Children’s Motivation to Learn at Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Insights From Indian Parents

Matthew H C Mak

doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.744686

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced millions children worldwide to learn at home. Recent reports showed that this had a negative impact on children’s motivation to learn. The current study investigated what factors were associated with a child’s motivation during the pandemic and how parents motivated their children to learn at home. A total of 1,041 parents from India filled out a close-ended survey to help shed light on the issues. The results confirmed that children in India were significantly less motivated to learn during (vs before) the pandemic and revealed that a child’s motivation to learn at home was associated with multiple factors, such as household income, parents’ employment status, child’s academic achievement, and parent’s enjoyment in homeschooling. In contrast, the availability and usage of various technological resources bore no relation to a child’s motivation. Finally, the current data showed that Indian parents most frequently used TV time, words of encouragement, and play/game time as motivators; the least popular motivators were money, new toys, and physical punishment. Exploratory analyses showed that a child’s motivation to learn tended to be lower when parents used more physical punishment to “motivate” their children. These findings were discussed in relation to public/education policies.

Highlights

On January 30, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation
The current survey revealed that Indian children were on average 10% less motivated to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic
The current survey revealed that Indian children were on average 10% less motivated to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic (vs pre-pandemic)

Summary

Introduction

On January 30, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organisation. Mælan et al (2021) explored how Norwegian students at various levels of academic achievement differed in their remote learning experience; Dong et al (2020) surveyed how Chinese parents’ attitudes towards online learning affected their children’s education during the pandemic; Parczewska (2020) investigated how parents in Poland coped with the demands from homeschooling. These studies were conducted in different parts of the world, they all noted that school-aged children have difficulty maintaining motivation during remote learning. In a survey with 3,000 school-aged students across the United Kingdom, Elevate Education (2020) found that motivation levels plummeted during the national school closures from March to July 2020, with 81% of the Indian Children’s Motivation During COVID-19

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion