Are the Benefits of Emergency Remote Education Truly Benefits? Ethical Dilemmas and Research Results on Emergency Remote Education from the Perspective of Prospective Teachers and the Foundations of Pedagogical Study Programmes

Oct 15, 2026

Empirical research examines emergency remote education introduced after March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, focusing on conditions and implementation in a Slovenian teacher-education faculty. Using a representative student sample, the study analyzes material study conditions, the pedagogical process, performance and assessment ethics, and the academic community. Results indicate student success depends on technical conditions and environment; rapid shifts between learning formats are not recommended; teaching was partly adapted from face-to-face principles; and “desire for comfort” influenced perceived quality and fairness. Findings support prioritizing educational justice and quality over convenience in online delivery.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages36

Reading Time1 h 31 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Emergency remote education as an ethical problem

Concept of distance learning and its features

Received: 3 June 2023, Accepted: 14 December 2023, Published on-line as Recently Accepted Paper: 9 February 2024 DOI: [https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1672](https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1672) Are the Benefits of Emergency Remote Education Truly Benefits? Ethical Dilemmas and Research Results on Emergency Remote Education from the Perspective of Prospective Teachers and the Foundations of Pedagogical Study Programmes Tatjana Hodnik1, Janez Vogrinc1 and Janez Krek*2 • Commencing in March 2020 and continuing during the 2020/2021 academic year, all university education was forced to introduce emergency remote education due to restrictions imposed in countries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the present empirical study, which includes a representative sample of students from one of the education faculties in Slovenia, data was obtained on the conditions and implementation of study programmes via emergency remote education. The areas of study were the material conditions for studying, the pedagogical process in emergency remote education, the ethics of the rules of performance and assessment, and the academic community. The study provides an analysis of the changes that took place in the implementation of the pedagogical process during emergency remote education from the students’ perspective and an examination of the extent to which it provided equal opportunities for students. The results show that the success of students in their studies depends on technical conditions and the environment; that rapid transitions from one type of studying to another (from emergency remote education to hybrid or entirely at the faculty) are not recommended; that the teaching process was based on the concept of face-to-face teaching, partly adapting to different conditions on this basis; and finally, that the “desire for comfort”entered into the assessment of the quality and fairness of the educational process. Based on the values ofour professional ethical judgement and the results of the study, we conclude that higher education teachers should be aware that providing comfort to some students who have the appropriate conditions for studying or simply preferring to teach from the comfort of home are not adequate reasons to maintain online delivery of courses compared to the criteria of justice and quality in education. Keywords: pedagogical study programmes, emergency remote education, ethics, distance learning, justice, prospective teacher 1 Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. 2 *Corresponding Author. Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; [janez.krek@pef.uni-lj.si](janez.krek@pef.uni-lj.si). Ali so prednosti izobraževanja na daljavo v siliresnično prednosti? Etične dileme in izsledki raziskav oizobraževanju na daljavo v sili z vidika bodočih učiteljevin temeljev pedagoških študijskih programov Tatjana Hodnik, Janez Vogrinc in Janez Krek • Z marcem 2020 in v študijskem letu 2020/21 je bilo vse univerzitetnoizobraževanje zaradi omejitev, uvedenih v državah, ki jih je prizadela pandemija covida-19, prisiljeno uvesti izobraževanje na daljavo v sili. Vtej empirični študiji, ki vključuje reprezentativni vzorec študentov ene izmed pedagoških fakultet v Sloveniji, so bili pridobljeni podatki o pogojih in izvajanju študijskih programov prek izobraževanja na daljavov sili. Področja preučevanja so bila: materialni pogoji za študij, pedagoški proces v izobraževanju na daljavo v sili, etičnost pravil izvedbe inocenjevanja ter akademska skupnost. Študija prinaša analizo sprememb, ki so se zgodile pri izvajanju pedagoškega procesa med izobraževanjem na daljavo v sili z vidika študentov, in preučitev, v kolikšni meri je ta študentom zagotavljal enake možnosti. Izsledki kažejo, da je uspešnost študentov pri študiju odvisna od tehničnih pogojev in okolja; da hitriprehodi iz ene vrste študija v drugo (iz izobraževanja na daljavo v siliv hibridno ali v celoti na fakulteti) niso priporočljivi; da je p

FAQs

What circumstances led to the introduction of emergency remote education?

All university education institutions were forced to introduce emergency remote education after March 2020 because of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Which aspects of study programmes were examined in the empirical study?

The study examines material conditions for studying, the pedagogical process, ethics of performance and assessment rules, and the academic community.

What do the results suggest about student success and online learning conditions?

Student success depends on technical conditions and the learning environment, and rapid transitions between learning formats are not recommended.

Oct 15, 2026

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