The current situation resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic is having a significant impact on schools in Hamburg. For example, regular school operations were suspended immediately after the school holidays starting 16 March 2020. Starting 27 April 2020, the schools were gradually reopened for certain class levels. And since 25 May 2020, all class levels have been offered at least five hours of in-classroom instruction at least once a week. During the suspension of regular school operations, emergency childcare has also been offered at the schools, which can be attended by all students up to the age of 14. Lessons were at the same time created for at-home learning, which consist, among other things, of educators distributing work materials and assignments to their students and helping them to complete their assigned tasks. Nevertheless, this has meant a significant change in the students’ learning process and in the way the educators work. In particular, the support of children and adolescents in the learning process has shifted from the school institution to the individual parents.
Against this background, the Institute for Educational Monitoring and Quality Development (IfBQ), which belongs to the Authority for Schools and Vocational Education and Training, conducted an online survey of parents, educators and students in Hamburg between 29 May 2020 and 7 June 2020. The focus was on capturing the experiences of the different stakeholder groups under the changed schooling situation in order to derive possible consequences for the future. The questionnaires used range from 99 to 123 individual questions, most of which have been standardised and some of which included open-ended questions.1 The links to the online survey were distributed via the school authority’s newsletter, a letter to all school administrators, an email to all educators and the email list of the Hamburg Chamber of Parents. The survey was also referred to in the press and on the school authority’s social media channels.
The survey was visited 28,954 times and completed 20,423 times. The high level of participation is a clear sign of a lively and public interest in the topic. The central findings of the survey are reported below. In addition to an initial overview of selected results, a random sample is presented. Following a description of the perception of the situation since the period after the March holidays, results for the evaluation of in-classroom teaching as well as for distance education are reported for all stakeholder groups. Finally, the stakeholders’ wishes for the future design of possible digital distance education are presented and the results are summarised. The focus is on a descriptive presentation that is also accessible to the general public.