Teacher Training, the Great Challenge of Online Education

The Coronavirus showed that many teachers were unprepared for online learning.

Teachers also need time to learn, not just teach. This is especially evident nowadays for those teachers who do not master the digital world or have to find alternative ways to instruct students who do not have computers at home. We can find free, good-quality training material on the internet; however, the teacher must learn how to best suit their students’ needs.

While some teachers have been receptive and positive regarding the changes COVID-19 has wrought, many others have found teaching online not easy, especially those who have limited connectivity or lack the basic technological tools to perform. Trying to stick to a new curriculum online and doing it in a fun way to capture the students’ attention can be overwhelming.

Teacher training

The pandemic has revealed many shortcomings in the educational system and exacerbated the inequalities. According to a survey conducted by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank, only half of the countries surveyed provided their teachers with different distance education training. Furthermore, less than one-third offered psychological support to deal with the current situation.

Still, the efforts of many countries to train their teachers are to be admired. In Zambia, for example, teachers are trained through videos submitted on WhatsApp, conference calls, and peer support. In Cambodia, they receive training by phone or the internet. In Rwanda, continuous professional development is through pre-recorded videos or online.

Another UNESCO study shows that 81% of primary school teachers and 78% of high school teachers worldwide barely meet the requirements to perform their duties, demonstrating that many are unprepared to address the problems that confront them. The case of Latin America is even more worrying, given that 83% of primary school teachers and 84% of high school teachers do not have the tools to meet the challenges resulting from the pandemic.

Errors made in transitioning from presential to online education

The studies mentioned above reveal that a large percentage of teachers received little or no training during the early months of the pandemic, so many teachers simply replicate online what they would do in a face-to-face class without considering that online teaching requires a different approach. The more traditional a teacher is, the more likely they have not even taken an online course, so it is normal for them to try to hold on to what they master. However, it is not the same to bring face-to-face classes to the virtual environment. The latter requires asynchronous and synchronous activities and rethinking class times, activities, and assessments. The teacher must be flexible and recognize that the school’s controlled class structure cannot be replicated online.

Wanting to maintain the same face-to-face routine in online environments ignores many equity concerns about access to technology. Based on research, this also goes against best practices in online learning. It is impossible to believe that students can be in front of the computer for seven hours in a row and assume that, at home, there is a computer for each family member and the broadband needed to support the various activities that take place online today.

The reality is that online education is more than just a screen with internet access. For the teachers to succeed in teaching in an online modality, they must know how to create and present engaging lessons in this environment and ensure that students have the digital literacy skills to access them. This is where the large learning gap between primary-level students and higher-education students shows up.

The little ones do not have the independent learning ability, attention span, or socio-emotional maturity to learn for long periods in virtual learning environments, nor the ability to solve technical problems that may arise. Middle and high school students are not in a better position as, in many cases, they are accompanying the little ones and helping them in their classes while their parents work.

Teacher training in Guatemala

The University of the Valley of Guatemala (UVG) researched the country’s educational response and how teachers adapted to the pandemic. This study found that only one in four teachers were prepared for online teaching and that the most prepared were those who teach in the private sector. Part of this gap is because many private schools already had classes on virtual platforms or digital books, making the transition less complicated.

As a solution to the lack of online resources or knowledge about platforms, one in three respondents turned to WhatsApp to provide students’ content and make the written guides for subsequent delivery. Diana Brow, President of the Association of Private Schools in Guatemala, acknowledged that the transition to online education had not been easy as most educators received traditional training that did not anticipate online classes.

Research also revealed that teachers focus on teaching math, reading, and communication, setting aside many other important subjects because these are seen as skills and competencies developed in other areas in the future. Also, students learn less content because a curriculum followed in class differs from those at home, not to mention those students who do not have the necessary resources or technological skills to continue learning from home.

The biggest challenge is knowing if the training, learning method, technological infrastructure, and adaptation of teachers and institutions have been sufficient in these months to ensure that graduates, at any level, received the relevant knowledge to move on to the next student stage.

The arrival of COVID-19 has made it clear that changes must be made in teacher training in the future. Teachers must have up-to-date knowledge about teaching methodologies and the use of technologies to transition from face-to-face teaching to online classes. For their part, the new generations of digital natives are growing up in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, so their adaptation to online education becomes a necessary skill. It is crucial to continuously train teachers to master new technologies to overcome the digital age challenges.

Did your institution provide training programs when quarantine was imposed? Do you think the duration of the training and the materials you received was sufficient?

To find useful educational resources, best practices, and readings designed to support and train teachers, non-academic staff, and students, click here.

Translation by Daniel Wetta.

Paulette Delgado

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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0