In mid-March, primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands closed due to stringent COVID-19 prevention measures. Six weeks later, they partially reopened. In the meantime, children followed online lessons at home, more or less supervised by their parents. Researchers from Radboud University asked around 800 parents how that went. Parental stress and decreased motivation from children were often reported. But while some children reacted poorly to distance learning, the differences were minimal among other groups of children. For many scientists, the COVID-19 prevention measures have been a research impetus. Anouke Bakx, Professor of Giftedness at Radboud University and lector Good teachership, good leadership at Fontys Universities of Applied Sciences, also saw an opportunity. From the POINT research workshop, she was planning to conduct research among primary school pupils together with Elise Samsen, a researcher at POINT. However, in the turmoil of the pandemic, they switched it around and it became a study in which parents reported their experiences during the distance education that parents in the Netherlands were forced to switch to this spring. The Netherlands Youth Institute and colleague Sanne van der Ven (Learning and Development researcher, Radboud University) were also involved in the research. Bakx: “Because we had already laid the foundation, we were able to collect data while everyone was still at home. We stopped collecting data when the schools reopened.” Mark for own parental supervision 428 parents with children in primary school and 367 with children in secondary school completed questionnaires. Their children went to different types of schools. In primary education, however, quite a few parents of children with specific educational needs participated: mainly gifted children, but also ones with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia. That's because Bakx and her colleagues already had the most contact with those groups through their giftedness specialisation. Also, many parents were highly educated. This explains, for instance, why parents of children in primary education gave themselves fairly high marks – a 7.2 on average - for the supervision of their child. Parents of children in secondary education gave themselves an average mark of 5.5. Bakx: “Parents usually still have a sufficient grasp of the learning material that children are assigned up to the age of 12. But guiding a pre-university student (VWO-er) through their physics classes, that's a different story.” Moreover, on average, children in secondary education are less motivated than children in primary education, according to their parents. Of course, that doesn't make guidance any easier either. The younger the child, the more stressful it is for parents Remarkably, 54 % of parents of primary school pupils experienced more stress from distance learning, compared to only 32 % of parents of secondary school pupils. The open question the researchers included in their survey makes it clear why, says Elise Samsen: “It is particularly the combination of distance learning and having to work from home that frustrates parents of younger children. The older they are, the easier it is to put a child to work independently. But you have to keep the youngest pupils busy all the time.” Children with and without specific educational needs drew closer together When comparing the well-being of children with specific educational needs with children who do not have such needs, it is striking that distance learning drew these two groups closer together. That sounds nicer than it actually is: “At school, children without specific educational needs, particularly girls, had higher motivation levels than children with specific educational needs. During distance learning, motivation in this first group dropped to the lower level that children with specific educational needs already had at school. It seems that children without specific educational needs, girls in particular, are more motivated and stimulated by social contacts, of which you have more at school”, explains Sanne van der Ven. “As a result, their motivation was higher at school, but decreased during the more individualistic distance learning. Children with specific educational needs were already less motivated at school, and the transition to distance learning made relatively little difference. In addition, it’s often calmer at home, and it’s easier to concentrate, which may have benefited those children.” Some parents even told giftedness expert Bakx that their child was doing better: “I was regularly approached by parents and grandparents who said things like: I hear a lot of concern in the media about the impact of distance learning on the quality of education, but our experience is different. My kid who regularly went to school with stress-related stomach aches has really blossomed. Or: my kid simply gobbles up the material! One-on-one supervision is of course different than a class with 26 children.” What is good education? Does this research now provide insights that the educational field and/or parents can use during the next lockdown? Bakx did not set out to do that specifically, and furthermore, it would be a pity to only draw lessons for this exceptional situation. “Rather, we want to contribute to the social debate on the question: what is good education and is the way we teach still up with the times? Is it necessary for all children to be in the same classroom at the same time every day? Can we and do we want to offer more tailor-made solutions to help children stand out more? We have seen during this period that anything is possible. Let's look into what we want to keep or develop from that.” You have a part to play Our society is facing major challenges. Radboud University wants to contribute to a healthy, free world with equal chances for everyone. With ‘Je bent nodig’ (You have a part to play), Radboud University aims to reach people who want to contribute to that goal. The power to learn is therefore necessary. The power to learn gives you the power to keep developing. To grow independently. To challenge yourself and thereby inspire others. The power to learn feeds your mind. At Jebentnodig.nl you’ll find more articles. Do you want to be kept updated of our articles? Register at Radboud Recharge. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash