Primary school teachers' perceptions towards the Remote Teaching and Learning Activities (RTLA) during lockdown period in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Remote Teaching and Learning Activities (RTLA) have emerged in the aftermath of the sudden closure of schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic around the world. Multimode RTLA is slightly suited to the students of secondary and tertiary education. Nevertheless, it is questionable to use with primary school children whose learning is designed mostly child-centred. In addition, it is vital to investigate teachers' readiness and training and access to facilities for conducting remote learning activities. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate Primary school teachers' perception towards RTLA during the lockdown period in Sri Lanka. This study was employed a survey research design, and data were collected using a google form-based questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 40 items to collect teachers' demographic information, facilities and training available to them, attitudes towards RTLA, teaching methods and techniques they used, and participation of parents and students in RTLA. Sixty-two primary teachers were selected using the snowball sampling technique from two districts, namely Gampaha and Kandy. Collected data were analyzed using mean and standard deviations and percentages. The analysis of results shows that most of the respondents (92.9%) used mobile broadband services to access the internet and 69.5% of the respondents used pre-paid services to access the internet. Furthermore, most respondents (69.4%) claimed they could afford it. Data analysis in terms of devices and apps for RTLA showed that most respondents (72.6%) relied on their smartphones for conducting RTLA. Likewise, many of them (64.5%) had been used WhatsApp and Zoom (64.5%) to reach their students who were at home. However, it is revealed that 98% of the respondents mentioned that they did not receive any facilities and training from authorities to conduct RTLA. Teachers' attitudes toward RTLA (M=3.52, SD=1.21), parental participation (M=3.2, SD=1.14), and student participation (M=3.89, SD=1.13) had lower mean values. Moreover, most of the respondents claimed that the RTLA is not suited to the students in Primary education. Many primary teachers stated that they faced challenges regarding access to the internet and devices, getting parental support for the RTLA. Therefore, researchers recommended that the National and Local authorities provide clear guidelines, training, and necessary facilities and resources to conduct a meaningful RTLA to the primary education teachers.