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The United States along with the rest of the world has experienced an unprecedented disruption in daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost everyone has experienced some sort of stay at home order resulting in an economic catastrophe greater than the Great Recession of 2008 and on par with the Great Depression almost a century ago. Educational institutions at both the K-12 and post-secondary levels have not been immune from the shutdown, with many schools closed from mid-March through the end of the 2020 school year. Many schools moved classes to remote, distance delivery platforms. Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers were tasked with creative engaging learning activities online for curricula which is taught in a hands-on contextual learning environment. This paper will present preliminary results from research conducted by a collaborative group of nine researchers from across the United States with collectively over 200 years of career and technical education experience. The conceptual framework used for this study was Danielson's Framework for Teaching and Enhancing Professional Practice and Foundations of Career and Technical Education including Constructivism. 3,267 participants representing all 50 states responded to the 37-item survey. The research objectives included description of participants and identified challenges to planning and delivery of CTE content when schools were closed, and instruction was moved to remote/distance/online platforms. Participants ranked their challenges as instructors and their perceptions of challenges that were experienced by their students. CTE teachers ranked replicating classroom or lab environments online and lack of experience teaching online as their biggest challenges. The perceptions of the participants concerning challenges for their students included motivation to guide and manage their own learning and students' access to reliable internet connection. The emergence and prevalence of the COVID-19 pandemic added a layer of complexity to educational practice that was not foreseen and for which no intentional preparation had occurred. Understanding how CTE teachers and instructors responded to this call, and the challenges they and their students encountered, is important to efforts to improve practice in the future and to be in a better position should another crisis occur that forces learning to be delivered in alternative formats from that of the traditional face-to-face classroom. [Note: The page range (177-194) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 177-193.]

The study delves into the behavioral shifts observed in "digital students" transitioning from distance to onsite learning during the Generation Z era, influenced significantly by the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological advancements have reshaped students' perspectives, rendering educational and organizational engagements more accessible via platforms like video conferencing. However, the return to onsite learning has prompted a notable culture shock, leading to heightened levels of stress and anxiety among digital students. This research aims to examine the psychological ramifications of stress and anxiety on post-pandemic student attitudes toward extracurricular organizational intention. Employing the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-42) and conducting multiple linear regression analysis on a sample of 420 respondents, the study reveals a significant negative impact of stress level (-35.6%) on students' intentions to engage in organizational activities. Additionally, anxiety levels contribute to a variation of -6.8%. These findings underscore the intricate relationship between psychological factors and student participation, underscoring the imperative to address stress and anxiety to foster robust involvement in campus organizational endeavors.

A sudden shift to distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkiye strained teaching and learning activities, placing K-12 teachers in a novel context with challenges and opportunities to investigate. This study explores the teaching experiences and opinions of K-12 teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on challenges, advantages, and suggestions. Search queries were executed in leading databases (DergiPark, ULAKBIM TRDizin) to locate potential studies. Twenty-two studies meeting the predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria were subjected to a rigorous and iterative thematic analysis using the qualitative meta-synthesis approach. The results revealed significant challenges categorized into ten themes: shortcomings in technology and infrastructure, student motivation and engagement, technology literacy, and social and emotional well-being. The results also highlighted key advantages of distance education in eight categories such as learning improvement, flexibility and convenience, and digital tools and resources. Additionally, the study identified valuable suggestions that contribute to the success of distance education, such as adapting curriculum, increasing access to technology, strengthening internet infrastructure, providing teacher training and support, developing engaging and interactive instructional materials, and improving communication and collaboration between students and teachers. The study results inform the development of evidence-based practices and policies that can support K-12 teachers in providing quality online education during times of crisis.

There are many rewards associated with teaching in public schools, but there are also several challenges such as understaffing, limited resources, overcrowded classrooms, and underpaid employees. All of these issues combined often lead to burnout and mental health concerns among public school teachers, particularly those in urban settings. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, literature regarding teachers' psychological distress has increased in a general sense; however, there remains limited exploration of a potential increase in job-related mental health concerns of urban teachers after the onset of COVID. Therefore, in this study we compare the 2018 (pre-COVID) and 2020 (early-COVID) results of the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey in order to answer whether there has been a change in the psychological distress of urban school teachers in North Carolina since the onset of COVID. Based on the findings, we offer recommendations to key stakeholders in an effort to better support the health and outcomes of K-12 urban school teachers as they continue adapting to the ever-expanding and ever-evolving implications of COVID.

This study examines how inequality manifested during the emergency remote COVID-19 transition in higher education. We use 35 in-depth interviews with college students, conducted virtually, in real-time, during spring 2020 lockdowns, to examine how the transition impacted their lives. Students in the sample from lower-income backgrounds reported significant basic needs insecurity, financial instability, and academic struggles. Latino and Black students in the sample, in particular, reported financial instability, mental health crises, and academic struggles. Meanwhile, affluent white students and affluent Asian students in the study tended to face only minor setbacks or even flourish during this time. University and government policies exacerbated the negative experiences of marginalized students, often due to faulty assumptions that all college students have families who provide for their needs. While the particulars of this crisis were unusual, and this study took place at one institution of higher education, these findings suggest that higher education administrators must consider the implications of policies on the most disadvantaged students.

