Examining first-grade teachers’ experiences and approaches regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching and learning

Background/purpose – Elementary school first-grade is very important, particularly in Turkey where preschool education is not compulsory. For students who have not received preschool education or those with low levels of preparedness, starting elementary school can be very challenging process. These difficulties have increased with the implementation of emergency distance education due to the pandemic. This study aims to determine the difficulties that first-grade elementary school teachers have faced during the pandemic. Materials/methods – Phenomenological study, as one of the qualitative research methods, was applied in the current study. A semi-structured interview form was prepared as a data collection tool, and then interviews were conducted with 15 first-grade elementary school teachers. Results – The study analyzed problems experienced during the emergency distance education program under the categories of focusing, learning losses, homework, textbooks, curriculum, equipment problems, screen time, hardware deficiencies, Internet access, connectivity problems, absenteeism, communication problems, home conditions, expectations from the state, inadequate family support, and security problems. It also examined problems experienced during the face-to-face training process under the categories of facemasks, social distancing, hygiene, adaptation problems, socialization, and parents. Conclusion – The most significant problem that the participant teachers experienced during the emergency distance education was reported to be the learning losses of students. The other problems were determined to be the long periods of time students spent in front of a screen, educational materials not having been prepared for distance education, and not providing teachers with fundamental necessities for lessons such as Internet connectivity. In face-to-face education, the anxiety caused by fear of contracting the virus, and the difficulties of students to adapt to face-to-face education was seen to negatively affect the teachers.

that children established with their peers and teachers were far removed from what was considered "normal" during face-to-face education.
As of September 28, 2020, elementary school first-grade students increased their faceto-face education up to 2 days per week. Overall, the students received three Turkish lessons 2 days a week, one Mathematics lesson 2 days a week, and one Life Science lesson 2 days a week, totaling five lessons per day, with non-face-to-face lessons conducted through the national distance education system which offered live classroom activities via EBA TV and the EBA portal (Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı *Turkish Ministry of National Education+, 2021).
However, on November 20, 2020, all school grade levels reverted back to emergency distance education (Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı *Turkish Ministry of National Education+, 2021) due to a resurgence of virus cases. In addition to the asynchronous lessons offered via EBA TV, teachers started to also provide online synchronous lessons via the EBA portal. During synchronous distance education, while both the teachers and students can enter the system and undertake lessons at the same time, both must have an adequate working Internet connection and some suitable form of Internet-connected hardware such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet computer, or access to a smartphone.
The changes seen in the practices of distance education in Turkey since the 1950s has largely been influenced by the technological developments of the age. Initially, distance education was offered on a correspondence basis, whilst in 1996 the concept of computerbased distance education was being mentioned (Bozkurt, 2017). After the second round of elementary school closures in Turkey due to COVID-19, both synchronous and asynchronous learning models began to be applied together. During the pandemic, the transition to emergency distance education has had a significant impact on the lives of many students, as well as their teachers and also their parents.
When academic studies conducted during the pandemic period are examined, it can be seen that the focus has largely been on evaluating the effects of the pandemic on the parent-child relationship (e.g., Uzun et al., 2021), child maltreatment (e.g., Baron et al., 2020;Griffith, 2020;Lawson et al., 2020), and the mental health of children (e.g., Glynn et al., 2021). Studies on distance education during the pandemic have generally been carried out within the framework of the opinions of branch teachers or university students on distance education (e.g., Bayburtlu, 2020;Doghonadze et al., 2020;Yılmaz İnce et al., 2020). The pandemic has affected the educational lives of learners of all ages, but especially those facing a critical period in their educational life such as the first-grade of elementary school. Even under what would be considered normal educational conditions, orientation studies are conducted in order to adapt first-grade students to school life; with these new students starting earlier than the existing grades, and through adaptation programs being conducted. During the pandemic period, students had no time real time or opportunity to adapt to school life, meet their teachers, make peer friends, or to adapt to the required school study discipline. The children had to conduct an educational process that was alien to them in front of a screen with a group of people that they most probably did not know, to learn how to socialize through the screen, and to try to understand the rules and expectations of them as students.
Additionally, the teachers were also expected to efficiently manage their communications with their students (both ways), and also in terms of student-student peer communication, to ensure students followed the fundamental rules of lessons, and to establish communication with the new students' parents, the support of whom the teachers needed throughout this process more so than in normal times with face-to-face teaching. For this reason, the first-grade students and their teachers were seen as experiencing a greater level of problems in comparison to those at the other grades. It is thought that, while first-grade students may not possess many of the fundamental skills such as knowing how to write, students' implementation of directives, following the homework, and teachers' effort to impart all of these skills to their students via emergency distance education are believed to have been the cause of various deficiencies during the pandemic. As such, it is known that learning losses for the first grade during this period have continued into the next grade, and that the gap between peers appears to constantly increase (Akçinar, 2013;Gülay Ogelman & Erten Sarıkaya, 2013;Perry & Weinstein, 1998;Spencer et al., 2001;Stanovich, 2009). It was therefore considered essential to reveal the types of problems that first-grade elementary school teachers experience due to their importance in guiding the future efforts to address these issues, and to ensure that both teachers and students are better able to pass through this critical period considering the current conditions of the pandemic.
To this aim, the current study aimed to determine the difficulties of first-grade elementary school teachers during the pandemic period, and to seek answers to the following research questions:  What difficulties have first-grade elementary school teachers experienced during the emergency distance education period of the pandemic?
 What difficulties have first-grade elementary school teachers experienced during the face-to-face education period of the pandemic?

