Working parents’ experiences of home-schooling during school closures in Northern Ireland: what lessons can be learnt?

Abstract

In a radically changed and still changing world, parents, schools and pupils have had to adapt to a new teaching and learning modality. Working parents have faced the competing demands of employment and home-schooling, and schools provided support to pupils through online platforms and other resources. A qualitative approach elicited the views and experiences of working parents through a social media parents’ group in Northern Ireland (NI). Only well-educated mothers responded revealing their extreme lack of confidence and pedagogical skills, complete exhaustion, frayed family relationships, and acute concern about children’s educational loss and its future implications, particularly those for whom public examinations were imminent. Communication between teachers and both pupils and parents was deemed crucial, as were greater clarity from teachers on tasks set, less screen time, daily live interaction, feedback on work done, and more printed resources from schools to avoid undue expense for parents, especially those with children of different ages in different education sectors. Much more effective home-schooling could be facilitated if government required employers to arrange flexible working hours, at least for one parent. However, the creation of a daily structure that included lessons and leisure, the latter both indoors and outdoors, was beneficial and therapeutic.

Keywords:

• working parents
• school closures
• home-schooling
• Northern Ireland

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Barbara Skinner

Dr Barbara Skinner is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in the School of Education at Ulster University, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has experience in leading research and consultancy teams. Dr Skinner’s research findings have been published in key international journals including Educational Review, Journal of Education for Teaching, Classroom Discourse, English Language Teaching Journal and Journal of Studies in International Education. Dr Skinner’s work explores issues concerning teachers’ mental health, teacher education, higher education pedagogy and intercultural competence. Projects have included managerialism and teachers’ professional identity, the EAL training needs of initial teacher trainees in Northern Ireland, cross cultural partnerships for international and home students; cultural diversity in primary schools; embedding the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for language proficiency in online language teaching materials and the assessment of non-native speaking student teachers’ practicum. Dr Skinner is a member of council for the British Education Research Association and the co-convenor of BERA’s Language and Literacy SIG.

Heng Hou

Dr Heng Hou has been working at Ulster University since her appointment to the lectureship in MA TESOL in the School of Education in 2010. Prior to joining the University, she holds a first class honours degree in English Language Teaching from Guizhou Normal University, China (1999), a PgDip in Applied Linguistics and Foreign Language Teaching in Fudan University, China (2003) and an MEd in Educational Technology and TESOL from the University of Manchester (2005). She received her PhD in Education from the University of Manchester in 2012. She became a fellow of Higher Education Academy in 2015. Her major research interests include online communities of practice and student teachers learning, ELT methodology, e-pedagogy and teacher education, EAL learners, educational technologies in the language classroom, Chinese learners, and qualitative research methodology and design.

Samuel Taggart

Mr Samuel Taggart is an experienced classroom practitioner and teacher educator in Technology and Design Education at Ulster University, Northern Ireland. His research interests focus on the use of educational technology to support learning and teaching, including the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality and 360 video, particularly within Initial Teacher Education. Working with examination authorities, charitable Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) groups and local organisations he works to promote greater awareness of the educational, technological and engineering challenges and opportunities associated with the fourth industrial revolution.

Lesley Abbott

Dr Lesley Abbott is an Honorary Fellow of Ulster University and Educational Research Consultant, previously a Research Fellow. She was awarded the Brian Simon Educational Research Fellowship in 2007 by the British Educational Research Association. Her research interests include teacher education and the needs of student teachers, the professional needs of learning support assistants, and integrated education in Northern Ireland, most recently the segregated schools that have transformed to integrated status.