Examining the distance education experiences of vocational high school teachers in the Covid-19 pandemic process: Phenomenological approach

This research, it is aimed to explore how vocational high school teachers make sense of their distance education experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic process. The form of distance education applied during the Covid-19 pandemic process has revealed many difficulties and shortcomings for vocational course teachers, both in theory and in practice. Therefore, the focus of this study is vocational course teachers. This study was designed based on the phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research designs. The study group of this research consisted of vocational course teachers. Six volunteer teachers took part in this study group, which was formed by using the criterion sampling method among the purposive sampling methods. The data of this study were collected by interview technique. Within the framework of the notes taken, basic groups (theme) and subgroups (code) were formed. In the analysis process; 1) The meaning of the teaching profession, 2) Experiences in the Covid-19 process, 3) Experiences in distance education, 4) Technological, social and motivational experiences, 5) Experiences of transition to distance education and future expectations, 6) Web 2.0 tool experiences Under 6 main themes, 19 sub-themes and 86 codes were reached. The findings of the research basically give information about how teachers feel in this process, their motivation sources, expectations, concerns, communication styles, technological experiences, and social lives. In this process, it was understood that the work-life balance of the teachers deteriorated and they experienced severe motivation losses. It has been seen that the problems experienced in distance education actually arise due to the lack of readiness of teachers, students, administration, parents, and the Ministry of National Education. All the findings reached within the scope of the research were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were made to researchers and practitioners.