Adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closure: teacher education and teacher competence effects among early career teachers in Germany

TLDR

During the COVID‑19 lockdown, German schools closed in March 2020 and only partially reopened in May, forcing teachers to shift to online instruction. The study surveyed early‑career teachers in May–June 2020 to examine how they adapted to online teaching. The authors assessed teachers’ maintenance of student contact, mastery of core teaching challenges, and factors such as school technology, technological‑pedagogical knowledge, and digital teacher‑education opportunities. Regression analyses show that ICT tools—particularly digital teacher competence and teacher‑education opportunities—are crucial for adapting to online teaching, with implications for teacher education and ICT adoption.

Abstract

As in many countries worldwide, as part of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown schools in Germany closed in March 2020 and only partially re-opened in May. Teachers were confronted with the need to adapt to online teaching. This paper presents the results of a survey of early career teachers conducted in May and June 2020. First, we analysed the extent to which they maintained social contact with students and mastered core teaching challenges. Second, we analysed potential factors (school computer technology, teacher competence such as their technological pedagogical knowledge, and teacher education learning opportunities pertaining to digital teaching and learning). Findings from regression analyses show that information and communication technologies (ICT) tools, particularly digital teacher competence and teacher education opportunities to learn digital competence, are instrumental in adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closures. Implications are discussed for the field of teacher education and the adoption of ICT by teachers.