Sadness, Negativity, and Uncertainty in Education During COVID-19 on Social Media

The global COVID-19 pandemic increased social media usage to obtain information and to share concerns, feelings, and emotions, turning it into a prolific field of research through which it is possible to understand how audiences are coping with the multitude of recent challenges. This paper presents results from a social media analysis of 61532 education-related news headlines posted by the major daily news provider in Portugal, Sic Notícias, on Facebook, from January to December 2020. We focus on how the news impacted on audiences’ emotional response and discourse, and we analyze the key issues of the most commented news content. The results show a prevailing sadness among audiences and a very negative discourse all throughout 2020, with a high degree uncertainty being expressed. The main concerns revolved around parents supporting children in their first remote learning endeavors, financial sustainability, the lack of devices, the disinfection of schools, and the students’ mobility, particularly in the non-higher education context.