Abstract:

The contribution focuses on the form of distance education of secondary technical school students under emergency measures in the Czech Republic. The state of emergency was declared, and schools closed due to the spreading global COVID-19 pandemic. Secondary technical schools focus on the vocational education of pupils aged 15-19, completed by a school-leaving examination. It offers a variety of disciplines, focusing on covering essential services and the needs of society.

In the spring of 2020, due to the pandemic situation, an entirely exceptional period arose, which changed the form of regular teaching. Distance teaching replaced face-to-face teaching overnight. Utterly new technologies, which had not been used at secondary technical schools before, were introduced. Interaction between student and teacher has become virtual through modern digital technologies. Neither students nor teachers were prepared for such circumstances. They lacked both the equipment and skills necessary for the use of new communication technologies. Thus, several situations requiring innovative solutions emerged.

The contribution describes how, at the time of school closure in the spring of 2020, distance learning took place for secondary technical school students. We were interested in the form of distance learning itself and how the communication between the student and the teacher took place. We also describe how students evaluate the usefulness of distance education. We used a quantitative research survey to address the presented goals. The tool for data collection was a questionnaire, which was distributed online to secondary technical school students.

Keywords:

Distance education, face-to-face teaching, secondary technical schools, education, e-learning, student, emergency measures, school closures.