1st and 5th grade primary school teachers\u27 qualifications for distance teaching of mathematics

Po svetu vse pogosteje lahko srečamo izobraževanje na daljavo, predvsem v sekundarnem in terciarnem izobraževanju. Marca 2020 pa je razglašena pandemija nove koronavirusne bolezni COVID-19 pripomogla k vpeljavi izobraževanja na daljavo tudi v primarnem izobraževanju. Večina učiteljev se je s tem srečala prvič in se je pri poučevanju soočala z raznolikimi težavami. Matematika je eden izmed nujnih predmetov pri splošni izobrazbi. V prvih razredih je pri poučevanju tega predmeta pomembna uporaba konkretnih materialov in postopni prehod na abstraktno raven, kar zahteva podrobno in kakovostno pripravo učitelja na poučevanje. Ker ne vemo, kako dolgo bo pandemija trajala, smo se odločili, da se bomo v magistrskem delu ukvarjali z učiteljevo usposobljenostjo poučevanja matematike na daljavo. V teoretičnem delu magistrskega dela smo najprej predstavili poučevanje in učenje matematike. V nadaljevanju smo se osredotočili na uporabo informacijsko-komunikacijske tehnologije v izobraževanju, ki ima pri izobraževanju na daljavo pomembno vlogo in za uporabo katere je potrebna digitalna kompetentnost. V povezavi z izobraževanjem na daljavo smo preučili tudi različne vrste komunikacije na daljavo in nazadnje še preverjanje in ocenjevanje znanja na daljavo. V empiričnem delu magistrskega dela smo se osredinili na usposobljenost učiteljev 1. in 5. razreda osnovne šole za poučevanje matematike na daljavo. Raziskali smo, kako se učitelji spopadajo s prehodom iz tradicionalnega načina poučevanja na poučevanje na daljavo v času pandemije. V ta namen smo izvedli kvantitativno raziskavo med osnovnošolskimi učitelji 1. in 5. razreda. Zanimalo nas je, kako učitelji ocenjujejo svojo usposobljenost izvajanja poučevanja matematike na daljavo, katero informacijsko-komunikacijsko tehnologijo pri tem najpogosteje uporabljajo, kako ocenjujejo komunikacijo in na kakšen način preverjajo in ocenjujejo znanje matematike na daljavo. V namen izboljšanja kakovosti poučevanja matematike na daljavo smo na podlagi ugotovitev, kaj učiteljem pri tem povzroča največ težav, izdelali priročnik o poučevanju matematike na daljavo za učitelje od 1. do 5. razreda. Uporabnost priročnika so ocenili nekateri v nekateri sodelujoči učitelji v prvem delu raziskave. Rezultati raziskave so pokazali, da učitelji 1. in 5. razredov svojo usposobljenost za poučevanje matematike na daljavo danes ocenjujejo bolje kot svojo usposobljenost marca 2020, ko so se prvič srečali s poučevanjem na daljavo. Pri tem so uporabljali raznoliko informacijsko-komunikacijsko tehnologijo, ki jim je bila v pomoč pri kakovostni izvedbi pouka na daljavo. To so bili programi za izdelovanje elektronskih prosojnic, komunikacijska orodja, spletne strani za predvajanje videoposnetkov in spletne strani za utrjevanje in ponavljanje matematičnih učnih vsebin. Pri tej vrsti izobraževanja na drugačen način kot pri izobraževanju v šoli poteka komunikacija s starši in učenci, ki pa so jo učitelji ocenili kot kakovostno. Prav tako pa je drugačen način preverjanja in ocenjevanja znanja učencev na daljavo. Le-to je najpogosteje potekalo na videokonferenčnih srečanjih. Pogost način preverjanja dela pa je potekal tako, da so učenci ali starši pošiljali fotografije izdelkov učencev. V izdelanem priročniku smo predstavili možnosti za izdelavo e-učnih gradiv in spremljanja dela učencev ter primera učnih priprav za izvedbo učnih vsebin, ki sta učiteljem 1. in 5. razreda predstavljali največ težav. Učitelji, ki so pregledali priročnik, so ga ocenili kot zelo kakovostno izdelanega. Raziskovanje na področju izobraževanja na daljavo je pomembno, ker ne vemo, koliko časa bo pandemija koronavirusa trajala in kolikokrat bo med šolskim letom vzgojno-izobraževalni proces potekal na daljavo. Učitelje je treba usposobiti za to obliko dela in jih ozaveščati o tem, kako pomembno je kakovostna priprava na pouk ne glede na to, na kakšen način poteka.Around the world, there has been an increasing popularity of online education, especially in secondary and tertiary education. However, in March 2020, the declared pandemic of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19 has induced online education in primary education as well. This is when most primary education teachers have encountered distance teaching for the first time and faced a variety of difficulties in the process. In general education mathematics is one of the essential subjects. In the first grades of teaching mathematics, the use of concrete materials and gradual transition to an abstract level of knowledge are extremely important. Therefore, the process requires a detailed and high-quality preparation. Since there is no way in predicting when the coronavirus pandemic will end, the master’s thesis researches the teacher’s competence to teach mathematics at distance. The theoretical part of the master\u27s thesis firstly presents mathematics teaching and learning. In the second part, it focuses on information communication technology use, which requires digital competence and plays an important role in distance education. In addition to that, it examines different types of distance communication. Finally, it discusses the pre-assessment and assessment of knowledge in online teaching and learning. The empirical part of the master\u27s thesis focuses on the of 1st and 5th grade primary school teacher training for online teaching. We explore how teachers cope with the transition from the traditional way of teaching to online teaching during the Covid pandemic. For this purpose, we conducted a quantitative survey among 1st and 5th grade primary school teachers. We were interested in how the teachers assess their competence of teaching mathematics online, which information communication technology they most often use, how they rate communication and how they check and assess knowledge. In order to improve the quality of online teaching, we have developed a manual for 1st to 5th grade teachers. It is based on our research results and deals with the toughest challenges the teachers have to face in online teaching. The practicality of the manual has been assessed by some of the teachers participating in the first part of the research. The results of the survey showed that 1st and 5th grade teachers today have a greater ability to evaluate their skill of online teaching than they did in March 2020, when they were faced with online teaching for the first time. Teachers state they used a variety of information communication technology, which helped them bring the online teaching quality to a higher level. They worked with online presentation/communication software tools, video websites, and websites for teaching, learning and revising mathematic content. There are two more aspects which need to be taken into consideration while online teaching: a different way of teacher-parent communication, which teachers evaluated as high quality, and pre-assessing and assessing students’ knowledge. The latter was most often accomplished by video conference meetings. The most frequent way of knowledge pre-assessment, however, was checked through photos of students’ work, sent by students themselves or their parents. In the teacher manual, we presented a variety of possibilities of e-learning and e-monitoring students’ work, provided learning materials, as well as examples of teaching preparations, which were said to be the most challenging for 1st and 5th grade teachers. Teachers who reviewed the manual rated it as very well crafted. Research in the field of online education is important because it is an ongoing situation without a due date. There is no way of predicting when and if the coronavirus pandemic will end and how many more transitions from traditional to online teaching will be made throughout the school year. Teachers will need to be trained in this form of work as well as made aware of the importance of quality lesson preparations, whether they be for traditional or online teaching