Parent and Teacher Support of Elementary Students’ Remote Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between parental and teacher support and elementary students’ academic skills during the COVID-19 pandemic. Building on data of an ongoing longitudinal study, we studied the roles of children’s (N = 63) academic skills before the first COVID-19 lockdown in Germany (March–June 2020) as predictors of individual differences in parental schoolwork support during the lockdown, and the contributions of parental and teacher support to students’ reading and mathematics skills after the lockdown. Findings indicated that children’s reading and mathematics skills before the lockdown predicted parental help, and reading skills predicted parental need-oriented support with schoolwork during the lockdown. Children who received more need-oriented support from parents showed a more favorable development of arithmetic skills across the lockdown. Indicators of teacher support did not explain individual differences in students’ academic skills after the lockdown period.