E-learning has taken the lead over face-to-face instruction in higher education as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift forced faculty members to adapt to new roles and responsibilities to design and apply online instruction and assessments that require specific skills. This research aims to examine faculty experiences with online assessments during the COVID-19 pandemic at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (IAU). We used the quantitative study method to analyze faculty experience with online assessment practices during the pandemic using a structured questionnaire composed of 24 items to assess five main areas: faculty awareness, faculty satisfaction, challenges, best practices and suggestions for improvement. This study included one hundred and fifty-five faculty members between September and December 2020. The data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics including means, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages. Findings demonstrated high faculty awareness and satisfaction with IAU online assessment practices. However, they expressed they were challenged by their need to receive more faculty development programs on using online assessment and accurately assessing learning outcomes. Moreover, participants pointed out several best practices such as investing in learning management system tools for assessment and student feedback provision. Finally, the primary recommendation for enhancing online assessments was to provide faculty access to professional development training programmes. This study provides a reference for future research on studentcentered online learning and assessment practices, accreditation of online assessment practices and strategies for assessing and compensating for learning loss during the pandemic.

Background: This study explores the experiences of early childhood education (ECE) leaders during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, drawing insights from case studies in Finland and South Africa. Theoretical frameworks of contextual and pedagogical leadership inform the understanding of ECE leadership. Aim: The aim is to analyse and compare the experiences of ECE leaders in two diverse contexts, Finland and South Africa, during the pandemic. Setting: The study involves two case studies conducted in Finland and South Africa, focussing on the experiences of ECE leaders amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Discursive analysis of interviews was conducted to uncover the experiences of ECE leaders. The study compared the discourses from Finland and South Africa. Results: In Finland, the discourses revealed the persistence of pedagogical leadership's importance, challenges to distributed pedagogical leadership and deepening difficulties in maintaining leadership quality. In South Africa, discourses included reconfigured pedagogical leadership, acceptance of new experiences driven by fear of uncertainty and changes in leadership practices and teachers' roles. Despite national diversity, both cases emphasised the resilience of pedagogical aims. Conclusion: The study underscores the significance of pedagogical leadership in ECE, even in times of crisis. The contextual leadership model offers valuable insights into ECE leadership across diverse contexts, highlighting the need for adaptive leadership strategies. Contribution: This research contributes to understanding ECE leadership dynamics during the pandemic, providing insights into the challenges faced by leaders and the resilience of pedagogical goals across different national contexts. It also emphasises the importance of contextual leadership models in developing effective leadership practices in ECE.

The plethora of research studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education gives us a first picture of the difficulties and challenges encountered at the various educational levels, especially at the elementary level, by students aged from 6 to 12 years old. The aim was to examine the existence of math anxiety in primary education and how math anxiety differentiates performance according to gender during the COVID-19 confinement. A quantitative empirical research carried out, using a fifteen-question questionnaire, with a 5-point Likert scale, which employed the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale (MARS), the Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS), the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) and a math test. The sample consisted of 173 Greek sixth grade students. The questionnaire and the math test were provided to the students by the teachers at the beginning of the school year in September 2021. Sixth graders, especially girl students, get quite anxious when involved with math learning activities. Math anxiety affected more girl than boy students' grades in the math test. Math anxiety affected primary 11 to 12-year-old students, while girl students exhibited higher math anxiety than their counterparts. In addition, math anxiety affected girls' performance in the math test.

The high level of inequality in South Africa has widened the gap between rural and urban schools, and the performance of rural schools has been continuously declining compared to urban schools. Poor performance in rural schools is perpetuated by parents being absent from their children's education because the socio-economic conditions and their educational background do not allow them to commit their time and energy towards education. Learners are left on their own to decide their future. The disparity between rural and urban schooling was further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools were closed during lockdown, teaching and learning was suspended in rural schools, however, in urban schools teaching and learning continued through online platforms. The lockdowns gave parents an opportunity to teach, advocate, and create conducive spaces to help their children focus on learning. During lockdowns, parents were expected to act as teachers in their homes to educate their children, and therefore, school closure presented opportunities for parents to actively participate in their children's education. However, their socio-economic conditions and poor educational backgrounds continue to threaten effective parental engagement, posing a threat to the academic success of rural learners. Despite attempts by the government to introduce school governing bodies in schools as a structure to integrate schools and parents, the problem of little parental engagement remains unresolved. The purpose with this study was to empower parents in rural areas to effectively participate in their children's education.

Access to education for peasants in the history of Brazilian society has always been denied, with the absence of public policies for peasants, as the result of a political and social process of denial of minority groups. The text address the issue of closure of schools in the countryside as a growing social phenomenon that has been expanding in the countryside of Brazil. Thus, the general objective of this text is to analyze the issue of the right to education for peasants, focusing on the high number of school closures in the countryside, seeking to understand the consequences for the peasantry. The closure of this institutions has become a problem that effects the importance of the countryside in Brazil, given that access to education is a right for everyone, including those who live and are from the countryside. However, public management has closed activities in schools in the countryside, making it difficult the access to education for peasants. The research has a qualitative character, where initially a survey and bibliographic review was carried out supported by Magalhães (2017), Ribeiro (2012), Brasil (2010), Diniz (2010), Nogueira (2019), Silva (2018) and other authors. In a second segment, data was collected on the number of schools closed in Brazil between the years of 1997 to 2022, and finally, data and information processing and analysis thereof. The results indicate that the closure of schools in the countryside violates the right to human development of the peasantry, as it is understood that the uprooting of peasant culture, the lack of educational policies for the countryside and the cutting of spending on education are linked to the closure of these institutions.

Laboratory activities are essential and important components of learning chemistry at the undergraduate level. The COVID-19 pandemic led to disruption of traditional modes of teaching and learning over the whole education spectrum including laboratory courses in chemistry. Although unfortunate, the COVID-19 lockdown period and following years challenged well accepted norms leading to new opportunities for higher education. The purpose of this work is to synthesize useful lessons from student experiences during COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic era aiming for improved future chemistry laboratories at the college and university level. Previously published studies addressed advantages and disadvantages of face-to-face vs. remote and online teaching of chemistry laboratory courses. However, there are only a few student-centered studies which analyze students' perceptions of undergraduate chemistry laboratories in the post-pandemic era. Although the study was conducted at the university in the United States, we believe the lessons learned could be used globally. The present study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in this field of research. It is unique because surveyed students experienced different modalities of the laboratory and were given an opportunity to compare both modalities side by side. Therefore, student experiences provide stronger foundations of their preferences and perceptions described in this work. Based on our findings, it appears that post-pandemic undergraduate students taking a non-major course prefer hands-on experiments and a hybrid modality of chemistry laboratory.

The world lived through a pandemic over the 2020-2022 period, which forced drastic changes in every sector and every aspect of our lives. One such change in the education sector was the immediate shift to online learning as educational institutions across the world responded to the pandemic. Educational institutions in Trinidad & Tobago, like everywhere else shifted from face-to-face to online instruction in all courses and programmes, including physics. While the conduct of physics lessons through virtual classrooms may have several advantages, it is not without disadvantages. The latter resulted in challenges, especially for students, and it is important for us to understand how students experienced and managed their learning in the fully online environment. The aim of this phenomenological study is to capture and describe the experiences of students in online physics learning in a virtual classroom--specifically their experiences in, preparing for online physics learning, managing learning in the virtual physics classroom and benefiting from opportunities in online physics learning. Three major themes emerged from this study--students' readiness for online learning, students' challenges during online learning and the role of follow through facilitation after online lessons. Despite their preparations, students encountered challenges such as network connectivity, reliability of supporting systems and distractions in their learning environment at home, but they were optimistic, that the reality presented them with opportunities to improve their technological competencies and to maximize their online learning experiences as they engaged in the learning of physics concepts in a non-traditional way.

This paper focuses on the experiences of ten women in Canada with refugee backgrounds from the Horn of Africa as they helped their adolescent children (ages 12-18) navigate the challenges of at-home online learning during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We situate our analysis within specific aspects of Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework to demonstrate that, while the women's efforts were hampered by online learning technologies, they were able to harness aspirational and familial capital to keep their children engaged in schoolwork. The women felt deeply involved in their children's education, particularly in terms of following up on children's homework, monitoring their activities, and providing guidance.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected all sectors, including education--schools were affected by widespread lockdowns, which necessitated the adoption of online learning platforms. Using a mixed-methods research methodology incorporating questionnaires and interviews, researchers in the current study examined the impact of e-learning on high school students' English language learning, particularly their spoken skills, in Kuwait. The researchers studied a sample of 60 participants for the quantitative analysis and 18 students for the qualitative analysis. All were high school students in Kuwait enrolled in English classes. The study's results revealed significant challenges associated with e-learning, including low acceptance rates among students. Most students disagreed that online learning is a perfect learning tool, suggesting that e-learning fails to promote critical thinking skills and facilitate learning. E-learning also affects learners' capabilities to express their feelings and ideas. The interviews showed that e-learning failed to improve the students' English language mastery. Some of the challenges we noted include technical hitches and the inability to deploy teaching strategies used successfully in physical classes. Overall, the results indicate that students disliked online learning in Kuwait. In conclusion, e-learning is a significant opportunity for students to improve their learning, but it must be effectively used to encourage students' uptake. It is necessary to assess schools' preparedness to implement it as well as to design complementary programs and strategies to ensure students gain mastery of the English language.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities into emergency remote learning. For universities situated in a country where internet connectivity prices are high, network coverage is low, and most students live in rural areas, this presented a unique set of problems. One of the issues is that traditional orientations were face-to-face for first-time entering students (FTENs) at universities, and they had to be moved online due to lockdown restrictions and the desire to save the academic year. For the university concerned, this presented challenges in accessing students due to their low digital literacy skills and infrastructure limitations. The study employed a quantitative exploratory research approach to assess whether WhatsApp, a low-cost communication tool offering features like affordable data bundles, group creation, and accessibility, could facilitate student engagement and support during the COVID-19 lockdown at a rural university campus. The aim was to investigate if utilizing WhatsApp could foster a sense of belonging among students, potentially mitigating dropout rates and preventing students from falling behind. The hypothesis posited a positive correlation between using WhatsApp for academic support and student retention, ultimately leading to enhanced success rates. The study used the 'Academic Dropout Wheel, a theoretical framework developed by Naaman (2021), which identifies key factors contributing to academic dropout and provides strategies for intervention. The results of a quantitative questionnaire on 181 of the 2022 cohort of FTENS at the campus revealed that students felt more at ease, had a feeling of belonging and ownership of the university, and knew where to ask for help through the effective use of WhatsApp. This paper concludes that if professionally managed, WhatsApp can be an effective tool to facilitate continued adjustment and integration of FTENs into the university.

