FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF FOUNDATION AND EDUCATION MANAGEMENT

Course: EFN3101G2 - Issues and Perspectives in Education

Lecturer: Ms. Amelia Persaud

Group Assignment

Topic: Critically examine the relationship between culture and the teaching-learning

process. In your response refer to the COVID 19 pandemic and its impact on the culture

of the teaching-learning process in Guyana

Odessa Dickson 1037115

Onecia Haynes 1037896

Lette Phang 1037701

Zederra Singh 1037271

Ruschelle Williams Bradshaw 1030253

Chevon Haywood
 Introduction

Culture generally refers to the written and unwritten beliefs, ideas, relationships, attitudes and

rules that shape and influence all aspects of schools. Culture and education are two inseparable

and interdependent parameters. The educational pattern is influenced by society's cultural

patterns. There is no educational organization in a society that does not follow any culture. As a

result, a country's culture has a significant impact on its educational system. Today while humans

continue to live in local realities, the lives and experiences of youth growing up will be allied to

social processes, economic realities, technological and media innovations, and cultural flows that

go across international borders with ever greater momentum. These worldwide transformations

will involve youth to adapt to new skills that are well ahead of what most educational systems

can now distribute.

As educators teachers have the responsibility of teaching children of all races, ethnicities, and

cultures. Our instructions and lessons must be tailored to the children's needs. Every child learns

differently, and their cultural background can influence their learning. This paper will critically

examine the relationship between culture and the teaching-learning process in Guyana, during

the Covid 19, pandemic.

Covid 19 has appeared suddenly and there is almost no preparedness plan in some developing

countries. All sectors, including education, have been affected by the pandemic. As far as

Guyana is concerned, online education has become the new normal, and it is currently facing

different types of challenges, some of which are classified as follows:

What is the connection between culture and learning?

As educators, we are responsible for teaching children from all races, ethnicities, and cultures.

We are to tailor our instructions and lessons to fit the needs of the children. Pollock (2008) states

that “Every individual participates in many cultures that affect, to varying degrees, how he or she

“achieves” in school” . All children learn differently and their cultural background can have an

impact on their learning process. Goski (2014) stated, “The most important skill for equity-

literate teachers is the ability to recognize subtle and not-so-subtle biases and inequities” .

Educators need to be the bridge between the two to help learners cope with both learning and

culture because some aspects of school life will be different than what they are accustomed to at

home and as such, the teacher should guide them as well as help them transition between the

culture they are accustomed and the culture they are being introduced to.

The pupils in our classroom all come from a wide selection of ethnic groups and cultures which

makes them unique in their own way. For instance, a child who may come from another country

and speaks a different language (Spanish) and cultural background may have many challenges

coping with almost everything, one reason was because of the culture shock they may have gone

through at that time. Due to that fact, the teacher had to come up with some form of strategy that
would work for both parties. The cultures of the classroom are sustained through

communication (Titsworth,2017).

In March 2020 the cultures of many classrooms were disrupted greatly by shifting from face-to-

face instruction to virtual learning. Due to this teachers and students had to use new methods of

communicating and new instructional tools they had never encountered before.

The lack of face-to-face contact has caused a significant decline in learning among learners.

Students entered virtual learning with different amounts of familiarities as well as different

levels of self-discipline which was necessary for virtual learning( Geekery and Swindon)

Online learning is not as effective as face-to-face learning styles.

It negatively impacted teachers' and pupils' experiences which caused anxieties and burnt-out

experiences, students had to cope and adapt to new forms of communication, where also they

had to use their instructional knowledge to understand and grasp concepts by themselves.

Students from less educated homes had an uneven toll of the pandemic, the findings of virtual

learning made little or no progress, survey shows the lockdown had significantly affected

students studying due to their home background and the lack of parental guidance. The

implementation of virtual learning had heavily impacted students and parents, which caused

them to have no access to specific learning resources and the unavailability of spaces. Oxymoron

situation will developed here since parents would not be around to monitor students due to the

fact that they would have to go to work, one solution to this problem is if the government can

recommend that parents should be allowed one day off from wherever they work to be at home

to work along with the teachers so the learners would benefit more from this combination.
Today in classrooms there are many students that come from different backgrounds. It is the

teacher’s reasonability to make sure that each student feels welcome in the classroom, whether

they come from a different background or not. Teachers need to make sure that they know their

students and where their students come from. By doing this the teacher can create relationships

with their students and the teacher can use that information to incorporate in the classroom.

A way that teachers can make connections to their students’ personal experiences and

background in their classroom is by welcoming families in the classroom to speak about their

culture. Teachers and students can benefit by having families come into the classroom and learn

from them. An assignment can be when the teacher has their students create family trees or

having students bring in art from their culture. The students can describe the significance and

meaning to the teacher and their classmates. This allows the teachers to know more about their

students and it makes it easier for the teacher to learn background information about their

students. The teacher can also use the advantage to help understand the societal culture of

students.

