Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Lisa Woodland; Louise E. Smith; Rebecca K. Webster; Richard Amlôt; Antonia Rubin; Simon Wessely; James G. Rubin

doi:10.1136/bmjpo-2020-001014

Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Lisa Woodland^*, Louise E. Smith, Rebecca K. Webster, Richard Amlôt, Antonia Rubin, Simon Wessely, James G. Rubin

^*Corresponding author for this work

Behavioural Science Research & Methods

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Background: On 23 March 2020, schools closed to most children in England in response to COVID-19 until September 2020. Schools were kept open to children of key workers and vulnerable children on a voluntary basis. Starting 1 June 2020, children in reception (4-5 years old), year 1 (5-6 years old) and year 6 (10-11 years old) also became eligible to attend school.

Methods: 1373 parents or guardians of children eligible to attend school completed a cross-sectional survey between 8 and 11 June 2020. We investigated factors associated with whether children attended school or not.

Results: 46% (n=370/803) of children in year groups eligible to attend school and 13% (n=72/570) of children of key workers had attended school in the past 7 days. The most common reasons for sending children to school were that the child's education would benefit, the child wanted to go to school and the parent needed to work. A child was significantly more likely to attend if the parent believed the child had already had COVID-19, they had special educational needs or a person in the household had COVID-19 symptoms.

Conclusions: Following any future school closure, helping parents to feel comfortable returning their child to school will require policy makers and school leaders to communicate about the adequacy of their policies to: (A) ensure that the risk to children in school is minimised; (B) ensure that the educational potential within schools is maximised; and (C) ensure that the benefits of school for the psychological well-being of children are prioritised.

Original language	English
Article number	e001014
Journal	BMJ Paediatrics Open
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2020-001014
Publication status	Published - 29 Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/P000703/1] and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) [grant number NIHR200890] in Emergency Preparedness and Response, a partnership between Public Health England, King’s College London and the University of East Anglia.

Open Access: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.

Citation: Woodland L, Smith LE, Webster RK, et al. Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey. BMJ Paediatrics Open 2021;5:e001014.

DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-001014

Keywords

COVID-19
psychology

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

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Woodland2021WhyDidSomeParentsNotSendTheirChildrenBackToSchoolBMJPaediatrOpenFinal published version, 261 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{7931bb47ecb8469797fe607ee883d62e,

title = "Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey",

abstract = "Background: On 23 March 2020, schools closed to most children in England in response to COVID-19 until September 2020. Schools were kept open to children of key workers and vulnerable children on a voluntary basis. Starting 1 June 2020, children in reception (4-5 years old), year 1 (5-6 years old) and year 6 (10-11 years old) also became eligible to attend school. Methods: 1373 parents or guardians of children eligible to attend school completed a cross-sectional survey between 8 and 11 June 2020. We investigated factors associated with whether children attended school or not. Results: 46% (n=370/803) of children in year groups eligible to attend school and 13% (n=72/570) of children of key workers had attended school in the past 7 days. The most common reasons for sending children to school were that the child's education would benefit, the child wanted to go to school and the parent needed to work. A child was significantly more likely to attend if the parent believed the child had already had COVID-19, they had special educational needs or a person in the household had COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusions: Following any future school closure, helping parents to feel comfortable returning their child to school will require policy makers and school leaders to communicate about the adequacy of their policies to: (A) ensure that the risk to children in school is minimised; (B) ensure that the educational potential within schools is maximised; and (C) ensure that the benefits of school for the psychological well-being of children are prioritised. ",

keywords = "COVID-19, psychology",

author = "Lisa Woodland and Smith, {Louise E.} and Webster, {Rebecca K.} and Richard Aml{\^o}t and Antonia Rubin and Simon Wessely and Rubin, {James G.}",

note = "Funding Information: This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/P000703/1] and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) [grant number NIHR200890] in Emergency Preparedness and Response, a partnership between Public Health England, King{\textquoteright}s College London and the University of East Anglia. Open Access: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. Citation: Woodland L, Smith LE, Webster RK, et al. Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey. BMJ Paediatrics Open 2021;5:e001014. DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-001014 ",

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T2 - A cross-sectional survey

AU - Woodland, Lisa

AU - Smith, Louise E.

AU - Webster, Rebecca K.

AU - Amlôt, Richard

AU - Rubin, Antonia

AU - Wessely, Simon

AU - Rubin, James G.

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/P000703/1] and the National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit (NIHR HPRU) [grant number NIHR200890] in Emergency Preparedness and Response, a partnership between Public Health England, King’s College London and the University of East Anglia. Open Access: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. Citation: Woodland L, Smith LE, Webster RK, et al. Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional survey. BMJ Paediatrics Open 2021;5:e001014. DOI: 10.1136/bmjpo-2020-001014

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AB - Background: On 23 March 2020, schools closed to most children in England in response to COVID-19 until September 2020. Schools were kept open to children of key workers and vulnerable children on a voluntary basis. Starting 1 June 2020, children in reception (4-5 years old), year 1 (5-6 years old) and year 6 (10-11 years old) also became eligible to attend school. Methods: 1373 parents or guardians of children eligible to attend school completed a cross-sectional survey between 8 and 11 June 2020. We investigated factors associated with whether children attended school or not. Results: 46% (n=370/803) of children in year groups eligible to attend school and 13% (n=72/570) of children of key workers had attended school in the past 7 days. The most common reasons for sending children to school were that the child's education would benefit, the child wanted to go to school and the parent needed to work. A child was significantly more likely to attend if the parent believed the child had already had COVID-19, they had special educational needs or a person in the household had COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusions: Following any future school closure, helping parents to feel comfortable returning their child to school will require policy makers and school leaders to communicate about the adequacy of their policies to: (A) ensure that the risk to children in school is minimised; (B) ensure that the educational potential within schools is maximised; and (C) ensure that the benefits of school for the psychological well-being of children are prioritised.

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Why did some parents not send their children back to school following school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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