Distance Education in high schools in Sweden during Covid-19 : Analysis of students' perceptions

Abstract: Sweden’s high school students have no prior experience of compelled distance educationduring a pandemic and it is unusual in Sweden with distance education in high school. In fact,after the Swedish government announced on March 17, 2020, that distance education wasrecommended in high schools from March 18, 2020, the implementation from traditionalface-to-face education to distance education happened over one-day notification for almost allhigh school students. This study analyzes students' experience on distance education duringthe first wave of the Covid-19 crisis in the spring 2020 and evaluates to which extent crisisresponse can be implemented in crisis distance education.The author conducted a web survey and received 51 responses from high school students. Theresult showed that 75 percent of the students thought that the school had not prepared themfor distance education. The result also showed that 45 percent of the students did not feelprepared for the fast transition to distance education. Yet, the preparation for using digitaltools was good as 75 percent of the students have used digital tools often before in theireducation. The study also showed that in crisis distance education, you can implement fivephases in crisis management (engage, explore, explain, execute, and evaluate) for example byinforming and explaining what has been planned to overcome a crisis and be able to continue to provide high-quality education for high school students.The analysis had a focus on procedural, logistics, and pedagogical aspects (supported bytechnology). Social factors and psychological factors are important aspects to investigatefurther in future research.Keywords: Covid-19, distance education, high schools, crisis.