ABSTRACT
In many countries the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020–May 2021), was a year of emergency remote teaching (ERT). Teachers were not prepared in terms of their technological, pedagogical, emotional readiness. This study investigates teachers' readiness for ERT and analyzes the changes in readiness for ERT in the first two school years during the pandemic (2020–2021). Study also searches for development and differences in readiness for ERT depending on teachers' subject area (SA). Based on the existing research and tools available to measure the readiness for online teaching, a self-evaluation survey was developed and adapted for the remote teaching circumstances. It consisted of 32 items, organized into five sub-domains: "Required individual and administrative support”, "Student engagement and communication”, "Digital resources used in ERT”, "Teaching methods used in ERT” and "Attitude to ERT”. Total "Readiness for ERT” was calculated by summarizing the answers in all sub-domains. The results confirm that emergency remote teaching from March 2020 to May 2021 had a significant impact on Latvian teachers' Readiness for ERT: it had become significantly higher in all subject areas, except Native language and Computer Science. The significant differences (readiness gap) found in the first months of remote teaching had decreased by May 2021 because of the great amount of ERT practice hours, online webinars and consultations. Subject area did not determine teachers' readiness for ERT, but added to it. Teachers' pedagogical competence and attitude were more important for Readiness for ERT than digital competence and technological skills. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.