Crisis as Opportunity to Try Something New: Student-Centered Pedagogy During the Onset of COVID-19

Abstract

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020 forced a sudden and unexpected disruption of the usual modes of schooling around the world. In the United States, lack of federal, state and district leadership left most teachers to negotiate the chaotic early months of the pandemic on their own. This study attempted to discover to what extent some US teachers used this crisis as an opportunity to jettison traditional teaching methods in favor of more engaging, student-centered practices, and examined whether teacher self-efficacy and facility with technology were related to that decision. Analysis of survey data from PK-12 teachers (n=178) found a near-universal reduction in use of student-centered teaching methods (SCMs) during the onset of COVID-19, especially among teachers who reported higher self-efficacy before the crisis (age and experience were insulating factors). On average, greater self-confidence before COVID-19 was associated with a greater <i>decrease</i> in the use of SCMs during the crisis. While TSE during the crisis was positively correlated with use of student-centered methods, the direction of the influence between those two variables could not be determined. In our analysis, the data seem to better support the theory that use of SCMs builds a sense of efficacy, rather than the traditional understanding that it is high TSE that empowers a teacher to use innovative pedagogy, but more study is needed to strengthen that theory. Technology versatility was correlated weakly with TSE in the COVID Onset Period, but we found no evidence of any correlation between technology versatility and SCM usage. The authors recommend further exploration through surveying a wider population and adding data sources beyond teacher self-reports.