Portuguese Primary and Secondary Education in Times of COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study on Teacher Training and Challenges

Abstract

The discussion about the use of digital technologies in education is not new. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the total closure of schools around the world, that forced millions of students to attend their classes from home, has demonstrated the importance of this discussion. It has highlighted the need to revisit debates about the interactions between technology and education, and the added value of digital resources to enhance the educational process. This article, based on an exploratory analysis, aims to understand how the transition from face-to-face to digital was accomplished in Portuguese primary and secondary education, namely regarding teacher training and the difficulties experienced during the emergency remote education period. The data analysed in this article were collected through an online questionnaire, disseminated through online social networks, and answered by 136 Portuguese primary and secondary education teachers. The questions focused on this article were open-ended, and the information collected was analysed using content analysis methodology. The results show how teachers have been forced to modify their pedagogical work, the importance of training, and the inherent challenges and critical reflections associated with the process, as well as the opportunities presented in a post-pandemic educational reality.

Desarrollo Profesional Docente más allá de la pandemia: Un estudio Delphi sobre el potencial del concepto de ecologías de aprendizaje

“…Y como mayores inconvenientes, el consumo de tiempo que conlleva la búsqueda de recursos y la participación en formaciones que a veces no se traducen en ninguna mejora por qué no se llegan a transferir, o bien la no consolidación de algunas innovaciones o prácticas llevadas a cabo debido a cambios constantes y poco anclados. Ello también fue identificado, y muy fuertemente, como factor de estrés e incluso burnout por el profesorado involucrado en encontrar soluciones rápidas sin un adecuado conocimiento de contexto (Henriques et al, 2021;Greenhow et al, 2021).…”

“…Sin embargo, la mayoría de los estudios sobre ecologías de aprendizaje intentan analizar experiencias y prácticas continuas, con pocas aplicaciones que apoyen estrategias para el desarrollo profesional (Sangrà et al, 2019). Además, en un contexto de post-pandemia y de vuelta a una «nueva normalidad» que implica un uso intensivo de las tecnologías en escenarios «hyflex» (híbridos y flexibles), es evidente que promover un desarrollo profesional altamente ligado al contexto y orientado por el mismo docente de manera activa, resulta fundamental (Rehm et.al, 2021;Henriques et al, 2021). Por lo tanto, y considerando el debate en curso sobre la necesidad de mejorar la efectividad del desarrollo profesional de los docentes, parece particularmente apropiado investigar sus principales ecologías para el aprendizaje permanente.…”

Influence of Virtual Professional Development on Teachers' Online Classroom Management Practices: An Interview Study

“…Short courses and training collaterally aligned with contemporary trends tend to have been promoting abilities in teachers that are significant while operating in such unprecedented times as COVID-19 (Whalen, 2020). However, the sudden transition of the entire education setup underpins the grey areas of teachers' education programs regarding the development of their digital competencies across the globe (Henriques, Correia, & Dias-Trindade, 2021).…”

“…Many countries have reportedly used webinar-based training to supplement educators' competencies and in enhancing their virtual pedagogies to cope with the absence of face-to-face learning (Toquero & Talidong, 2020). All these efforts have progressively contributed to the pedagogical prowess of teachers during the digital transition (Henriques et al, 2021).…”

Psychometric Properties (Measurement Invariance and Latent Mean Difference across Gender) of the Learning Transfer Inventory System (LTIS) to Assess Thai Teachers’ Learning Transfer of COVID-19 Prevention Guidance in the Classroom

“…Although health guidance trainings have the potential to scale up teachers’ ability to prevent virus contamination in school [ 7 , 8 ], much less research has investigated factors that exhibit or inhibited such abilities to transfer in the classroom setting because of a lack of a better learning transfer assessment tool [ 9 , 10 ]. Past measurements of the scale of learning transfer were found to contain some flaws due to their inability to identify and evaluate all possible factors that influence learning and learning transfer both during training program itself and at the workplace [ 11 ] Further, in an epidemic situation, the lack of a cross-culturally valid tool to quantify learning transfer predictors has been the biggest impediment to health educators, school administrators, and government official to harmonizing strategies and replicating good practices [ 12 ].…”