Abstract:

On 12 March 2020 the Government of the Republic of Lithuania adopted the resolution providing for the recommendation to stop the processes of education and studies in all the educational institutions (universities, colleges and schools starting with March 13 and for mandatory suspension of the educational process from 16 to 27 March. Although at the end of May the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport started considering the possibility of returning to schools, due to the imposed conditions and recommendations, the majority of Lithuanian pupils did not return to classrooms. Starting with 7 November, the universal quarantine was announced in Lithuania again. Seeking to manage pupils’ flows, some upper-secondary pupils learnt either online or used a mixed format of learning. Although distance education caused difficulties to all the members of school community (pupils, their parents, administration, support specialists), the teachers were exposed to the biggest workload because they had to substantially reorganize the educational process (curriculum, methods, principles, firms of assessment, etc.) (Kim, 2020, Moss et al., 2020; Niemi & Kousa, 2020; Rasmitadila et al, 2020).This presentation aims to answer the question how teachers’ experiences and their attitude towards distance education changed during the first and the second quarantines.

The paper is based on the results of the qualitative research conducted within the interdisciplinary project “Distance education for children during the COVID-19 pandemic: threats and possibilities from the ecosystemic perspective” (funded by Research Council of Lithuania, LMTLT (contract no. S-COV-20-11)). During the first stage in June 2020 4 focus group interviews with primary teachers and those of 5th-8th forms were implemented. In the second stage 4 more focus group interviews with teachers were conducted after slight correction in the questionnaire. Seeking to describe the most diverse experience of research participants and to represent various regions of Lithuania, teachers of primary and basic schools in various locations (in towns and rural areas) were invited to group discussions held live or via Zoom.

Keywords:

COVID-19, Distance Education, Teachers’ Experiences.