Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations

Fatima Khalil Hamad

doi:10.29333/pr/11009

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Fatima Khalil Hamad ¹ ^*

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¹ Birzeit University, College of Education, Birzeit, West Bank, PALESTINE^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

This research study investigated Palestinian mothers’ perceptions about online learning due to the sudden shift to online learning under COVID-19. The study focuses on the time period: March 5, 2020 to August, 2020 before the new school year 2020/2021 began. The primary purpose was to reveal the challenges mothers of children in grades 1-4 faced while helping their children learn at home. The researcher distributed an online questionnaire to a sample of mothers in Ramallah area, Palestine to which 131 mothers responded. Out of that sample, 8 mothers were interviewed. Results indicate that mothers found online learning extremely challenging, especially mothers who worked. Although they realized this was an emergency situation, they recounted a lack of preparation, a lack of technology, ineffective, uninteresting, and demotivating online instruction, and a lack of overall Ministry preparation for such a crisis. Recommendations are offered to minimize such challenges in the future under the same or similar situations.

Keywords

COVID-19
mothers’ perceptions
online learning
Palestinian education

Supplementary Files

Appendix 1 Questionnaire link on google form + Its English Translation
Appendix 2 Arabic Transcript for the interviews
Appendix 3 Percentage Distribution of Mothers' Responses

License

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

PEDAGOGICAL RES, Volume 6, Issue 3, July 2021, Article No: em0098

https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009

Publication date: 23 Jun 2021

Article Views: 3063

Article Downloads: 1363

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Disclosure

Declaration of Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest is declared by author(s).

Data sharing statement: Data supporting the findings and conclusions are available upon request from the corresponding author(s).

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How to cite this article

APA

Hamad, F. K. (2021). Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations. Pedagogical Research, 6(3), em0098. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009

Vancouver

Hamad FK. Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2021;6(3):em0098. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009

AMA

Hamad FK. Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations. PEDAGOGICAL RES. 2021;6(3), em0098. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009

Chicago

Hamad, Fatima Khalil. "Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations". Pedagogical Research 2021 6 no. 3 (2021): em0098. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009

Harvard

MLA

Hamad, Fatima Khalil "Palestinian Mothers’ Perceptions about Online Learning at Public and Private Elementary Schools during COVID-19: Challenges and Recommendations". Pedagogical Research, vol. 6, no. 3, 2021, em0098. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/11009