Research design
This study, which aims to reveal the experiences of elementary school first-grade teachers during the pandemic period, was designed as a phenomenological study in order to focus on how the individuals made sense of their experiences (Patton, 2014). The phenomenon discussed in the current study relates to the experiences of Turkish elementary school first-grade teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of the study centers on the participants' experiences of the identified phenomenon.

Study group
The study group of the research comprises first-grade teachers who worked in one of the metropolitan cities of Turkey's Black Sea Region during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. Maximum diversity sampling, a known purposeful sampling method, was used to determine the study group in order to determine whether or not similarities or differences existed in terms of the elementary school first-grade teachers' experiences in the educational process during the pandemic, according to their different characteristics (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). Attention was paid to participants with differences in terms of variables such as their professional seniority (as in number of years served), the type of school at which they worked, and the number of students they taught. In this way, through diversity, the experiences of participants with different characteristics regarding distance education were deemed to be best evaluated. As study groups in phenomenological research should ideally consist of between three and 15 participants, the current study was conducted with 15 elementary school first-grade teachers (Creswell, 2013). In the study, code names (pseudonyms) were given to the participants so as to ensure the anonymity of the study group members. When Table 1 is examined, it can be seen that 10 of the participants are female and five are male. The seniority of the participants varied between 7 and 23 years' service. All of the teachers worked in elementary schools, whilst the number of students they taught varied between 18 and 41.

Instruments
The interview technique, which is frequently used in phenomenological studies, was used to collect the data in the study (Johnson & Christensen, 2014). The use of this technique was considered appropriate for the current study since it allowed the participant teachers to examine their pandemic experiences in some depth, which helped the researchers to better understand their perspective on the phenomena. A semi-structured interview form was prepared by the researchers as a data collection tool. In semi-structured interviews, researchers can pose additional questions in addition to those prepared in advance, with the aim being to elicit a sufficient breadth and depth of information so as to adequately detail the research subject (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). Researchers may also change the ordering of the questions according to the flow of the interview (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). The semi-structured interview form was employed in the current study since it provides flexibility to the researchers; has a high rate of obtaining answers through interaction with the participants on a one-to-one basis, and through posing different questions as and where necessary; and prevents the repetition of questions already answered according to the flow of the interview.
Whilst preparing the semi-structured interview form, a review of the published literature was conducted. From the literature review, pre-interviews were conducted with three elementary school first-grade teachers who were not part of the study group. On the basis of the information that came to the fore from both the literature review and the preinterviews, a semi-structured interview form was prepared to include open-ended questions. The prepared form was then sent to two academicians and two classroom teachers who are considered experts in the field of classroom education, and the recommended adjustments and changes were applied to the form in line with their feedback. Whilst the interview form consisted of 13 questions, it was determined that the total number of items ranged from between 18 and 27 when the semi-structured questions were included.
During the participants' interviews, they were each asked questions such as "Were there any learning losses noted during the emergency distance education process?," "What kind of tools did you use during the emergency distance education process?," "What resources did you use?," "Did any of your students experience problems with Internet access?," as well as "How did you ensure the required hygiene standards were adhered to in the classroom?," and "Did the students have any problems wearing the required facemasks in the classroom?" Additional questions were also asked in order to increase the depth of the answers given. Examples of these additional questions include, "In which subjects were the noted learning losses experienced?" and "What kind of measures did you take for the parents to be involved?" with the aim being to better understand the initial responses of the participants. The participant interviews lasted for between 67 and 92 minutes.

