Six out of 10 parents surveyed by Alberta Schools Councils’ Association felt students missed skills, knowledge or support because of pandemic learning disruptions.
Of the 5,390 parents surveyed by the ASCA, 3,386 felt students were missing out. Support covered a wide range, including academic, social, emotional and mental health. Another, 1,293 — 24 per cent — did not feel students missed skills, knowledge or support and 711 — 13 per cent — didn’t know.
Asked in what areas parents felt support was missing: social, emotional, mental health was the top response with 2,585 singling it out. English writing skills (2,022 votes) was next followed by math (1,958 votes) and English reading/comprehension (1,904).
Other popular choices were exam and essay writing, hands-on or practical experience, study skills, and health and wellness.
In its preamble, ASCAs says the survey “will portray parents’ experiences of their children’s academic growth, learning progress, social/emotional/mental health, and potential losses or gaps resulting from learning disruptions during COVID-19.”
Asked what would be most helpful to support students, additional teaching and support was picked by most followed by one-on-one small group focus, smaller class sizes, as well as better access to qualified social, emotional/mental health support at school.
Since the beginning, of the pandemic in March 2020, 21 per cent of respondents said they hired a tutor or paid for outside educational services for their student. Three out of 10 respondents said their student had received outside or private social, emotional, mental health supports.
Of those getting outside support, 7.3 per cent of respondents described their child’s social, emotional, mental health as good, 16.8 per cent as fair, and 6.7 per cent as poor.
For those who did not use outside help, 29.2 per cent described the social, emotional, mental health of their students as good, 31.9 per cent as far and six per cent as poor.
Asked if their student was struggling to attend or enjoy school, 28.6 per cent said yes, 31.9 per cent no, and 27.2 per cent sometimes.
The ASCA says “results from the survey will be used to inform ASCA’s advocacy positions on parent’s perceptions of students learning gaps, and how parents would prefer to be supported in addressing those gaps.”