homeschooling during covid 19 a case study

How COVID-19 Homeschooling Affected Parents' Mental Health

A study looked at couples' anxiety, depression, substance misuse, and coping..

Posted April 7, 2023 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

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• Homeschooling parents experienced increased depression and anxiety during COVID-19 lockdowns, compared to childless couples.
• Homeschooling parents experienced increased conflict in their romantic relationships.
• Homeschooling parents experienced increased pandemic-specific stress and often resorted to alcohol and cannabis to cope.

Think back to March 2020—almost overnight, our lives turned upside down. The COVID-19 pandemic quickly spread, and the effects of the lockdowns followed.

Many parents once responsible for simply dropping off their kids at school now had to take on the roles of both parent and teacher, at least in part. From providing around-the-clock childcare to, in some cases, teaching children with different needs and grade levels, many parents had a whole new task on their plates: homeschooling.

When schools closed, the level of support offered by the school system varied widely across Canada, the country in which I live. Some children had a full day of online classes; some had a few hours of teaching and then "homework" to do on their own; and some were merely given a week's worth of material to cover at their own discretion.

No matter the method, many parents were left wrangling kids in front of a computer, making sure they stayed there, and often answering questions along the way. This was a true challenge because parents were already facing their own transitions to work from home and, let's face it, a computer screen doesn't offer the same kinds of stimulation a real classroom does.

Effects of COVID-19 Mandatory Homeschooling on Parenting, Relationships, and Mental Health

This unprecedented event led my colleagues and me to wonder: How did mandatory homeschooling affect Canadian couples’ mental health during COVID-19 lockdowns?

So, we conducted a study to answer this question. We compared the anxiety , depression , alcohol misuse, cannabis misuse, and coping mechanisms of couples with children in grades 1-12, whom they homeschooled, vs. couples without children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what we found:

1. Homeschooling was associated with increased depression and anxiety.

The more time parents spent homeschooling, the more anxiety and depression they experienced.

Overall, research shows adults with children experienced poorer mental health during lockdowns than those without. Our research indicates that this is likely correlated with the stress and demands of mandatory homeschooling.

2. Homeschooling was linked to increased COVID-19-specific stress.

On top of increased depression and anxiety, COVID-19–specific distress, such as socioeconomic struggles and traumatic stress, also went up the longer parents spent homeschooling their children. Adults were required to spend more time and energy parenting while navigating increased financial pressure and fear around current events. On top of it all, many parents didn’t have access to childcare or other resources they once relied on for support.

3. Homeschooling parents reported lower optimism .

Homeschooling couples also experienced lower optimism than those without kids. Constant exposure to stress can wear us down, leading us down a path of pessimism and depression.

4. Homeschooling parents reported using alcohol and cannabis more to cope with stress.

Adults often turn to substances like alcohol and cannabis during times of stress—and the pandemic and lockdowns created constant parenting stress for many. Our research found that homeschooling couples reported higher levels of coping with alcohol and cannabis for their increased anxiety, depression, and COVID-19-related stress.

5. One parent's homeschooling was correlated with the other partner's increased alcohol use.

Homeschooling likely affected more than parenting—it appeared to affect relationships, too. The more time a parent spent homeschooling, the more they reported that their partner turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism. These changes in parenting and family dynamics greatly affected relationships and individuals’ mental health.

Support and Relief for Parenting and Post-Pandemic Stress

Even with lockdowns lifted, the effects of the pandemic still impact our families, relationships, and parenting experiences today. We’re still struggling to figure out what the “new normal” is, but at least we now know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Schools are open again, as are restaurants, theatres, stores, and other activities where we can spend time with friends and blow off steam.

What can stressed-out parents do? Take pride in knowing that you are resilient and coped during a global crisis. Take time to appreciate the things you missed when you were homebound, including your social circle and the world outdoors. And, if things still seem bleak, take care of yourself and reach out for help if you need it— therapy can help.

Deacon, S. H., Rodriguez, L. M., Elgendi, M., King, F. E., Nogueira-Arjona, R., Sherry, S. B., & Stewart, S. H. (2021). Parenting through a pandemic: Mental health and substance use consequences of mandated homeschooling. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 10 (4), 281–293. https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000171

Simon Sherry, Ph.D. , is a psychology professor at Dalhousie University. He is also a clinical psychologist at CRUX Psychology, a Canadian-based psychology practice offering online and in person services.

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• Published: 17 January 2022

Psychosocial impacts of home-schooling on parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Alison L. Calear 1 ,
• Sonia McCallum 1 ,
• Alyssa R. Morse 1 ,
• Michelle Banfield 1 ,
• Amelia Gulliver 1 ,
• Nicolas Cherbuin 2 ,
• Louise M. Farrer 1 ,
• Kristen Murray 3 ,
• Rachael M. Rodney Harris 4 , 5 &
• Philip J. Batterham 1  

BMC Public Health volume  22 , Article number:  119 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been highly disruptive, with the closure of schools causing sudden shifts for students, educators and parents/caregivers to remote learning from home (home-schooling). Limited research has focused on home-schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, with most research to date being descriptive in nature. The aim of the current study was to comprehensively quantify the psychosocial impacts of home-schooling on parents and other caregivers, and identify factors associated with better outcomes.

A nationally representative sample of 1,296 Australian adults was recruited at the beginning of Australian COVID-19 restrictions in late-March 2020, and followed up every two weeks. Data for the current study were drawn from waves two and three. Surveys assessed psychosocial outcomes of psychological distress, work and social impairment, and wellbeing, as well as a range of home-schooling factors.

Parents and caregivers who were home-schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced significantly higher levels of psychological distress and work/social impairment compared to those who were not home-schooling or had no school-aged children. A current mental health diagnosis or lower levels of perceived support from their child’s school negatively affected levels of psychological distress, work and social impairment, and wellbeing in parents and caregivers involved in home-schooling.

Conclusions

The mental health impacts of home-schooling were high and may rise as periods of home-schooling increase in frequency and duration. Recognising and acknowledging the challenges of home-schooling is important, and should be included in psychosocial assessments of wellbeing during periods of school closure. Emotional and instrumental support is needed for those involved in home-schooling, as perceived levels of support is associated with improved outcomes. Proactive planning by schools to support parents may promote better outcomes and improved home-schooling experiences for students.

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By the end of March 2020, many countries had implemented strict physical distancing policies, including large-scale or national closure of schools, to reduce the transmission of COVID-19 [ 1 ]. According to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), by the beginning of April 2020 an estimated 172 countries had instituted nation-wide school closures affecting over 1.4 billion learners [ 2 ]. In response, educators had to adapt curriculum and implement new modes of delivery to enable students to participate in remote learning from home (hereafter termed home-schooling), while parents and other caregivers had to manage the supervision of home-schooling alongside their other professional, personal, and parenting roles [ 3 , 4 ]. In Australia, schools closed nationally to the majority of students at the end of March 2020, with select schools remaining open for vulnerable children, based on young age, social disadvantage, or specific needs [ 5 ], and those whose parents or caregivers were healthcare or other essential frontline workers.

For many parents and caregivers, home-schooling has placed considerable demands on time. It has often required them to balance multiple competing and unfamiliar roles without the usual support of grandparents, or other extended family, friends or teachers [ 3 , 6 ]. The challenges of home-schooling may be exacerbated by pressure to continue to work from home to keep jobs and businesses running [ 6 ]. As a result, some parents and caregivers have had to work longer hours each day to meet work and home-schooling obligations, potentially affecting sleep and reducing time for leisure activities [ 3 , 7 ].

The availability of resources for schools and families, such as electronic devices and adequate internet service, has also likely impacted home-schooling experiences. Carers of younger school-aged children or those with additional needs may have been particularly affected, as these children typically require closer supervision to complete home-schooling activities. A study in Hong Kong that surveyed parents about their experiences of home-schooling reported that only 14% of primary school students could complete activities without assistance [ 4 ].

School closures have been a highly disruptive element of the COVID-19 pandemic, altering the day-to-day lives of children and families. The sudden shift to home-schooling and the challenges it has presented based on factors such as the age and ability of their child(ren), parental income, living conditions (crowded housing or homelessness), and available additional support has placed added pressure on parents and caregivers [ 3 , 8 ]. In addition, the impact of home-schooling has not been evenly distributed, with caregivers of children with disabilities and diverse educational needs facing higher rates of stress and mental health problems [ 7 , 9 ]. In turn, increased parental stress may have negatively affected their mental health, the parent-child relationship, and the emotional wellbeing of the child [ 3 , 4 ]. These factors may have also impacted educational attainment [ 5 ].

Given the ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns internationally, and the potential for future pandemics and other system shocks (e.g., fires, floods, earthquakes), there is a clear need to comprehensively quantify the psychosocial impacts of home-schooling on parents and other caregivers, and to investigate individual and environmental characteristics that exacerbate them. Therefore, the current study aimed to (1) assess the impact of home-schooling on parent/caregiver psychological distress, work and social impairment, and wellbeing; and (2) identify factors associated with psychological distress, work and social impairment, and wellbeing among those engaged in home-schooling.

Participants and procedure

The Australian National COVID-19 Mental Health, Behaviour and Risk Communication (COVID-MHBRC) survey was established to longitudinally assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a representative sample of Australian adults aged 18 years and over [ 10 ]. The study consisted of seven waves of data collection, which were completed online on a fortnightly basis and administered through Qualtrics Research Services. Participants were emailed an invitation to complete each survey and were provided a one-week window in which to complete it. Participants received up to five reminders to complete a survey during the week of data collection. Quota sampling was used to obtain a sample of the Australian population from market research panels that was representative on the bases of age group, gender and State/Territory of residence. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation in the study. The current study was approved by The Australian National University Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2020/152) and the full study protocol is available online ( https://psychology.anu.edu.au/files/COVID_MHBRCS_protocol.pdf ).

The first wave of data collection commenced on the 28th March 2020 ( N =1296). Besides demographics and background variables (collected in Wave 1), data for the current study were drawn from waves two (home-schooling variables) and three (mental health outcomes) collected between the 11th and 30th April 2020. Over 73% of the initial sample was retained at Wave 2 (W2; N =969). Attrition across subsequent waves was lower, consistently retaining over 90% wave-on-wave ( N W3=952, W4=910, W5=874; W6=820; W7=762).

Psychological Distress

The five-item Distress Questionnaire-5 (DQ5; [ 11 ]) was measured at wave 3 and used to assess psychological distress over the past two weeks. Items were rated on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (Never) to 5 (Always). Total scale scores ranged from 5 to 25, with higher scores indicating greater psychological distress. The scale had very good internal consistency in the current study sample (α = 0.93).

Work and social impairment

The extent to which work and social activities were impaired by COVID-19 was measured at wave 3 using the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (WSAS; [ 12 ]). Participants were asked to rate the level of impairment COVID-19 had caused for five work and social domains (ability to work, home management, social leisure activities, private leisure activities, and ability to form and maintain close relationships) on a 9-point scale ranging from 0 (Not at all impaired) to 8 (Very severely impaired). Total scores on this scale ranged from 0 to 40, with higher scores indicative of greater work and social impairment as a result of COVID-19. The WSAS had very good internal consistency in the current study sample (α = 0.77).

