A Joint Select Committee (Social Service and Public Administration) which interviewed Education Ministry and education stakeholders on the online learning system on Wednesday, found that there are many issues within the hybrid education system that need to be dealt with.
Among the issues is the way in which teachers are coping, ongoing issues with connectivity and students focus.
JSC chairman Paul Richards revealed the findings during the session yesterday, which showed that 19 per cent of primary students, or almost one in five, disagreed that their Internet access at home was good for remote learning.
Fifteen per cent disagreed they had access to a device and 22 per cent of primary school students disagreed that they had a quiet area to study at home; 17.2 per cent of primary students and 27.1 per cent of secondary students disagreed they got interesting activities to do in remote learning sessions and students also reported socio-economic issues with remote learning.
51 and 52 per cent at primary and secondary levels found it difficult to focus while 65 per cent at secondary level reported feeling stressed more than usual with this system.
The effectiveness of remote learning for students was also rated, with one being ineffective and five being very effective. Primary teachers gave a 2.9 rating and secondary teachers 4.
The findings showed that parents’ major problem was difficulty in focusing on their own work plus their children’s. The issue of concentration persisted, with parents agreeing it was difficult to keep their children focused with remote learning.
The biggest challenge for teachers was work-life balance. Only 34.4 per cent of primary teachers and 41.2 per cent of secondary teachers agreed they were able to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
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