Abstract:

Probably no one was sufficiently prepared for the situation brought about by the pandemic. Primary and secondary schools in Slovakia were closed from 16th March 2020 till 1st June 2020. A completely new non-standard social situation arose. From the beginning, schools flooded children with homework from all subjects. They were often forced to do so by school leaders who pursued their formal goals. The first two weeks represented a very slow and uncoordinated start of distance education, as this type of education in primary and secondary schools does not occur under normal conditions at all.

The aim of the article is to analyse the situation in regional education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovakia and to draw attention to its specifics. In the first part of the analysis, we focused on the numbers of schools, pupils and students who stayed at home. Furthermore, we analysed data on the possibility of connecting households to the Internet. We carried out a questionnaire survey among secondary vocational school teachers focused on distance education in the Nitra Self-governing Region. The survey was conducted from the end of April to mid-July 2020. The number of questionnaires completed by teachers was 271.

In Slovakia, 2074 primary schools, attended by 454 175 pupils, and 839 secondary schools, attended by 193 575 students, were closed. 36 189 teachers work in primary schools, of which 29 878 are women. There are 16 477 teachers working in secondary schools, of which 11 918 are women. The survey showed that the situation at the beginning of the pandemic was very confusing for teachers. The first two weeks of the pandemic were the worst. Teachers acknowledged lower technical skills and weak skills in using online learning portals. Most often they stated that they manage to work with EduPage. The situation was very specific for the marginalized population in Roma settlements.

Keywords:

Secondary education, distance learning, pandemic COVID19.