Subjective wellbeing during the past two weeks was assessed at wave 3 using the 5-item World Health Organization Wellbeing Index (WHO-5; [ 13 ]). Items were responded to on a 6-point scale ranging from 0 (At no time) to 5 (All of the time), multiplied by four to obtain total scale scores ranging between 0 and 100. Higher scores are indicative of greater wellbeing. The scale had very good internal consistency (α = 0.93).

Home-schooling factors

A range of factors associated with home-schooling were also assessed at wave 2 among respondents who reported home-schooling their children due to COVID-19. Respondents to these items could include parents, grandparents, or other caregivers, and included items on the school level of children (primary school/ secondary school), working from home (yes/no), sharing of home-schooling duties (yes/no), and perceived impact on work/daily activity (4-point scale from ‘not at all’ to ‘a lot’). The amount of support received from the school was also collated (e.g., online social interactions with teachers and/or peers; real-time lessons; pre-recorded teacher instruction videos; structured activities; list of optional activities; connected with other parents), with total scores on this item ranging from 0 to 6. The perceived support received from the school was assessed based on perceptions of school flexibility (e.g., advice from the school to do what best suits each family), how the school facilitated connection to peers, whether the school helped families to enjoy home-schooling, or whether the school caused parents to feel stress or worry about home-schooling. These four items were assessed on a 5-point scale ranging from 0 (Not at all) to 4 (Extremely) and could range from 0 to 16 with higher scores indicating greater perceived support.

Demographic and background variables

At wave 1 participants also provided details on their age, gender, and level of educational attainment (Secondary school, certificate/diploma, Bachelor’s degree, higher degree [e.g., PhD]). Participants were also asked if they had ever been diagnosed (past/current) by a clinician (e.g., general practitioner, psychologist, psychiatrist) with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism spectrum disorder, alcohol or substance use disorder, eating disorder, or other mental disorder (specify). For the purposes of the current study, these items were combined into a single variable assessing mental health diagnosis history (none/past/current).

Statistical analysis

Between-subject ANOVAs were conducted to compare participants who were home-schooling, with those who had children but were not home-schooling them (‘not home-schooling’) and those who did not have school-aged children, on the key psychosocial outcomes of (i) psychological distress, (ii) work and social impairment, and (iii) wellbeing. A series of linear regression analyses were conducted to identify if demographic, background and home-schooling variables collected at wave 2 were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and work and social impairment, and lower levels of wellbeing measured at wave 3.

Impact on psychosocial outcomes

Table  1 presents participant characteristics according to home-schooling status. For demographic factors, participants who reported home-schooling their children were significantly younger and more likely to have a Bachelor’s degree than participants without school-aged children or those not home-schooling their children. There were no significant differences between the three groups in terms of gender or mental health diagnosis.

The impact of home-schooling on psychological distress, work/social impairment and wellbeing at wave 3 is also presented in Table  1 . On average, home-schooling participants scored 1.6 points higher (Cohen’s d = 0.32) on the DQ5 measure of psychological distress, F (2,872)=7.19, p = 0.001, and 3.5 points higher ( d = 0.38) on the WSAS measure of work/social impairment, F (2,869)=9.90, p <0.001, compared to participants who were not home-schooling. No differences were observed in levels of wellbeing between groups, F (2,873)=0.35, p = 0.704.

Factors associated with psychosocial outcomes among participants who home-schooled

Table  2 presents a summary of the home-schooling variables. The majority of home-schooling participants reported having at least one primary-school aged child (65.4%), while just over half reported working from home while home-schooling (53.8%) and/or sharing the home-schooling duties with another adult (51%). A little under half of home-schooling participants perceived home-schooling to have had some or much impact on their work or daily activities. On average, participants received two home-schooling supports from their school (e.g., structured activities).

Table  3 presents the results of the linear regression analyses. Higher levels of psychological distress were significantly associated with a current mental health diagnosis, lower levels of educational attainment, greater perceptions that home-schooling was having an impact on work and daily activities, and lower levels of perceived support from their child’s school. Higher levels of work and social impairment were significantly associated with a current mental health diagnosis, male gender, younger age, and lower levels of perceived support from their child’s school. Lastly, lower levels of wellbeing were significantly associated with past and current mental health diagnosis, and lower levels of perceived support from their child’s school.

To our knowledge, the current study is the first to comprehensively assess and quantify the psychosocial effects of home-schooling on parents and other caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, this study found that parents and caregivers who were home-schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced higher levels of psychological distress and work/social impairment than those who were not home-schooling or had no school-aged children. Among those home-schooling, younger people with less education and a history of mental health problems had higher psychological distress and lower wellbeing. Work/social impairment was additionally associated with being male. Those who perceived home-schooling to have a higher impact on work and daily activities, and those who believed they had lower levels of support from the school, also experienced greater distress and work/social impairments. This key finding highlights the importance of communication between schools and parents in the context of home-schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the need to acknowledge and support the diverse challenges faced when home-schooling, such as enabling flexibility in expectations and activities.

The findings are consistent with qualitative research suggesting that home-schooling puts enormous time demands and pressure on people who are required to fulfil multiple, and sometimes conflicting, roles [ 3 , 4 ]. For many parents and caregivers, the time needed to undertake home-schooling duties has adversely impacted their ability to work, or led to a reduction or reallocation of work hours, which may have also reduced their ability to engage in home management and leisure activities [ 3 , 7 ]. The distress, lowered wellbeing, and lack of support felt by parents during this time has likely been amplified by financial concerns, worries about the health risks of COVID-19, and the inability to draw on usual social networks for support, such as grandparents, friends and other family members, due to strict physical distancing restrictions during the pandemic [ 3 , 6 ]. The available “down-time” during this period may have been significantly reduced for many parents and caregivers and this is reflected in increased psychological distress, and work and social impairment.

The current study also found that the levels of psychological distress, work and social impairment, and wellbeing experienced by participants who were home-schooling during the pandemic was negatively affected by a current or past mental health diagnosis. People experiencing mental health difficulties may already have a reduced capacity to cope with stress and uncertainty [ 14 , 15 ]. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, and in future major crises, this points to a need to identify people who are highly likely to struggle with the additional responsibilities of home-schooling and ensure tailored support is available to minimise distress and maximise educational outcomes for children.

The importance of support is reinforced by the finding that perceived support from the child’s school was consistently related to all three psychosocial outcomes. Participants who reported higher perceived support from their child’s school tended to report lower levels of distress and impairment, and higher levels of wellbeing. This finding is in line with the wider mental health literature that associates social support with better mental health outcomes [ 16 ]. Specifically, it points to the importance of providing all schools with the capacity to deliver the required practical and social support, and appropriate resources to parents and caregivers, during enforced periods of home-schooling, with attention paid to factors that may increase vulnerability to distress. Support may include simple recognition of the challenges faced by non-teachers in education delivery, and reassurance that parents’ and caregivers’ efforts to support their children’s learning are “enough.” Further, cooperation and flexibility from workplaces to ensure parents and caregivers, especially those with a history of mental health problems and/or with young children requiring significant learning support, is also likely to reduce distress and perceived impairments.

Higher psychological distress was also associated with lower levels of educational attainment and higher perceived impact of home-schooling on work and daily activities. Parents and caregivers with lower levels of education may have been less confident in their ability to support learning or found it more challenging due to lower literacy or numeracy skills [ 17 ]. Higher perceptions of the negative impacts of home-schooling may have led to feelings of being overwhelmed or reduced feelings of control. This risks further entrenching the social disadvantage already prevalent in those with lower levels of education. Higher levels of work and social impairment were also observed in males and younger participants. Males may have been less accustomed to flexible work arrangements [ 18 ], as women are often the primary carers of children, or their positions may have been less amenable to home-schooling disruptions and thus they perceived greater impairments to their work and social functioning. Younger parents and caregivers may have been more likely to have younger children, and thus the time requirement and pressure on them to actively participate in remote home learning activities may have been greater and potentially more disruptive.

Recognising and acknowledging the challenges of home-schooling is important, and should be included in psychosocial assessments of wellbeing during periods of school closure. There is a clear need to provide emotional and instrumental support to parents and other caregivers during school closures so that they can manage all roles effectively, and minimise adverse psychosocial effects. Parents and caregivers need access to support from social networks if available [ 16 ], and need schools to communicate realistic expectations, provide adequate educational activities, and supportive feedback that accounts for the unequal spread of perceived impact. Similarly, as teachers are the primary point of contact for students during remote learning, they need to be adequately supported during this time so that they can be available to effectively support students and parents. Whilst the unexpected school closures as a result of COVID-19 necessitated a rapid response to educational support materials that may have been less than ideal in some cases, as the pandemic progresses, it is critical to record and act upon lessons learned about activities that facilitate supported and independent learning for children, and provide greater support for parents and caregivers who are not educators and trying to balance work responsibilities. This is particularly the case for parents and caregivers who may face additional struggles, including those with mental health issues or with lower levels of education, that may undermine confidence or ability to home-school [ 4 ] and perpetuate social disadvantage.

The current study has several strengths. Firstly, the data were collected at the peak of home-schooling in Australia in a generally representative population sample. Secondly, data were collected over multiple time points, reinforcing the temporal effects of the findings. However, the study also has some limitations. Although the study was designed to be representative of the Australian population, it is likely that under-privileged groups - those with low income, educational attainment, and employment - were not adequately represented and may have been even more affected by home-schooling [ 19 ]. We also did not separately consider the impacts of home-schooling on families with multiple children or on those who had children with a disability or diverse educational needs. Time-poor parents may be less inclined to participate in research panels, so the findings may provide a conservative estimate of the impacts of home-schooling on busy parents.

In summary, parents and caregivers engaged in home-schooling during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic reported higher levels of psychological distress and work and social impairment than their non-home-schooling peers – both those without school-aged children and those with children still in school. People who were younger, male, had a history of mental health difficulties and/or perceived the impacts of home-schooling on work and daily activities to be higher, or the support of schools to be lower, were particularly affected. Understanding the impacts of home-schooling on parents and caregivers is critical, as periods of home-schooling are likely to continue into the future. In addition, the functioning of parents and caregivers can impact upon the parent-child relationship, child wellbeing and potentially the academic outcomes of children during periods of lock-down.

Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the other team members of The Australian National COVID-19 Mental Health, Behaviour and Risk Communication survey who also contributed to the design and management of the study.

This project was supported by funding from the College of Health and Medicine at the Australian National University. ALC is supported by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) fellowships 1173146. LMF is supported by Australian Research Council DECRA DE190101382. PJB is supported by NHMRC Fellowship 1158707. The funding body did not have a role in the study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the paper; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication.

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Alison L. Calear, Sonia McCallum, Alyssa R. Morse, Michelle Banfield, Amelia Gulliver, Louise M. Farrer & Philip J. Batterham

Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia

Nicolas Cherbuin

Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia

Kristen Murray

National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia

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Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia

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ALC, SM, ARM, and PJB were involved in formulating the research question, and designing the study. PJB analysed the data. All authors were involved in the design and conduct of the survey. ALC drafted the article, and all authors contributed to the writing and critical editing of the article. All authors approved the final version for submission.

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Correspondence to Alison L. Calear .