The transition in learning trajectories, academic pressures and stressors associated with financial and societal pressure that South African postgraduate university students experience places them at risk of mental health difficulties. For these students, their mental well-being has been further threatened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent switch to emergency remote teaching. This study aimed to explore the physical and psychological health, resilience and coping amongst two Psychology honours student cohorts at a South African university. Using a repeated cross-sectional design, a sample of 38 Psychology honours students enrolled in 2020 and 39 Psychology honours students enrolled in 2021 voluntarily participated in the study. Overall, students reported poor mental health, with elevated levels of anxiety and burnout and moderate post-traumatic stress symptoms. The 2021 cohort reported significantly lower levels of self-efficacy, increased post-traumatic stress symptoms and employed coping through self-blame more frequently. Students' feelings of isolation persisted as well as feelings of hopelessness with regard to the contextual challenges faced by the country and the pandemic. Over the course of the pandemic, students found that they had less anxiety about online learning, however, they noted that the mental health support provided by the university was not sufficient. These results highlight the important role university mental health services play in fostering student mental well-being and thus the need to prioritise making mental health services to students more accessible and efficient.

This paper explores the negative impact of the shutdown of contact-based learning on learners' mental health as a result of COVID-19 and provides recommendations to promote learners' mental health during and post COVID-19. A qualitative research method was used to guide the collection and analysis of the data. Data was collected from a sample of 20 learners from Cape Town and analysed through thematic analysis. The study findings revealed that with the shutdown of contact-based learning as one of the COVID-19 containment measures by the government learners experienced social anxiety disorder and sleeping disorder. Youth policymakers need to design interventions that promote mental health in after-school programmes implemented by qualified youth workers and social workers. Youth workers should take the courses of action in a non-formal education to promote youth mental health.

The emergence of the teaching an pandemic was a fundamentally disruptive force in the global higher education system that called on us to re-think the very purposes of higher education, our values, and who the academy is inherently for. Largely driven by the then panic over the unpredictable and infectious nature of the COVID-19 disease, higher education institutions had to close down and find virtual, Online and/or digital ways of continuing the teaching and learning programme. In this article, we firstly explore and theorise academics' experiences of the emergency remote teaching and the complex challenges that they had to negotiate during this crisis in higher education. We reveal the complex, challenging and depressing experiences that they navigated as they grappled with the emergency remote teaching in their context, and the effect this had on their well-being. We propose the idea of Ubuntu currere as an emancipatory pedagogy, necessary to helping us respond to the next pandemic in the higher education sector. We suggest that our response to the next pandemic(s) needs to be anchored in decolonial and social justice frameworks, necessary for rethinking teaching and learning during a crisis. Contribution: In this article, our contribution is twofold. We firstly contribute to the emerging body of research that shines a spotlight on academics' experiences, voices and/or narratives in grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic in their teaching and learning contexts. Secondly, we propose the idea of Ubuntu currere (i.e. Ubuntu curriculum) as offering us useful emancipatory lessons in responding to the future pandemics in higher education.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school closures have had profound impacts on learners and their families globally, affecting their psychosocial wellbeing. However, the extent and nature of these effects, particularly in diverse socioeconomic contexts, remain largely under-explored. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effects of school closures on the psychosocial wellbeing of children and parents in South Africa's Gauteng province. Setting: The research included families from various socioeconomic backgrounds in Gauteng province, South Africa. Methods: Using an ethnographic research approach, diary-style entries via the WhatsApp mobile app were collected from 43 families, and semi-structured telephonic interviews were conducted with 21 families. Results: The study found that children experienced adverse emotions, including loneliness, boredom, anxiety and isolation during school closures. Parents reported elevated stress levels and increased caregiving burden. The severity of impact was influenced by access to resources for online or home-schooling. Conclusion: The findings highlight the multi-dimensional implications of school closures on families and underscore the importance of providing adequate support during such disruptions, taking into account the varying effects across socioeconomic backgrounds. Contribution: This study fills a crucial gap in understanding the psychosocial impacts of school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic on children and parents within diverse socioeconomic contexts. The findings call for equitable access to educational resources, evidence-based remediation efforts, and integrated mental health support services.

