“How Did You Survive?” Parents' Perspectives on Home-School Collaboration during the Period of Emergency Remote Teaching caused by the COVID-19 Crisis: At the City of Joensuu within Russian speaking immigrant families.

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“HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?”

Parents' Perspectives on Home-School Collaboration

during the Period of Emergency Remote Teaching caused by the COVID-19 Crisis:

At the City of Joensuu within Russian speaking immigrant families.

Elena Mitina Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication University of Eastern Finland

Philosophical Faculty School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education May 2021

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II University of Eastern Finland, Philosophical Faculty

School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education Early Language Education for Intercultural Communication

Elena Mitina M.: “HOW DID YOU SURVIVE?” Parents' Perspectives on Home-School Collaboration during the Period of Emergency Remote Teaching caused by the COVID-19 Crisis: At the City of Joensuu within Russian speaking immigrant families.

Thesis, 65 pages, 3 appendices (5 pages) Thesis instructor, professor Ritva Kantelinen May 2021

Keywords:home-school partnership, home-school collaboration, parental involvement, parents' perspective, qualitative research, thematic analysis, practical implications, teacher education, primary school, Russian immigrants in Finland

Abstract:

Home-school collaboration is an essential part of children`s learning. Its effect on children's academic performance and personal development has been a topic of interest of researchers and practitioners for many years. It appeared a high on agenda research subject due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions entailing schools all over the world transferring into distance learning. The parental perspective on home-school collaboration was explored in the research. Russian immigrant families`

experiences and needs during the period of distance learning at schools in March-May 2020 were questioned with an attempt for drawing conclusions which can be learned from their unique perspective and may serve as guidelines for teacher educators and practitioners.

Qualitative semi-structured interviews served as a data collection tool with a total of nine Russian immigrant parents of primary school children in Joensuu, Finland. The findings revealed, that

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III though with overall positive attitude to the school`s actions, such drawbacks as lack of

communication, insufficient number of online instruction hours, lack of clarity and structure in

assignments and lack of Finnish language support were revealed. Children`s need in daily support due to lacking digital and independent work skills appeared to be the main encouraging factors for

parents to engage in 1-4 graders’ learning.

Tiivistelmä:

Kodin ja koulun yhteistyö on olennainen osa lasten oppimista. Sen vaikutus lasten akateemisen suorituskykyyn ja henkilökohtaiseen kehitykseen on ollut tutkijoiden mielenkiinnon kohteena monien vuosien ajan. Tutkimusaihe on hyvin ajankohtainen, johtuen COVID-19 pandemian aiheuttamista rajoituksista, jotka saivat ympäri maailmaa koulut siirtymään etäopiskeluun.

Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena tapaustutkimuksena ja sen kohteena oli venäläisten maahanmuuttajaperheiden näkökulma kodin ja koulun yhteistyöhön etäopiskelun aikana. Aineisto koostui kahdeksasta perheestä, joissa sekä äidinkieli että kodin kieli oli venäjä.

Tutkimustulosten mukaan vanhemmat pitivät kodin ja koulun yhteistyötä etäopiskelun aikana myönteisenä. Tutkimuksessa tuli ilmi seuraavanlaisia haittoja: kommunikaation puute, riittämätön opetustuntien määrä etäopetuksessa, puutteet tehtävien selkeydessä ja rakenteessa sekä suomen kielen tuessa. Lasten päivittäinen tuen tarve, joka johtui puutteellisista digitaalisista taidoista ja kyvyistä itsenäiseen opiskeluun, näytti olevan vanhempien tärkein motivaatiotekijä tukea 1–4 luokkalaisten oppimista.

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IV Foreword

This thesis focuses on communication between teachers and parents during the period of emergency remote teaching caused by COVID-19 crisis, which took place in March – May 2020. From the

beginning of my Master`s Degree studies at the University of Eastern Finland I was interested in deepening my knowledge on the ways to build effective partnership between teachers and parents.

My studies have allowed me to explore the topic in various dimensions along with the COVID-19 outburst, causing home-school collaboration to come to the fore.

I have written the thesis while studying in the University of Eastern Finland and living in Joensuu, where I have moved with my family from Russia. During the COVID-19 crisis caused by the pandemic I not only helped my children during the remote schooling period but observed the variety of Russian immigrant parents` perspectives and experiences. The idea of collecting and systematizing parents` reasons to engage into children`s learning at home during the lockdown encouraged me to delve deeper into the motivating factors, from which those perspectives could arise.