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The ethical aspects of this study were approved by The Australian National University Human Research Ethics Committee (protocol 2020/152) and conforms to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Calear, A.L., McCallum, S., Morse, A.R. et al. Psychosocial impacts of home-schooling on parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic. BMC Public Health 22 , 119 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12532-2

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Received : 12 October 2021

Accepted : 06 January 2022

Published : 17 January 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-12532-2

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• Psychological distress
• Home-schooling

BMC Public Health

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• Post-Pandemic Future of Homeschooling

In This Section

• A Modern Teaching Profession: Compensation, Preparation, Representation, Evaluation
• Colloquium Series
• Emerging School Models: Moving from Alternative to Mainstream
• Should School Boards Run Schools?
• Charting New Terrain: A Conference on Emerging School Models
• A Safe Place to Learn: Responding to Concerns about School Safety
• Conversations on Education in a Federal System
• School Choice in the Post-Pandemic Era
• Closing the Education Opportunity Gap: Strategies and Challenges

May 6 — June 17, 2021

Homeschooling has been undergoing a transformation in recent years. In the wake of Covid-19, early evidence also indicates that millions of parents began homeschooling during recent school closures. However, as homeschooling evolves, there remain many important questions about the practice. The purpose of this conference is to improve understanding of critical topics in homeschooling by considering empirical research, expert analysis, and parents’ experiences with homeschooling.

Podcast: Reactions to the Homeschooling Conference

Will the increase in homeschooling continue after the end of the pandemic? Should homeschooling be more tightly regulated? Paul E. Peterson and Daniel Hamlin discuss these questions and more following the completion of the Conference on the Post-Pandemic Future of Homeschooling.

Agenda and Video

Moderators Paul E. Peterson, Director, Program on Education Policy and Governance, Harvard University Daniel Hamlin, Professor, University of Oklahoma

Is it time for a change to homeschool law?

Does the law on homeschooling need to be revised? What are appropriate restrictions on homeschooling?  What rights should homeschoolers have?

Panelists Elizabeth Bartholet, Professor, Harvard Law School Michael Donnelly, Senior Counsel, Homeschool Legal Defense Association Eric Wearne, Professor, Kennesaw State University James Dwyer, Professor, College of William and Mary

Michael Donnelly's slides from this presentation are available here .

Growth and diversity in post-pandemic homeschooling

What is homeschooling? Who homeschools their children? Has Covid-19 altered the homeschooling landscape?

Panelists Sarah Grady, Statistician, US Department of Education Brian Ray, President, National Home Education Research Institute

Commentator Cheryl Fields Smith, Professor, University of Georgia

Sarah Grady's slides from this presentation are available here . Brian Ray's slides from this presentation are available here .

Are homeschoolers prepared for life?

How is the academic preparation of homeschoolers? What trends do they see in life outcomes?

Panelists Christian Wilkens, Professor, State University of New York, Brockport Jennifer Jolly, Professor, University of Alabama

Commentator Robert Kunzman, Professor, Indiana University

Christian Wilkens' and Jennifer Jolly's slides from this presentation are available here .

Are homeschoolers socially isolated?

How involved are homeschoolers in their local communities?

Panelists Daniel Hamlin, Professor, University of Oklahoma David Sikkink, Professor, University of Notre Dame

Commentator Michael McShane, Director of National Research, EdChoice

Daniel Hamlin's slides from this presentation are available here .

Is child abuse greater at school or homeschool?

What do we know about the incidence of child and sexual abuse that occurs in schools and in homeschool households?

Panelists Charol Shakeshaft, Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University Angela Dills, Professor, Western Carolina University

Commentator Martin West, Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Charol Shakeshaft's slides from this presentation are available here . Angela Dills' slides from this presentation are available here .

Is homeschooling an international movement?

What trends in homeschooling are occurring internationally?

Panelists Ari Neuman & Oz Guterman, Professors, Western Galilee College Philippe Bongrand, Professor, CY Cergy Paris University Christine Brabant, Professor, University of Montreal

Commentator Albert Cheng, Professor, University of Arkansas

Ari Neuman's and Oz Guterman's slides from this presentation are available here . Philippe Bongrand's slides from this presentation are available here . Christine Brabant's slides from this presentation are available here . Works referenced by Albert Cheng are available here .

Parents’ experiences with homeschooling

What is it like to homeschool? What are the reasons?  Has Covid-19 changed the homeschooling experience?  

Lead Panelist Michael Horn, Co-Founder, Clayton Christensen Institute and Homeschooling Parent

Parent Panelists Valerie Bryant Caprice Corona Karen Dematos Ann McClure Douglas Pietersma

Homeschooling Up, Public Schooling Down during COVID-19, BU-Aided Research Finds, with Implications for School Reform

Findings suggest the need for school ref.

BU research shows that a notable surge in homeschooling occurred last year, as some American parents shunned in-person learning at public schools. Photo by nicomenijes/iStock

Homeschooling Up, Public Schooling Down during COVID-19, BU-Aided Research Finds

Findings suggest the need for school reforms, rich barlow.

It’s old news that the pandemic forced students into remote learning last year. But a BU-aided study adds a new twist: COVID-19 also drove many parents to remove their children from public schools altogether in favor of homeschooling or private schools.

The study came from a multi-institution team that included two Wheelock College of Education & Human Development scholars: Andrew Bacher-Hicks , an assistant professor of education policy, and Joshua Goodman , an associate professor of education and economics (with a joint appointment in the College of Arts & Sciences).

The researchers looked at student data gathered by the federal government and the state of Michigan, which warehouses additional information not collected by the feds. In fall 2020, public school enrollment in the Wolverine State dropped by 10 percent among kindergarteners; overall, kindergarten-through-12th grade enrollments fell 3 percent. Most of those students were homeschooled, the researchers found, with the biggest spikes in districts where public schools maintained in-person instruction. The rest moved to private schools.

Bacher-Hicks and Goodman recently discussed their findings with BU Today.

BU Today: You list Michigan’s percentages for shifts to homeschooling and private schooling in fall 2020. Did the same percentages occur nationally?

Bacher-Hicks: Yes. The trends that are possible to compare between national data and Michigan data are quite similar. For example, we find that enrollment declined by 3 percent among K-12 students and 10 percent among kindergartners in Michigan. National statistics are nearly identical. However, the Michigan data provide substantially more detail than data at the national level. For example, national data do not track student movement to private schools, which was something we were able to do in our Michigan analysis.

BU Today: Do you have any data on fall 2021, in terms of whether those people returned to public schools?

Goodman: One limitation to using these detailed records is that they are often not available in real time. We are eager to examine trends in real time, but detailed data for the fall of 2021 are not yet available.

BU Today: At some point, the pandemic will end. Might public school enrollments gradually return to pre-pandemic levels?

Bacher-Hicks: Absolutely. Some students who left the public school system during the pandemic will certainly return. The question is how many will return and whether they will all return at once or if reenrollment will be more gradual. Our research shows that sharpest declines in public school enrollment occurred in the earliest grades, particularly kindergarten. This suggests that the implications of returns to pre-pandemic levels will be most important for elementary schools. I suspect that we will begin hearing news reports of overall student enrollment counts from the fall of 2021 semester, which will begin to answer this question.

I think improving access to online learning—such as investing in broadband—will be an increasingly important strategy. Andrew Bacher-Hicks

BU Today: Homeschooling to avoid in-person learning during a pandemic makes sense, but why did some families merely shift to private school? Were private schools more likely to offer remote options?

Goodman: Though we can’t test this directly with our data, other studies have found that private schools were more likely to offer in-person instruction than public schools. In our study, we found that there were relatively larger shifts to private schooling among areas where the public school system offered only remote learning, suggesting that some families sought out in-person learning when the public education system did not offer it.

BU Today: What are the policy indications of your findings—what should states and school districts be doing? Is universal broadband access one of them, to redress the fact that some students cannot study remotely easily, or at all?

Bacher-Hicks: Absolutely. I think improving access to online learning—such as investing in broadband—will be an increasingly important strategy for equalizing learning opportunities. A prior study that we published earlier this year found that demand for online learning resources increased sharply during the pandemic, but that it was concentrated among more affluent geographic areas with high levels of existing broadband connections.

Goodman: Another key policy implication is that states and districts need to be prepared for lower than average student enrollments in the near term, but a rebound at some point. This means that the public education sector will need to be more nimble than in the past to make sure classrooms are fully staffed with effective educators. It may also suggest that state and local policymakers need to respond more effectively to future crises if public schools want to retain and attract families who have alternative schooling options.

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Homeschooling Rising, Public Schooling Down during COVID-19, BU-Aided Research Finds

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Rich Barlow is a senior writer at BU Today and  Bostonia  magazine. Perhaps the only native of Trenton, N.J., who will volunteer his birthplace without police interrogation, he graduated from Dartmouth College, spent 20 years as a small-town newspaper reporter, and is a former  Boston Globe  religion columnist, book reviewer, and occasional op-ed contributor. Profile

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Homeschooling during the coronavirus pandemic could change education forever, says the OECD

Education may never be the same again, thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Image:  REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson

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Stay up to date:.

• Homeschooling children during the COVID-19 crisis is changing our approach to education.
• Experts believe the innovations teachers use during the outbreak may lead to lasting change, with technology playing a bigger role in schools in the future.
• But advances in e-learning must not leave the educationally disadvantaged behind.

Around the world, schools in over 100 countries are closed to protect against the spread of coronavirus, affecting the education of nearly 1 billion children . For the lucky ones, homeschooling will take the place of the classroom.

Have you read?

4 ways covid-19 could change how we educate future generations, 3 ways the coronavirus pandemic could reshape education, the world is failing miserably on access to education. here's how to change course.

In some parts of the world, it will be down to parents to keep their child's education going as best they can. But digital technologies are increasingly being used to deliver lessons to children at home.

Until the pandemic closed schools, only a minority of children were taught at home. In the United States, an estimated 1.7 million children were homeschooled out of a national school population of 56.6 million .

Today, things look very different. Around the world, schools are using existing platforms from the likes of Microsoft and Google as well as conferencing apps like Zoom to deliver lessons for their pupils. In the UK, virtual gym classes delivered by fitness instructor Joe Wicks have proved extremely popular. Meanwhile, France has created “Ma classe à la maison” (my classroom at home) , which can be accessed on devices such as a laptop or a smartphone. It provides four weeks of courses with what the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) describes as “confirmed pedagogical content”.

Education revolution?

The OECD is tracking how technology is replacing face-to-face teaching . “It is particularly inspiring to see entirely new ways of working emerging, ones that go beyond simply replacing physical schools with digital analogues,” says Tracey Burns, of the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills.

In Japan, private sector companies are offering free online courses to children in lockdown through a government digital platform which allows students and parents to choose which one they study.

“As more schools close, we must pay special attention to the most vulnerable, not just physically, but also academically and psychologically,” says Burns. “All responses must be designed to avoid deepening educational and social inequality.

“As systems massively move to e-learning, the digital divide in connectivity, access to devices and skill levels takes on more weight.”

She says it's too early to say that bricks-and-mortar schools will be replaced by e-learning anytime soon. But Andreas Schleicher, Director of Education and Skills at the OECD, sees the crisis as an opportunity to rethink how we organize education .

He argues schools and teachers should no longer be seen as “knowledge delivery systems” and that teachers should be empowered to take greater ownership of what they teach and how they teach it.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community , which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

Empowering teachers

“I meet many people who say we cannot give teachers and education leaders greater autonomy because they lack the capacity and expertise to deliver on it,” added Schleicher. “But those asked only to reheat pre-cooked hamburgers are unlikely to become master chefs.

