Beliefs and Practices About Remote Teaching Processes During the Pandemic: A Study with Chilean Mathematics Teachers

Farzaneh Saadati,Eugenio Chandia,Valentina Giaconi,Nicole Fuenzalida,Mariana Rodríguez Donoso

doi:10.29333/ejmste/11201

Abstract

This study determines the factors associated with teachers’ beliefs and practices during the pandemic. An online instrument designed and implemented for Chilean mathematics teachers, with a total of 423 math teachers participating. The instrument is found psychometrically valid to study teachers’ pedagogical-technological beliefs and their remote practices. The results show teachers’ high self-efficacy levels regarding the personal use of technology, but moderate self-efficacy in integrating technology in teaching. Moreover, teachers see a much more active role for themselves than for students in online activities. Gender differences were only significant for teaching practices, where the results reported women as more active than men. Teacher age is not recognized as a factor affecting teachers’ pedagogical-technological beliefs and their remote practices. Finally, the study confirms a significant influence of socioeconomic context in teachers’ beliefs and practices during the pandemic. It recommends that policymakers need to provide adequate resources and knowledge to support teachers in integrating technologies in distance education, especially those working in the public sector.

Highlights

The pandemic has prompted changes in emergency educational systems (UNESCO, 2020)
The education system and legislators need to review the challenges of teachers and the current actions in order to get prepare for the future and control the effect of the pandemic on the quality of education. With this at the forefront, our study presents the mathematics teachers’ technologicalpedagogical beliefs and practices during the pandemic
We focus on pedagogical-technological belief barriers that Chilean mathematics teachers face due to the transition in remote education, age, gender and socioeconomic inequality of their students that affect the quality of their instruction during the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

According to Azevedo et al (2020), in more than 180 countries schools have closed and replaced face-to-face classes with diverse online activities This situation mandates educational communities to implement emergency remote teaching, which implies a new experience and huge challenges for teachers. Azevedo et al (2020) indicate that the general difficulties for all teachers in this area are related to the development of distance classes, the lack of access to appropriate technology, and lack of skills to utilize information and communications technology (ICT) for themselves as well as for their students Besides these challenges, in mathematics education researchers emphasized on some specific challenges of technology integration in the teaching (Almanthari et al, 2020; Kersaint, 2007; Wachira & Keengwe, 2011). They highlight the necessity to understand the beliefs and practices of teachers associated with the integration of technology in their teaching, which corresponds to this article’s focus

Methods

Results

Conclusion