A significant majority of the nation’s teachers – 86.5 per cent –have expressed that teaching online is more demanding than the face-to-face method.

The findings are part of a survey conducted by the 25,000-strong Jamaica Teachers Association (JTA) which represents public school teachers.

The findings of the poll were disclosed on Tuesday by the Minister of Education and Youth, Fayval Williams, during her contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives.

Jamaica joined many other countries at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 in shuttering schools and moving teaching mostly online. In Jamaica’s case, schools were closed on March 13, 2020, three days after the country confirmed its first case of COVID-19. But, teaching online was challenging as tens of thousands of students were unaccounted for and internet connection in many places was unreliable. Students connecting at home were often distracted in the home environment.

Meanwhile, the JTA survey also found that 91 per cent of the respondents rated the level of preparedness at their school since full resumption of face-to-face classes last month, as either fair (30 per cent); good (26 per cent); very good (22 per cent); or excellent (13 per cent).

“Yes, there was hesitation (about the full resumption of classes) among some schools. Some called for more time to get ready (but) weighing all the factors, we made that transition back into face-to-face classes fully and from all indications, that was the right decision for the education sector,” Williams said.

In the meantime, the minister said the first order of business since classes resumed has been recovery.

“We know that while technology helped the majority of our students in the virtual classrooms, we also know that many of our students were not engaged on any of the platforms and that the learning loss is beginning to show itself fully. We have, therefore, started the process of recovery,” said Williams.

She said the Ministry of Education “provided our schools with a suite of diagnostic tests for Grades 1 to 9 from as early as September 2021”.

“Since then, other school-based formative assessments, designed to monitor student learning, have been administered as well. This is an ongoing activity which will be provided to all students as they return to face–to-face,” Williams stated.

She explained that having done these assessments, schools are expected to develop their intervention plans using the National School Learning and Intervention Framework (NSLIP), which has been developed by the ministry to guide curriculum management for schools. The NSLIP includes extra teaching time for students through summer school and extra lesson/homework programmes, psychosocial engagements, parental engagements, strict monitoring of attendance, provision of digital learning resources, a robust accountability framework and focus on customized learning based on assessment data.

Williams said the schools are being assisted by technical teams, including student-support coaches, special education officers, curriculum officers, national numeracy and literacy coaches and community relations officers to implement the plan, track progress and address learning challenges.

“Through these approaches, school leaders will be better able to make crucial decisions about teaching and learning to get students back on their learning tracks,” she said.