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As school winds down for the summer, it is worth considering the past 16 months of pandemic schooling. As difficult as this time has been for schools and families, it provided an opportunity to ask: What insights into parent-teacher relations has the pandemic provided so far?<\/p>\n
The adage \u201cit takes a village to raise a child\u201d was put to the test when the pandemic forced school closures beginning in spring 2020. Parents took on a role for which most were unprepared.<\/p>\n
With the help of a doctoral student, I conducted\u00a0a web-based survey in Alberta, then interviewed volunteer parents and teachers<\/a>\u00a0between June and August 2020.<\/p>\n We learned that the pandemic both strained and strengthened parent-teacher relations.<\/p>\n As an educational researcher who focuses on parents\u2019 roles in schooling, I have observed a tendency to romanticize the dynamic. I\u2019ve frequently heard: \u201cIt\u2019s all about relationships!\u201d Yes, that\u2019s true, but that assumption doesn\u2019t consider that relationships are not always positive.<\/p>\n There is evidence, for example, that\u00a0educators in Alberta feel they are increasingly working against parents rather than with them<\/a>. We also know that events like\u00a0natural disasters can bring people together<\/a>.<\/p>\n When the pandemic forced\u00a0school closures in March 2020 in Alberta<\/a>, emergency remote teaching meant many parents were involved beyond monitoring children\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n Findings from the Alberta study are based on collected data from 1,067 parent survey respondents, 566 teacher survey respondents and 10 parents and 10 teachers who were individually interviewed.<\/p>\n Forty-five per cent of parents reported their understanding of the demands of teachers and their respect for them increased.<\/p>\n Among teachers, 74 per cent reported they knew their families better. The pandemic increased empathy and patience. Equally compelling however, was that 43 per cent of parents reported decreased interaction with teachers, and only 18 per cent reported improvements in their relationships with teachers.<\/p>\n First, when we speak about the importance of relationships, we must remember that both parents and teachers make assumptions about the other that may be based on differing values and expectations, and incomplete or downright false information.<\/p>\n For instance, a common concern among teachers during the early stages of the pandemic was for the parents who were non-communicative. On survey comments and during interviews teachers said some parents were\u00a0\u201cghosting\u201d them<\/a>. Parents admitted that they minimized time spent on school, or dropped out completely.<\/p>\n In response to questions about challenges experienced during school closures, we learned that there was confusion about who was performing expected roles \u2014 something psychologists have described as\u00a0boundary ambiguity<\/a>.<\/p>\n Central to the problem was that teachers were not sure how much to press families. And, parents felt that they had become the teacher but simultaneously realized they were unable to motivate and support their children the way teachers could.<\/p>\n \u201cParents aren\u2019t meant to be teachers,\u201d were parents\u2019 common laments. Parents and their children fought. The intrusion of school in families\u2019 private spaces created tensions. Some parents dealt with the\u00a0boundary intrusion<\/a>\u00a0by giving up school to save the family dynamic. Teachers might not have realized that some families had to negotiate such trade-offs, assuming apathy drove parents away.<\/p>\nAll about relationships?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Our survey findings<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Interpreting apparent contradictions<\/strong><\/h4>\n