Investigating the Role of Distance Education in Primary School in the Light of Covid-19 Pandemic: A study from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The goal of this study was to explore the perceptions of parents and teachers about the distance education deployed in Saudi Arabia at the primary education level. This was investigated using a mixed-methods approach: questionnaire and interview. The questionnaire sample size was 94 participants (55 parents and 39 teachers), from those two parents and one teacher were selected for the interview. To investigate parents and teachers perceptions on the deployed distance education in Saudi Arabia at primary education level, quantitative analysis was used, specifically descriptive statistics (i.e., frequencies and percentages). The replies of the parents and teachers to the interviews and open-ended questions-based questionnaire were studied using qualitative analysis: thematic analysis. Overall, the findings reveal that there is a significant disagreement among parents and instructors about the quality of learning offered to children by the deployed distance education system. According to some participants, this might be due to the deployed distance education system's ineffectiveness in preparing and providing curriculum materials to students. As a result, respondents feel that distance education will never completely replace face-to-face education. Participants suggested integrating distance education with face-to-face education to increase the effect of distance education. The findings, however, indicate that the introduction of distance education aided both instructors and parents in managing their daily routines. The finding of this research also show that parents and teachers are happy with the use of Microsoft Teams in this type of education. In summary, this study shows that in the future, when access to face-to-face classes is limited, distance education might be used successfully in Saudi Arabia.