Assisting Strategies of the Parents of Students with Special Educational Needs in the Emergency Remote Learning in Poland

Abstract

The study had four objectives: (a) identifying and characterizing strategies for involving parents of students with SEN (students with special educational needs) in remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic; (b) comparing these strategies with those used by parents of students without SEN (non-SEN students); (c) identifying predictors of parental involvement in the remote education of students with SEN; (d) checking whether the identified strategies differentiate the perceived barriers and benefits of remote learning. In total, 421 parents of primary school students participated in the study, 83 of whom (20%) were parents of children with SEN (SEN group). Based on the factor analysis of the results (respondents completed a 66-item electronic questionnaire), three main strategies for parental involvement in children’s remote education were identified: (1) committed teacher (CT), with 40% in the SEN group and 55% in the non-SEN group; (2) autonomy-supporting coach (ASC), with 22% in the SEN group and 26% in the non-SEN group; (3) committed teacher and reliever (CTR), with 38% in the SEN group and 19% in the non-SEN group. The strongest predictor of parental involvement with SEN students in the role of committed teacher was excessive demands from school. Parents whose children showed low motivation to learn were the most likely to do some of their children’s school tasks for them and apply the committed teacher and reliever strategy. The positive aspects of remote education were mostly noticed by moderately committed parents who gave their children a lot of autonomy (autonomy-supporting coaches). The obtained results can be included in the optimization of schools’ activities in terms of organizing remote education for students with SEN and cooperating with parents.

Perspectives of pupils with additional support needs and their parents on the learning support during the COVID‐19 pandemic in Croatia

“…Our findings related to the perceptions of stability of support for pupils' learning during the pandemic were in contrast with research in various educational contexts that reported on the reduction of IEP service provision during the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., Castro-Kemp & Mahmud, 2021;Chen et al, 2022;Colombo & Santagati, 2022;Toseeb et al, 2020) and about a simultaneous increase in parental involvement in children's education (e.g., Couper-Kenney & Riddell, 2021;Knopik et al, 2022;Nusser, 2021). Several factors might be responsible for the observed differences in these findings.…”

Parental Involvement in the Education of Children with Additional Support Needs during the Pandemic: A Cross-National Qualitative Study

“…The latter, in particular, has been proven to be one of the biggest problems for all parents and is emphasised even more by parents of children with ASN (Nusser, 2021). In addition, Knopik et al (2022) found that parents of children with ASN were likelier to extensively support and motivate their children in learning than other parents. As Couper-Kenney and Riddell (2021) noted, many parents of children with ASN described the extra work required on behalf of their children, from requesting work and providing one-on-one support to creating structures at home that are appropriate for each child.…”

“…Even though parents of children with ASN are often more actively and intensely involved in their children's education, viewing their involvement as highly essential to their children's positive learning outcomes (Hornby & Lafaele, 2011), their involvement became even more intensified during the pandemic. Indeed, research shows that the level of parental investment in the education of students with ASN was higher than that of the general student population during the pandemic (Knopik et al, 2022;Nusser, 2021). For example, German parents of eighth graders with ASN have reported spending twice as many hours (approximately 11 hours) helping their children learn compared with parents of children without ASN (Nusser, 2021).…”

“…demands of school as excessive and chaotic (e.g. overloading the child with too many tasks or the content is too difficult for independent learning), the more engaged they become in supporting their children in remote education (Knopik et al, 2022;Ribeiro et al, 2021). Therefore, studies regarding parental involvement in the education of students with ASN during the pandemic seem to reflect the quality of teacher and school support during this time.…”