Majority of parents, teachers, and students surveyed from April 20-28, 2021 identified unstable internet connection as the most pressing challenge they encounter under distance learning this school year. This is consistent with finding that more than half of the student-respondents find it difficult to connect to the internet, in order for them to participate in distance learning.
Aside from connectivity, the less than ideal learning environment also poses a challenge in studying under distance learning. Parent- (51%) and Student-respondents (52%) say that distractions like social media and noise in their community also form part of the challenges they encounter.
With the pandemic forcing schools to shut down and shift to remote learning, schoolchildren were pushed to be more independent when it comes to studying and they have to do it at home. But not all students are able to self-study with ease. Parent- and Teacher-respondents say that children encounter difficulty in studying on their own and that this is a major challenge in distance learning(60% and 76%, respectively). Unlike Parents and Teachers, only less than half of Student-respondents say that they had difficulty in self-studying (48%).
Teacher-respondents find parents’ help in children’s studies in distance learning lacking
While most of the top challenges encountered in distance learning answered by Parents and Students are related to connectivity and learning environment, Teacher-respondents point to the role of parents in their children’s studies -- or the lack of it. Among the top challenges encountered in distance learning answered by Teachers are parents’ lack of time and capability or knowledge to help children in studying (both at 74%) and the parents’ unavailability to stand as learning facilitators (61%). Meanwhile, these are not among the top challenges reported by Parent- and Student-respondents.
For the remaining days of the school year and in case distance learning will still be implemented in the next school year, concerned agencies and officials must find ways to provide additional support in facilitating the learning process for students.
Online Distance Learning Survey
Building on the firm’s initial survey about distance learning, iOptions Ventures conducted a follow-up study to evaluate the quality of the program after being implemented for two academic quarters. A separate survey was done for parents, teachers, and students in order to get a comprehensive understanding of the program from the different perspectives of the three groups.
The parents survey reached 6991 respondents, while the teachers and students had 4933 and 7178, respectively. All were conducted online from April 20-28, 2021. With convenience sampling employed for this survey, the researchers used Facebook as its main recruitment channel in order to reach the widest audience. In view of this, results from this online survey shall not be construed as representative of the Filipino population.