We asked almost 1,000 Polish teachers how remote education looks like during the pandemic.

Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation has long-standing experience supporting Polish teachers in creating and using online materials and educational tools.
Together with our partners – the Center for Citizenship Education (Centrum Edukacji Obywatelskiej) and the School with class (Szkoła z klasą) – we developed a study to identify the problems teachers face during distance education. We asked them how they handle digital tools and what is the greatest challenge for them today in teaching.

This is the first such large study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. Almost 1,000 primary school teachers from all over Poland took part – this allowed us to assess their current needs and show how we should support the education system to really help schools cope with distance education. In addition to the survey, we also conducted in-depth interviews – we present teachers’ statements in the report.

  • Before the outbreak of the pandemic, 85.4% of the surveyed teachers did not have any previous experience with distance learning, although 48% have no difficulties using digital tools;
  • 36% of teachers indicate the lack of equipment in students as one of the key problems with distance education;
  • For some teachers, parents’ conflicting expectations are often problematic. According to one surveyed teacher: The very same day I can answer a few calls from very satisfied and thankful parents, while other parents are angry with exactly the same issues;
  • Teachers point out that children started to suffer badly from isolation already after the first month. Exemptions from the obligation to follow the core curriculum would give teachers the opportunity to be flexible and adapt to the needs of various students in this aggravating situation (also, mentally);
  • Unfortunately, some voices were raised that perhaps the entire curriculum – just covered by the common effort of the teachers – will have to be revised
Distance-education in Poland during-pandemic.pdfDownload