‘It is no longer scary’: digital learning before and during the Covid-19 pandemic in Irish secondary schools

Abstract

The use of digital technology to support teaching and learning in schools has been rising for years, but in March 2020, it became the only option when the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of almost all educational institutions worldwide. This article reports on a survey of secondary school leaders (n = 72) in Ireland, conducted three months after the closures. Leaders' beliefs about technology, digital practices before the pandemic and responses to the emergency are considered. The findings suggest that leaders are positively disposed towards technology, and that, prior to the crisis, approaches to digital learning were aligned with some best practice recommendations. Although schools endeavoured to continue provision during the closures, challenges were reported, particularly in rural schools and those serving disadvantaged cohorts. Leaders perceived teachers' 'digital competence' as an area in need of development, and noted that the pandemic may have provided an impetus for this.

English language teaching and learning during Covid-19: A global perspective on the first year

“…As evidenced by almost all the findings, the abrupt transition to emergency online teaching was the most direct impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on English language teaching (Moser et al, 2021;Novikov, 2020;Turchi et al, 2020). Specifically, results showed that online teaching has gained a permanent status as the preferred mode of teaching for English, even for the post-pandemic period, although it was, initially, an option to mitigate the effects of the pandemic (Andriivna et al, 2020;Karakuzu et al, 2020;Scully et al, 2021).…”

Special issue: Covid-19 and the role of technology and pedagogy on school education during a pandemic

“…High-tech homes had fast broadband and access to interactive learning activities through computers, and mid-tech homes had slow or unreliable Internet, shared devices or only mobile phones to access materials and interact with their teacher and other students. Digital inequities were identified in most of the articles in this special issue and were correlated with rural-urban divides (for example, Bokayev et al, 2021;Scully et al, 2021), socio-economic context of households (for example, Greenhow et al, 2020;Scully et al, 2021) and the cultural context such as restrictions on girls' access to the Internet (Khlaif et al, 2020). The level of technology available and the educational context influenced the pedagogical practices as students learnt through prerecorded instructional videos, interactive online lessons, educational television and printed resources.…”

“…The level of technology available and the educational context influenced the pedagogical practices as students learnt through prerecorded instructional videos, interactive online lessons, educational television and printed resources. Students in low-tech and low socio-economic households engaged less with learning (Scully et al, 2021). High-tech, high socio-economic households were likely to also be advantaged by correlating to parents with higher levels of education who could better support their children's learning (for example, Bokayev et al, 2021;Greenhow et al, 2020).…”

“…In addition, the blurring of the home and school boundaries has implications for future digital infrastructure policies. Educational leaders in the past have focused on the school as a setting for digital technology, and a revisioning to consider purpose rather than setting is needed (Scully et al, 2021).…”

“…The professional and institutional support needed for each profile group is identified. In Irish secondary schools, teachers were found to have a positive disposition towards technology and believed that, prior to Covid-19 closures, approaches to digital learning in their schools were aligned with best practice recommendations (Scully et al, 2021). However, as schools closed, differences emerged between rural and urban school leaders' responses and those in economically disadvantaged contexts.…”