DISTANCE EDUCATION FOR TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM IN RURAL AREAS: A NECESSARY STRATEGY FOR COVID-19 SITUATION

Md. Solaiman Jony

Abstract


Like other countries around the world, distance education approach has been exceptionally beneficial for the continuation of teaching learning activities in Bangladesh during the covid-19 pandemic situation. Teacher training is a very crucial and integrated part of teaching learning activities as it helps to enhance the quality of teaching. Despite the continuation of teaching learning through online and distance education approach, the teacher training was not happening on a regular basis during this pandemic period. Therefore, this study is an attempt to explain the necessity of distance education for the persistence of teachers training program during and after the covid-19 pandemic situation in order to maintain a continuity in the professional development especially for teachers in the rural areas in Bangladesh. This study was conducted by following the concurrent mixed method research design. Data were collected with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire and interview schedule from the secondary school teachers from rural areas, trainers and experts in distance education and teacher training program. The results of this study indicated that distance education can play a significant alternative role in arranging teacher training program for teacher across the country during this covid-19 crisis moment. Moreover, the participants also agreed that the continuation of distance education approach should be paralleled with the conventional approach for teacher training program in the post covid-19 period as it brings more flexibility, accessibility, inclusiveness and responsiveness. However, the study also revealed few challenges which can impair the arrangement of distance education in teacher training programs.

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Keywords


distance education, teacher training, rural teachers, Covid-19 pandemic

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v6i1.4055

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