Children attending segregated classes during the coronavirus

Rosa Parks Foundation, Motivation Workshop, Partners Hungary, April 2020

Teachers of predominantly disadvantaged children say a third of their pupils have failed to engage with digital education, according to a recent survey. The results suggest that the gap in the school-to-work gap is set to widen further, based on children's social status. There are large regional differences: while in Budapest, teachers who filled in the questionnaire estimate that four-fifths of pupils are participating in digital education, the figure is only 65% in large municipalities. In a situation like this, respondents do what they can: they provide a high proportion of telephone assistance, sending photocopies to students when needed. According to the responses, teachers rely most on each other and least on the maintainer. Nearly half of them said they had not received the help they needed to make the changeover.

About the research

The Rosa Parks Foundation, the Motivation Association and Partners Hungary, three organisations working to improve the educational situation of disadvantaged children, asked teachers to fill in an online survey. Of the 425 teachers who responded, two thirds teach in primary schools, the vast majority (83%) work in state schools, 10% in church schools and 7% in foundation schools. A third of them were teachers in municipal schools in all parts of the country. 44% of them estimated the proportion of Roma pupils in the classes they taught at more than 60%, so nearly half of the respondents work in segregated or segregated schools.

Key findings of the research:

• The data shows that the higher the proportion of students with fewer opportunities, the lower the proportion of students participating in digital education: while an average of 84% of students in schools with well-socialised children participate online, one third of children in segregated institutions drop out of digital education. While in Budapest, the teachers surveyed estimated that between four and five fifths of students participate in digital education, this proportion is only 65% in the larger municipalities.
• As for the reasons for dropping out, most people a lack or scarcity of adequate infrastructure, computer, internet connection. One in five teachers cited existential reasons (children also need to be involved in earning a living, household chores, looking after younger children).
• The responses show that teachers are doing what they can: there is a high proportion of telephone help and photocopies are sent to students when needed. In small villages, 70% of respondents said that paper-based delivery of learning materials was "typical" or "somewhat typical".
• The majority of teachers who teach a higher proportion of Roma/disadvantaged children say that the new curriculum new approaches also wishes to: more than half of them did not agree at all with the statement that "they should assess students' performance with the same expectations as before", 70% did not agree at all or hardly at all with the statement that "they should follow a timetable and give students the right amount of learning".
• When asked who they have received and receive specific help from for digital teaching, respondents cited teacher colleagues as the most important (68%) and the provider as the least important (24%).

Nearly half of them (48%) said they had not received the help they needed to make the switch.

"The first indications of transition problems arrived at our Invisible School soon after the introduction of the digital curriculum. We are therefore currently assessing the situation nationwide with a questionnaire sent to the schools and one to be sent to Roma communities soon." - said Adél Kegye, Director of the Rosa Parks Foundation.

The full research is available here:

Segregation and digital education in the age of the coronavirus

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For more information, please contact Ágnes Kende, Research Manager agnes.kende@gmail.com, or Gábor Bernáth, Communications Officer at bernath_g@yahoo.com-or call 70-451-8649.