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Maternal Perceptions of the Impact of COVID-19 on Kindergarten Learning: A Qualitative Study

Fri, March 24, 10:30 to 11:15am, Salt Palace Convention Center, Floor: 2, Meeting Room 254 A

Abstract

Objective: During the 2020-2021 school year, an estimated 3.4 million children entered kindergarten (NCES, 2021), and many experienced varying learning formats and inconsistent access to schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Dooley et al. 2020). Out of necessity, many primary caregivers assumed the role of supporting and facilitating children’s learning (e.g., Garbe et al. 2020), with mothers shouldering a disproportionately greater share of childcare and schooling responsibilities during what has been termed “a gendered pandemic” (Petts et al., 2021). Although the pandemic has negatively impacted many children (Hanno et al., 2022), those from low-income households are at particular risk of continued challenges to health, wellbeing, and education (e.g., Chen et al., 2022). In this research, we aim to understand maternal perceptions of: 1) Impacts of COVID-19-related schooling disruptions on learning for kindergartners from low-income households; and 2) Factors that mitigated or exacerbated these impacts on learning.

Method: We conducted 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with mothers of kindergarten-age children from low-income families (Table 1). Interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed using a grounded-theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1997). We used an iterative process to identify and confirm concepts emerging from the interview data.

Results: Mothers described various learning modalities for their child, ranging from in-person to fully remote, virtual learning, with many experiencing changes in learning modalities throughout their kindergarten year. Relatedly, there was wide variation in the extent to which mothers could choose their child’s learning modality.

Many mothers noted negative impacts of COVID-19-related schooling disruptions on their child’s learning, but some noted positive impacts that they attributed to parental active engagement in their child’s learning (Table 2). For instance, positively, they described their child learning at a faster pace, retaining new information, and advancing beyond grade level expectations. Negatively, they described learning loss, and diminished motivation, interest, and engagement in learning, and the perception that their child had fallen behind.

Mothers cited family-level factors (e.g., multiple children with different schooling needs) and school-level factors (e.g., unrealistic expectations) as the most common barriers to their child’s learning but also the most common supports (e.g., helpful instructional support from family members; strong teacher-parent communication) to their child’s learning. Fewer mothers described barriers and supports pertaining to their social circle or their larger community.

Conclusion:
Findings are largely consistent with reports of concerns among caregivers and educators that children have fallen “behind” in their academic development and that there is pressure to help them “catch up” (Mann et al., 2021). Maternal perceptions reported in the present study are also consistent with prior findings suggesting that parents bear much of the responsibility for the quality of their child’s learning experience and illustrates that relying on families as co-educators may create similar inequities among students as during pre-pandemic times (Whitley et al., 2021). Understanding the impacts of schooling disruptions on children who may already be at elevated risk for early learning challenges is useful to identify targets for near-term and long-term policies or interventions to mitigate impacts of continuing and future school disruptions.

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