Mothers' Nrratives of First graders' Virtual Education during the Corona Virus Epidemic

The corona virus epidemic in Iran, like other countries, led to the closure of schools and implementation of virtual education. Elementary school students needed their parents’ help to use virtual education, especially the first graders who had no experience with school and curriculum. This responsibility was mostly undertaken by mothers, who were supposed to take on the roles of both a teacher and a mother. The narratives of this group of mothers in Kerman City were examined using a qualitative approach and narrative-research method. Data was collected using narrative interviews and analyses were done through a thematic analysis method in MAXQDA. Five main themes were found, which represented the narratives of mothers about the lockdown. These themes were incomplete support of those around you, the burden of the role, the exhaustion of mothers, the problematic nature of children in virtual education, and extra-educational merits.