Perception of School Learning Digitalization and Its Consequences: Research Outcomes of Online Focus Groups with Teachers and Parents of Schoolchildren

Abstract

Pandemic of COVID-19 speeded up the digitalization of school education which led to radical changes in educational, social, and communicative practices. To reveal trends in educational practices, related risks, and negative impacts of these transformations, in October 2020, the authors of this study conducted a series of online focus groups with schoolteachers and parents of students from different regions residing in large, medium-size, and small cities. The discussion was focused on the character and the scope of digitalization in school education, on the new role of teacher and parent, and on the digital communication practices.

The focus group data were processed by categorizing the statements of participants, identifying the central trend and the general spectrum of opinions and practices. As a result, the authors identified three levels of the semantic-associative space for the digitalization perception — basic, intermediate, and advanced. Key challenges of the current transformations are the discrepancy between normative views of teachers and parents on their roles and a unified approach to introducing digital technologies for different educational grades. The vulnerable side of school digitalization is also the attitude of the main participants towards it; teachers and parents perceive school digitalization as fragmented, inconsistent process, lacking clearly defined purposes.

Based on these data, the authors confirmed hypotheses about the reasons of negative views on school digitalization — the prevalence of top-down model in introducing digital instruments and procedures, the concentration of decision-making on top-management level, low involvement of parents and teachers in defining the agenda, timing, and specific means of digital transformations. As a result, undifferentiated approaches to digital learning at different levels are ineffective, and often inapplicable. Risks and drawbacks could be mitigated by more consistent and gradual approach to the transformations, use of customized rather than unified model of digitalization for each educational grade, taking into account the experience and needs of main actors.