“Simply perpetuating our prescriptive approach to teaching will not hold up in this moment of crisis, which demands from teachers not just to replicate their lessons in another medium, but to find entirely new responses to what people learn, how people learn, where people learn and when they learn.”

Drawing on the results of the OECD’s global teaching survey TALIS , he says technology should have a much greater role in the classroom. “Technology cannot just change methods of teaching and learning, it can also elevate the role of teachers from imparting received knowledge towards working as co-creators of knowledge,” he says.

Teachers across the world told the survey a shortage of digital technology in the classroom was hindering learning. Just over half of teachers were able to let their students use computers for projects or classwork.

Only 60% of teachers had received professional development training in the use of technology and almost 20% said they had an urgent need for development in this area. But with the coronavirus pandemic giving us a glimpse of how education could evolve, this could change. Schools may never be the same again when they reopen after COVID-19.

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World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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The Pandemic Has Parents Fleeing From Schools—Maybe Forever

COVID-19 is a catalyst for families who were already skeptical of the traditional school system—and are now thinking about leaving it for good.

When Sharon Jackson looks out on the mid-pandemic landscape of New York City, she sees a scary place for a sixth grader. Her daughter, Sophia, just graduated from the kind of Lower Manhattan public school where the PTA can easily raise money for iPads and SMART Boards. Jackson liked that Sophia’s days were structured, and that she was able to make a handful of close friends. The past six months, however, have left Jackson wary of how school might affect her child. For one thing, Sophia doesn’t like wearing masks. “If we go to Whole Foods, she’ll put it on, but she just feels very restricted,” Jackson told me. At home, there’s no need for such barriers: “She can do her studies in her underwear.”

Jackson has started noticing more unhoused people in the park near her apartment in Tribeca. The city “feels less safe in general to me right now,” Jackson, who is white, said, citing “the rioting, the rowdiness, the random acts of violence happening.” (While shootings have spiked in New York this summer, the overall crime rate has remained flat, and far below the high crime levels of the 1980s and ’90s, according to a recent New York Times report.) With protesters calling on the government to defund the police, she feels as if “there’s less protection” in the city. With families facing economic hardship and the city on edge, Jackson fears Sophia could be exposed to danger. “You don’t know if there’s a kid in the classroom [whose] parents are going through a tough time, and maybe that child would act out and snap and decide they want to hit another kid,” she said. And when a vaccine for COVID-19 eventually arrives, Jackson is worried that New York officials will make proof of vaccination mandatory for kids to attend public schools. “I’m not comfortable with a vaccine that’s not rigorously tested,” Jackson said. “To expose her to something that just is so questionable doesn’t seem like a sound decision.” Before the pandemic, she never wanted to homeschool her daughter. Now, she said, it seems like her best option.

COVID-19 has created a strange natural experiment in American education: Families who would have never otherwise considered taking their kids out of school feel desperate enough to try it. Reopening has been chaotic: In New York City, the start of school has been pushed back to late September, as teachers and principals scramble to prepare for a semester split between online and in-person learning, fighting to secure the extra staffing and testing needed to safely bring kids back to class.

Read: What we’ve stolen from our kids

Homeschooling organizations and consultants have faced a deluge of panicked parents frantic to find alternatives to regular school. Some families hate the idea of their kids sitting on Zoom for hours at a time. Others worry about exposing family members to the coronavirus or seeing schools close suddenly after a surge in cases. Although some of these parents will likely put their kids back in school once the pandemic is under control, homeschooling advocates see this period as an unlikely opportunity to evangelize their way of life, which they describe as more flexible, creative, and adaptable to each student than traditional school. Homeschooling families, which included roughly 3 percent of school-age children in the United States in 2016, have lots of different reasons for wanting to educate their own kids. But they’re united in a common assessment: They want out of the traditional system. The question is whether COVID-19 will cause a temporary bump in homeschooling as parents piece together their days during the pandemic or mark a permanent inflection point in education that continues long after the virus has been controlled. Some families may find that they want to exit the system for good.

Like many other students , Sophia pushed her way through the end of the school year in the spring, graduating from elementary school in a quickly coordinated Zoom ceremony. But Jackson wasn’t satisfied with the thought of another cobbled-together semester, so over the summer, she started investigating alternative options for the fall. She found her way to Joanna Allen Lodin, one of many former homeschooling moms who have set up shop as small-time sages for families interested in leaving the traditional school system. Since May, Lodin has received a “snowball” of requests for information, she told me, and has hosted one or two information sessions a week for curious families.

“I’m hearing everything, from parents who thought this spring was a disaster for their kids and who feel that they could do it better,” she said, to “people who said this spring was revelatory” and loved having their kids at home, concluding that “school is just babysitting, and I can do this better, and I’m going to homeschool them now.” The common thread, she said, is that “parents are terrified of failing their children.”

A wide range of parents are attempting to homeschool this fall, and families with experience are trying to help them along. Kristen Rhodes, a former public-school special-education teacher who lives near the Georgia-Florida border, decided not to put her 5-year-old son in kindergarten this year, because she was worried about him having to wear a mask, and instead joined a group of fellow Christian parents and kids who use a curriculum called Classical Conversations. Nicole Damick, a homeschooling mom of four in Pennsylvania, has been eager to talk up homeschooling to curious friends and acquaintances: Life is lovelier with kids around, she wrote me in an email, “instead of forcing them off every morning with a crappy sandwich to endure the small daily abuses of a system that treats them like a value-added commodity to shoot out the other end of the K–12 pipeline.” Erik and Emily Orton, who homeschooled their five kids in New York City long before the pandemic, have been fielding questions from families worried about the cost to families who hope their nanny might become their kid’s educator, which the Ortons had never heard of before COVID-19. “The larger misperception is that it’s expensive, that it’s complicated, and that it’s time-consuming,” Erik Orton told me. “In our experience, it’s none of those things.”

Read: Grandparents could ease the burden of homeschooling

The pandemic may play into some of the instincts of parents inclined toward homeschooling. There’s “this notion that school itself is kind of a risky place for children: They’re too fragile, that they’re more likely to get sick,” Mitchell Stevens, an education professor at Stanford University, told me. “If you have school anxiety about your child, COVID is your worst nightmare, because school is not a civic community; it’s a public-health risk.” American history is filled with people making the civic case for common schooling. Horace Mann, the 19th-century education reformer, argued that public school is essential for forming prudential citizens. This idea has never fully won out in American culture, however. The homeschooling world is dominated by parents “who believe that their family comes first and are less concerned with public health or the public good,” Jennifer Lois, a professor at Western Washington University, told me. These parents often “end up choosing those kind of family-first” options.

The problem is that in the chaos of the pandemic, it’s not clear how much common good any kind of school is doing. The children most likely to suffer under hybrid models of remote and in-person learning are those who don’t have access to the internet or whose parents have to work long hours outside the house, Cheryl Fields-Smith, an associate professor at the University of Georgia who studies Black homeschoolers, told me. These kids may have few other options—no matter how bad things get this fall, they’ll likely be stuck in traditional schools, while parents with more resources may decide to pursue alternatives. “I understand not wanting to send your child to school in a COVID context,” Fields-Smith said. But as families of all kinds face a potentially challenging fall, everyone seems to be in it for themselves, with no clear way to help other families thrive. “If you think about the American culture, it’s a lot of rugged individualism,” she said.

Academic studies of homeschooling tend to divide the community roughly into Christians and hippies, and Sharon Jackson falls more into the latter camp than the former. She and her husband both work as personal trainers and fitness consultants—Jackson once won second place at the Reebok National Aerobic Championship, which involves exactly as much colorful spandex as you’d imagine —and she’s not on a 9-to-5 schedule. As she read up on homeschooling, she found herself attracted to the concept of “unschooling,” which claims that children learn better when they direct their own studies, rather than following a set curriculum.

This was the argument I heard again and again from homeschooling advocates: Nontraditional schooling isn’t just about fear of regular school. It promotes academic excellence. “People have this idea in their head of what homeschooling is, and it isn’t,” Robert Bortins, the CEO of Classical Conversations, told me. “The thing people think about is the 1980s, jean-denim-skirt homeschoolers, and that’s not how it is anymore.” His company saw more than double the visitors to its website in July of this year compared with July 2019, he said. Rob and Jen Snyder, who oversee LEAH, a Christian organization that says it is the largest homeschooling group in New York, told me that they’ve gotten a huge surge in interest, building on last summer’s exodus from schools after the state repealed a religious exemption to vaccine requirements. While parents have been asking how to homeschool their children so that they can stay on track with traditional school, “there is no going back to normal,” Rob Snyder said. He believes that the pandemic will permanently reshape how parents think about school.

Read: Homeschooling without God

On every front, the pandemic has revealed the weaknesses in America’s public infrastructure: a health-care system that cannot broadly serve everyone who needs care. Sharp disparities in infection and death rates that underscore America’s existing inequalities . An education system that depends on children being together, in person, to function. Many of America’s most vulnerable families are going to spend the fall struggling through scattershot remote learning setups, assembling child-care coverage, and caring for family members who will inevitably get sick in a resurgence of cases. For people who were already inclined to doubt the system, the pandemic has just confirmed their suspicions about America. “Freedom is a state of being that is one’s birthright,” Jackson wrote me in an email. “The mainstream media just spews out propaganda to control people and a young person’s mind is so impressionable and that’s not how I want to raise Sophia.”

Even homeschooling will look different this fall, though. Around this time of year, a few hundred homeschooling families typically gather on the Great Hill in Central Park. They call it the “not-back-to-school picnic”—a chance to socialize with like-minded families who have found similar freedom in leaving traditional school behind. That won’t be happening this year, because of New York’s rules limiting large gatherings. And in normal times, many homeschoolers actually spend little time at home, so these students will feel the effects of museum closures and extracurricular-class cancellations. Still, Jackson told me that she is excited to begin Sophia’s studies. Without the pandemic, she said, “I would have just been staying in the system.”

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• 1 Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioural Research in Education, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
• 2 Department of Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Regional Centre for Child and Youth Mental Health and Child Welfare, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

According to Norway’s Educational Act (§2-1), all children and youths from age 6 to 16 have a right and an obligation to attend free and inclusive education, and most of them attend public schools. Attending school is important for students’ social and academic development and learning; however, some children do not attend school caused by a myriad of possible reasons. Interventions for students with school attendance problems (SAPs) must be individually adopted for each student based on a careful assessment of the difficulties and strengths of individuals and in the student’s environment. Homeschooling might be one intervention for students with SAPs; however, researchers and stakeholders do not agree that this is an optimal intervention. Schools that were closed from the middle of March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to investigate remote education more closely. An explorative study was conducted that analyzed 248 teachers’ in-depth perspectives on how to use and integrate experiences from the period of remote education for students with SAPs when schools reopen. Moreover, teachers’ perspectives on whether school return would be harder or easier for SAP students following remote education were investigated. The teachers’ experiences might be useful when planning school return for students who have been absent for prolonged periods.

