Joy of distance learning? How student self-efficacy and emotions relate to social support and school environment

Abstract

The school closures due to the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic have posed an enormous challenge for all entities that take part in our children’s education. By displacing learning from schools to home environments, the crisis poses a risk of emotional and motivational problems. Based on research regarding the role of peers, learning in groups, school belonging, and educational equity, we explored students’ emotional and motivational processes in relation to different aspects of social support and the school environment. In the present study, 279 students from 20 classes of two secondary schools completed a questionnaire on their contextual situations in distance learning, the organization and amount of their learning, and the resulting emotions and motivations. Results show that students’ perceived joy during the crisis was relatively low, while perceived anxiety was relatively high. Regression analyses showed relations of general enjoyment and joy of learning in the crisis to self-efficacy belief, which was in turn influenced by environmental predictors such as support from family and school as well as the student–teacher relationship. Thus, school authorities and teachers can effectively contribute to students’ mastering of the crisis by establishing a transparent information policy, well-structured learning routines, and virtual lessons.