Teachers amid emergency remote teaching: repercussions of social distancing on formal education

Abstract

The article analyzes formal education in schools and universities during social distancing due to the covid-19 pandemic. The objective was to understand how social isolation reverberated in the teaching practices to enable teaching and learning through emergency remote teaching. The study had a qualitative approach with the participation of 146 teachers from basic and higher education using an online questionnaire. Data were processed in Iramuteq software and interpreted using content analysis according to Bardin. Five categories of analysis emerged: students’ digital exclusion; impacts on teachers’ health; difficulties in the teaching-learning process; pedagogical demands to handle the situation; and precariousness of teaching work. The results indicated that the students’ lack of access to adequate technological equipment and the internet, the increase in the demands of teaching work, and the inability of some teachers to teach online classes using digital information and communication technologies increased the precariousness of teaching work, which caused damages to teachers’ health. Concluiu-se que a superação deste cenário inóspito exige medidas urgentes e efetivas, sobremodo aquelas de iniciativa do poder público, para a promoção da equalização social, com o fomento abrangente do acesso às tecnologias digitais da informação e comunicação, além do investimento em capacitação profissional voltada às novas demandas pedagógicas do ensino remoto emergencial e à valorização do magistério.