Introduction

School attendance problems (SAPs) are a concern in many countries because attending school is important for students’ academic, emotional, and social learning (e.g., Kearney, 2008 ). Home education or homeschooling is an intervention for some students who have been absent for a prolonged period, as a part of a gradual return that connects the student to school and to schoolwork at home. However, this is a controversial topic in the literature ( Kearney, 2016 ). Some researchers (e.g., McShane et al., 2004 ; Melvin and Tonge, 2012 ) claim that students should not do schoolwork at home because it is believed to prolong absence. Others (e.g., Kearney, 2016 ) argue that doing schoolwork at home might reduce the anxiety of falling behind academically and ultimately make school return easier. When schools in many countries closed in the middle of March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to immediately provide education at home to teach their students using various digital solutions, tools, and skills. The concept “emergency remote education” clearly separate the practice during the period of closed schools from planned practices such as distance education, e-learning, online education, homeschooling, or other concepts being used in different countries, and ( Bozkurt et al., 2020 ). 1 No national guidelines existed in Norway about how to do remote education; however, the curriculum and the Education Act were still applicable. The main aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ perspectives on how to integrate their experiences of remote education during the pandemic for students with SAPs when schools reopen and to investigate their perceptions of how the experiences from remote education could impact school return.

School Attendance Problems

Attending school is important for students’ behavioral, social, economic, and educational learning (e.g., Kearney, 2008 ; Ansari et al., 2020 ), in addition to the fact that in Norway, education is a right and an obligation from age 6 to 16 (grade level 1–10). However, SAPs are a concern in many countries, and research in this area is increasing. SAPs are usually seen as unauthorized absences, which are absences not recorded as illnesses or with permission from the school ( Dalziel and Henthorne, 2005 ). Many types of SAPs exist, such as truancy, school refusal, school withdrawal, and school exclusion (e.g., Heyne et al., 2019 ). In this study, all types of unauthorized/undocumented SAPs are included based on criteria adapted from Kearney (2008) . The reasons for SAPs are multiple and often complex ( Egger et al., 2003 ; Heyne et al., 2011 ; Ingul and Nordahl, 2013 ; Havik et al., 2014 , 2015 ; Blöte et al., 2015 ).

Thambirajah et al. (2008) proposed a vicious cycle to describe how absence might be maintained for students with anxiety-based school refusal. This cycle visualizes how an absent student might lose opportunities to improve peer relationships and social functioning and therefore experience social isolation. These students may also fall behind in schoolwork, making school return difficult because they fear school failure. Together, these factors might increase students’ levels of anxiety as anxiety-provoking situations at school are avoided. Although this circle mainly explains anxiety-based school refusal, it is also relevant to understand other types of SAPs.

Traditional Homeschooling

According to the Educational Act in Norway, parents can decide to provide education at home for their children. They might do this for several reasons, such as long-term illness, concern about and dissatisfaction with the educational system, school environment, or available academic instruction, failure to meet their child’s needs, inadequate responses to bullying or well-being, and the provision of religious or moral instruction (e.g., Medlin, 2000 ; NCES, 2009 ; Mitchell, 2021 ). Moreover, some parents of SAP students might fear harmful situations in school or be critical of the school, teacher, or education (e.g., Kearney, 2008 ; Thambirajah et al., 2008 ) and want their child to be educated at home. In traditional homeschooling, parents administer the education and the educational goals. The quality should be the same as in public education as explained in the Educational Act, and municipalities are required to evaluate the education provided.

Home education or homeschooling is controversial in general and for students with SAPs ( Kearney, 2016 ). One concern is the lack of socialization ( Romanowski, 2006 ; Ray, 2013 ) and some researchers are critical of homeschooling movements and fear that it might lead to social isolation from other children (e.g., Mayberry et al., 1995 ; Lubienski, 2000 ; Monk, 2004 ). However, previous research indicates that parents are aware of the importance of children’s socialization when they are homeschooled, and they often encourage socialization for their children (e.g., Nelson, 2014 ; Neuman and Guterman, 2017 ; Fensham-Smith, 2021 ). A study by de Carvalho and Skipper (2019) provides insight into the social lives of three United Kingdom home-educated adolescent girls and their mothers. The findings indicate that the parents encouraged their children to socialize by organizing social activities and groups. Home educating networks had an important role in bringing families together and serving as a supportive network for parents and children that offered a variety of social interactions, and these adolescents participated in a range of social experiences ( de Carvalho and Skipper, 2019 ). Therefore, there is no agreement on how homeschooling affects socialization, and more research is needed. In addition, this issue is part of a larger discussion because some students find socialization in school to be problematic ( Mitchell, 2021 ).

Homeschooling and School Attendance Problems

Homeschooling might be an intervention in addition to partial school attendance for SAP students to prepare for gradual school return (e.g., Carroll, 1996 ; Thambirajah et al., 2008 ). However, when students with SAPs do schoolwork at home, they might believe this could be a lasting solution, leading to a vicious cycle that is difficult to break ( Thambirajah et al., 2008 ; Wijetunge and Lakmini, 2011 ). When students’ complete schoolwork at home, they might not experience anxiety or worries related to school and might have better general well-being. In this way, homeschooling might be a good intervention to fill academic gaps and reduce students’ anxiety caused by school situations, which might make school return easier. However, findings from a recent study indicate that some students do not do schoolwork during emergency remote education, and 20% do not participate at all ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ). This indicates that school at home during the pandemic may not fill academic gaps for all SAP students. These students fall behind academically, which potentially increases their anxiety about school return. School at home is therefore not a good solution for all SAP students ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ).

Moreover, when students have school at home, SAP students might miss social experiences with peers and teachers, which is a concern about home education in general (e.g., Ray, 2013 ). For students who experience negative interactions in school, such as bullying (e.g., Havik et al., 2014 , 2015 ), doing schoolwork at home might be liberating; but in the long-term school return might be even harder because they are socially isolated.

Some studies recommend homeschooling for students with school refusal who dislike and avoid school ( Stroobant and Jones, 2006 ; Stroobant, 2008 ), arguing that students and their families might be in a stressful situation and that stressors are reduced when the student stays at home. Furthermore, this situation may lead to less unrest and disturbance at home, making everyday life easier for the whole family. However, others do not recommend homeschooling because it might promote avoidance ( Melvin and Tonge, 2012 ). Moreover, homeschooling might increase students’ anxiety and thereby maintain avoidance (e.g., Thambirajah et al., 2008 ; Ek and Eriksson, 2013 ; Heyne and Sauter, 2013 ).

Developmental processes might slow or stop during homeschooling, even if it leads to sufficient academic learning. A study of parents of students with school refusal in the United Kingdom found that most of them wanted to continue home education because their children thrived academically and socially ( Wray and Thomas, 2013 ). Findings from this study indicated that symptoms associated with school refusal mostly disappeared or were reduced during home education, which is in line with findings indicating that home education “virtually eliminates any mental illness” ( Knox, 1989 , p. 150) and that symptoms “either disappear completely with no aftereffects or decline considerably” ( Fortune-Wood, 2007 , p. 137). Wray and Thomas (2013) concluded that home education should be an alternative to school return from the parental perspective. However, although symptoms of mental illness disappear or decrease when stressors are removed, they may increase when stressors such as school return are reintroduced.

Remote Education During the Pandemic

Remote education for all students during a pandemic is different than traditional homeschooling for a few students. During the pandemic, digital/distance lessons were provided without any national guidelines to inform practice. Teachers were asked to immediately provide all teaching from home. Teachers used a variety of digital tools, and the majority gave live lessons daily by video communication ( Fjørtoft, 2020 ).

Remote education may be provided differently between schools and teachers and Norwegian teachers reported using “trial and error” and guidance from colleagues/advisors at school as their main resource to increase competence in their digital practice during the pandemic ( Fjørtoft, 2020 ). Fjørtoft’s study indicates that teachers believed they had mastered digital teaching without any major challenges, but some felt that digital teaching/tools required more preparation and better classroom management. Moreover, a key finding from a national survey of parents was that remote education during the pandemic largely consisted of students doing individual tasks with limited support from teachers ( Blikstad-Balas et al., 2022 ).

In a study from the United States, most parents (64%) were concerned that their children had fallen behind academically due to school closure during the pandemic ( Horowitz, 2020 ). Another United States study indicated that students may have fallen substantially behind academically, especially in mathematics, and that students were likely to enter school with greater variability in academic skills than during normal circumstances ( Kuhfeld et al., 2020 ). In the Netherlands, where schools were closed for only 8 weeks, school closure was associated with academic learning losses ( Engzell et al., 2020 ).

School Return

According to most researchers, early identification and interventions for SAPs are of great importance (e.g., Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ; Keppens et al., 2019 ). Research indicates that every day of attendance counts and contributes to students’ learning and that academic outcomes are enhanced by maximizing attendance in school without a “safe” threshold (e.g., Hancock et al., 2013 ). Moreover, Simon et al. (2020) found that individual students tend to stabilize their rates of absence after third grade and noted the importance of early interventions in a student’s school career.

When students have been absent from school, a gradual return as quickly as reasonably possible is often recommended because it increases the likelihood of successful outcomes (e.g., Elliott and Place, 2012 ; Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ). A gradual return and introduction to school for anxiety-based school refusal is included in most cognitive behavior therapy-based manuals ( Blagg and Yule, 1984 ; King et al., 2000 ; Heyne et al., 2015 ). In a study from Japan, a rapid return approach was effective for adolescents with school refusal who were unwilling to attend individual therapy ( Maeda and Heyne, 2019 ).

However, after the pandemic, all students need to be reintegrated and reengaged in school, and gradual school return is important for SAP students. Reengagement is one important aspect of the Alternative Educational Program in the Netherlands (Link) for school refusers ( Brouwer-Borghuis et al., 2019 ). Teachers in Link help students prepare for reintegration to school, which includes gradually facing school-related fears and working together on steps in a fear hierarchy. Some of these activities might be helpful for some SAP students when gradually reengaging and returning to school after the pandemic. Examples are “to participate in a game, ask question in class, take a test, observe cooking lessons, and sit in on group discussions, and then gradually increase the amount and type of participation in such activities” ( Brouwer-Borghuis et al., 2019 , p. 81).

Cooperation

Cooperation within a team with students, staff in school, parents, peers, and health personnel is strongly encouraged for SAPs ( Brand and O’Conner, 2004 ; Nuttall and Woods, 2013 ; Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ; Gren-Landell et al., 2015 ; Brouwer-Borghuis et al., 2019 ). Findings from an in-depth interview study examining the current systems of collaboration between schools, children, and mental health services indicated deep-seated barriers to good collaboration ( Rothi and Leavey, 2006 ). These teachers experienced frustration because they were excluded from mental health care management even though they were affected professionally by the decisions that were made there; moreover, they experienced delays in intervention and poor communication ( Rothi and Leavey, 2006 ). Nuttall and Woods (2013) interviewed youths, parents, school staff, and other professionals and noted the importance of close collaboration with the professionals involved. In a qualitative study with parents of children with school refusal, the parents emphasized a need for a coordinated team approach ( Havik et al., 2014 ). Moreover, parental support and involvement, positive school–parent relationships, and good communication are essential for good interventions for attendance problems ( Havik et al., 2014 ; Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ; Finning et al., 2018 ). From teachers’ perspectives cooperation between school and home is more important during remote education than regular schooling because structure and help at home vary greatly and is important for how students handle to do schoolwork at home ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ).

Tailored Interventions and a Safe Learning Environment

In an ideal world, schools should be a place where all students feel safe, are engaged, and connected, and interact positively with teachers and peers. SAPs are a diverse issue for individual reasons, meaning that “one size doesn’t fit all” (e.g., Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 , 2020 ; Finning et al., 2018 ; Heyne, 2019 ). The similarity is that students do not attend school, but their reasons for not attending school are diverse. Therefore, interventions must be adapted and tailored for each student based on an assessment of the student’s parent/family, peers, school, and community regarding the difficulties and strengths ( Kearney, 2008 ; Ingul et al., 2019 ).