Students in over 150 countries experienced school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In the years following, a growing body of literature seeks to estimate the impacts of these education disruptions on a diverse set of outcomes, including student learning. This article adds to this research by examining causal evidence through a difference-in-differences framework (DID). Results suggest that school closures led to learning losses in math for high school seniors in public schools in the Federal District (DF) in Brazil. And while all racial groups experienced learning loss, White and Asian students experienced the most significant losses in 2020. We find no evidence of learning recovery from 2020 to 2021 for any racial groups, suggesting that learning losses persisted into school reopening. We do find, however, possible signs of recovery for female senior students compared to male students. Nevertheless, male and female performance differences are still prominent when analyzing data from 2016 to 2021. The utilization of critical policy analysis and the effectively maintained inequality frameworks can offer insights into significant learning disparities experienced by students.

In the current climate of global international education, overseas student integration and difficulties in adjusting into the academic life of the host country are often posited as personal failures. However, the categorization of international students is premised on them not being active subjects in the curriculum and the ways in which they can contribute to the internationalization of higher education. The current study addresses this negative characterization through a selective qualitative methodology, observing and interviewing 24 Chinese international students at an Australian university. Conducted during the COVID pandemic period, this study offers new insights into how the shift to online learning exacerbated the failure of the teaching, learning, and curriculum models that predominate in Australian universities. We conclude that as the pandemic subsides, deeper conversations are necessary over the continued prevalence of the deficit model while considering international students' agency in their learning practices.

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc throughout school systems across the world during the 2020-2021 school year. Riyadh School District in Saudi Arabia effectively transitioned from in-person student learning to remote student learning as a result of effective planning of resources and effective processes for implementation of remote learning. Employing Stufflebeam's CIPP evaluation model, an input evaluation and a process evaluation were conducted to shed light on the planning process employed to distribute resources and implement remote learning in a large school district in Saudi Arabia. Centralized supports for schools, including proper national funding, coordinated national teaching supports, and effective communication, aided Riyadh School District in the effective implementation of on-line learning for students.

This piece is presented from ongoing empirical research exploring barriers to student (re)engagement at a Midwestern university as COVID-19 persists. While college student personnel have worked to restore student life as campus operations have transitioned back in-person, college student engagement has struggled at many institutions across the United States. Taking a qualitative, phenomenological approach - with transformative leadership as a theoretical framework - this study revealed virtual exhaustion, student voice exclusion, and competing priorities as barriers to re-engaging with campus activities. This piece concludes with transformative advising as a possible approach for college student personnel to address these barriers alongside students.

Purpose -- Throughout the high school years, especially for senior high school (SHS) level, academic stress emerges as the prevalent psychological state among students, particularly due to the simultaneous occurrence of adolescence and the increased intensity of academic obligations and responsibilities that must be fulfilled during this stage. As they approach college, they face the added pressure of making important career-related choices, which further intensifies the challenges they encounter during this phase. With classes transitioning to online platforms as an alternative measure for schools during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in the Philippines, presented numerous challenges and difficulties, it is crucial to examine the academic stress and coping self-efficacy among SHS students during this transition period. Additionally, this study aimed to investigate the predictors of academic stress and coping self-efficacy utilizing the sociodemographic profile of the participants. Methodology -- A descriptive research design was employed in the study. A total of 446 SHS students from Grade 11 to Grade 12 in one of the academic institutions in Quezon City were purposively selected to participate by answering two self-administered online measures on academic stress (Educational Stress Scale for Adolescents) and coping self-efficacy (Coping Self-Efficacy Scale). The collected data analyzed using SPSS v25. Findings -- Results revealed that self-expectation (M = 3.65) and workload (M = 3.45) are the primary sources of academic stress, and SHS students are more confident utilizing problem-solving (M = 6.17) to cope with academic stress. Further, being female (P= 0.01), level (P = 0.08), and belonging to the HUMSS (Humanities and Social Sciences) strand (P = 0.08) increase stress scores. A significant negative correlation of -0.26 (95% CI:-0.35, -0.17) between stress and coping self-efficacy was also found, which suggests that as academic stress increases, coping self-efficacy decreases. Further, being a female, SHS2, and in the HUMSS strand-tends to increase academic stress, while being a female who is unemployed and/or a mother whose working at home scores relatively low with coping self-efficacy. Significance -- These findings have educational implications. It highlights the factors to be considered by offering guidance to counselors and educators in developing intervention programs, focusing on psychological well-being and skill enhancement that would help mitigate the adverse outcomes of this period of disruption.

