As a result of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, teachers have been required to teach at a distance since 25 March, according to the regulation of the Ministry of Education. Have schools coped with this challenge? At NEXERA’s request, a study was carried out among school-age parents at the end of March 2020 and asked about their children’s experience in the transition to remote learning.

It turns out that 39% of the students have organised comprehensive online teaching in all school subjects. 45% of parents admitted that their children have online lessons in only some subjects and according to 12% of the respondents – the children do not have organised online school activities.

*“The biggest barrier to moving to remote learning is the lack of technology in the homes of pupils and teachers. 90% of parents believe that some students do not have the right tools to learn online. This applies both to access to a stable network and having a laptop or computer for their own use,” *comments Paweł Biarda, Member of the NEXERA Management Board for Sales and Business Development.

Parents were also asked what programs/tools teachers are using for online lessons. 45% of them indicated webinar or e-learning platforms to which the school has access. 38% of respondents say that social media (Facebook, Messenger, YouTube) is used for online learning, and 35% said that they are using communication and teleconference programs (e.g. Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangout). According to every fifth parent (21%), online classes take place through dedicated online educational services, the results of the NEXERA survey show.

*“Access to a stable and high-speed Internet connection is crucial for remote learning. According to 89% of respondents, the internet is considered the primary tool for online learning. In addition, 54% of parents admitted that, regardless of the coronavirus epidemic, their child uses the internet for self-study every day or almost every day. At the same time, 75% of respondents said that children should have more classes to show them how to use the internet,” *comments Paweł Biarda of NEXERA.

Online revolutions in education Four out of ten people (43%) think that Polish students are ready to study online. Slightly less optimistic about this are teachers and schools – analogically, 35% and 28% of respondents believe that they are prepared to teach remotely.

Methodological note: The NEXERA Survey - the survey was conducted by InsightOut Lab on behalf of the telecommunications operator NEXERA. The interviews were collected using the Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) method on the Ariadna panel. The study was carried out between 27 and 30 March 2020 in a group of 2098 people.