Students need a safe learning environment with good relations and support from teachers and peers as well as structure, routines, and quiet surroundings during the school day to help them feel that the school day is predictable, which is important for SAP students ( Nuttall and Woods, 2013 ; Havik et al., 2014 ). They also need support in their learning process, to be connected to learning and schoolwork and to be engaged. Nuttall and Woods (2013) claim that these students need an individualized approach, and that schoolwork should be linked to personal interests for them to be able to achieve their educational goals.

The Present Study

The main aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ experiences of remote education during the pandemic for SAP students and how these experiences could be used when schools reopen. We also wanted to investigate whether teachers believe that school return will be harder or easier following remote education at home. The research questions were as follows. RQ1: How can experiences from remote education be used and integrated when schools reopen? RQ2: Do teachers think that school return will be harder or easier for SAP students following remote education during the pandemic?

Materials and Methods

Participants.

The final sample for this study consisted of 248 teachers from all municipalities in Norway; 75% of the sample were female teachers, reflecting gender in primary and lower secondary schools in Norway ( SBSS, 2019 ). The sample consisted of teachers from all 11 counties of Norway, varying between 8 and 45 teachers in each county. We had no other information about the teachers than gender, county they work, and whether they were the main or subject teacher for the SAP student. Thus, we cannot claim that the sample is random, or generalize and draw conclusions for all teachers in Norway. For more information about the sample, see Havik and Ingul (2021a) .

Because this was an explorative study, most of the questions were open-ended, and teachers were asked to write their answers briefly and concisely in their own words. When answering the survey, we asked the teachers to choose and think about one student with SAPs in their class based on adapted criteria from Kearney (2008) : (1) absent from school more than 2 days in the last 2 weeks before schools closed with no documented absence and/or (2) more than 15% undocumented absences since Christmas (10 weeks).

All schools in Norway received an e-mail about the study on 24th April 2020. They were asked to distribute the e-mail to the teachers in their school who had students with SAPs in grade levels 5–10 because these grade levels still had remote education. We asked the teachers to answer a web-based questionnaire within 2 weeks.

The questionnaire did not link the teachers’ answers to their computers’ IP addresses, in line with requirements for anonymity from the Norwegian Centre for Research Data. This research project was not subject to notification since no sensitive personal data were collected. The participants gave their consent to participate by answering the questionnaire. They were given instructions in the e-mail, which also contained information about the aim of the study and stated that participation was voluntary. Those who chose to participate completed a questionnaire with three topics: the first part included general questions concerning all students and remote education a, the second part was related to one student with SAPs in the teacher’s class, and the third part was about other students with SAPs in the teacher’s class. The current study used qualitative data from the second part and included the following questions: (1) How can you use experiences with remote education when schools reopen? (2) Describe whether the situation with remote education will make it easier or more difficult for SAP students to return to school. Because the questions were open-ended, the teachers wrote their own answers. Some wrote in-depth answers (up to 130 words), while others wrote only short answers.

Analyzing Qualitative Data

In this study a deductive approach was used, reading relevant theory related to the research questions, and testing its implications with the collected data. Deductive thematic analysis was chosen because it facilitates the interpretation of identifiable themes and patterns of teachers’ perspectives and experiences. A “theoretical” or deductive thematic analysis is more driven by the researcher’s theoretical interest and a detailed analysis of some aspect of the data, which affects how we coded the data, where we coded for specific research questions ( Braun and Clarke, 2006 , 2019 ). The data were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis, which is flexible, offers an accessible way to analyze qualitative data ( Aronson, 1995 ; Braun and Clarke, 2006 , 2019 ; Lambert and O’Halloran, 2008 ) and is well suited when generating (initial) themes or patterns of shared meaning in the data. The analysis is more descriptive than interpretive, inspired by Moustakas’ (1994) transcendental or psychological phenomenology. Six steps are suggested to be followed ( Braun and Clarke, 2006 ): (1) familiarizing with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) producing the report/article. The data, which comprised the teachers’ in-depth answers, were carefully discussed, analyzed, and categorized by both researchers.

The process of analyzes involved several stages based on guidelines from different sources ( Aronson, 1995 ; Braun and Clarke, 2006 ). First the data was read several times and organized in two documents, one for each research questions. The initial thoughts were noted in a separate column in each document, related to the concepts we considered interesting or significant for the research questions. Then the data set was re-read several times and the initial notes were transformed into specific subthemes, representing the meaning within the data set. Third, main themes were identified consisting of a varying number of identified subthemes. The frequency of occurrence of each theme and subtheme was recorded to establish the strength of each theme (mentioned in the tables). Some of the illustrations from the raw data were extracted to provide evidence of each theme and subtheme. Then the final analysis was related back to the research questions and the previous literature, before writing out the results.

The main aim of the current study was to explore teachers’ perspectives based on an approximately 2-month period of remote education for SAP students. The results are presented based on the research questions: RQ1: How can experiences from remote education be used and integrated when schools reopen? and RQ2: Did the teachers think school return would be harder or easier for SAP students following remote education during the pandemic?

Use of the Experiences From Remote Education When Schools Reopen

Most of the teachers in this study were concerned with the importance of SAP students attending or partly attending school immediately when schools reopened to motivate and plan for re-entry in close cooperation with the student and home/other services. This topic was incorporated into many of the other themes that emerged from the analyses. Other main themes that emerged from the data were as follows ( Table 1 gives an overview of the themes).

Table 1. Experiences that can be used in re-entry to school.

Digital/Hybrid Solutions

Digital/hybrid solutions were mentioned by many of the teachers. These comments were about the importance of continuing to use digital solutions/lessons in addition to partial school attendance. Moreover, the teachers and students had learned more about digital solutions and had increased their digital skills to do schoolwork at home. Many of the teachers believed that these experiences could be used when schools reopened, such as using digital lessons when students did not attend school for lessons/days or as part of the adapted plan for the students. Some teachers expressed a need for a more flexible school and the integration of school at home as part of the SAP students’ plans and gradual reintegration. They believed this might reduce stress and engage the SAP student more, which would encourage the student to participate more. The quotations below illustrate this.

“Continue to teach digitally and incorporate and organize this in line with measures to achieve the goal to return to school.”

“These experiences show the possibility to set up assignments for the student to work from home if the student does not manage to attend school.”

“The expertise in the use of digital tools is useful for us teachers because we use the students’ preferred learning channel. They are used to gaining knowledge and orienting themselves on YouTube. When we share subjects in the same arena, the students’ motivation increases.”

“We may need to consider greater flexibility in everyday school life. It is perhaps enough for many students who struggle in different arenas, academically or socially, and that they can sometimes choose homeschooling. We do not have to push everyone into the same shape. The school must be more flexible.”

Individual Adaptations and Structure

Many teachers expressed a need for individual adaptation and better follow-up for these adaptations. Some of the examples expressed by the teachers were working with tasks in which the students’ experienced mastery and for which they were motivated and interested, lowering and setting more realistic requirements, and providing sufficient time and help. Another example was the importance of structuring their school day, lessons, and tasks with concrete working plans and the need for a safe and quiet learning environment. Some of the quotations illustrating these examples of tailored adaptations and structure are as follows:

“Use the feeling of mastery and joy she has felt during this period to motivate her to continue. Make the student aware that this is only for a shorter period until the schools reopen. Set specific goals with the student and do not skip routines.”

“Adapt as much as possible related to the student’s interests. Offer help and support at the same time as helping the student to stay motivated (.)… I also think it is important to lower the requirements, as it is more important that something is done, and there is a need for close guidance.”

“It is extremely important to maintain a solid structure in all areas where it is possible….”

In relation to individual adaptations/plans, a few teachers wrote that during remote education they learned more about the student, including the student’s challenges, reasons, and strengths and who was involved in the student’s schoolwork at home.

“We now see more clearly what the reason is for school refusal.”

“We know more about what the student likes academically, and which lessons the student is most engaged in.”

Some teachers commented on the importance and need for closer cooperation with others for examination and assessment of the student and treatment/help.

“It is clearer that the student is struggling with self-confidence and partial anxiety about something, so when we return to school, I will contact the health nurse (the parents have given permission for this).”

“We need to collaborate even more with other services to get the student to school.”

The need for close home–school cooperation and parental involvement was expressed by some teachers. Some of them experienced closer cooperation with the parents, and parents were more involved during remote education than before, while others experienced the opposite, including difficulties in cooperation and lack of involvement by parents. Moreover, some commented that they now knew more about how much or how little parents followed up and cared for their child’s schooling.

“The home is now more included in the schoolwork and has better conditions to follow up….”

“We need a much closer dialog with the home.”

“We had good dialog with the home, both before and during the COVID-19 situation, and we expect this will continue afterward as well. However, it did not help because absenteeism is increasing for this student.”

Relations With Teacher, School, and Peers

Many teachers experienced the importance of working more closely with the student, who needed to be seen more and required more help during the period of remote education. They also expressed the importance of a close relationship between the teacher and the student, such as having good dialog, smiling at the student, and being patient and caring. Moreover, a few teachers expressed the importance of meeting peers and friends for social interactions in school. Some quotations illustrating the importance of relations are as follows:

“…We have achieved a good relationship during this period, and therefore it might be easier for her to attend school.”

“The experiences with this student have shown us that it is necessary to have close follow-up/monitoring during regular school and homeschooling.”

“It is good for her to come back to school where she gets closer follow-up/monitoring by the teacher when the going gets tough.”

“The importance of relations via physical attendance is more obvious for me.”

“The student might get more motivation to attend school when meeting friends.”

“During the first days at school, it becomes important to work with the social part in the class again. This is probably what the students need most when they return, especially for this girl.”

Finally, some teachers did not answer the question about the use of their experiences, a few teachers wrote that there would be no change or that they would keep working as they did before, and two of the teachers commented that school at home did not work or was not useful for the SAP student. Moreover, many teachers did not know or were insecure about how to use their experiences when schools reopened. A few of them wrote that they did not yet know how to do this:

“Feels totally helpless for me as the subject teacher, but I trust that the system around does what is needed to be done, and I know they do.”

Returning to School–Easier or More Difficult

We also investigated whether teachers believed that the situation with remote education would make it easier or more difficult for SAP students to return when schools reopened. Some of the teachers described their experiences and meanings in detail, while others gave shorter descriptions. Some teachers did not answer, a few teachers believed there would be no difference, and many teachers wrote that they were uncertain or did not know without explaining why. Moreover, many teachers commented that school return could be both more difficult and easier depending on individual students’ reasons for SAPs:

“For students who worry about attending school, it will be harder to return to school. At the same time, all students have experienced the same (homeschooling), and they can meet with a ‘clean slate’ and academically they get a new start, in a way.”

“I think this will vary. Some students with high absenteeism and who have worked well at home may fall into the same pattern as before since physical attendance is a challenge, not an academic challenge. When you have been at home and this is safe, the threshold for returning can be even greater, especially with school refusers. If the student is absent due to lack of motivation, it may be easier to return to school, especially if they miss their peers.”

“This will probably vary based on the reasons for SAPs. I think for many students, it is good to return to more normality. However, they can also feel this transition is hard because they have to meet physically at school.”

“Both. The student probably misses the social part of school; at the same time, the students’ well-being is better at home.”

