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xCOVID-19: Results from survey offer insight into how parents and carers are coping during lockdown
Date: 28th May 2020
Category:
Family Environment and Alternative Care
Connect’s survey ran for the first four weeks of school closures and received 1578 responses from parents and carers across 29 local authorities in Scotland. Concerns of parents and carers include: their ability to support their child’s learning, children’s health and wellbeing, lack of social interaction and absence of communication from school or nursery.
Key findings from the survey show:
- 59% of parents and carers feel they have the information and advice they need to support their children. This figure has been recorded to increase as the lockdown period continues. However, a third say they do not yet know what advice or information they need and 10% do not feel they have sufficient information.
- Parents and carers are getting information to support their children from a range of sources, including their child’s school or nursery and their child’s teacher. Over half of parents and carers are actively sourcing such information themselves.
- 59% of parents and carers identified at least one concern or worry about the current situation. These concerns were wide-ranging and often multiple, including: children ‘falling behind’ in their learning; concerns about the health and wellbeing of their children; concerns about a lack of friendship and social interaction; their ability to support learning due to their own work commitments; children not engaging with work at home; a lack of equipment; a lack of communication from the school/nursery.
- Over half of parents and carers say that learning material is coming from teachers or schools. However, nearly 40% say that they are finding it themselves.
- Parents and carers are generally confident about supporting their children in terms of health and wellbeing but less confident about supporting literacy and (to a greater extent) supporting maths.
- For parents and carers to feel supported, they require materials to keep children occupied, useful online resources, tips on managing and planning the day, additional support for learning, clarity about expectations, consistency, IT equipment, worksheets and more.