Abstract
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic resulted in worldwide school closures, moving children’s education to the home setting, with parents taking over the responsibility of supporting their child’s learning while managing other aspects of living with the pandemic. The impact of emergency remote learning has increased significance for children with disabilities who, abruptly, no longer had access to the specialized instruction and expertise of educators and service providers in the school setting. Employing an ecological systems framework, this study sought to examine the impact of emergency remote learning on the families of school-aged children with a range of disabilities in Singapore. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 42 parents of children with disabilities from primary and special schools. Findings revealed parents took on multiple roles while balancing several responsibilities in supporting their child’s emergency remote learning, with the additional or intensified demands heightening challenges. Several factors were found to either facilitate or challenge parents’ ability to engage in supporting their child’s emergency remote learning such as flexibility in meeting schoolwork deadlines, having regular check-ins with the child and family, technological familiarity, and, at a macro-level, having supportive employers. Implications for practice and policy include the need to equip students with technology and self-management skills, providing more coordinated supports for students and their families across government and educational bodies to reduce learning loss while alleviating pressure on parents.
Highlights
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Parents of children with disabilities across primary schools and special schools in Singapore participated in semi-structured interviews regarding their experience of emergency remote learning.
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Key parental challenges during the pandemic lay in new or abruptly intensified work and family responsibilities.
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Coordinated supports at the various levels of the ecological systems framework are needed to support families through large-scale school closures.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the participants for their generosity and openness in sharing their experiences during the pandemic, and Dawn Seet, Nur Amirah, Farina Begum, and Gracia Khoo for their assistance and support.
Author Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data collection and analysis were performed by X.Y., in consultation with M.E.W. and K.K.P. The first draft of the manuscript was written by X.Y. and M.E.W. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, and read and approved the final manuscript.
Funding
This study was funded by the Education Research Funding Programme, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, project no. OER 01/18 KP. The views expressed in this paper are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent the views of NIE.
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Yang, X., Wong, M.E. & Poon, K.K. Emergency Remote Learning for Children with Disabilities during the Pandemic: Navigating Parental Roles and Supports. J Child Fam Stud 33, 439–457 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02760-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-023-02760-4