Most of the teachers wrote that school return could be either easier or more difficult for the student: half as many teachers stated that return would be easier, than those who thought it would be more difficult ( Table 2 gives an overview of the themes).

Table 2. Easier or more difficult to return to school.

Easier to Return

Three main themes emerged from the data: (a) missing the social part of school (like to be with peers at school); (b) getting a new start and more structure for their school day; and (c) the use of digital platforms (based on positive experiences during homeschooling, digital solutions could be used in addition to attending school). Some quotations are as follows:

“For the student I described, it will be easier to attend school. She expresses that she misses school, schoolwork, and her peers.”

“What might make it easier is that peers do not know what she has been involved in and not and thus have a more ‘clean slate’ when school opens.”

“I think during homeschooling we realize that it is possible to maintain a certain contact with the student via digital channels, also academically when schools reopen. During almost the entire school year, the school has not been able to maintain an academic education for the student because she has not attended school.”

Some teachers did not comment more than “it will be easier for the student,” and one teacher commented about less physical discomfort that might make return easier.

More Difficult to Return

Most of the teachers believed that school return would be more difficult when schools reopened. Some teachers did not state why, but most of them explained this in their own words, and two main themes emerged from the data. The first theme was routines and transition (lack of routines and structure at home, students finding it pleasant and attractive to stay at home, difficult to transition after school breaks, and a wish to still have homeschooling).

“It will probably be harder. The student is on a negative track. To get back to their normal routines might be challenging.”

“I think it will be harder. The student has slipped into a life where night has become day. Social media and playing games control most of the hours she is awake.”

The second theme was social and/or academic barriers; the students lost academic learning and/or social interactions during the period of remote education.

“Acclimatization socially and academically. It is negative to start with many academic holes, negative self-image.”

“I think it might be more difficult for this group of students to rebuild social relationships.”

In addition, a few teachers’ comments were more general and related to difficulties of school return. For example, there may be greater difficulty for students with anxiety and school refusal, a gradual return when schools reopened, and two school “breaks” (caused by the pandemic and the summer vacation) that made a gradual return harder. One of the teachers said:

“Worse for the students with school refusal. Now we know they can have school at home as well; thus, the student might think; why it is necessary to be at school?”

Summary of the Results

Most of the teachers reported experiences they wanted to use when schools reopened for SAP students. The most frequently mentioned experiences were as follows:

1. Use more digital/hybrid solutions (partly attending school and partly attending digitally), especially on days the student is not attending school. This is related to the teachers’ and students’ increased confidence in using digital tools in schoolwork, which provide a better opportunity for more flexible solutions.

2. Increasing individual tailored adaptations based on the students’ challenges, strengths, and interests. The need for structure and routines was indicated as important. Moreover, parents should be involved, and good cooperation should be established between the home and school and with other services. This topic is related to teachers who learned more about their students during the remote education period and were now more aware of the specifics of the students’ problems.

3. Focusing on relations between teachers and students and between students, for instance, following up or monitoring the student more closely, providing extra time/attention, and including them in the school community, which the teachers were in a better position to do when the SAP students returned to school.

Most of the teachers believed that school return would be harder for SAP students, mainly because return is difficult after a “break,” there is a lack of structure/routines during the period of remote education, and students fell behind socially and academically in this period. However, other teachers (half as many as those who believed that return would be harder) believed that school return might be easier because the students missed their peers and school, there was a possibility for a new start, and they knew how to use digital/hybrid solutions when the schools reopened.

Teachers were asked how to use their experiences from remote education for SAP students during the pandemic when the schools reopened and whether they believed that school return would be harder or easier for the students. The answers indicated variety in the teachers’ experiences.

Digital/Hybrid Solutions When Schools Reopen

One of the most frequently mentioned themes was teachers’ greater possibility of using digital/hybrid solutions (i.e., having students partly attend school in person and partly attend digitally), particularly on days the SAP student could not attend school or was not attending for planned reasons. Because digital lessons had to be given from the first day that the schools closed with no national guidelines, variation in teachers’ and students’ digital skills, practices, and digital learning was expected, which led to a “trial and error” approach ( Fjørtoft, 2020 ). A study of Norwegian teachers found that they mastered digital teaching without any major challenges, but the quality, content, and length of the lessons were unknown ( Fjørtoft, 2020 ). This finding is in line with the current study, which found that the teachers wanted to use more digital or hybrid solutions for SAP students when schools reopened, which might be related to teachers gaining competence and being more confident in digital teaching. Moreover, the findings indicated that digital lessons are a good intervention for SAP students’ academic learning, especially on days the students do not attend school. Some teachers recognized the need for more flexible solutions for SAP students, which might be easier to accommodate after the experiences during the pandemic.

Tailored Interventions When Schools Reopen

The teachers also frequently mentioned the need for individual tailored adaptations based on the students’ challenges, strengths, and interests. This is related to previous research; one intervention does not fit all SAP students (e.g., Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ; Finning et al., 2018 ). Some of the teachers stated that they learned more about their SAP students’ challenges and reasons for SAPs during this period. This indicates that teachers need to have enough individual time with SAP students to know them better. This might also influence the relations between teachers and students, which is important for the prospect of school return. It is important to support students’ learning processes and to connect them to learning, peers, and school, which might be related to school alienation theory ( Morinaj et al., 2020 ; Havik and Ingul, 2021b ). According to this theory, students might be alienated from school in general or from specific aspects of school, leading to a process of increased distancing from different aspects of school ( Morinaj et al., 2020 ) and increased attendance problems. Giving teachers more individual time with SAP students, either face to face or online, might counteract this process. Teachers might use an individualized approach and link schoolwork to their students’ personal interests ( Nuttall and Woods, 2013 ), which might influence the students’ motivation for schoolwork. Some of the teachers in the current study stated that they knew more about the students’ challenges and interests after the period of remote education, which might make it easier to adapt and motivate the students when schools reopened.

Some teachers found that SAP students needed more structure, routines, and close monitoring than was possible during the period of remote education. Teachers might be better positioned to influence this when students attend school. The findings from a study of parents of children with school refusal indicate that students need structures and routines during a school day for them to feel that the environment is safe and predictable ( Havik et al., 2014 ). Teachers found that some parents were not able to structure their child’s schooldays at home; teachers might have a greater possibility to do this at school ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ). However, this requires the teachers to have time to do so. This is related to the fact that many teachers were concerned about difficulties in school return because some of the SAP students had developed bad habits during this period, such as staying awake during the night and in bed during the day and not getting up in the morning ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ).

Some teachers wanted to involve the home and parents more and to promote close home–school cooperation when the schools reopened. In addition, a few teachers mentioned the need for coordination and cooperation with other services (e.g., for assessment and/or treatment). Some experienced closer cooperation with parents and found that some parents were more involved during the period with remote education, while others experienced difficulties in cooperation and a lack of parental involvement. Therefore, the teachers knew more about how these parents followed up and monitored their child’s schooling and which parents would be more involved in their child’s schooling when the schools reopened. At the same time, previous research indicates that teachers tend to blame the parent/student for problems, and parents tend to blame the school (e.g., Gregory and Purcell, 2014 ; Havik et al., 2014 ; Baker and Bishop, 2015 ; Gren-Landell et al., 2015 ; Havik and Ingul, 2021a ).

Previous research on intervention for SAPs indicates the importance of parental involvement and cooperation within a team, including school–parent cooperation (e.g., Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ; Gren-Landell et al., 2015 ; Finning et al., 2018 ), and parents emphasize the need for a coordinated team approach ( Havik et al., 2014 ). Moreover, homeschooling is often not recommended as a regular intervention for students with SAPs because some might expect this as a regular intervention and fall into a negative cycle ( Thambirajah et al., 2008 ; Wijetunge and Lakmini, 2011 ). Therefore, involving and cooperating with parents about the pros and cons of homeschooling is important.

Social Interactions When Schools Reopen

Some teachers stated that social interactions were important upon school return. Some of them believed that school return might be easier because the students missed their peers and school and that interacting with others might be easier upon school return than during the period of remote education. Moreover, the teachers noted the importance of closer monitoring of the students and giving them extra time and attention upon school return. The findings from a study of Norwegian teachers indicated that students mainly performed individual tasks with limited support from teachers during the pandemic ( Blikstad-Balas et al., 2022 ). The study examined students in general but might also be applicable to SAP students. Some of the teachers in the current study learned more about their students’ challenges and interests during this period, but some students required more support for schoolwork, which was less available during school at home than regular school when they met the students physically. This might indicate the need for more teacher support for schoolwork.

Teachers in the current study commented on the importance of good relations between teachers and students and between students and for SAP students to be part of the school community. Teacher support is of great importance for SAP students ( Wilkins, 2008 ; Nuttall and Woods, 2013 ; Havik et al., 2014 , 2015 ; Hendron and Kearney, 2016 ), and monitoring and supporting all students might be more difficult during digital lessons, particularly for those who do not participate at all ( Havik and Ingul, 2021a ). Moreover, social isolation might be a consequence of the pandemic for many students and may be even more difficult for SAP students, who are more vulnerable to social isolation and who had fewer friends at school or conflictual relations before the pandemic (e.g., Heyne et al., 2011 ; Ingul and Nordahl, 2013 ; Blöte et al., 2015 ). Therefore, SAP students might struggle even more upon school return.

Because most of the teachers believed that school return would be harder for their SAP students, planning for a gradual return was important. Teachers commented on the lack of structure and routines at home and noted that all “breaks” from school make school return more difficult. In addition, some students’ social and academic learning decreased during the period of remote education. This might be related to a negative circle in which students fall into patterns of bad habits and become more isolated and fall behind in their schoolwork ( Thambirajah et al., 2008 ; Wijetunge and Lakmini, 2011 ). A gradual return to school as quickly as possible is often recommended (e.g., Elliott and Place, 2012 ; Kearney and Graczyk, 2014 ). Therefore, when schools reopen, a gradual return for some SAP students might be necessary to reconnect and reengage them with school, peers, and teachers. This should be a main goal for all schools when reopening and is particularly important for SAP students. Some of the preparation activities from the Link program might be useful ( Brouwer-Borghuis et al., 2019 ) to help and prepare the student to gradually face school-related fears and to reengage to the school setting (even the Link program is developed for school refusers). Some of the activities might be to encourage the student to participate in a game or to ask a question in class, moreover, to act as an observer in lessons and group discussions, and then gradually increase the amount and type of participation in school activities they experience as fearful. Such activities must be individually adopted to the student, based on what is fearful in school. In addition, the school should after a closure period start to plan a re-entry program for the whole school, which is carefully described by Capurso et al. (2020) . They present some important activities: “facilitate classroom discussions about the event, be open to feelings and uncertainty, provide opportunities for students to reconnect socially and with the environment, shift attention from the stressful memory to an awareness of coping and present facts and provide information gradually increasing the amount of time spent there” ( Capurso et al., 2020 , pp. 66–68). One example is to reconnect the student to their teachers and peers, which is important after long-term absence (for any reasons). These activities might be helpful for all students, however, in particular for students who are fearful for different school activities. Moreover, Kearney and Childs (2021) recommend a framework serving as a roadmap. This is a multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) model addressing four main domains of functioning (adjustment, traumatic stress, academic status, health and safety) across three tiers of support (universal, targeted, and intensive intervention). For adjustment, they mention routines, social-emotional learning components and classroom management at universal interventions for all students ( Kearney and Childs, 2021 ). This is potential an important model when reintegrating students with SAP after prolonged absence.

