Online Home Schooling: Are Parents Ready? Lessons from the Corona Virus Disease Induced Lock Down

Abstract

The outbreak of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) in China around December 2019 led to the premature closure of schools globally. This was done to ensure reduced transmission of the disease. Due to the indefinite level two lockdown in Zimbabwe, schools remain closed. This has led to online home schooling, where schools send work to parents who conduct and monitor the lessons on their behalf. This study sought to find out the experiences and readiness of parents in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe, who were expected to conduct lessons online. The study which is situated in the interpretive paradigm and qualitative approach collected data from ten purposively selected parents as key informants. Qualitative data was collected using emailed open-ended questionnaires in compliance with COVID-19 regulations. Results revealed that parents found it difficult to conduct online lessons due to costly data, lack of expert knowledge and teaching pedagogy, unclear instructions from teachers, unavailable or shared gadgets at home and poor internet connectivity. Schools were also said to be piling up work, disregarding parents’ other responsibilities. Conclusions drawn were that most of the parents were not ready for online home schooling although they perceived the exercise to be beneficial. Recommendations were that schools should conduct training sessions for staff and parents, have formal feedback sessions and exercise flexibility for execution and submission of work and continue online lessons post COVID-19. Further research could be conducted to find out learners’ perceptions of online home schooling.

Perceptions of Teachers and Learners on the Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown on Rural Secondary School Female Learners in Matobo District, Zimbabwe

“…The results showed that teachers chose WhatsApp platform because it was cost effective, and most learners had access to WhatsApp platform either using their own phones or parents' phones. This finding is in agreement with studies conducted in Kosovo and Zimbabwe by Duraku, and Hoxha, (2020) and Nani and Sibanda (2020) respectively, which indicated that WhatsApp was one of the platforms used to teach learns online.…”

“…However, it came out that some of the learners were using the parents' phones hence at times they would not participate if parents were using the phones. The findings are in line with what was found by Nani and Sibanda (2020) in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province that one of the prohibitive constraints which hindered effective implementation of online home schooling was sharing of online devices by family members. The results showed that teachers chose WhatsApp platform because it was cost effective, and most learners had access to WhatsApp platform either using their own phones or parents' phones.…”

“…As mitigating measures, the governments globally, introduced remote learning using various modes of communication which included broadcast technology, that is, radio and television, and online learning programmes were availed to assist learners at all levels of education (UNHCR, 2020). Studies conducted in Kosovo and Zimbabwe by Duraku, and Hoxha, (2020) and Nani and Sibanda (2020) respectively, revealed that online learning platforms such as WhatsApp, Ruzivo, Google Classroom, Google Meet, Zoom, YouTube, Viber and Microsoft Teams were used in delivering lessons. Furthermore, the World Bank (2020) acknowledges that countries like Spain are engaging teachers in the preparation of online content and offering online classes.…”

Co budeme dělat zítra? Pokusíme se přežít! Vzdělávání doma v době koronavirové pandemie z perspektivy matek

“…V průběhu distančního vzdělávání se museli, jak konstatuje Di Pietro et al (2020), žáci potýkat se změnami ve způsobech interakce a se snižující se motivací. I tak někteří rodiče kvitovali distanční výuku jako něco, co dětem dodává v nejistých časech disciplínu a řád (Nani & Sibanda, 2020).…”

“…Poskytovali jim technickou pomoc při realizaci online výuky. Přenesení výuky do tohoto prostředí se stalo pro některé rodiny výzvou: ve smyslu digitální vybavenosti domácnosti, komplikací v podobě slabého internetového připojení, vysokých cen dat či vlastních digitálních kompetencí rodičů (Nani & Sibanda, 2020).…”