Procedure
The data collection process commenced during the 2020-2021 academic year. During the data collection, first, the researchers contacted the teachers by telephone and informed them about the purpose of the study. In addition, the researchers stated that, as participants, their personal information would not be disclosed and would remain confidential during and after the research study. An informed consent form was then sent to each of the participants. Arrangements were then made with the teachers who decided to participate in the study with regards to the place and time of their interview. The researchers conducted the interviews in person by visiting the teachers' schools, whilst paying due care and attention to both the required hygiene and social distancing protocols. During the interviews, with the knowledge and agreement of each participant, the interviews were audio recorded. Following each interview, one of the researchers transcribed the interview from the relevant audio recording, after which the researcher contacted the participant as to confirm whether the transcribed interview data included any form of misunderstanding, and whether or not they wanted any subjects to be added or removed.

Data analysis
The content analysis method was applied in the current study in order to determine the themes that could best define the phenomena, according to the teachers' experiences in delivering education during the pandemic period. Content analysis is one of the methods used in phenomenological studies in relating the experiences of users and in finding meaningful statements (Christensen et al., 2015). Yıldırım and Şimşek (2016) stated that the main objective of content analysis is to reach concepts and relationships that can adequately explain the collected data, and that the following four stages should be followed during the analysis; coding the data, finding themes, organizing codes and themes, and defining and interpreting the findings.
In the study, the audio recordings of the participants' interviews, that were captured with their approval, were first transcribed to written form. Following the transcription, three researchers then independently coded the data. During the coding, the "consensus-dissensus" model developed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was employed. While coding the data, the responses given to a question were ordered in a list. While examining the responses to the items, researchers frequently reminded themselves of whether the responses being examined were considered of particular importance to the research. The data were repeatedly read in detail, with the aim being to recognize and understand the similarities. During the reading process, the parts thought to be of significance to the research were labeled using a code that identified that part. This process continued until all the data had been reviewed and the coding completed, and then the codes were gathered together in a combined list. The words that portrayed the meaningful portion of the data, and identifying the content of the data were chosen during the coding exercise. By the end of the coding, the first researcher had determined 21 codes, whilst the second researcher had determined 25 codes, and the third researcher had determined 24 codes. Comparable and divergent codes were determined, and either separated or amalgamated. In order to determine the reliability of the output of the three coders, the reliability formula developed by Miles and Huberman (1994) was applied. The codes determined by the three coders were labeled as comparable or divergent, and the consensus percentage (Consensus/(Consensus+Dissensus)*100) was then calculated. Examining the agreement percentages, the consensus between Coder I and Coder II was found to be 91%, whilst between Coder I and Coder III it was 83%, and between Coder II and Coder III the consensus was found to be 81%. The overall consensus was established as being 85%. Miles and Huberman (1994) stated that a ≥ 80% consensus between coders is considered to be a good level of consensus.
With the coder reliability of 85%, the divergent codes were reexamined and consensus was achieved for 22 of the codes. The codes obtained were examined under two main categories related back to the study questions.
2.6. Validity-reliability Validity and reliability are two of the most significant areas of concerns that apply to every stage of a research study, from the beginning to the end, and require due diligence to be exercised (Merriam, 2015). To overcome these concerns in the current study, different practices were conducted so as to ensure the study's validity and reliability through the consideration of ethical principles. However, Yıldırım and Şimşek (2016) stated that in qualitative research, using the concepts of credibility, transferability, consistency, and verifiability, instead of validity and reliability, is more appropriate to the nature of this type of research.
In the current study, the researchers attempted to achieve long-term interaction with each participant teacher so as to ensure credibility. First, the teachers were pre-interviewed via telephone, the purpose of the study was explained to them, and a mutually agreeable appointment made for a face-to-face meeting with those who accepted to participate in the study. During the teachers' interviews, they were each informed once again about the purpose of the study, and were asked whether or not there was any issues that they were deliberating in their minds. To conduct the interviews in a safe and relaxed environment, permission was obtained from the teachers to audio-record the meeting. Additionally, the participants were assured once again that their identity would remain confidential.
Once the interviews had been completed and subsequently transcribed, the researchers met with the participant teachers once again and discussed whether or not there was any issue that they wanted to add or remove from their interview transcription. From this, two of the participants requested various additions. Meeting again with the participants and making any necessary changes demonstrates that participant confirmation was obtained. During the research study, by working with teachers with different characteristics, the data sources were considered to be diverse, which helped to contribute to the credibility of the study. In addition, arrangements were made to court the opinion of experts in the field, both in the preparation of the pre-planned interview questions and in the subsequent analysis of the collected interview data.
In developing and reporting the study's findings, both direct quotations and maximum diversity sampling, one of the purposeful sampling methods, were used to ensure transferability. In qualitative research, it is necessary to develop a valid data collection tool, to properly collect the study's data, and to be consistent in the data analysis (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). Therefore, whether or not the themes determined during the analysis formed a meaningful whole within and among themselves was examined. In addition, the research results were discussed within the framework of the determined codes and themes. Finally, a field expert, other than one of the main researchers and who had previously carried out qualitative research, examined the interview form used in the research, the data obtained, and the codes and themes determined during the data analysis, and any recommended changes were applied in line with their feedback.

