During the Covid-19 pandemic, social isolation strategies were put into practice. The universities were closed; therefore the Departments of Education were forced to use Distance Education.

Covid-19 crisis pushed the academic community to use alternative and asynchronous techniques to teach future teachers. But what are the people who are responsible for training prospective teachers thinking about this matter? There is limited information about their beliefs. The current study investigates the perceptions of university professors teaching in Pre-primary and Primary Education Departments in Greece, concerning the advantages and the disadvantages of Distance Education during Covid-19 pandemic in pre-primary and primary teacher training.

The research questions are the following: How did the professors who work in Pre-primary and Primary Education Departments experience Distance Education during Covid-19 pandemic? What are the advantages and disadvantages of Distance Education (DE) in Pre-Primary and Primary Teacher Education according to university teachers’ perspectives in Greece? What can be used in the post Covid-19 period in Pre-primary and Primary Teacher Education? The research Hypotheses are: 1. The advantages of Distance Education in teacher training, during Covid-19 pandemic, outweigh the disadvantages according to the academic staff’s perceptions teaching in Pre-primary and Primary Education Departments. 2. Distance Education during Covid-19 pandemic promoted professors, teaching in Preprimary and Primary Education Departments, to embed alternative ways of teaching in the traditional face-to-face teacher training.

The research tool used for data collection was an anonymous questionnaire in Microsoft Forms distributed to all the professors in Pre-primary and Primary Education Departments in Greece (18 Departments). Response collection concluded on 22 October 2024 and 75 professors submitted their answers. The questionnaire consisted of 32 closed-ended questions using Likert scale and multiple-choice, as well as two open-ended questions. The methodology employed for data process is the Microsoft Excel program to measure the central tendency. Findings indicate that concerning the advantages most of the professors believe that during the provision of DE there was greater availability of contacts outside class hours. Moreover, the reduction of the travel time needed to reach the university gave the advantage of greater availability of time for students and teaching activities. The questionees noticed also personal improvements in relation to the provision of DE, in particular the improvement in the use of platforms and software for teaching.

The disadvantages highlighted by most of the professors were the absence of direct "face-to-face" contact and the difficulty of assessing students’ degree of attention. Furthermore, they had trouble conducting specific teaching and training methods, as well as organizing laboratory activities.

After being forced to provide DE during Covid-19, the professors now feel more comfortable using technological tools in their traditional teaching. In the post Covid-19 period most of them indicate that they are still using mixed methods, hybrid courses and technological tools. Moreover, the majority of the participants believe that the goals of their classes were managed to be fulfilled during DE. Lastly, the professors assess the overall DE experience during Covid-19 as very positive.

Keywords: Distance Education, Pre-primary Education, Primary Education, teacher training, Covid-19 pandemic, university teachers.