The opportunities and challenges of online learning in middle level education: Perspectives of students, parents, and school staff in the post-pandemic era

:Abstract: The COVID pandemic was a major disruptor to education systems globally and locally. These disruptions resulted in emergency transitions to remote online learning, which differed from traditional face-to-face learning. As middle level education has entered the post-pandemic era, it is important to explore the perspectives of key collaborators (e.g. students, teachers, and parents) to identify current opportunities and challenges of online learning. This will provide important insights for middle grades educators and inform future strategies for ensuring positive online learning experiences, as post-pandemic recovery is important, especially in the middle years. Therefore, the present study used semi-structured interviews to gather the collective perspectives of three collaborators [Parents (n = 4); students (n = 6; grade 6, aged 11–12 years) and school staff (e.g. teachers) (n = 5)] from one suburban school in Southeast Queensland, Australia. The data allowed triangulation of middle grades perspectives on post-pandemic opportunities and challenges of online learning. Through a reflexive process of thematic analysis, eight key themes emerged: (a) Opportunities: ways of learning, self-learning, online capabilities, and online support; and (b) Challenges: technical issues, online distractions, screen use, and online safety. These findings showed that multiple opportunities exist that offer positive online learning experiences in the middle grades. However, parents, students, and school staff still grapple with several current challenges of online learning at school, and practical recommendations are provided to address these challenges.