Parental Involvement during Pandemic Times: Challenges and Opportunities

Luísa Mota Ribeiro,Maria Luísa Vital,Maria Conceição Andrade E Silva,Marisa Carvalho,Rosário Serrão Cunha

doi:10.3390/educsci11060302

Luísa Mota Ribeiro, Maria Luísa Vital + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11060302

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Journal: Education Sciences	Publication Date: Jun 18, 2021
Citations: 50	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade Católica Portuguesa

Abstract

Due to COVID-19, many countries implemented emergency plans, such as lockdown and school closures. This new situation has significantly affected families, namely, the involvement required to support children’s learning at home. The current study aimed to analyze Portuguese parents’ perceptions of their home-based parental involvement in their children’s learning during the lockdown and school closures in 2020 due to COVID-19. An online survey, using a closed-ended questionnaire, was employed. Variables included parents’ sociodemographic and COVID-19 related characteristics; students’ sociodemographic characteristics; distance learning context; parental involvement; and students’ autonomy. Data were collected from a sample of 21,333 parents with children from elementary school to secondary education, and statistical data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. Findings revealed that Portuguese parents supported their children during the pandemic mainly through the monitoring of attention in classes and task realization. However, several variables appear to significantly determine parental involvement time, which is higher when students attend public schools, when they are less autonomous and younger, when parents’ level of education is lower, when the child is a boy (except in secondary education where gender is not relevant), and when the online school time is higher. Findings highlight the need for a significant investment of time from parents, particularly of primary school children, making it difficult to cohere work or telework with school activities. Implications for policies, schools, families are discussed in order to promote children’s learning and success.

Highlights

With the spread of COVID-19, countries implemented emergency plans to slow down and limit the virus’s transmission such as the closure of schools, either nationwide, regionally, or in a targeted way [1,2]
The purpose of this paper is to report Portuguese parents’ perceptions of their homebased parental involvement in their children’s learning and school life during the lockdown and school closures (March to July 2020)
This study focused on parental involvement during the first Portuguese confinement related to the pandemic which enforced schools’ closure

Summary

Introduction

With the spread of COVID-19, countries implemented emergency plans to slow down and limit the virus’s transmission such as the closure of schools, either nationwide, regionally, or in a targeted way [1,2]. Some schools and universities were temporarily closed for face-to-face educational activities [3]. In Portugal, all schools were closed at a national level during the pandemic’s first wave between March and May 2020. In May 2020, some schools provided face-to-face educational activities for secondary students (the last two years of secondary school with final national exams). In September 2020, after the summer holidays, all schools and educational levels re-opened in the country. The interruption of school activities may have affected students, both academically and psychologically. The psychological effects of home schooling and social isolation on the mental health and wellbeing of students, teachers, and families in this pandemic phase are an issue to consider [3,4]. School learning interruption may have contributed to students’ significant academic losses, mostly for those students already at a previous disadvantage [4]

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