THE PROBLEMS EXPERIENCED BY ELEMENTARY STUDENTS’ PARENTS DURING DISTANCE EDUCATION

Abstract

This research aims to examine the problems experienced by parents in the distance education in elementary school during pandemic period. For this reason, action research, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in this study. The sample group of the research is 44 parents whose children go to elementary school in 2020-2021 academic year and that were chosen with homogeneous sampling method. Semi-structured interview forms of the research were sent to the parents via Google Form through class teachers because of the pandemic and lockdown. The content analysis of acquired date was analyzed by building codes and themes. According to the research finding, the parents faced some problems such as absence of equipment and internet connection, inadequate learning and distractibility of students, increasing asocial children, communication problem in children, and technology addiction in children. The parents stated that they tried to support them to access the courses within means. They made suggestıon for elementary school students. According to the parents’ opinions, face-to-face education for young learners should continue, course equipment and internet support should be provided for each student in case of distance education and the medium of instructors should be attractive for students.