The Impact of Remote Teaching on Teachers’ Pedagogical Insight

Abstract

This study explores insights on teaching and learning formed by International Baccalaureate educators, following remote teaching experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study focusses specifically on insights that have served to enhance pedagogical beliefs and practices, following the return to a physical learning environment. Ten international teachers, stemming from a range of countries, participated in the study, at this private international school context in the Netherlands. They taught at different levels, from Early Childhood to the IB Diploma Programme, using approaches-toteaching that include inquiry, global concepts, and disciplinary and transdisciplinary understanding. Educational technology was extensively embedded in the context prior to the pandemic. The study is qualitative in nature, involving semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. The resulting themes highlight the importance of the intangible aspects of teaching and learning, including an emphasis on human presence, connection, trust, empathy, and wellbeing. Additional insights include increased awareness of the value of adaptability, creativity, acceptance, balance, community-building rituals, collaboration, inclusion, and the potential of immersive technologies for teaching and learning. In addition, the importance of student and teacher wellbeing arose as an integrated theme. General technology use did not figure significantly in the themes, due, in part, to the embedded nature of collaborative online software prior to the pandemic. Overall, teachers felt that the remote teaching experiences served to enhance their practice, and they indicated increased gratitude and interest in aspects of classroom-based teaching and learning that they felt they had taken for granted previously.