Engaging with physical education teachers who were compelled to integrate technology into their lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial to understanding how the pandemic has presented this 'new normal' circumstance. It is vital to gain insight into the initial experiences of physical education (PE) teachers who transitioned to online physical education (OLPE) teaching, as well as to identify potential areas for improvement in the future. This study investigated the perspectives of secondary school PE teachers on OLPE teaching during the COVID-19 lockdown, their professional development, online training opportunities and future perceptions. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study analysed data from 35 secondary school PE teachers in Fiji, using Google Forms to collect quantitative data and semi-structured interviews for qualitative data. The quantitative data was categorized by age, gender, school setting, qualifications, and teaching experience, while the qualitative data was analysed by themes. The study found that teachers struggled with OLPE due to lack of preparedness, poor Internet connectivity, and lack of emphasis on PE during lockdown. Despite their readiness, integrating technology remains challenging due to a lack of incentives, limited support, and fear of the unknown. The study emphasises the vital importance of technology in creating engaging and relevant PE experiences and recommends the provision of specialised resources, personalised curriculum guidance, and a change in teacher training institutions' paradigms to incorporate contemporary technological applications in PE.

E-learning was the most preferred mode of instruction during COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Government of India closed all the educational institutions in India due to spread of COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of educational institutions affected the schools, colleges and universities. To overcome this, the HEI's adopted various online learning methods to reach out to students. E-learning was the method which HEI's adopted for continuing the education during COVID-19 pandemic. E-learning was one of the solutions which helped students to carry their teacher learning from the safety of their respective homes. It offered flexibility to students in terms of when and where they can learn. E-learning helped students and teachers in continuity of education during pandemic as it offered a quick and scalable solution for delivering educational content remotely which allowed students to continue their education without any interruption. The aim and objectives of the current study is to analyze the scenario of E-learning in India during COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights the importance of E-learning platforms because of which it was adopted during pandemic. Further, the study also highlights various challenges faced by teachers and students during pandemic.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on everyone's lives. To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, people were ordered to stay at home, whether or not they were infected. Due to psychological issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression, these lockdowns had major consequences to one's mental health. The study aimed to assess the level of anxiety and examine the factors that cause it among graduate students. The study employed a mixed method following an embedded design. Data were collected through an online survey administered to 116 graduate students of the College of Public Affairs and Development at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños. Using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7), the study found that almost three-fourths of the graduate students had anxiety. Unstable internet connection, online academic requirements, and learning loss were among the major factors that contribute to their anxiety. Accordingly, policies and interventions should be crafted to ensure that graduate students thrive in this "new normal" of teaching and learning.

Purpose: During Japan's initial pandemic prevention and control period, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (MEXT) issued several notifications to ensure students' continuous learning according to the "leave no one behind" philosophy. This study focused on the comprehensive measures comprising top-level arrangements to implement the "suspending classes without stopping learning" initiative. Design/Approach/Methods: The study reviewed MEXT's guide on ensuring learning for Japanese primary and secondary school students during the pandemic. Findings: The pandemic has accelerated the development of the information and communications technology educational environment and the implementation of the Global and Innovation Gateway for All (GIGA) schools initiative. These developments laid the foundation for the evolution of diverse pedagogical models and feasible methods for promoting equity. The home schooling experience during the pandemic provided a natural base for students to practice and foster survivability. Originality/Value: This paper provides scholars with an understanding of the opportunities and challenges encountered in educational innovation in Japan. It provides insights into the future direction of pedagogical development, capability development, and effective educational arrangements for extraordinary circumstances to facilitate educational development from a broader perspective, particularly under the new normal.

China was the first country to adopt a national educational strategy of "Disrupted Classes, Undisrupted Learning" in response to the pandemic. This measure resulted in the establishment of online learning platforms for primary and secondary schools and provision of free learning resources in China. In the context of online education, the family substituted the school as a learning space, in which parents played the role of primary learning guides to support their children's learning at home (UNESCO, 2020). Therefore, it is essential to understand parents' attitudes and views on online teaching. In order to get a more comprehensive and overall understanding of the feedback from Shanghai parents regarding Shanghai initiative, the Institute of Curriculum and Instruction of East China Normal University conducted an online questionnaire survey of 1,574 parents in Shanghai. Of these, 1,553 valid questionnaires were returned. This report summarizes major findings from the survey regarding the coverage of the Shanghai initiative, online teaching equipment and technical support, parents' acceptance of the Shanghai initiative, the impact of online teaching on students, as well as parental pressure and expectations.