RESULTS
The findings obtained from the participant teachers' interviews were examined under two areas: problems experienced during the emergency distance education process, and problems experienced during the emergency face-to-face education process.

Difficulties experienced by first-grade elementary teachers during distance education
Problems experienced in the distance education process were explored under the codes of focusing, learning losses, homework, textbooks, curriculum, equipment problems, screen time, hardware deficiencies, Internet access, connectivity problems, absenteeism, communication problems, home conditions, expectations from the state, inadequate family support, and security problems.

Difficulties experienced by first-grade elementary teachers during face-to-face education
The problems experienced in the face-to-face training process were examined under the codes of facemasks, social distancing, hygiene, adaptation problems, socialization, and parents. Since they were always at home during online education, they sat down, stood up, and hung out as they wished. There were those asking for fruit juice and biscuits from their mother during lessons. There were parents talking and interfering in the background. It was a total ruckus. Of course, they then wanted to continue like that in the face-to-face classroom as well. *Gökhan+ Some students had trouble adjusting because they did not come to school every day. Their families said they did not want to come to school and so they did not get used to it. They mentioned not being able to play games comfortably and that they did not want to wear a facemask. [ The parents wanted them [the children] to go to school because they were first-graders, and they were very concerned about whether they would learn the foundational skills such as reading and writing. But, when it came to face-to-face education, they were consumed by a fear of COVID and wanted to monitor their children constantly. We tried to comfort them as much as possible, but I do not know how well it worked. [Zehra]

