How did Covid-19 affect school education in Czechia?
The Czech concept of emergency measures associated with the COVID 19 pandemic has hit children and adolescents very hard. The school closure was one of the longest in the world in the Czech Republic. Children and teenagers could not attend leisure activities or spend time with their friends for many months. The negative effects of their long-term isolation are evident not only in the field of education, but also significantly in the field of mental health and overall well-being.
The pandemic has widened the gap between pupils from different social backgrounds. The socio-economic environment of the child's family and the deepening of already high inequalities in education play a significant role in the child's well-being during a pandemic. Also the teachers have demonstrated an extraordinary ability to cope with an ever-changing situation. It turned out that the factor in responding to the pandemic was not so much the level of digital literacy of teachers, but the willingness to communicate and negotiate within the school team.
How familiar were Czech schools with the use of digital education prior to Covid-19?
Teachers', students’ and school’s familiarity with the use of ICT for teaching and learning prior to the crisis
Results from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) prior to the crisis show that on average across participating OECD countries and economies, only slightly more than half of lower-secondary teachers (53%) reported letting students use ICT for projects or class work “frequently” or “always”. In the Czech Republic, this was the case for 35% of teachers, which is lower than the average of the OECD countries participating in TALIS.
In order to be effective, teachers’ practices need to be grounded in a body of knowledge acquired through quality training. In the Czech Republic, 45% of teachers reported that use of ICT for teaching was included in their formal education or training, which is lower than the average of the OECD countries taking part in TALIS (56%). At the time of the survey, 63% of teachers in the Czech Republic felt that they could support student learning through the use of digital technology (e.g. computers, tablets, smart boards) "quite a bit" or "a lot", which is lower than the average of the OECD countries participating in TALIS (67%).
How prepared were Czech teachers to adopt digital learning methods?
Teachers’ and schools’ readiness and capacity to overhaul their ways of working prior to the crisis
In the Czech Republic, 41% of teachers reported that ICT skills for teaching were included in their professional development activities, which is lower than the average of the OECD countries in TALIS (60%). At the same time, in the Czech Republic 13% of teachers reported a high level of need for professional development in ICT skills for teaching, which is lower than the average of OECD TALIS countries (18%). These pre-crisis reports therefore suggest that the transition to remote teaching and learning may have been challenging for a number of teachers.
In the Czech Republic, 24% of principals reported that the shortage or inadequacy of digital technology for instruction hindered the school's capacity to provide quality instruction "quite a bit" or "a lot", which is statistically not significantly different from the average of the OECD countries participating in TALIS (25%). Also, insufficient Internet access was reported as an issue by 7% of principals, which is lower than the average of the OECD countries participating in TALIS (19%).
What barriers were there to Czech pupils accessing digital learning opportunities?
What do we know about students’ conditions and environments for home schooling prior to the crisis?
Although the absence of in-person lessons can be somewhat compensated by the use of online platforms and other technology-rich activities, access to the necessary digital devices is not equally distributed across the population. In particular, students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds who lack the means to access to these devices may be severely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, increasing learning inequalities as a result.
A pre-requisite for any type of online learning activity is that students have access to a computer. According to PISA 2018 data collected prior to the crisis, this is a precondition that was not met by all students before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. In the Czech Republic, 95% of students reported having a computer they could use for school work, which is higher than the OECD average (89%). For those from the bottom quartile of the socio-economic distribution, 87% of students reported having a computer they could use for school work, which is higher than the OECD average (78%). Moreover, access to the home computer may in fact have deteriorated with the crisis in cases where its use had to be shared with other members of the household.
The conditions for creating an adequate climate for home schooling not only rely on access to technology, but also on whether an appropriate physical space for learning exists at home. In the Czech Republic, 90% of students reported having a quiet place to study at home, which is statistically not significantly different from the OECD average (91%). This percentage was 83% for students coming from the bottom quartile of the socio-economic distribution, which is statistically not significantly different from the OECD average (85%). Much like access to computers, access to a quiet place to study may also have deteriorated during the crisis due to similar needs by parents for teleworking, and siblings for home schooling.
Quellen:
- School Education During Covid 19 Were Teachers and Students Ready? OECD TALIS 2018 Database. https://www.oecd.org/education/Slovenia-coronavirus-education-country-note.pdf
