GENDER BASED INFLUENCE ON THE ATTITUDE OF IN-SERVICE SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS BLENDED LEARNING DURING THE PREVAILING PANDEMIC

The impact of the pandemic has not only been felt in the field of education but has affected all sectors of the global
society. The pandemic is a strong indication of the fact that things will not be the same as they were before even though
this will end. Closures of the educational institutes in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift to online
learning have affected not only learning of students but also professional growth of teachers as well. The
incorporation of technological resources effectively and innovative educational pedagogies have transformed the
teaching and learning processes. Post-pandemic things will not be the same because of which many research scholars,
policy makers and educationalists believe that a blended learning approach will become the future reality, the new
normal and sustainable pedagogy. During this time, teachers working in various types of educational institutions are
getting an opportunity of being learners. The current paper emphasizes a proactive strategy where not only students
but teachers are also considered as learners while talking about their professional growth through various seminars,
conferences and refresher courses. The present study was undertaken to find out the readiness of in-service school
teachers in order to adapt blended learning when related to gender and medium of instruction of their educational
institute. Total respondents consisted of 169 in-service school teachers from India belonging to various schools having
English, Hindi, Marathi, Telegu, Kannada, Urdu etc as their medium of instruction. The results indicated that both
male and female in-service school teachers have similar attitudes towards blended learning but their attitudes varied
while considering the six dimensions. Similarly, male and female school teachers belonging to institutes having English
as medium of instruction and other languages as medium of instruction had the same attitude towards blended learning
but varied in dimensions of blended learning.