FAMILY-RELATED FACTORS THAT DETERIORATE EDUCATIONAL INEQUALITIES: THE CASE OF EMERGENCY REMOTE TEACHING (ERT) DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN GREECE

Autori

  • Maria Rafaela Tziouvara Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood Education, Greece orcid.org/0009-0007-5748-1860
  • Domna - Mika Kakana Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood Education, Greece orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-1437

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v12i4.5885

Parole chiave:

family-related factors, parents, educational inequalities, Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT), COVID-19

Abstract

The abrupt outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led countries worldwide to adopt a series of safety measures to protect public health. This unprecedented health crisis has greatly impacted the educational sector, leading to the precipitous adoption of an emergency type of distance education called Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). ERT was an urgent solution to provide teachers and students with an online environment to continue the educational process while interacting safely from home. The new normality formed by the COVID-19 pandemic has been brought to the surface and may have exacerbated already existing educational inequalities. In this paper, we explore family-related factors that may have led to the deterioration of educational inequalities during school closures. The research design followed a mixed method, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, respectively. The participants in our quantitative research were 271 parents and in our quantitative research were 20 parents from various regions of Greece. The results indicate important family-related factors, such as Individual factors, Parental involvement, Parental support, Technical/technological factors, Infrastructure, Economic factors, and Geographical factors, which had a significant role in children's Participation in ERT and may have increased existing educational inequalities. Our findings show that the Language spoken at home, Parents’ education, Digital skills, Employment status during ERT, Combination of work and supporting child(ren) during ERT, Ability to understand and explain the educational material for ERT, Ability to resolve technical/technological problems, Internet connectivity, Access to online educational platforms, Access and Adequacy of the technological equipment and Place of residence, played a significant role in students’ participation in ERT. Our research provides useful information that can be used in the future to promote students’ participation in ERT and tackle educational inequalities.

 

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Biografie autore

  • Maria Rafaela Tziouvara, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood Education, Greece orcid.org/0009-0007-5748-1860

    Maria Rafaela Tziouvara, is a PhD Candidate of the School of Early Childhood Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Auth). She works as a primary school teacher in a public primary school in Greece. She participated in various professional development training and has actively participated in presenting her work in conferences in Greece and abroad. Her research interests include educational inequalities, education in crisis periods, Special Education applications, History of education, and informatics in education.

    ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5748-1860

  • Domna - Mika Kakana, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Education, School of Early Childhood Education, Greece orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-1437

    Domna (Mika) Kakana is a Professor in Educational Sciences at the School of Early Childhood Education (Auth), and she was the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She has over 170 publications, 10 books (6 editing), and articles in Greek and English journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. Her recent research interest focuses on the development of contemporary environments of teaching and learning in education, such as collaborative and/or cooperative, at the improvement of the quality of the pedagogical environment and school space, at the curriculum design and the new didactical approach such as differentiated instruction, at the learning and teaching through pay, at the pre-service and in-service teachers’ education and professional development, at the educational evaluation and self-evaluation of school units, and at the effects of economic crisis one education and social inequalities due to COVID-19.

    ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-1437

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2025-03-13

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V. 12 N. 4 (2025)

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