Access to Education in Rural and Urban Primary (K-6) Schools in Jamaica during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a paradigm shift on education delivery worldwide. In response to the pandemic, the government of Jamaica mobilised strat.
- Pub. date: December 15, 2022
- Pages: 143-155
- 241 Downloads
- 461 Views
- 0 Citations
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed a paradigm shift on education delivery worldwide. In response to the pandemic, the government of Jamaica mobilised strategies to ensure that the nation was protected while continuing the education of the nation's children. One of the strategies was to implement remote teaching and learning. Online teaching and learning created challenges, especially for students from rural and marginalised communities. This research explored the experiences of accessing education in Jamaica's rural and urban primary (K-6) schools during the pandemic. Researchers aimed to answer the questions: To what extent has COVID-19 impacted access to continued education in your school? (b) How has the state's intervention facilitated continued education during COVID-19? (c) To what extent do the qualitative findings converge with the quantitative results? Mixed-method research was employed for data collection and analysis. Purposeful sampling was used to select principals, teachers, and parents for this study. The findings of the study provided insights into how COVID-19 affected students' access and, the effectiveness of the government's response to continuing education online. Participants' contributions informed recommendations to the government on students' access to education during the onset of the pandemic in 2020, for the periods March to July and September to December.
Keywords: Access to education, COVID-19, Jamaica; rural and urban primary schools.
0
References
Chambers, D., Scala, J., & English, D. (2020). Promising practices brief: Improving student engagement and attendance during COVID-19 school closures. Insight Policy Research and American Institutes for Research and the U.S. Department of Education. http://bit.ly/3XIgfDW
Clow, E., & Kolomitro, K. (2018, May 2). Online learning isn’t as inclusive as you may think: A pair of online instructors revisit the assumption that web-based classes are fundamentally better at accommodating a range of students and teachers. University Affairs. http://bit.ly/3UoocLv
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage.
Engzell, P., Frey, A., & Verhagen, M. (2021). Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. PNAS, 118(17), Article e2022376118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022376118
Frels, R. K., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2013). Administering quantitative instruments with qualitative interviews: A mixed research approach. Journal of Counseling & Development, 91(2), 184-194. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2013.00085.x
Hesse-Biber, S., Rodriguez, D., Frost, N. A. (2015). A qualitatively driven approach to multimethod and mixed methods research. In S. Hesse-Biber & R. B. Johnson (Eds.), Oxford handbook of mixed method and multi-method research (pp. 3-20). Oxford University Press.
Loscalzo, Y. (2022). Psychological counseling during the COVID-19 pandemic: Clinical thoughts and implications arisen from an experience in Italian schools. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12), Article 7255. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127255
Luxton, E. (2016). 4 billion people still don’t have internet access. Here’s how to connect them. World Economic Forum. http://bit.ly/3VEUiUm
McCrudden, M., Marchand, G., & Schutz, P. (2021). Joint displays for mixed methods research in psychology. Methods in Psychology, 5, Article 100067. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metip.2021.100067
Merriam, S., & Tisdell, E. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John Wiley & Sons.
Mertens, D. M. (2010). Transformative mixed methods research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(6), 469-474. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410364612
Pallant, J. (2001). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows (versions 10). Buckingham Open University Press.
Patterson, C. (2020, May 5). 238 Schools in remote areas to be provided with internet access. Jamaica Information Service. http://bit.ly/3Ud4qCM
Tomaševski, K. (2001). Primer no. 3: Human rights obligations: Making education available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable. Right to Education. http://bit.ly/3VhEJ5b
United Nations. (2020). Policy brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond. http://bit.ly/3VF9tNm
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2021). Supporting learning recovery one year into COVID-19: The global education coalition in action. https://cutt.ly/M1IDmLV
Werner, K., & Woessmann, L. (2021). The legacy of COVID-19 in education (CESifo Working Paper No. 9358). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3945280
Whitley, J., Beauchamp, M., & Brown, C. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on the learning and achievement of vulnerable Canadian children and youth. Facets, 6, 1693-1713. https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0096
World Health Organization. (2020). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). https://cutt.ly/e1IDki0