Investigating The Polemic of Emergency Remote Teaching for Very Young Learners

Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) has been implemented in Indonesia at all levels of education since March 2020 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Immediate changes and adjustments are required to transform face to face learning into online learning. In addition, challenges emerge during this process. To investigate the challenges during the implementation of Emergency Remote Teaching for very young learners, a narrative inquiry research was applied. In-depth interview was held to five respondents consisted of 2 teachers and 3 parents to collect the data. The researcher also observed the online teaching and learning process conducted via WhatsApp group. Then, the data were categorized into two sides, teachers’ side and parents’ side, since it is undeniable that online learning for very young learners intensively involved not only the teachers but also the parents. From the teachers’ side, the challenges dealt with materials preparation, online class management, and learning achievement. From parents’ side, the problems comprised the time management and learning environment. This paper recommends that teachers need to continuously develop their professional skills so that they can adapt to the rapid change of education system.