Poster: Teachers trying to cope with COVID. Challenges of online teaching in a developing country.
Abstract: While the sudden shift to online teaching and learning has put teachers worldwide in front of a wide range of technical and didactic challenges, the situation of teachers in developing countries was (and is) even more difficult. TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge is more difficult when the availability of Technology is problematic, Pedagogical training is insufficient, and Content knowledge is deficient due to poor teacher training and outdated learning materials. The COVID-19 outbreak has magnified these problems. But to the surprise of many, data show that results on a centrally administered exam at the end of primary education dramatically improved compared to the previous 5 years. We present a number of possible explanations and compare those to the outcomes of a survey administered after the first outbreak of learners (n=163) in compulsory education in Suriname in which we have collected preliminary data on how learners experienced how the government, schools and teachers tried to cope with the situation