Emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: Parents experiences and perspectives

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused an emergency transform from traditional to distance learning at all levels of education, which is called emergency remote teaching. To explore parents’ views on students’ experiences of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, and their experience and perspectives toward remote teaching during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic, a questionnaire was developed and distributed to parents who have at least one child who had attended a face-to-face learning environment prior to school closures and started remote teaching during the pandemic. 983 parents participated in the study. The parents’ views on students’ experiences of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, their experiences and perspectives toward remote teaching were discussed. The results suggested that the remote teaching process has been challenging for both students and parents. It is found that the remote teaching practices were mainly covered in core courses; remote teaching is considered as unsuitable for young children and students with special needs; the parents complain about social isolation, lack of interactivity, and increased screen time; and remote teaching has placed a heavy burden on parents. Lastly, the parents stated that their children acquired self-regulated learning skills and digital socialization during emergency remote teaching.