Educação básica e pandemia. Um estudo sobre as perceções dos professores na realidade portuguesa

Abstract

Starting from the political options in education in Ibero-America, this article focuses on the analysis of measures taken in Portugal in order to respond to the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic. From the theoretical-conceptual analysis we highlight the systematic use of online education and the effects that accentuate an educational reality discernable by inequality and exclusion. Based on quantitative empirical study, of quantitative, through the implementation of a questionnaire to teachers of basic education (n=280), data characterizing two distinct phases are presented: the closure of schools with the emergence of the pandemic; the return to face-to-face teaching, from the moment when the pandemic was already under control. The empirical data show that teachers emphasize that online learning leads to inequalities among students and contributes to reduced learning, and that teachers have embraced the innovative measures introduced by digital technologies. Teachers reveal a certain skepticism regarding the social valorization of the teaching profession and the school. As a challenge for the post-Covid-19 curriculum, the importance of education for citizenship, organized in the school according to the search for answers to global and local problems, is highlighted.

Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning in Portugal: Preschool to Secondary School Teachers’ Perceptions

“…During the COVID-19 crisis, the government followed a mostly decentralized approach, which allowed more autonomy in adjusting their practices to their specific contexts without having to rely on generic and in some cases unproven guidelines, and allowing schools to develop bottom-up projects. However, this relative lack of guidance seems to have led to difficulties in coordinating the educational response, at least in some schools-the discrepancies at this level may result in additional inequity of students [26].…”

“…The major difficulty perceived by Portuguese teachers, however, relates to poor infrastructure (quality and availability of the internet, hardware, software) and the lack of digital competences. The first is seen as affecting access and equity in education, thus hindering its social role [26].…”

“…Phase 1: Rapid transition to remote teaching and learning corresponded to the first effort by institutions to ensure that activities planned for face-to-face teaching would be transferred online over the course of four weeks. Authors have described this phase as having a predominance of synchronous video communication [14,35], a phenomenon that has been referred to as "zoomism" [26,28]. This phase was characterized by the concern with making sure students had some access to education without the time to consider the details.…”

“…Approximately one month after the schools' closing (20 April 2020), the television program "Study at Home" was launched, allowing even the most isolated students to access relevant educational content, regardless of difficulties in accessing a computer and broadband internet. Other measures aimed at balancing the concerns about equity [26,38] with matters of academic integrity [35] were: (i) the suspension of all national exams for basic education (2nd, 5th, 8th, and 9th grades) and (ii) the suspension of all teaching activity during the third term (14 April to 26 June) except for older students (11th and 12th grades), who returned to face-to-face school on 18 May 2020 but only for the subjects for which they would be required to perform a national exam in order to apply to higher education.…”

“…This novel situation has deservedly received attention from many scholars across the globe (for example, [6,17,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26]), which is particularly relevant given the fact that the pandemic did not impact every country in the same ways or at the same time, and there were different approaches to how governments dealt with the situation, as well as different social economic and cultural conditions, giving rise to context specificities that should be recognized and addressed by educational research. While some studies or theoretical reflections from the Portuguese context have been published [12,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34], a qualitative study into teachers' perspectives on ERTL, focusing on their initial responses to the first lockdown and teachers from preschool to secondary education, has still not been published.…”