Challenges Facing Distance Education for Children in Virtual Kindergartens

Authors

S. M. Shahpo, Department of Early Childhood, College of Science and Human Studies in Jubail, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaFollow
H. A. Nassar, Department of Educational Psychology, College of Science and Human Studies in Jubail, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaFollow
N. El. El Zahaer, Department of Early Childhood, College of Science and Human Studies in Jubail, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaFollow
N. H. Al Fadil, Department of Early Childhood, College of Science and Human Studies in Jubail, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaFollow

Abstract

For kindergarten children, distance education was neither an alternative nor a potential option to in-person schooling before the global COVID-19 pandemic-imposed isolation and mandatory social distancing measures. These measures guaranteed the safety of school staff and children and made the adoption of distance education an urgent necessity for children to continue their education safely. The current study was conducted to reveal the most common challenges that faced children’s distance education in virtual kindergartens. The study was conducted from the teachers’ point of view to determine the impact of each of the job title variables and years of experience. The study sample consisted of 32 kindergarten teachers in Jubail Governorate. The research team applied the scale of challenges facing children’s education in virtual kindergarten. The results of the study concluded that the most important challenges facing children’s education in virtual kindergartens were related to communication skills (79.9%), technical skills (79.5%), educational aids (76.4%), and motivation (69.6%). The results of the study also revealed that there were statistically significant differences in the challenges related to motivation and readiness and in the total challenges facing children’s education in the virtual kindergarten from the teachers’ point of view depending on the job title—that is, the assistant teacher where the calculated “U” value reached 28.5 and 37.5. In addition, there was an absence of statistically significant differences due to the variable years of experience, whether in the total number of challenges or in the dimensions of the scale, except for the dimension of communication skills, where the calculated “Ka2” value reached 8.755, which is a statistically significant value at the level of significance (0.05).

Recommended Citation

M. Shahpo, S.; A. Nassar, H.; El. El Zahaer, N.; and H. Al Fadil, N. (2023) "Challenges Facing Distance Education for Children in Virtual Kindergartens," Information Sciences Letters: Vol. 12 : Iss. 1 , PP -.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.aaru.edu.jo/isl/vol12/iss1/34