TY - JOUR
AU - Paredes, Julie-Ann
AU - Chaseling, Marilyn
AU - Boyd, William E.
PY - 2021
DA - January
TI - Online learning in a time of COVID disruption? The experiences of principals from New South Wales rural and disadvantaged primary schools
JO - Education in the North
EP - 195
VL - 27
IS - 2
DO - https://doi.org/10.26203/9bzg-2w21
AB - The New South Wales (Australia) school education response to the Covid-19 pandemic was based on the premise that children would learn from home or school through online learning. This study of the experiences of a group of rural New South Wales primary school principals challenges this premise. Rural schools in the State are mostly small, relatively isolated, and linked closely to small socioeconomically-poor communities. They are marginal to the education establishment, and thus offer opportunities to test assumptions of mainstream sector-wide approaches. This paper reports interviews with six rural principals regarding their approaches to learning for their students during the pandemic. We identify five key issues: initial concerns; the importance of communication; access and attitudes to technology; parents’ attitudes to home learning; and change on return to school. Presumptions of successful off-site learning and technology implementation are challenged by the experience of these rural schools. This study raises two questions about post-Covid-19 school education: How can preexisting social disadvantage be better dealt within the education system? What might a future education model post COVID-19 look like?
PB - University of Aberdeen
UR - https://aura.abdn.ac.uk/handle/2164/15677
KW - Coronavirus (COVID-19)
KW - Education
ER