Preschool parents’ views of distance learning during COVID-19 crisis
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IN THE spring of 2020, when the entire education system worldwide switched to distance learning, parents became key learning agents, helping children to understand how to continue learning, how to use digital solutions and how to support children in this process.
During the COVID-19 crisis, a large number of educational institutions were closed, and education was transposed to distance learning, reaching the level of the complete closure of schools in different countries There was a shock in general education, where until now learning had traditionally been organized as a face-to-face learning process, in which pupils learn under the guidance of a teacher, as, in a few days, this learning process had to be transformed into distance education, and the concept of “homeschooling”, from its prior understanding of being a way to provide education at home to certain groups of people, suddenly became a general form of education and parents became accidental homeschoolers. In this situation, a large role was played by the parents of the pupils, who had to become homeschoolers within a few days without prior training. While parental involvement has previously been analyzed as necessary but often insufficient, parents were now the ones who helped pupils to learn digital skills, helped them to learn and helped them to understand how to organize the learning process of pupil in a balance with other daily responsibilities.
Parents also had to help children to overcome emotional problems caused by their inability to meet their friends. Parents usually want their children to learn well, to be fully present in life, to be responsible and motivated and to be successful in defining the concept of flourishing in life, but these parental desires are mostly related to the education system.
In this situation, when parents had to become agents of accidental homeschooling, there are both benefits and various risks that need to be considered when planning post crisis support to fill the education gap.