English language learners come to the classroom with unique knowledge and experiences built

upon their first language and culture. Cultural differences can often be subtle; however, they do

impact students’ learning. For example, learners from different cultures can have different views

on classroom behavior, such as student-teacher interaction, as well as different views on the

value of education. Cultural differences can also affect how students understand the content,

because students from different cultures may not have in common the cultural experiences

needed to comprehend many texts.

The digital inequality between students and teachers is suddenly exposed because many villages

in the interior of the country where students and teachers live do not have access to the internet.

Students’ and teachers’ were affected by the unavailability to use electronic devices to connect

to online classes. Students lack practical training: It is necessary to use laboratories, fieldwork

and courses of practical experiences to fully educate an individual, however, to maintain

distance from society it is impossible to use laboratories and fieldwork.

_Students are not flexible: Many students who are used to the traditional classroom teaching

method find the online teaching method cumbersome. Some students are under pressure due to

adapting to online education and become rude to the teacher.

Home affairs: The online teaching model forces many students to work from home, where there

are major disturbances and other family problems. (Sutton, 2020); therefore, most students find it

difficult to concentrate on teaching online.

..Mental Health Challenge: Due to sudden changes, some students have developed fear and

anxiety. As some students cannot cope with the combination of academic rigor and family

challenges, depressive psychological problems and suicidal thoughts are some of the

conversations encountered during this period.

The economy makes parents less equipped in providing adequate support to their families as they

struggle with economic uncertainties. Working from home is difficult. The stress of a worsening

economic situation exposes parents to more violence and maltreatment. It will also be directly

linked to a decrease in household consumption, putting the nutritional needs of adolescents and
children at risk. In addition, the school's closure caused a disruption in the school feeding

program. Foo (FAO) measures that had been taken by the government have forced various

economic activities to ease, and caused losses of jobs and income for their families. This will

cause the poverty rate to increase, pressure on children and adolescents which will later cause

them to abandon their studies so that they can contribute to their homes.It causes household

members to face uncertainties regarding their health. The combination of these two factors,

economic and health will result in isolation among caregivers and will negatively impact parents'

practice.

We know that the world has been turned upside down by COVID-19. Everything is different —

from the way we interact with each other, to the way businesses and schools operate. During this

time, students are being asked to be flexible, learn new routines, and adjust more than ever.

While at the same time, they need predictability and routines to navigate to their new

environments. Consequently, support students and families with their personal development and

maintaining the cornerstones,and the heritage of what they learnt in schools.

Traditions and culture exist for many reasons,they may shift, but the true practices reinforce

the core values, purpose, and the direction for schools. These events create life-long memories

and are shared and passed along from generation to generation. It unites people around the

community;creates positivity of childhood ;shared responsibilities to support one another and

celebrating needs to meet public health requirements. Instead of turning away from these events,

schools need to embrace and make revisions to maintain their cultures for students’ benefit.

Encouraging and developing a virtual classroom culture is important since students had

significantly fewer opportunities to create and build relationships with each other before, during,
and after class meetings. According to Nesson and Nesson (2008), “Simple interactions such as

conversations in the minutes before class begins, walking from one class to the next, and

chances of meetings in library and student center are frequently the basis for forming new

relationships and sustaining existing ones” (p. 278). Moreover, changes in norms and behaviors

were evident in the first week when students asked about a dress code and other requirements

for classes. Fewer cliques existed among students due to absence of desks, seating

arrangements, and chatter that occurs naturally in physical spaces. Whereas the traditional class

environment relies on verbal and nonverbal communication to create and foster cultural norms,

behaviors, practices, and beliefs, virtual learning disrupts the process since technology changes

individual’s communication behaviors. It is important to develop a social presence in virtual

education courses through 1) synchronous teaching and learning, and 2) self-disclosure for

fostering student engagement, creating relationships, and building supportive class communities

There's a link between self-disclosure and higher relationship satisfaction, which explains why

students feel more connected to their professors (Song et al., 2019). According to studies,

educators who provide personal information about themselves are more likely to boost students'

perceptions of social presence, which resulted in supportive relationships among students:

“...students in online classrooms have little information about their teachers, such as sex,

nationality, and physical appearances, is rarely shared with students. Their interest in learning

more about their teachers is of great importance and also of understanding other situations.
 Conclusion

With our environment changing at a rapid rate,Culture is a critical component of any learning

environment. It is important to be aware of the influence of culture within any particular learning

context, and to try and shape that culture as much as possible towards supporting the kind of

learning environment that you believe will be most effective. However, changing a pre-existing,

dominant culture is very difficult. Nevertheless, new technologies enable new learning

environments to be developed, and thus provide an opportunity to develop the kind of culture

within that learning environment that will best serve your learners. It was evident that the covid

19 pandemic has brought about new cultures to our teaching learning process in Guyana and

with this we need to adapt and embrace it at all levels.

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