Emergency Remote Education (ERE) Due to COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Perceptions on the Roles They Were Asked To Play

Abstract

The suspension of the educational process imposed in all educational levels in many countries due to the rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, together with the need for access to safe teaching, imposed an emergency and massive turn towards online education. This new condition came as a surprise to teachers, who were obliged to use new technologies for the design and the implementation of their teaching, as well as for the communication with and support to their students, changing thus not only the manner of teaching and learning but also the roles they were asked to respond to. The present paper, using semi-structured interview as a tool, studies the views of ten Greek teachers of primary education regarding their role in remote education in the emergency caused by this pandemic, the skills that helped them respond to these roles, the obstacles but also the assistance they encountered in their efforts. The research findings demonstrate that the teachers, with their patience and their persistence, utilized the limited knowledge they had and the ex post facto-acquired training they received, and - in cooperation with students, parents, but, above all, colleagues – made an effort to respond to the various roles they were asked to play.