Government responses to the coronavirus pandemic caused significant disruptions to children’s education globally; schools were closed for long periods from early 2020, with restrictions and lockdowns continuing well into 2021. Emerging research reports indicate that the pre-existing district/regional/national and urban/rural digital divides in technology access have been exacerbated through the rapidly increased emphasis on use of digital tools and media for remote/hybrid teaching and learning (⇡Dreesen et al., 2020; ⇡Vegas, 2020). The pandemic has also rapidly escalated the need to offer teachers support with digital pedagogical strategies and mental wellness (⇡Crompton et al., 2021). However, appropriate training has often not been available (⇡Vegas, 2020).

This presentation reports on a global survey carried out in April-May 2021, with the objective of assessing the impact of the pandemic on school teachers and learners, focusing on: (a) access to and use of technology for teaching and learning, (b) learning losses during the pandemic, and (c) teacher professional development (TPD) experiences and needs. The survey provides timely information about teachers’ perspectives on what has been learned to guide us in moving forward.

The online survey was distributed in 18 languages. Our analysis is based on 20,679 responses from 165 countries, making it the largest survey of its kind. East Asia and Pacific, and South Asia, were the largest regional groups represented. The majority (almost three quarters) of respondents were from publicly-funded schools. The responses are broken down by contextual factors including regional and urban/rural/other locations, type of school, and level of teaching experience.

Highlights from the findings include:
- More than half said insufficient internet access and hardware hindered their schools’ provision of high quality instruction during the peak pandemic year;
- Low-cost private schools offered less access to digital tools than government and other schools;
- Mathematics teachers were least likely to use digital tools;
- Technology was under-used for assessing learning.

A positive finding was that 42% of teachers spent more than 10 days undertaking TPD during the previous year, more than the usual annual OECD country average. Around half had TPD focused on using technology tools for remote teaching and learning, and on related pedagogical strategies. Over half prioritised the need for more PD in these areas though – above other potential needs including general pedagogy and teacher wellbeing (although wellbeing of many had suffered). Teachers also wanted schools to focus on supporting learners’ self-regulation, practice and reflection, rather than solely on direct instruction.

The weight of over 20,000 teachers’ voices poses a call for action that speaks for all and sends clear, practical messages to policymakers, school leaders, TPD designers, teacher educators and others concerning how to support our teachers of the next generation of students. We look forward to hearing the perspectives of those stakeholders and conference attendees concerning how the survey findings relate to their own contexts (the dataset is available for country-specific or other analyses), and discussing how we can collectively address the agenda laid down for the future.

Authors

• Saalim Koomar, EdTech Hub

• Sara Hennessy, University of Cambridge

• Asma Zubairi, EdTech Hub

• Adam Kreimeia, EdTech Hub