READINESS OF TEACHERS FOR ONLINE TEACHING OF MATHEMATICS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The introduction of a state of emergency due to the corona virus pandemic in the middle of March 2020 in the Republic of Serbia created the need to switch to online classes. Online teaching was then introduced for the first time as the only form of teaching in all educational institutions, which gave rise to numerous challenges that this type of teaching organization brought with it. In this regard, we wanted to examine how teachers assessed their readiness to implement online mathematics classes. On a sample of 188 teachers from the Republic of Serbia, we wanted to examine: 1) whether the teachers had knowledge and experience with online teaching of mathematics before the introduction of the state of emergency, 2) whether they had the necessary equipment and conditions for the realization of online teaching and 3) whether they need additional support for the implementation of online mathematics classes. The obtained results show that 90% of teachers had no, or insufficient knowledge for the organization and implementation of online mathematics classes; that most teachers had the equipment and conditions for online teaching, but that only one in ten teachers used an online classroom in teaching mathematics before the state of emergency. The results of the research also show that teachers need additional support for the implementation of online mathematics classes, where they put training in the use of web tools in the first place, but also obtaining guidelines for the implementation of online mathematics classes.