ifo Institute: Coronavirus Crisis Cut the Time Children Spend on Schooling in Half

Parents are very aware of the problem: 64 percent of them think that their child learned “much less” during the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, parents have doubled down on their involvement. Before the schools were closed, they spent an average of half an hour per day helping their child with schoolwork. During the pandemic, this went up to a full hour. However, 38 percent of the parents state that the situation put a great psychological strain either on their child or on themselves, with 28 percent reporting that they argued more with their children than before. For the children of university graduates, the reduction in time spent on school activities was similar to that of other children; only the increase in passive activities was somewhat smaller. Lower-performing students were particularly likely to replace learning with passive activities.

While 57 percent of students attended group online lessons less than once a week, only 6 percent of them had such lessons daily. One-on-one contact with their teachers was even less frequent. This particularly affected children whose parents did not attend university and lower-performing students. Weekly worksheets were provided for 96 percent of students, while 64 percent received feedback on their work at least once a week.

However, if one asks all Germans (not just parents), 79 percent agree (fully or partly) with the statement that the decision to close schools was a good one. Support among survey participants stood at 79 percent for compulsory online lessons when schools are closed and at 78 percent for instructions from teachers on daily contact with students. “This shows that a clear majority of Germans would welcome measures to address the low level of schooling among children and adolescents in some way,” Woessmann says.

The survey also revealed that 83 percent of those surveyed are in favor of children from difficult social backgrounds receiving increased support; 70 percent want final examinations to be held; 59 percent say face masks should be mandatory for students; and 58 percent are in favor of regular coronavirus testing for all students. However, 56 percent reject mobile phone tracking at schools.

These survey results on home schooling during the coronavirus crisis were extracted from the ifo Education Barometer. The regular Education Barometer will be published in September.