REDEFINITON OF TEACHERS’ ROLE IN TIME OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
REDEFINITON OF TEACHERS’ ROLE IN TIME OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Summary/Abstract: In the pedagogical discussions of the last decade, we often stress that the role of teachers is changing towards the demands of the new era and continuously changing conditions in the society. But in the year 2020, the teacher’ roles have been redefined suddenly, rapidly and unexpectedly. The schools closed their doors and around 1.6 billion young people all over the world shift to remote type of study and learning (UNESCO, 2021).Everyone had hope that it will last for one or two weeks, but evidently it is prolonged to months and it will permanently affect future education. The aim of the paper is focused on the new role of teachers during the pandemic. Based on semi-structured interviews and written essays we gather data about the teacher’s and students’ attitudes related to their new roles, to the challenges they faced and their recommendations to overcome the crises with examples of good practice. Huge number of problems occurred during the pandemic. Among them, the most stated by the respondents were the following:- How can teacher explain educational content especially in math, physics, chemistry, when he/she is out of classroom and on-line classes are reduced to 35 minutes?- How can teachers evaluate and assess the student achievements objectively?- How can teacher become a role model for pupils when he/she is blind, faceless and hidden behind the monitor? Consequences of human isolation, virtual communication and technology domination are yet to come and it might become problem bigger than the disease itself. In order to solve some of the problems, teachers adopt new practices, build new connections with pupils and find new ways to meets their needs. Shifts in the way of teaching are demand, no matter if they are voluntary or not. Results of the paper contribute to the heated debates how the current challenges of teachers affect the education and what are the optimal directions in future re-organizing of teaching and learning. Teachers should provide strong roles and beside pedagogical competencies they have to develop new leadership, communication and technology skills in order to maintain their new roles and to ensure pupils achievement, and their mental health and emotional stability as well.

• Details
• Contents