Most of the teachers believed that attending school was important for the students, and some even explained that they planned the transition to school in advance with additional tools that might be advantageous.

Some of the teachers who thought that school return might be easier stated that this might be because their student missed their peers and school; moreover, their students’ opportunity for a new start. Social interactions in school are important for all students; therefore, a concern about school at home is the lack of socialization for students who stay at home (e.g., Ray, 2013 ). However, students with positive social interactions before and during school closure might be inspired by this and want to return to school to be with their peers and teachers. It might also be easier to return if students experience a safe school climate, which is important for SAP students in general ( Havik et al., 2014 ; Hendron and Kearney, 2016 ), including safe relations, being connected to school, and experiencing a safe learning environment. Some of the teachers noted the importance of closer relations with the SAP student and for students to meet their peers in school.

Homeschooling is controversial for all students, including students with SAPs. The findings from the current study show a variety in teachers’ experiences of remote education during the pandemic, however, most teachers believed that school return would be more difficult for SAP students. The teachers’ experiences might be helpful when planning school return after a prolonged period of absence for any reasons. Interventions for SAP students might be more varied and flexible by using digital solutions to a greater extent, either as part of the students’ plan for gradual return and/or when students do not attend school. The enhanced flexibility and the possibility of varying interventions for SAP students seem to be related to teachers’ increased experiences, skills, and confidence in using digital lessons and digital tools. Furthermore, the teachers were more aware of the importance of tailored adaptations based on the students’ challenges, strengths, and interests in addition to the need to structure and closely monitoring of the students. Some teachers mentioned the importance of involving the home and parents and promoting close home–school cooperation. Another main theme was close relations and social interactions between students and teachers and between peers when schools reopened because the students needed to receive more help than teachers could provide during the remote education period.

Limitations of the Study and Future Research

This study was conducted when all schools had been closed for only 2 months. Experiences might change after a longer period of closure because the pandemic is still a concern for society and schools. Therefore, a study after a longer school closure could provide information on other experiences. Teachers’ experiences after schools’ reopening should also be explored, such as how many of these ideas were used, what worked or did not work and why.

A limitation of this study is that these experiences are based only on teachers’ perspectives because of the lack of previous research on homeschooling. However, other perspectives, such as the perspectives of SAP students, should be investigated.

Remote education during the pandemic differs from regular home education for a few students with SAPs. During the pandemic, remote education at home was provided to all students and was not motivated by parents’ or students’ individual problems. Therefore, a comparison of the current results with traditional homeschooling might be inaccurate.

Another limitation is that this study focused on SAPs in general, even though several types of SAPs exist. It is possible that differentiating between types would have yielded different patterns and experiences, and there might be different effects for different types of SAPs. This might impact how teachers use their experiences for different students and whether school return is harder or easier.

Data Availability Statement

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

Author Contributions

TH and JI wrote the first draft of the manuscript and contributed to the feedback and comments in the whole process. TH analyzed the data. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We thank Ann Kristin Kolstø-Johansen, who prepared the web based SurveyXact and Hege Cecilie Nygaard Barker and Solfrid Helen Naustvik who sent emails to all schools in Norway for teachers to participate. They all work at the University of Stavanger.

• ^ In this article we use “remote education” about the education given at home during school closure caused by the pandemic. It is important to note that the teachers themselves used “homeschooling” when they answered, as this is the term being used in Norway. Moreover, “homeschooling” was used in all the information about this study for the participating teachers. The use of “remote education” is in line with Bozkurt et al. (2020) , who use “emergency remote education,” because the practice differs from planned practices (e.g., distance education, e-learning, online education, homeschooling). Moreover, homeschooling and home education as planned practice are being used as synonymous in the article for the readability.

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Keywords : school attendance problems, teachers’ experiences, remote education, homeschooling, COVID-19 pandemic, school return

Citation: Havik T and Ingul JM (2022) Remote Education/Homeschooling During the COVID-19 Pandemic, School Attendance Problems, and School Return–Teachers’ Experiences and Reflections. Front. Educ. 7:895983. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.895983

Received: 14 March 2022; Accepted: 16 May 2022; Published: 09 June 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Havik and Ingul. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Trude Havik, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

The Unlearning of School Attendance: Ideas for Change

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The Coronavirus Crisis

Homeschooling doubled during the pandemic, u.s. census survey finds.

Laurel Wamsley

A Census Bureau survey found that the number of households that said they were homeschooling doubled last year. Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

A Census Bureau survey found that the number of households that said they were homeschooling doubled last year.

In a year when so much about schooling has changed, add this to the list: A significant increase in the number of households where students were homeschooled.

That's according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, an online survey that asks questions about how the pandemic is changing life in U.S. homes.

When the survey began, the week of April 23-May 5, 2020, 5.4% of U.S. households with school-aged children reported homeschooling.

By the fall, that number had spiked: 11.1% of households with school-age children reported homeschooling in the Sept. 30-Oct. 12 survey. The Census Bureau says that figure is twice the number of households that were homeschooling at the start of the 2019-2020 school year.

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Homeschooling rates increased most dramatically among respondents who identified as Black. The proportion of Black homeschoolers increased fivefold, from 3.3% in late spring to 16.1% in the fall.

And there was significant variation among states. Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Vermont and West Virginia all saw at least a 9% increase in households homeschooling. Many other states, meanwhile, did not show a significant change.

Possible reasons for that variation, the Bureau noted, include local rates of coronavirus infections and local decisions about how school is conducted.

A Look At The Data

Before we go further, a few words about the data. The Household Pulse Survey uses a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. households.

The Census Bureau notes that a clarification was added to the survey question at some point between May and September "to highlight the distinction between homeschooling and virtual schooling."

The updated question asks:

"At any time during the 2020-2021 school year, will any children in this household be enrolled in a public school, enrolled in a private school, or educated in a homeschool setting in Kindergarten through 12th grade or grade equivalent? Select all that apply. - Yes, enrolled in a public or private school - Yes, homeschooled (not enrolled in a public or private school) - No"

The earlier version of the question did not specify that homeschooled meant that the student was not enrolled in a public or private school.

Christopher Lubienski, a professor of education policy at Indiana University, noted a couple of potential complications with this data.

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First: What counts as homeschooling? "If you're supplementing what their kids are getting through their normal school or to an online school, for example, are you still doing homeschooling?" Lubienski says. "It's a question of definition."

With parents and caretakers currently taking on many pedagogical roles usually performed by teachers in normal times, "homeschooling" certainly took place in many households where students were enrolled in schools.

Second: It's long been hard to get reliable numbers of how many U.S. students are homeschooling, Lubienski says, because some of the families who do it are not inclined to answer questionnaires.

"A lot of families do home schooling specifically because they're avoiding any kind of entanglements with the government," he explains. "Part of that is they don't want to respond to the government coming in and asking how they're educating their children. They see it as their right to fly under the radar."

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A Confluence Of Factors

There has been anecdotal evidence throughout the pandemic that more families were turning to homeschooling.

J. Allen Weston, executive director of the National Home School Association, said last summer that inquiries from parents interested in homeschooling had "exploded."

NPR member station WUNC reported recently on families in North Carolina who have turned to homeschooling – some who plan to it for another year, and some who are eager to send their kids back to public school.

He's not surprised to see the current growth — but he doesn't think it will last forever: "Will it be there in five years? I think there will still be some legacies of this explosion in homeschooling, but it won't be at these rates by any means."

He points to a number of factors in play right now.

For starters, many schools remain physically closed, and not all parents and students have been satisfied with the virtual classes offered instead. Second, even when schools are open, many parents and caretakers remain concerned for their child's health and safety during a pandemic.

And many parents have newfound flexibility to try homeschooling in the first place: They're suddenly working from home for the first time.

Whether the current spike will last will depend on whether employers continue to grant workers flexibility, Lubienski says. If workers can keep telecommuting, "that could potentially open up opportunities for homeschooling families that aren't there otherwise."

• U.S. Census Bureau
• homeschooling

Parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic: differences between seven European countries and between children with and without mental health conditions

Affiliations.

• 1 Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels Väg 9, 171 77, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected].
• 2 Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
• 3 University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
• 4 KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
• 5 University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
• 6 University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
• 7 University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
• 8 University Medical Center Groningen and University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
• 9 Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• 10 University Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
• 11 The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
• 12 TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany.
• 13 Philipps University Marburg, Marburg, Germany.
• PMID: 33415470
• PMCID: PMC7790054
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-020-01706-1

The aim of the present study was to examine parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with or without a child with a mental health condition across Europe. The study included 6720 parents recruited through schools, patient organizations and social media platforms (2002 parents with a child with a mental health condition and 4718 without) from seven European countries: the UK (n = 508), Sweden (n = 1436), Spain (n = 1491), Belgium (n = 508), the Netherlands (n = 324), Germany (n = 1662) and Italy (n = 794). Many parents reported negative effects of homeschooling for themselves and their child, and many found homeschooling to be of poor quality, with insufficient support from schools. In most countries, contact with teachers was limited, leaving parents with primary responsibility for managing homeschooling. Parents also reported increased levels of stress, worry, social isolation, and domestic conflict. A small number of parents reported increased parental alcohol/drug use. Some differences were found between countries and some negative experiences were more common in families with a child with a mental health condition. However, differences between countries and between families with and without a mental health condition were generally small, indicating that many parents across countries reported negative experiences. Some parents also reported positive experiences of homeschooling. The adverse effects of homeschooling will likely have a long-term impact and contribute to increased inequalities. Given that school closures may be less effective than other interventions, policymakers need to carefully consider the negative consequences of homeschooling during additional waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; Homeschooling; Mental health problems; Parental experiences; Special education needs.

© 2021. The Author(s).

• Mental Disorders* / epidemiology
• Mental Health
• Parents / psychology

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Psychosocial effects of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic: Differences between seven European countries and between children with and without mental health conditions

Author information, orcids linked to this article.

• Groom M | 0000-0002-5182-518X
• Mammarella I | 0000-0002-6986-4793
• Thorell L | 0000-0002-7417-6637

Preprint from PsyArXiv , 24 Sep 2020 https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dsy57   PPR: PPR327685 

Abstract 

The aim of the present study was to examine parental experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic in families with or without a child with a mental health condition across Europe. The study included 6720 parents (2002 parents with a child with a mental health condition and 4718 without) from seven European countries: the United Kingdom (n=508), Sweden (n=1436), Spain (n=1491), Belgium (n=508), the Netherlands (n=324), Germany (n=1662) and Italy (n=794). Many parents found homeschooling to be of poor quality, with insufficient support from schools and general negative effects on both children and parents. In most countries, online teaching was uncommon, leaving parents with primary responsibility for managing their child’s schooling. Parents also reported increased levels of stress, worry, social isolation, and domestic conflict. A small number of parents reported increased parental alcohol/drug use. Some differences were found between countries and some effects were more pronounced in families with a child with a mental health condition. However, group differences were generally small, indicating that negative effects were present in many families across countries. It should also be noted that some parents reported positive effects of homeschooling for their child or themselves. The adverse effects of homeschooling will likely have a long-term impact and contribute to increased inequalities. Given that school closures have been argued to be less effective than other social distancing interventions, policymakers need to carefully consider the negative consequences of homeschooling during a possible second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and future pandemics.

Full text links 

Read article at publisher's site: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dsy57

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