I am incredibly grateful to my family for support and encouraging throughout these two years.

I You gave me the opportunity to follow the path I wanted. From the academic side I am warmly thankful to my supervisor professor Ritva Kantelinen, who directed the course of my reseach and supplemented it with constructive input.

I perceive the thesis not only as a final part of my Master`s Degree, but also as a huge step in my personal and professional development, which helped me to understand at least partly the educational transformation, caused by COVID-19 crisis and ways families and schools can approach it and use it for good.

Elena Mitina May 2021

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1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY

According to OECD¹ (2020) reports, tremendous strain was experienced by students, parents and teachers in many countries while adapting to a new online learning environment due to social

distancing measures during the COVID-19 crisis. Parents took the leading role in facilitating the home learning, which led to understanding of the importance of developing collaboration between families and schools. Several decades of research continually revealed the better learning outcomes obtained by children, whose parents were engaged in their learning (Bæck, 2010; Epstein & Sanders, 2000).

Therefore, understanding families` perspective on their collaboration with schools underlies the effective collaborative relationships (Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). The development of modern society due to growing immigration and periodic updating of the collaboration policies based on the regional differences entail restructuring of school – home collaboration practices based on ongoing research.

Being a Russian immigrant parent in Finland and a mother of two primary aged school

children I experienced the difficulties myself as the pandemic lockdown entailed schools being closed and children being forced to stay at home and continue their studies via distance learning (FNAE², 2020). Having noticed that some immigrant families faced more difficulties than others in this study I aim at learning more about the Russian immigrant families` perspective on home – school

collaboration during the COVID-19 lockdown as an outstandingly challenging period for all participants of the study process.

1 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 2 Finnish National Agency for Education

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1.2 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Moreover, with Russian immigrants being the largest minority group in Finland and their children attending Finnish comprehensive schools the strengthening of communication quality between Russian immigrant parents and Finnish teachers is high on the agenda (SF¹, 2020). The research aims to present Russian immigrant parents` perspective on home-school collaboration during the

lockdown and provide ideas for developing home-school communication with immigrant families.

1.3 THESIS OUTLINE

The following chapters will be devoted to introducing the theoretical knowledge on the home-school collaboration since the issue had been studied scientifically. I will present the methodology utilized for exploring the Russian immigrant parents` perspective on their positive and negative experiences in collaboration with the school during the COVID-19 lockdown. Based on the data provided several practical guidelines for practitioners will be developed.

The participants of the study are nine Russian speaking immigrant parents of primary school children speaking Russian as their native language and Finnish as their first foreign language. The children were studying at primary schools of the city of Joensuu during the schools’ closure in spring 2020. Their parents were interviewed via Zoom Video Conferencing software aplication. The research aimed to explore the Russian immigrant families` perspective on their experiences of home-school collaboration during the lockdown. I thrived to understand the motivating factors of their engaging into children`s learning and discover their suggestions on future of home – school collaboration in the lockdown settings.

1 Statistics Finland, 2020

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2 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

When addressing home-school collaboration in this research I imply the children`s caretakers, which are parents and primarily mothers in my study as home, while by the term school I mean all kind of professionals working at school settings, such as class teachers, subject teachers, teacher assistants and administrative staff. As for parents and families, mothers and fathers of primary school aged children ranging from the first grade up to the sixth grade at primary schools of the city of Joensuu in Eastern Finland are implied, as Finnish primary school ranges from the first to the sixth grade (FNAE¹, 2016). As for child or children, I refer to the children at the above-mentioned school grades, noting that children in Finland are entitled to start the first grade at the age of seven (FNAE¹, 2016). When speaking about immigrant families, I imply both parents or one parent of primary school aged children or one child having moved from Russia to Finland and speaking Russian as native language and home operating language.

Several interconnected terms, such as communication, collaboration, and involvement, are widely used when describing the relationships between families and school, though Epstein (1995) highlighted the term partnership in referring to the most efficient way of building effective

communication between families and school. Smit et al. (2001) defines partnership as a collaborative relationship between two participants based on mutual trust, common goals and two-way

communication and collaboration as the process of taking part in the accomplishment of a task or the assumption of a responsibility.

By collaboration I am intended to define the number of parameters developed by Joyce Epstein et al. (1995, 2000, 2002). The concept of home-school collaboration will be examined in detail in theoretical part of the thesis. By community I understand the variety of human, economic, material, and social resources that contribute to education and well-being of students (Epstein, 1995, p. 702-712).

