Teacher Perspectives on the Developmental Domains of Elementary School Students Following Emergency Remote Teaching

Abstract

Sudden changes and interruptions in education can lead not only to learning gaps, but also to developmental differences in students. This may be especially important for students in elementary school who develop through their interactions at school. This study evaluated elementary school students’ cognitive, linguistic, social-emotional, and moral development domains based on teachers’ views during the COVID-19 emergency remote teaching period. This study adopted the qualitative research design of the phenomenological approach. Data was collected from twenty-six experienced elementary school teachers regarding the students’ developmental domain and tasks via a semi-structured interview form and was analyzed via content analysis aimed at creating themes. According to the elementary school teachers interviewed in this study, many of the students engaged in emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19 have failed to acquire the basic developmental features and to fulfill the basic developmental tasks required in the cognitive, language, social-emotional, moral, and personality domains.