Parental Involvement in Elementary Schools During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Teachers’ Challenges and Crises

Abstract

Differing levels of parental involvement in schools are common. There are ways how to deal with and channel this phenomenon in productive directions. The COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to switch from regular in-person teaching to virtual teaching/ distance learning (via Zoom, Teems, etc.) while enabling parents to “join the class” in real-time. From the pandemic’s beginning, many parents stayed at home voluntarily or involuntarily (due to unemployment, unpaid vacation time, or working from home) and witnessed their children (supposedly) studying. This situation often led to intensive parental involvement and even intervention in teacher behavior, teaching methods, discipline requirements, etc. This unusual situation led to increased conflict between parents and teachers resulting in teachers’ frustration, stress, and intention to retire or resign. This case study aims to shed light on this new phenomenon while describing situations from teachers’ work and drawing conclusions about the processes that teachers, pupils, and parents underwent during the pandemic.