10 │ COMMUNICATION Distance learning in basic and upper secondary schools in the Czech Republic 56 10 COMMUNICATION Since the start of distance learning in the spring of 2020, the importance of communication support has increased. Given that parents are the school’s key partner in educating pupils, it was crucial whether it was possible to establish good communication or, as the case may be, whether it was possible to overcome obstacles and initiate and set up intensive communication with parents. Schools mostly rely on communication through online parents’ evenings; in small schools, principals also use informal contacts within the community in the location of the school. Only a small proportion of schools systematically dealt with feedback from parents, which, of course, is not good. A frequent problem is the still low quality of communication between the school and parents, which then, for example, discourages the school management from using questionnaires or similar tools, due to fear of minimal response rate. There is a significant difference especially in upper secondary education, where even in secondary general schools systematic communication with parents is not common in half of schools, and in upper secondary schools with a predominance of non-Maturita fields the absence of communication with parents is particularly problematic due to many problems (proportion of irregularly involved pupils, quality of online distance learning, absence of practical training, etc.) which distance learning entails. CHART 30 | Proportion of schools finding out parents’ satisfaction with distance learning Communication with parents was reflected in the adjustment of the distance learning settings: distance learning was at least partially adjusted based on such communication by more than half of basic schools and secondary general schools, but only slightly by more than a fifth of secondary vocational/technical schools. It was often a matter of adjusting the difficulty and support for pupils in learning. We adjusted the volume of assigned tasks, because parents complained about the excessive load and the number of assigned tasks. The school included tutoring (Czech, English, Mathematics – carried out by class teachers or teaching assistants) and after-school activities (entertaining logic, reading club, communication in English). A special educational care subject has also been implemented. Questionnaires for parents have contributed to a more efficient structure of online lessons and to their subject composition (the Humans and Their World subjects have been added). Slight increase in the extent of synchronous learning in some classes. Introduction of class teacher lessons. We have adjusted the levels of workload (up and down) from teachers in the individual subjects not only in content, but also in forms and ways of communication. We have solved the problem with low demands from some colleagues. The changes also include adjustments to the organisation of distance learning to ensure that it better corresponds to the capabilities of pupils and their parents. Based on the suggestions of the parents of 1st stage pupils, the school adjusted the timetable in some classes so that the online learning of siblings in one family does not coincide (learning moved from 8–10 a.m. to 10–12 a.m.). Last but not least, parents often initiated changes in the extent of synchronous learning. 0 %10 %20 %30 %40 %50 %neúplné ZŠúplné ZŠBSs gymnáziamaturitní SOŠnematuritní SOŠsystematicky v průběhu posledního období distančního vzdělávání nebo bezprostředně po jeho skončenísystematicky na konci minulého školního roku a/nebo začátkem letošního školního roku50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% incomplete BSs complete secondary general schools Maturita STSs non-Maturita STSs systematically during the last period of distance learning or immediately after its termination systematically at the end of the previous school year and/or at the beginning of this school year