DISCUSSION
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown its effects in many fields. Various measures have been taken in order to reduce the effects of the pandemic, with one such measure being the closure of schools. In Turkey, schools were closed for face-to-face education, with emergency distance education started soon after for all grades. As the effective period of the pandemic became more prolonged, new measures were developed and the online classes were used in conjunction with asynchronous distance education. In order to allow preschool children, who had only recently started their schooling and also first-grade students to adapt to the school environment, face-to-face education was partially resumed within specific rules and on specific days of the week. Given that students starting preschool education and first-grade education face a significant and important transition from home life to school life, it was considered that face-to-face education plays a vital role in their adaptation to school life and in learning about the school culture. However, due to increases seen in case numbers of COVID-19, the face-to-face preschool and elementary school education was again completely switched back to emergency distance education, with virtual classes started to be used for conducting educational activities. During this process, both teachers and students experienced a mix of face-to-face and distance-based education. Based on this period, the current study aimed to determine the difficulties of first-grade elementary school teachers during the pandemic.
At the end of research, it was determined that the various stakeholders of education in Turkey were caught unprepared for the impact of such a pandemic and that they had no viable prior distance education experience. Since most elementary school teachers had not used any form of distance education for conducting their daily educational activities, it was considered that this challenging situation was somewhat inevitable. The fact that the stakeholders in Turkey were both unprepared for and inexperienced in applying distance learning brought about considerable problems. The current study revealed many findings regarding this issue.
Analyzed under two categories, the issues experienced were divided into those experienced during emergency distance education and those experienced during the limited face-to-face education offered during the pandemic. Problems experienced during the emergency distance education process were explored under categories of focusing, learning losses, homework, textbooks, curriculum, equipment problems, screen time, hardware deficiencies, Internet access, connectivity problems, absenteeism, communication problems, home conditions, expectations from the state, inadequate family support, and security problems. When the findings regarding each of these were examined, it could be seen that the students experienced problems in focusing on their lessons during the emergency distance education process. It was determined that students without a separate room and with the computer located in the common living area of the house having had the most difficulty in focusing on their lessons. Considering the first-grade students' developmental characteristics, it is believed that they likely experienced difficulties in their attention focus. In a study conducted by Kaymak Özmen and Demir (2012), elementary school-age children were found to focus their attention best in silent environments and at the beginning of a lesson, whilst the factors that distracted them the most were voices and the presence of other individuals. Hence, it may be said that in distance education, an appropriate study environment is of significant importance for efficient educational activities to be conducted. Alper (2020) stated that children, particularly the younger ones attending the early years of their schooling, experience problems focusing on the distance education process. Similarly, in a study conducted with first-grade elementary school teachers, Karabudak (2020) determined that children can become bored very quickly and experience problems of being easily distracted.
The growing differential between students' academic achievement was expressed as one of the most significant problems faced during the emergency distance education process. The gap became more pronounced and difficult to address during the learning process of reading and writing, and particularly for first-grade students. It was revealed that whilst one part of the class was moving on to reading and writing, the others had not learned the letters. This situation is believed to result in the formation of different level groups within a single class. Karabudak (2020) emphasized that, when compared to face-toface education, children gain literacy skills much later during distance education and that their reading and writing qualities are resultantly much lower. Erol and Erol (2020) conducted a study with the parents of students, and concluded that the academic achievements of children were negatively affected during the emergency distance education process. It is thought that this gap will likely increase because course attendance is not compulsory and some students do not possess the required technological equipment or Internet connectivity to attend online lessons. In order for distance education to function properly, both students and teachers must have suitable equipment with a regular Internet connection. Students lacking these fundamentals or subjected to infrastructural problems are effectively prevented from attending their school lessons, completing their homework assignments, and their continuity of education generally hindered.
In some houses, even where the required equipment was available, students chose whether or not to attend classes according to the perceived importance of each lesson due to limited resources (i.e., Internet connected devices) shared with others living in the same household. Similarly, Başaran et al. (2020) conducted a study with teachers, students, and parents and determined that some children could not attend their distance education lessons because of the high number of siblings studying in the same house, as well as infrastructural problems. It may be said, therefore, that the problems experienced by children due to infrastructural limitations are not specific to Turkey. Studies conducted in Indonesia, Italy, and also in India have clearly shown that many children throughout the world have been negatively impacted by infrastructural and equipment deficiencies (Giovannella et al., 2020;Khanna & Kareem, 2021;Putri et al., 2020). Ergün and Arık (2020) stated that this situation can result in a digital divide among students of the same class, and which causes inequalities among children to intensify even more. Another problem is that the tools and materials are not always adapted to be suitable for application in the distance education environment. In the current study, the teachers stated that both the textbooks and the activities contained in them were unsuitable for use in distance education. Starting up distance education prior to having full command of writing would inevitably result in such problems, hence children are thought to need face-to-face support and guidance whilst learning how to write. Moreover, since the emergency distance education process in Turkey started from a position of being considerably ill-prepared, and with materials more suited to face-to-face education, the participating teachers experienced significant difficulties in overcoming this problem. Similarly, in a study examining the distance education experiences of elementary school teachers, Khanna and Kareem (2021) stated that teachers experienced problems in finding appropriate resources for online education. It is thought that they experienced such problems due to the time it takes for teachers to adapt to the concept of distance education, as well as known technological deficiencies. In their study with teachers working in different school types, Karakaya et al. (2021) similarly reported that teachers experienced problems due to technological deficiencies. Also, Putri et al. (2020) stated that teachers in Indonesia experienced problems due to both infrastructural deficiencies and deficiencies in their own technical skill.
The same as students, teachers in Turkey also participated in lessons from home, and they sometimes experienced problems similar to those of their students. During the emergency distance education period, teachers taught lessons from their homes and various studies found that the environment of the teachers' houses was not suited to conducting education, and that the teachers experienced a number of problems for this reason (Giovannella et al., 2020;Putri et al., 2020). In the current study, the participating teachers stated that they procured the Internet connection and equipment such as whiteboards on their own, which added a financial burden on the teachers.
It was seen that the teachers expected at least Internet access to be provided to them by the state in order that they could deliver distance education lessons from their homes. Koyuncu and Düşkün (2020) stated that during the pandemic, teachers were affected by their students' state of accessing the digital content and also by their home circumstances, as well as their own living conditions as teachers, and their ability to competently use the required digital tools. Another issue that caused concern in terms of delivering distance education was security. The fact that any individuals with access to the correct password or link could enter live lessons, and with parents not being able to adequately follow what their children are doing on the computer, may result in young students communicating with people they shouldn't on the Internet. In addition, children had to spend a great deal of time in front of the computer, tablet, smartphone, or television during the emergency distance education process during the pandemic. Bayburtlu (2020) and also Karakaya et al. (2021) stated that this situation caused increased levels of screen addiction in children. Similarly, Erol and Erol (2020) stated that the time children spent using digital screen-based tools increased, and therefore, increased conflicts were experienced between parents and their children from time to time.
It is considered that the support and role of parents in distance education is of critical importance during the time when their children first learn to write. Fiş Erümit (2021) stated that the support of family members for young children is significantly required in managing the distance education process. However, in the current study, it was determined that the level of parental support was found to be inadequate. In a study conducted by Karabudak (2020), the inattention of students' parents was similarly emphasized; however, Kirsch et al. (2021) determined that parents tended to support their children during distance education. Of course, not all parents know how to support their children. Moreover, the shutting down of many places of business or the transition to working from home caused many difficulties in the lives of family members. Parents, who are mostly kept busy doing whatever is necessary to manage their domestic life and business life, might face certain difficulties in following the schooling of their children.
In Turkish schools, face-to-face education was able to be partially carried out at certain points in the pandemic by paying attention to the physical (social) distance between children, the compulsory use of facemasks, and hygiene conditions such as the regular application of hand sanitizer. At the completion of the study, it was determined that students experienced certain difficulties in adapting to wearing facemasks, and also with social distancing and hygiene requirements during their face-to-face education. Considering the developmental characteristics of children, it seems normal for them to want to play with their friends and natural for them to violate social distancing rules during their game playing. Given the children's age group, it is considered normal for children to experience such challenges. In a study conducted by Kirsch et al. (2021), it was emphasized that children missed both their school and their friends during the emergency distance education period of the pandemic. Similarly, in the study of Fiş Erümit (2021), it was determined that students missed the interpersonal communication of face-to-face education. Based on these findings, it is considered natural for young students especially to want to socialize and play games during face-to-face education.
The current study revealed that the students wanted to be together whilst game playing and when undertaking class activities, and continued to share objects even when instructed and reminded not to do so. Their teachers became worried because this situation increased the risk of the virus spreading. In addition, students already accustomed to online education wanted to move around as comfortably at school as they did in the home environment. Therefore, the teachers stated experiencing certain problems with classroom discipline.