The frequency of disruptions to the function of Palestine's education systems highlights the need for Palestinian educational institutions to implement online delivery of institutional services and course content in order to ensure reliable access for teachers and students. This qualitative case study explored the beliefs and perceptions of five teachers of English as a foreign language who worked at a Palestinian university that transitioned to online emergency remote teaching during the 16-month-long halt to face-to-face instruction forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data throughout the school closure period, and findings derived by thematic analysis showed that the teachers, including three with no experience teaching online, faced challenges but eventually adapted to the situation. The data revealed agreement and divergence among the teachers regarding the benefits and downsides of moving their courses online. An overarching theme of uncertainty emerged as a characteristic of the teachers' practices and work lives during the study period, with the shock transition to e-learning, labour intensive teaching conditions, inadequate e-learning infrastructures, and four types of classroom impacts identified as primary contributing factors. By the conclusion of the study, all teachers agreed that e-learning will play an increasingly important role in the future of education in Palestine, and four were willing to continue teaching online. By identifying associated benefits and challenges and highlighting influences that physical and cultural contexts can have on the transition to online education, this study contributes to the literature regarding the adoption of e-learning at universities in developing countries.

This paper explored the challenges lecturers face in teaching through online platforms. Online learning has become increasingly prevalent in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, offering opportunities and challenges for TVET lecturers. The transition from traditional face-to-face teaching to online environments requires lecturers to adapt to the new teaching methods, design engaging content, and navigate digital platforms. The qualitative research gathered data from 35 lecturers out of 60 conveniently and purposefully selected from five engineering campuses at a South African TVET college. Participants were accessible to the researcher and possessed online teaching experiences. Participant observation was used as a data-gathering tool. The study attempts to answer the question: What challenges are lecturers facing during online teaching and learning? The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework for Teacher Knowledge by Koehler and Mishra guided the study. Data were analysed thematically from the identified patterns and themes. The findings revealed technical difficulties like connectivity and software glitches, which disrupted the teaching and learning process. Lecturers grappled with receiving practical online support. The limited interaction and collaboration among students in virtual settings posed additional challenges in maintaining engagement and addressing individual learning needs. Furthermore, access and equity issues hindered students' ability to participate fully due to inadequate technology, internet access, and power outages. To overcome these challenges, the study recommended lecturers continuous professional development in online learning methods and technologies. Addressing the challenges contributes to the successful implementation of online learning in the TVET sector by ensuring quality education and enhancing students' skills and competencies.

This study used the COVID Social Mobility and Opportunities (COSMO) Study to examine home learning and parent attitudes to education during COVID-19 in relation to demographic and household financial circumstances and parent educational aspirations. The findings showed that White, female, and degree-educated parents were more likely than their counterparts to report positive attitudes to home learning, support their 16-year-olds' learning, and contact schools during the lockdowns. Parents who experienced food poverty and reported being financially worse off after the pandemic were less likely to support home learning or contact schools but reported largely positive attitudes to learning. Also, parents who reported lower educational aspirations were more likely to support their children's learning, reflecting their educational needs. This study contributes to our understanding of home learning during the pandemic and has implications for public policy and action regarding supporting children's learning during health crises and reducing education inequalities.

A sequential explanatory mixed methods study was conducted to determine special education teachers' (SETs) pandemic experiences in the U.S. state of Georgia. We distributed a survey, held focus groups, and analyzed both data for complementarity. We found that SETs experienced challenges, benefits, and concerns when they returned to their classrooms. Although they reported feeling professionally supported during remote learning, they described difficulties and worries about meeting the individualized needs of students with disabilities. Special educators' increased workload and stress likely impacted attrition and student learning outcomes. Based on these pandemic-related experiences, we provided five recommendations for researchers, administrators, and policymakers to address the SET shortage and prepare for future school closures.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread closures of early care and education (ECE) facilities that negatively impacted children's socioemotional, behavioral, and academic development. Policies permitting child care centers to remain open by obtaining waivers from closure directives involved varying levels of administrative burden. This study examined administrative burden within waiver policies and its association with ECE stability, as measured by children's enrollment in waiver-obtaining child care centers. I found Black children were significantly less likely than White children to be enrolled in a waiver-obtaining center, and also far less likely to have a center that obtained a waiver very early on in the pandemic. Analyses showed rates of enrollment in waiver-obtaining centers were far lower among children whose centers experienced more administrative burden, and suggested racial disparities in ECE stability were driven by Black children's concentrated residence in communities where the waiver application process was more burdensome.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the ways in which school districts provide educational services to all students, especially students with disabilities. Eligible U.S. students with disabilities have a right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE) under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and students with disabilities who are not eligible under the IDEA may also have a right to receive a FAPE under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. School personnel need to attend to both of these important federal laws when providing educational services. Shortly after the pandemic began, the U.S. Department of Education, through the Office of Civil Rights and the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, issued guidance to school districts making it clear that despite school closures, school district personnel had to continue providing FAPE under the IDEA and Section 504. Following the return to school, the Office of Civil Rights investigated the Los Angeles Unified School District in California and the Fairfax County Schools for discriminating against students with disabilities by failing to provide educational services during the pandemic. In this article, we briefly review the guidance from the U.S. Department of Education and discuss important implications for teachers of students with disabilities.

