The impact of the pandemic on the education systems across the globe is immense for numerous reasons. On one hand, most countries in the world have closed down schools and moved to some type of online learning which will surely impact the quality of learning but at the same time impacts the home lives of teachers, students and their parents.

The members of NEPC network promptly reacted to this situation to support and cater to the needs of their beneficiaries. In this series, we will present the activities and the practices that our members implemented, adapted or reinforced as they could serve as inspiration for other actors dealing with the implications and impact that this unexceptional circumstances had and still have on education. In this issue, we feature the initiatives of our Croatian member, Institute for Social Research (ISRZ-CERD).

The activities in the field of education of the Institute for Social Research since the beginning of lock-down caused by COVID pandemic have been in line with the primary mission of the ISRZ and its Centre for Educational Research and Development. We focused on the support to pupils and teachers facing the challenge of distance learning and redirected our research agenda to cover issues related to psychosocial adaptation and learning outcomes of distance learning.

Support to pupils and educational workers

As an immediate support to pupils and educational workers ISRZ-CERD developed a series of educational video presentations to support the development of learning to learn competence in Croatian primary and secondary schools. Presentations cover the selected topics – organization of learning, learning motivation, emotions in learning, cognitive and meta-cognitive learning strategies. Each theme is developed for primary school pupils (1-4 grade), lower secondary pupils (5-8 grade) and upper secondary pupils (1-4 grade of secondary school). Videos are promoted via ISRZ YouTube channel: https://www.idi.hr/ciro-idiz-za-online-skolu/ and via national TV channels broadcasting distance learning contents for various educational levels.

In support of the videos, ISRZ recently published the book The learning to learn competence: theoretical foundations and research in the Croatian context is now available online.  The book provides an array of scientific evidence on the theoretical foundations of the learning to learn competence and the research carried out in Croatian context. The link to the publication is provided here.

Students needs assessment: coping strategies of pupils facing pandemic and Zagreb earthquake

Needs assessment questionnaire was developed and administered online in three secondary schools in March 2020 in order to gain an immediate insight into the stress and coping strategies of pupils facing pandemic and Zagreb earthquake as well as the demands of distance learning. Results have been reported to schools along with the recommendations on the strategies of supporting pupils and have received media coverage. ISRZ – CERD team designed a project proposal submitted to the recent COVID-related call of the Croatian Science Foundation. The proposed research project aims to explore educational and psychosocial aspects of distance learning implementation in Croatian pre-tertiary education in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, bringing together perspectives of pupils, parents and educational workers.

Contact: https://www.idi.hr/en/