How Adolescents Report about Their Educational Experiences during Covid-19?

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has significantly affected everyday life activities, relations, experiences and well-being of students. This paper is a part of a broader study in which the adolescents’ narratives about their experiences during the pandemic were collected online. Adolescents were asked to write about their experiences during the pandemic. Unlike studies that explicitly deal with the interruption of formal schooling caused by pandemic, the aim of this work is to investigate if and in what context adolescents spontaneously mention organizational changes in schooling during pandemic. From the initial sample which consisted of 70 adolescents’ narratives, only those which contained educational experiences were selected for further analysis. Thus, the final sample included 36 participants (5 male and 31 female) aged 14-25 (M =20), both high school (18) and university students (18). Writing about their different experiences participants cited benefits of online study / teaching related particularly to organizational changes in schooling such as reduced amount and complexity of school requests, more efficient studying (e.g. enough time for preparation, higher grades), more comfort (e.g. taking online exams). Thus, they emphasized having more free time for non-formal learning, hobby practicing, reading, watching TV. Focus on education was also a coping strategy they used for dealing with uncertainty and disruption caused by pandemic. Only one student mentioned on-line schooling as protection from Covid-19. However, negative estimation of organizational changes in schooling were more prominent in adolescents’ narratives. Participants reported that online learning was more stressful, complicated and demanding due to online communication, lack of teachers' skills and too compressed timetable of exams. They also reported problems with concentration and selfefficiency as well as grief about missed opportunities, worry about the future of their education and lack of company in the school setting. In comparison university students’ narratives are more related to positive aspects of online learning and advantages of selforganizing expressing concerns about educational aspirations, while secondary school students’ narratives refer more to this new practice as difficult and with significant impact on daily routines, social aspects, particularly relationships with peers. These findings have practical implications concerning organizing schooling for all educational levels.