Challenges encountered by in-service K12 teachers at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic period: the case of Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the negative experiences encountered by in-service K12 teachers in Turkey with respect to distance education practices applied urgently and compulsorily during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Analyses have been carried out on responses of teachers in order to determine the factors affecting them, so as to illustrate an example and to try to understand the impacts of decisions taken by the Turkish Ministry of National Education during the initial stages of the pandemic. The study follows a descriptive survey model and employs quota sampling based on the first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics of Turkey. 1071 teachers participated in the study on a voluntary basis during the 30 March-1 June 2020 period by filling out a questionnaire form developed by the researchers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of data were carried out via SPSS 24 and NVIVO 10 software, respectively. Findings indicate the most prominent problems reported by teachers are the lack of internet/device access by students as well as lack of experience of teachers with distance education. Analyses of problem frequency based on demographics have revealed that female teachers were more likely to suffer from the lack of IT skills. Teachers in the age group of 41+, who belong to generation X, also tend to experience more problems due to the lack of IT skills in comparison with their younger peers. Moreover, issues such as internet and infrastructure inadequacies experienced in rural regions, low participation rate of students in the online courses, indifference of parents, and failure of teachers to be sufficiently active in the system, were considered as problems by the teachers; and solution suggestions have been presented accordingly.