Emergency Remote Teaching and Social–Emotional Learning: Examining Gender Differences

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic entailed a sudden shift to remote learning. Teachers had to adjust instantly to a new reality and acquire new tools for emergency remote teaching. The present research studied the perceptions and stances of teachers following this change. It focused on aspects of personal experience and teachers’ perceptions of the students and the educational relations, and it also examined gender differences. An online questionnaire built to this end addressed different aspects of the switch to emergency remote teaching. The findings reveal a variety of stances and perceptions about the change. The research participants thought that the students faced a need to increase their self-learning. However, they did not sense a significant change in their self-perception and the quality of educational relations. Yet, significant differences emerged between the teachers based on gender. Male teachers reported more difficulty making the switch than their female colleagues. The research shed light on the link between remote teaching and Social–Emotional Learning (SEL). On a practical level, it calls for integrating social–emotional learning components in teacher training frameworks and promoting remote teaching professional skills.