Lessons learned for leaders: implications for parent-school communication in post-pandemic learning environments

What is it about?

The global Covid-19 pandemic led to 87% of schools being closed, with learning moved to online formats. This transition in the learning environment – from school to home – put parents in a unique space. During this distance-learning, parents frequently acted as alternate teachers to their children studying at home. The need for school leaders to involve and communicate with parents effectively was more important than ever. Understanding parents’ perspectives helps schools make better decisions about how to involve and communicate with parents effectively for the benefit of their child’s education. To better understand parent-school communication and parental involvement in their child’s learning during and after the pandemic, the researchers designed a 30-item questionnaire to survey parents of children in grades one to four in the UAE. In total, 479 people completed the questionnaire. These responses were rigorously analyzed using different tests in SPSS, an analytical software tool for social scientists. This analysis found that most parents reported a significant improvement in being able to get in touch with and communicate easily with school leaders after the pandemic. This indicates that leaders continued to apply effective communication strategies to connect with parents and guardians even after the pandemic was over and children returned to school. Interestingly, while parents reported improved communication, there were mixed results on their continued involvement in their child’s learning. That is, while there was improvement in parent-school communication, many parents – though not all – were less involved after the pandemic. This suggests that there is an overall trend of decreased parental involvement after the pandemic, but not for all parents. This highlights the need for school leaders to consider more nuanced approaches to facilitating and supporting parental involvement.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This is important because understanding changes in the environment better equips school leaders to meet the needs of both students and their families. Working with parents as collaborators in student learning helps ensure students meet (and even exceed) academic expectations. Toward that end, effective communication is critical. This study helps us understand what changed during the pandemic and how these changes may influence our current approaches in communicating with parents.