The Challenges of Educational Process in the “New Normal“: Primary School Teachers’ Perspective

Abstract

In the situation of the pandemic teachers face multiple difficulties in terms of achieving the educational function of the school. In order to understand the challenges faced by primary school teachers when organizing the educational process under changed conditions, a qualitative research was conducted in which 12 representatives of six primary schools from different regions of Serbia were interviewed using the semi-structured interview method. The obtained results point to the initial challenges of teachers in terms of using digital technologies and online tools and ensuring “equal education” for all students, dealing with negative changes in student behaviour patterns, a lack of space for the implementation of the school’s preventive role in terms of risky student behaviour, as well as to teachers’ needs for technical and professional support in organizing preventive work with students in current conditions. Taking into account all the limitations of the research, it can serve as a general indicator of the current needs of teachers for support in pandemic education, but also as a starting point for further research.

Keywords

• challenges for teachers
• pandemic education
• changes in students’ behaviour
• educational-preventive work