Teachers' perspectives about distance education for refugee students amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece: Challenges and Implications

Abstract

This article presents a small scale qualitative study which aims to investigate the teachers' perspectives, practices and experiences regarding distance teaching and learning among refugee students in Greece during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the teachers' voices, we attempt to initially map and frame the context of distance education for refugee students, as it was implemented during the first lockdown (March-May 2020) and understand the experiences, challenges and changes involved for both refugee students and teachers. The study was conducted through open-ended online questionnaires, which were completed by 27 participant teachers, teaching students with a refugee/migrant background in their classes and implementing distance teaching during the first COVID-19 school closure. The findings provide insights into the ways teachers and students responded to and experienced distance education as well as the challenges and possibilities involved. Implications are drawn for supporting vulnerable groups with language teaching/learning in crisis.