CONCLUSION
The study aimed to determine the difficulties faced by first-grade elementary school teachers in Turkey during the COVID-19 pandemic. As shown, the teachers experienced various problems in both delivering face-to-face and emergency distance education. First, some students exhibited learning losses due to difficulties in attending lessons, and that this was due to a lack of Internet access and/or the required technical equipment, as well as inadequate familial support. The teachers considered that the lack of compulsory attendance also played its role in the realization of learning losses.
The teachers experienced difficulties in preparing or finding appropriate material suited to distance education, since the decision to initiate emergency distance education was imposed suddenly and with many teachers having had no such prior relevant experience. Moreover, the teachers believed that the available course textbooks were not suited to distance education. Another problem experienced was that the students were unable to focus on their lessons due to their home environment not being at all suitable for online lessons. Additionally, the teachers raised concerns regarding students spending long periods of time sat in front of a screen during the emergency distance education period. The teachers also felt uncomfortable in that the curriculum, which is the origin of this problem, was implemented online just as it was during normal (pre-pandemic) face-to-face education. According to the teachers' opinions, the curriculum should have been slightly simplified to be more in harmony with the application of distance-based online education.
Overall, the study found that the majority of problems that the teachers experienced during the delivery of face-to-face education during the pandemic period arose from the students' inability to adapt to the use of facemasks, as well as rules for social distancing and personal hygiene (e.g., use of hand sanitizer). Moreover, it was observed that students starting face-to-face education following the initial emergency distance education period experienced certain difficulties in adapting to the rules of the classroom. Another problem experienced during the face-to-face education period of the pandemic was that the students' parents did not want their children to even be in school due to concerns about COVID-19, and preferred not to leave their children alone in order to maintain parental control over them, even whilst at school. The teachers struggled with this situation, and believed as a result that they could not achieve the desired academic results that both they and the parents wanted.

LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
In the current study, the difficulties of first-grade teachers and students in Turkey were examined from the teachers' perspective. Due to the pandemic, which was a primary driver for the study, it was difficult to conduct face-to-face research with traditionally large samples, and which is therefore considered one of the main limitations of the current study. The interviews of the study could only be conducted with a very limited group of teachers; hence, working with larger sample groups following the pandemic on studies regarding problems encountered during the emergency distance education period may reveal more indepth and far-reaching results.
In the literature, despite the adaptation to school life having been examined at various grades, numerous studies have previously examined the orientation of first-grade students. However, due to the pandemic, the adaptation of students at any grade to school life has become a subject worthy of significant further investigation. For this reason, the kinds of problems that students at different grades may have experienced during face-toface education during the pandemic period should be examined, and appropriate changes to the curricula developed in order to address some of these problems. Especially based on the results of the current study, in order to prevent furthering the issues of learning losses, it is important for students to be able to adapt to the school environment as soon as possible. One of the important findings revealed in the current study was that, although we may live in a digital era, the involvement of parents and even teachers in the digitalization process has been somewhat limited. Based on the ideal of preparedness for such pandemics in the future, and in order to integrate digitalization into educational environments in a more useful manner, preparing to face such a negative situation in the future requires a clear need for teachers to be appropriately qualified in the effective usage of web 2.0 tools. Therefore, for this reason, teachers should be supported in the drive to gain such skills and to possess adequate working knowledge on these subjects through regular in-service training and seminars.

Author Contributions
The authors contributed equally to the current research with both data collection and data analysis. All authors have read and approved the published final version of the article.

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, and also with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its subsequent amendments or comparable ethical standards. In addition, decision number 2021/694 was obtained from the Social and Humanities Ethics Committee of Ondokuz Mayıs University, Turkey, to conduct the current study. Funding None. Data Availability Statement The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.