Young peoples’ voices and experiences of school closures during COVID - A European perspective

• In Event: Challenges to inclusion - a global survey

Proposal

The recent transition to online learning thrust upon education by the COVID-19 pandemic has been as rapid as it has been impressive (Osorio-Saez, 2021). Developments which would previously have taken years to plan and execute have been carried out in record time (Selwyn & Jandrić, 2020). There has been a considerable amount of digital acceleration in educational institutions across the globe and in Europe. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to create disruptions in all aspects of daily life including education. Schools are being urged to re-organise teaching and learning, especially during periods of school closures. Simultaneously teachers and teacher educators we are urged to prepare for future pandemic scenarios. Against this background, this paper presents some tentative results from qualitative research focusing on children and young peoples’ use and attitudes towards ICT in education in the context of five European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, which engages with the conference theme focusing on Tectonic shifts – adapting to trauma in the moment in which we attempt to highlight the voices of students involved in education during COVID-19.

The study is a part of a large-scale European Horizon 2020 research project focusing on understanding the impact of technological transformations on the Digital Generation (DigiGen). The larger project aims to uncover both harmful and beneficial effects of technology in the everyday lives of children and young people. This includes a focus on educational institutions, the home, leisure time and children and young people’s civic participation. The data in this paper includes interviews with children and young people attending the first or second school year after transition between the ages of 10-16. The sample is composed of 26 school-aged children and young people across the five European countries Estonia, Germany, Greece, Norway and Romania. Central themes addressed in the interviews included in this paper are as follows: (1) The use of ICT in education as well as threats and risk in terms of ICT use, (2) children and young people’s estimation of teachers’ skills and willingness to use ICT, (3) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of ICT in educational contexts and (4) wishes children and young people have when it comes to the use of ICT in education.

Furthermore, following the approach of collaborative ethnography children and young people are involved in our research as co-researchers and experts. Thus, the findings from this exploratory study serve to pilot and further develop and adapt the interview instruments for the main survey, which took place in the latter part of 2021. However, this paper is primarily intended to provide insights into children’s and young people’s experiences and reflections and will not particularly discuss the development of interview items.

Method
Following a phenomenological approach that allows researchers to explore the participants’ experiences and views (Creswell, 2013; Patton, 2002), semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore the experiences and views of individual participants on the topic of ICT in education facing the challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Key preparation in the study relates to the interview guideline jointly designed by researchers from all five participating countries, including main themes and questions to be addressed during the semi-structured interview. In all five European countries, the interviews with children and young people were conducted by researchers of the DigiGen Project during the period from November 2020 to February 2021 and again a new round of interviews were conducted in May 2021 to November 2021. The interviews were conducted in the respective national languages and subsequently translated into English. Implementation formats varied according to country-specific pandemic developments and the associated constraints. While in some countries it was still possible to conduct interviews in person using distancing and hygiene masks, in other countries it was no longer feasible due to the COVID-19 developments, and a digital alternative of virtual meetings was adopted. Considering the significant impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the implementation of qualitative educational research, the paper also provides some insights into the challenges faced in the individual participating countries.

In the semi-structured interviews conducted with children and young people across Europe, participants gave descriptive accounts of their own ICT devices at home and those provided by their schools, as well as the applications and software used. A broad picture is given of how ICT is integrated into teaching and learning during the pandemic period in different countries. Various benefits as well as challenges and risks of ICT use, also referring to wellbeing, emerged from the interview data as more flexibility on the one hand, along with greater responsibility that was perceived as stressful on the other hand. Children and young people across Europe not only describe their own experience of using ICT, but also express their views on how motivated and willing their teachers were to integrate ICT into teaching, as well as on how digitally competent teachers appear to be. In this context, results are presented illustrating the support situation during the pandemic, referring to support in technical issues as well as learning issues in general. In that regard, a particular need for parental involvement emerged, but equally vital was the support of teachers, who are facing new challenges, along with support among peers.

Overall, the study strengthens the notion that children and young people in Europe face different challenges in terms of ICT use in education during the pandemic period, however, progress has been observed in all participating countries. Children and young people in all countries have voiced their wishes to among other things include easy access to digital devices and especially the internet for everyone, as well as the desire for teachers to be more digitally competent, once again highlighting existing challenges of varying degrees in some countries clearly perceived by children and young people.

Authors

• Halla B Holmarsdottir, Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet)

• Greta Björk Gudmundsdottir, University of Oslo