MARQUETTE, MI-- A recent survey showed that Upper Peninsula K-12 teachers are torn over how schools should return to teaching in the fall.
The survey, which polled 75 teachers from districts throughout the UP, asked a series of questions--gauging grade level, teaching experience, whether the teachers had online instruction training, and the form of instruction delivery they would prefer to use at the start of the 2020-21 school year if COVID-19 numbers remained consistent.
Pamela Spady, an educational technology expert who has taught in the Marquette Area Public Schools for the past eighteen years, led the survey effort.
“Teachers are experts on education and the students they teach,” says Spady. “Too often their opinion is not taken into consideration when decisions about education are made.”
Most of the teachers surveyed were teaching at either the elementary level (58%) or the high school level (29%), and the majority of these teachers had more than 16 years of teaching experience. Thirty-seven percent indicated they had training in online instruction, while the other 63% percent had not.
The final question asked, “If the COVID-19 numbers are similar to today (mid-July), what form of instruction delivery would you prefer to use to start the 2020-21 school year?”
Responses to this question were split evenly--33% of teachers said they would prefer “traditional in-school instruction;” 33% preferred “online instruction,” and 25% preferred a hybrid of the two forms of instruction.
There was also an open-comment section at the end of the survey. One teacher in remission from stage-four cancer wrote, “I am very afraid COVID-19 would kill me.” Another teacher wrote, “As both a parent and educator, I am extremely apprehensive about resuming traditional instruction.”
“The decision to open schools, proceed with online instruction, or a hybrid of the two may be one of the most important education decisions made,” says Spady. “We need to ensure the safety of all our students and school staff. It is not acceptable to allow anything less.”
The full article by Pamela Spady can be viewed on Rural Insights at https://ruralinsights.org/blog/survey-shows-up-teachers-opinion-mixed-on-return-to-school/