This article examined how elementary educators understood the experiences of Black students during remote learning and subsequently demonstrated empathy for Black students during the 2020-2021 academic year. While there is ample literature on the benefits of empathy on student outcomes, much of this research falls short in capturing the utility and complexity of empathy in remote settings. Moreover, much of the literature on empathy omits the role that identity plays in conceptualizations of empathy. Findings from this study suggest that in order for educators to bypass the physical and psychological distance created by remote instruction, educators must develop innovative and iterative practices that allow them to develop an in-depth understanding of their students, which will allow them to demonstrate appropriate empathic actions.

The COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures greatly interfered in students' social, emotional, and academic development creating behavioral struggles after returning to school. This concurrent mixed-methods study examined teacher perceptions of student behavioral change and social-emotional learning (SEL) during the return to in-person schooling in fall 2021. Teachers (N = 120) from a Midwestern state completed online surveys consisting of both closed and open-ended questions about student's social, emotional, and academic behavior. Teachers also responded to questions about SEL program implementation in their schools before and during the pandemic. Teachers overwhelmingly reported worsened student behavior since returning to school. Content analysis revealed academic motivation struggles were most often reported, followed by social and emotional struggles, respectively. Additionally, teachers from schools with SEL programs were significantly less likely to report academic motivation struggles. Findings suggest that SEL programs may help mitigate COVID-related academic motivation struggles. Possibilities for future research on student behavior and SEL as the pandemic recedes are discussed.

Although undergraduates from all class backgrounds work while attending college, little is known about how students approach finding work and the benefits they reap from different on-campus roles. Drawing on interviews with 110 undergraduates at Harvard University, we show that in the absence of clear institutional expectations surrounding on-campus work opportunities, students draw on class-based strategies to determine which jobs are "right for them." Upper-income students pursued "life of the mind" jobs that permitted them access to institutional resources and networks. Alternatively, lower-income students pursued more transactional "work for pay" positions that yielded fewer institutional benefits and connections. The consequences of these differential strategies were amplified during COVID-19 campus closures as work-for-pay positions were eliminated while life of the mind continued remotely. Through documenting heterogeneity in work experiences, we reveal a class-segregated labor market on campus and extend previous analyses of how university practices exacerbate class differences and reproduce inequality.

Natural disasters happen across the world. The situations are different but the disruption to children's education and wellbeing is similar. This study focused on the school context changes caused by the COVID-19 global disaster, and the impact of these changes on children's mental health. The aim was to better understand the associations between any mental health changes and children's school level of deprivation and pre-disaster involvement in bullying. Cross-sectional data were collected from 4316 children aged 6-11 years old, from 57 schools across England and Wales. Data were collected before the national lockdowns, early 2020, and 3-5 months after the final return to school, summer 2021, when schools were operating under a range of context restrictions. Child data included bullying involvement at school and health-related quality of life; teacher data included reports of each child's internalising, externalising and prosocial behaviours. School-level disadvantage was determined by the proportion of children in each school eligible to receive free school meals (an indicator of family disadvantage). The results showed that victims of bullying pre-lockdown, and pupils from schools with a higher concentration of disadvantage, had significantly reduced externalising behaviours once back in the restricted school context. Victims had also increased their prosocial behaviours. It is possible that the restricted school context may have been a relief for the most vulnerable pupils. This study adds a new phase of understanding to the global disaster literature and the initial return to school when the environment is the same but the context has changed.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced U.S. schools to shutter and teach remotely in March 2020, several states suspended external measures intended to hold educators accountable for student learning. Research on leadership during the pandemic highlights how the pause on external performance measures shifted school leaders' behaviors; they used alternative accountability levers to support teachers and students (Francois & Weiner, 2020; Netolicky, 2020). For example, Weiner et al. (2021) describe how urban school leaders used cultural norms regarding collaboration and care to foster responsiveness and learning (i.e., internal accountability). Such work holds useful implications for future investigations into urban principals' motivations, struggles, and practices during this unprecedented moment and beyond. Building on these contributions, the authors asked: How, in the absence of external accountability measures, did urban school leaders engage their teachers to meet students' and community members' evolving needs? It was found that the 29 urban school principals in this study used internal, market, and moral accountability to address student learning when schools closed and external accountability measures were paused. Therefore, the deficit perspective that these educators can only perform under the pressure of extrinsic accountability is false. Indeed, though participants detailed extraordinary challenges in their schools, the findings illustrate how external accountability's de-emphasis--and other accountability forms' elevation-- may cultivate teacher professional growth, student learning, and just leadership.