Understanding Potential Causes of Learning Loss: Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Educational Challenges During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico

School lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid transition from face-to-face to distance learning without considering teachers’ capacities and experience. Deep educational inequalities observed in Mexico before the pandemic made this change complex, disproportionately affecting the poorest students and their families. Estimations about the magnitude of the adverse effects of the transition on student learning are now available for different countries and regions. However, research on the factors explaining these adverse effects is limited, including how teachers reacted to the lockdown policies and adapted their instructional practices during the pandemic to adequately support all students. This chapter describes and analyzes teachers’ perceptions regarding the main barriers that affected their instructional activities during the pandemic to identify policy lessons that may inform the design of educational interventions for a post-pandemic stage.