1Finnish National Agency for Education

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As for lockdown and schools` closure, I imply the period from the 18th of March up to the 14th of May 2020, when most schoolchildren were transferred to learning at home according to the announced Government`s decree, that there was a state of emergency in the country because of the coronavirus outbreak (FGCD¹, 2020).

Finally, the concept of emergency remote teaching was offered by Hodges et al. (2020) and developed by Whittle et al. (2020) in response to the COVID-19 crisis based on teachers` contribution, modern learning theory, methods of instructional design and prior empirical knowledge combined.

Hodges et al. (2020) pointed at the difference between planned online teaching and emergency remote teaching, which is a short duration change in instructional delivery mode caused by crisis conditions. It aims to provide temporary instruction in a quickly build and accessible way. It is necessary to mention, that by such terms as distance learning, online learning, and remote learning in the study I imply emergency remote learning and by distance teaching, online teaching and remote teaching I mean emergency remote teaching respectively.

1Finnish Government Communications Department. Ministry of Education and Culture. Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. 16.3.2020

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3 UNDERSTANDING OF HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION

In the chapter I introduce the previous research findings and theories related to the present study by exploring the prior research on home-school collaboration. I elaborate on two frameworks related to home-school collaboration, mention the effects that positive home-school collaboration and parental involvement have on children, as well as the challenges faced by home-school collaboration. I touch upon current regulations regarding home-school collaboration in Finnish educational system and immigrant families.

3.1 MULTIPLICITY OF TERMINOLOGY

Interest in the relationship between home and school appeared in the end of the XX century and highly increased over two decades of the XXI century in many countries. With home and school developing effective communication the improvement of home atmosphere, educational outcomes and continuity of education was noted (Cox, 2005; Dotson-Blake, 2010; Epstein, 1995). The

relationship was described by researchers with the help of such terms as involvement, engagement, participation, collaboration, and cooperation. Involvement often stands for an umbrella term (Bæck, 2010), though in the Finnish Core Curriculum it describes pupils’ active role as learners (Orell &

Pihlaja, 2020). The term engagement, which often refers to parents` active participation in children`s learning (Widding, 2012) is not mentioned in the Finnish Core Curriculum 2014 (Orell & Pihlaja, 2020). Cooperation and collaboration are suggested as umbrella-terms (Cox, 2005; Widding, 2012), while in the Finnish Core Curriculum 2014 they refer to something that is done (Orell & Pihlaja, 2020).

Orell et al. (2020) explained the use of multiply terms by their synonymity in describing home-school relationship when focusing on describing the relationship itself rather than terminology used.

Therefore, in the study I use the variety of terms describing home-school collaboration as synonyms.

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3.2 THEORETICAL APPROACHES TO HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION

Among the studies devoted to relationship between home and school two conceptual frameworks prevail as the basis for studies: Epstein`s (1987) Overlapping Spheres of Influence Model and Hoover- Dempsey and Sandler`s (1997) Model of Parental Involvement. In the chapter I introduce both and delve deeper into their applicability to my study in more detail after presenting several other parent- focused studies.

Parents` perception of self-efficacy

The idea of parents` perceiving of their function and efficiency as affecting their participation in children`s learning was expressed in several studies (Bæck, 2010; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997;

Räty et al., 2009). Numerous studies distinguished such reasons for non-participation as lacking necessary expertise, time, or energy (Dotson-Blake, 2010), while more educated parents showed stronger intention to cooperate (Bæck, 2010, pp. 560–561; Räty et al., 2009, p. 290). Other studies revealed the lower-class parents having less effect on children`s learning outcomes, then having higher social status parents, whose perception of learning practices may match the school`s point of view (Baquedano-Lopez et al., 2013, p. 149).Thus, drawing additional attention to the effect of parental engagement may have such drawbacks as putting pressure on schools for not involving parents enough to reach better learning outcomes as well as parents’ insufficient engagement in their children`s learning (Baquedano-Lopez et al., 2013, p. 152).

Parenting styles and social capital

As for parenting behavior, the influence of parenting style on the children`s studying outcomes was described by Darling et al. (1993). She claimed the emotional environment in which children are raised to be based on parenting style principles developed by Baumrind (1989). Pong et al. (2005) declared both home-based and school-based family engagement being regarded as a social capital

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pattern. Home-based involvement includes children`s communication with parents and siblings while school-based stands for being in touch with teachers and school.

