Challenges Faced by Teachers during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This research aims to develop a perception scale for the challenges faced by teachers in distance education applied during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak and by using that scale to propound the perceptions of teachers about the challenges they face in this process, both in general and in terms of age, gender, branch, teaching level, and settlement variables. A descriptive survey, one of the quantitative research designs, was used in the research. First, a semi-structured interview form was applied to 40 teachers from different branches and age groups, who were determined voluntarily to create an item pool. The draft measurement form thus obtained was applied to 955 teachers who were working in public schools in Turkey, giving live lessons from all levels and branches, and selected by the convenience sampling method. The data were collected over the internet with the "Perceptions Scale towards the Challenges Faced by Teachers in Distance Education (DE)" prepared by the researcher, and validity and reliability analyzes of the scale were made. The scale was examined in terms of suitability and content validity by three field experts who have a Ph.D. in Computer Education and Instructional Technologies and a Turkish Language expert. According to the results of the pilot scheme, the scale has a two-factor and valid structure. According to the results of the research, it was determined that teachers' perceptions towards the challenges they faced in distance education applied during the pandemic period were at a high level. This study is important in that it will open the door to research on the challenges faced by teachers in distance education in the future.