How are Thuringia's teachers doing during the school shutdowns due to the corona virus pandemic? The University Jena, the University of Erfurt and the Thuringian Union for Education and Science (GEW) have developed an online questionnaire that asks exactly about that issue.
The current crisis poses great challenges for teachers in Thuringia. Not only should adequate replacements for teaching be installed. Teachers must also find ways to fulfill their educational mission despite the phsical distance. In many cases, that means digitalization overnight.
In a state-wide survey of teachers, Dr Benjamin Dreer from the Erfurt School of Education and Prof. DrBärbel Kracke from the Institute of Educational Sciences at the University Jena want to find out how well this is succeeding and what support is needed, thus identifying challenges and support requirements in the current situation and for the new start at the schools.
The initiative is coupled to a project on digitalization in teacher education funded by the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Science and Digital Society (TMWWDG) at both universities. The GEW Thuringia is also on board as a partner, supporting the initiative with professional expertise and its network.
The results of the survey are to be summarized in a report and submitted to the responsible ministry together with according recommendations. It should also be possible to use them for the further development of school digitalization services at both universities.
The working group is looking forward for as many teachers as possible to participate!
The questionnaire can be found here (only in German): https://www.soscisurvey.de/positivity/?q=TLB_2020