A few scholars perceived parental engagement in their children`s schooling as a part of the social world, which was defined by Bourdieu (1991) as several intersecting fields encompassed into multi-dimensional space. The fields contain social institutions (habitus), such as media and education system, and their sub-fields, such as family and school, within which humans perceive themselves as individuals or group members. According to the theory parents` actions are defined by their capacity to operate in a certain field and the capital available to them (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 11).

3.2.1 HOOVER-DEMPSEY`S MODEL OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The model of parental involvement developed by Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2005) illustrates four parents` motivation points in engaging into their children’s learning: role construction, sense of efficacy, perception of invitation to involvement, and life-context variables (see firure 3.1).

1: Role construction describes parents` perception of their role in children’s education. Parents may have various beliefs about what exactly are supposed to do about their children`s learning.

According to their believes, they may involve into it in different ways or choose to stay aside. Parents`

personal experiences at school and family background also affect their role perception (Hoover- Dempsey et al., 2005, p.108).

2: Sence of efficacy stands for parents` belief in their abilities to be effective in engaging into their children`s learning. Their awareness of the stages of children`s development, needs and capabilities, their expectations regarding parenting, their own education and occupation make them consistent in engaging into children`s schooling (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005, p.109).

3: Perception of invitation to involvement may come from school in general, teachers or child.

Positive school climate welcomes parents to engage, teacher`s invitation encourage parents` active participation and children`s invitation strengthens parent-child relationships and may not be voiced

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directly but observed by parents in children`s behavior related to learning (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005, p.110). Home-school engagement strategies and environment encourage parents` engagement (Baquedano-Lopez et al., 2013).

4: Life-context variables comprise socio-economic status, skills, having enough time and knowledge to be engaged into children`s education. Though according to Hoover-Dempsey et al.

(2005), socio-economic status does not affect the extend of parents` engagement directly,

accompanying resources may influence the involvement patterns. Parents` belief of having enough skills, time and energy fosters their positive attitude while engaging into children`s school activities.

The concept of family culture also refers to the life-context variable, which school should consider when engaging parents into children`s learning. It entails respect to family circumstances and primarily concerns immigrant families, as first- and second-generation immigrant families`

resources may be limited (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005, p.116).

Figure 3.1 Hoover-Dempsey and Sander`s Model of Parental Involvement (Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005).

•parents`

skills, energy, time, socio- economic status

•parents`

believes in their ability to help children

•parents are invited to participate in children`s learning

•parents`

perception of their role in children’s education

Parent`s role construction

Invitation to involvement from school, teacher, child

Parents` life context Parent`s self-

efficacy

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The above mentioned parental involvement model serves as a basis for qualitative thematic analysis of parents` motivating factors to engage into children`s learning in the present study.

3.2.2 EPSTEIN`S TYPOLOGY OF HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP

The Overlapping Spheres of Influence Model served as a basis for the typology of home-school partnership and was inspired by Bronfenbrenner`s ecological model (1979), according to which the child develops being influenced by microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem with the first three containing the child`s parents, teachers and peers and community affecting interconnectedly the child`s development. Epstein (1987, 1995, 2002) emphasized the importance of cooperation and complementarity of schools and families for the children`s wellbeing and encouraged communication and collaboration between them.

According to Epstein`s et al. (2002) Overlapping Spheres of Influence Model the child is placed in the center of home-school collaboration with home, school and the community being the core overlapping spheres (see Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2 Overlapping Spheres of Influence of Family, School, and Community (Epstein et al. 2002).

My research is focused on the communication and collaboration between home and school specifically slightly touching upon the community involvement. The home-school collaboration may occur both between family and school institutions and between the individual parent, teacher, and child (Epstein et al., 2002) (see Figure 3.3). The research is aimed to investigate the home-school partnerships from the Russian immigrant parents` perspective in the primary school context and its

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implementation and support during the pandemic lockdown in spring 2020.

F=Family, S=School, C=Child, T=Teacher, P=Parent

Figure 3.3 Home-School Communication (Epstein et al., 2002).

These two spheres are emphasized due to the age of the children in the study, as the most part of primary school aged children are continuously affected by home and school rather than community.

Also, involving community into building home-school collaboration was limited by the pandemic restrictions.

Encouraging and productive interaction and partnership between the spheres during the primary school age creates a strong basis for the child` further development and affects the child`s wellbeing (Bæck, 2010; Epstein et al., 2002; Epstein & Sanders, 2000). Moreover, though Oulu

municipality survey stated that children acquired skills of using various distant teaching platforms and parents were overall satisfied with the digitalizing of the learning process (Bubb et all., 2020), the demand of families` everyday involvement into children`s learning still existed, as some children were not able to manage the digital learning platforms independently.

