Teacher Expectations and Parental Stress During Emergency Distance Learning and Their Relationship to Students’ Perception

Abstract

School closures in spring 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were an unprecedented and drastic event for students, parents, and teachers. The unplanned adaptation of classroom instruction to emergency distance learning was necessary to ensure continued education. In this new learning environment, teachers formed expectations for student academic achievement gains, which in turn affected the opportunities for students to learn. Parents faced new challenges in supporting their children’s learning. According to parenting stress models, such drastic events can be a stress factor for parents, which in turn affects their children’s adjustment. This study analyzed the extent to which parents and teachers affected the perceptions of students in compulsory school toward distance learning through processes at home (individual level) and at the class level with data from multiple informants. On an individual level, the relationship between parents’ perceived threat of COVID-19 and their stress due to distance learning and students’ perceived threat of COVID-19 and their perception of distance learning were examined. Students’ learning behavior was accounted for as a variable related to their perception of distance learning. At the class level, the explanatory character of teacher expectations and class-aggregated achievement gains were examined. Data on students in grades 4 to 8, parents, and teachers in Switzerland were collected with standardized online questionnaires after the period of school closures. A subsample of 539 students, 539 parents, and 83 teachers was analyzed. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling suggested that students had a more positive perception of distance learning if they were able to learn more autonomously (i.e., more motivated and concentrated than in regular classroom instruction) and if their parents felt less stressed in the distance learning setting. Parents were more stressed if they perceived COVID-19 as a threat. Students’ perception of the COVID-19 threat was related to their parents’ perception but did not explain students’ learning behavior. At the class level, if teachers expected high academic achievement gains in distance learning, the average academic achievement gains of a class were greater. The greater the achievement gains were, the more positive the collective student perception of distance learning was.

Educational Concerns, Health Concerns and Mental Health During Early COVID-19 School Closures: The Role of Perceived Support by Teachers, Family, and Friends

“…For example, some parents reported being overwhelmed and having problems to motivate their children to study ( Garbe et al, 2020 ). Garrote et al (2021) found a negative association between stress in parents and their children’s online learning experience. Taken together, parents did play a key role for adolescents’ mental health; however, their role may have been more significant with regards to other functions, such as providing emotional security ( Colarossi and Eccles, 2003 ) or providing a daily routine ( Bülow et al, 2021 ; Liu et al, 2021 ).…”

“…With regards to educational challenges, research showed that parents had to take on new unfamiliar roles in home schooling during the COVID-19 school closures, while being more responsible for the educational support of their children (e.g., Garrote et al, 2021 ). Regarding educational concerns in the current study, perceived family support was higher in the resilience profile of adolescents with lower educational concerns and vice versa.…”

“…In contrast, high support from teachers has shown to be beneficial for adolescents’ engagement in remote learning during school closures ( Bray et al, 2021 ). Similarly, a study from Garrote et al (2021) showed that if teachers had high expectations on adolescents’ remote learning performance, students performed better in general and had a more positive perception of distance learning. Thus, high perceived teacher support may have been an important resource during school closures for adolescents’ mental health as well as serving as a buffer against subjective stressors.…”

“…Due to the new situation, the relative role of particular social support systems may have changed, as support from face-to-face interactions with teachers and friends were less likely, while family interaction patterns have been more frequent at the same time ( Ellis et al, 2020 ; Fegert et al, 2020 ; Prime et al, 2020 ). Therefore, perceived family support may have gained in significance for adolescents’ mental health, among other things, also in their supporting role regarding distance learning ( Garrote et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Especially warm, supportive, and democratic parenting styles were found to have a positive effect on adolescents’ mental health, as opposed to a more authoritarian style ( Ye et al, 2021 ). Regarding school closures, parents’ reactions to the pandemic have shown to have an effect on adolescents’ adjustment to online learning, with less parental stress correlating with a more positive experience of adolescents’ online learning during school closures ( Garrote et al, 2021 ). Recent evidence with Dutch adolescents showed an increase in parental support with a simultaneous decrease of anxiety and depression during a 20-day period of at first online, and later on, mostly physical school days in times of the pandemic ( Klootwijk et al, 2021 ).…”