Based on years of studies, Epstein (1995) defined six types of home-school-community

involvement that provides a precise set of partnership forms, which I applied in qualitative thematic analysis of my data to classify the parents` experiences of home-school collaboration.

The types are:

1: Parenting, in which schools help parents to understand children`s development, improve

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parenting skills and provide their children with better home environment to support learning.

2: Communicating, in which schools outline and establish two-way communication about the children's progress and school programs with the children`s families.

3: Volunteering, in which schools recruit parents both as volunteers and audiences to participate in school activities.

4: Learning at Home, in which schools assist families with handling homework and other curriculum- related activities in home settings.

5: Decision Making, in which schools provide families with opportunities to participate in governance, such as school councils or parent committees.

6: Collaborating with the Community, in which schools integrates services, available in the

surrounding community, to strengthen the learning process and support students and families (Epstein et al., 2002, p. 165).

The above described framework served as a basis for qualitative thematical analysis of the participants` perspective on their experiences of home-school collaboration during the remote schooling period of their children in spring 2020.

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3.3 IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN HOME-SCHOOL PARTNERSHIPS

The chapter is devoted to specificity of immigrant families’ role in home-school collaboration and relationships between Finnish school and immigrant families.

3.3.1 CHALLENGES OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES IN HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION

Immigrant status and class alongside race and gender affect the parents` degree of engagement in their children`s learning (Baquedano-Lopez & Hernandez, 2013). With immigration rates growing the immigrant families` engagement gained increased attention in research. Passing of social inequality across generations might be affected by assets transferability and connection of generations, hence family-school collaboration plays a significant role in the process of providing children with

opportunities for learning and future upward mobility (Rosenbaum & Rochford, 2008).

Depending on the educational system settings, which may differ not only in different cities of one country, but also in different schools of one city, building strong connection between school and family ensures homework assistance and learning at home (Schnell et al., 2015). Thus, schools`

suggestions for fostering home-school collaboration using the available resources is beneficial for all participants of the collaboration process.

As for the dependance of immigrant parental involvement on their language skills, it is regarded to be controversial. While some studies state, that minority parents take part in school related

activities less frequently than majority families of equivalent socioeconomic background due to their language skills (Fibbi &Truong, 2015; Moguérou & Santelli, 2015; Rezai et al., 2015), others do not report strong relation of children`s learning success on parents` local language skills. Moreover, parents` capacity to create supportive environment prevails over stronger language skills (Schnell et al., 2015). Being put at a disadvantage by their position, immigrant families are reported to evolve certain recuperative patterns, such as involving siblings, primarily elder ones, into younger children`s

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learning or approaching other resources than family itself to get extra help (Schnell et al., 2015, p.

11).

According to previous research, the degree of involvement into schooling, that immigrant parents can afford, strongly depends not only on their knowledge of local school system, but also on their time availability due to shift scheduled employment (Gauthier et al., 2004). Downey (2001) reported declining degree of family involvement with increasing number of siblings. On the other hand, being disadvantaged due to their status, immigrant parents seem to evolve stronger emotional connections and support within families in comparison with the majority population (Pong et al.

2005; Rosenbaum & Rochford, 2008).

Poza et al. (2014) stated such behavior patterns applied by immigrant parents as questioning about school matters, emphasizing children`s learning success, participating in school events, though the behavior was claimed as not always recognized by teachers and school administration.

3.3.2 FINNISH SCHOOL`S PERCEPTION OF HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION

According to Epstein (1995) caring communities are formed by parents and teachers over providing sufficient information, participation in decision-making, networking, and volunteering. It is important to be aware of Finnish schools` perception of home-school collaboration and its implementation at schools.

According to Lehtolainen (2008), though parents are interested in cooperation with school, the school expects them to only support the chosen policy. Being involved by the means of discussions, clubs and other activities, parents perceive the involvement into school matters important but unsatisfactory and schools still looking for the efficient ways of interacting with families (Orell et al., 2020). As was mentioned by Mikkola et al. (2014) Finnish teachers experience lack of knowledge in societal dimensions which may result into preferring to collaborate with certain kind of parents (Bloomberg, 2008).Nevertheless, according to Orell & Pihlaja (2020), the importance of less active

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parents having voice in school rather than being expected to support the most active participants of home-school collaboration implementing readymade projects was emphasized.

Orell & Pihlaja (2020) claimed Finnish comprehensive school approach to be based on diverse cultural heritage of Finland and multiculturality at home as a source for developing a learning

community and using families` multiculturalism as a tool for getting acquainted with various cultures.

Therefore, collaboration with immigrant families is important for fostering such educational environment.

4 LEARNING DURING SCHOOLS CLOSURE

In the chapter I touch upon the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on school education in Finland.

4.1 COVID-19 AND FINNISH SCHOOLS

COVID-19 virus pandemic lead to exceptional challenges for schools in many countries all over the world. Teaching remotely, though applied with little preparation time, was a necessary measure to avoid major disruption. Cullinane & Montacute (2020) observed reduced participation in remote schooling of children from low-income families, which might result into widening the gap between children`s study progress.

According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (further OECD) 21 hour of compulsory comprehensive education at Finnish schools was replaced by distant teaching and home schooling under teachers or parents’ guidance. Though the restrictive measures were initiated by the government, the ways to arrange the remote educational process in Finland depended on individual schools (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020). In the middle of April immigrant integration classes were given the opportunity to return to contact teaching, the majority of schools in Finland were reopened in May 2020.

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4.2 CHALLENGES OF ONLINE LEARNING

According to the report of OECD (2020) during the schools’ closure, when online instruction

substituted face-to-face teaching, a certain number of challenges was experienced by most families and teachers. Among them keeping focus on the lesson content during online class and independent studying should be mentioned first, lack of digital skills experienced by children as well as lack of time, digital skills and curricular guidelines prevented parents and teachers from supporting children in their studies. Shortage of intrinsic motivation and self-regulation influenced their learning

outcomes. Though not equally effectively implemented in different schools, enhancing parents`

guidance by reinforcing family-school engagement helped parents to support their children`s studies (Manka & Meluzzi, 2020).

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5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research I am pursuing aims to explore Russian immigrant parents` perspective on home-school partnership during established time frames of COVID-19 pandemic schools’ closure in Finland, Joensuu.

Creswell (2009) defined central question of the qualitative research paper as the broadest question exploring the main phenomenon in the study delving into the set of components adjoining it. I set my central question as my first research question heading the two following questions in my study.

1. What kind of home-school engagement experiences, whether positive or negative, have Russian immigrant families in Finland got during the period of schools shifting into remote mode due to COVID-19?

2. What kind of factors, both positive and negative, encouraged Russian immigrant families to engage in their children`s remote learning during the schools’ closure of spring 2020?

3. What kind of suggestions do Russian immigrant families have in terms of future possible periods of remote teaching?

Based on the findings derived from the research questions answered, several practical

implications regarding the parents` experiences of involvement into their children`s remote schooling will be developed.

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6 DATA AND METHODOLOGY

The section is devoted to research design, data collections tools and samples and methodology adapted. The study seeks to describe the experiences of home-school collaboration of certain set of Russian immigrant families in Joensuu during COVID-19 remote schooling.

6.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Qualitative study was chosen as appropriate for exploring the phenomenon of school children`s remote learning period during the schools’ closure from their parents’ point of view. As qualitative method helps to deepen the understanding of the parents` perception of home-school collaboration from different dimensions better, then the use of surveys, it was utilized in the research (Merriam, 2009).

According to Creswell (2009), researchers themselves collect and interpret qualitative data with their interpretation connected to their own background. My personal experience of immigration from Russia to Finland with my family and assisting my children with their remote learning at the Finnish school during the schools transferring into remote mode inspired me to not only exploring the other families` experiences, but also becoming the researcher, who can relate to their needs and reflections and interpret their experiences.

The study employed non-probability convenience sampling method as the samples were

gathered from the sources available for researcher due to resource, time, and scope limitations (Etikan, 2016). According to Merriam (2009), the chosen sampling method provides researcher with the needed answers and implications linked to the phenomenon or occurrence if the participants were studied and confirmed to match the required criteria.

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6.2 RESEARCH DATA

In the chapter I provide detailed description of the participants choice and data collection procedures.

6.2.1 DATA COLLECTION SAMPLE

The data for the study were collected through eight semi-structured interviews with Russian immigrant parents of the children attending primary schools in Joensuu and speaking Russian as their native language. Interviews were conducted in Russian language, which is native language for all the

participants, recorded via software applications Skype and Zoom due to social distancing restrictions.

The recordings were transcribed and translated into English by the researcher, whose native language is Russian, and preserved for further detailed analysis (Merriam, 2009).

The selection criteria included the families speaking Russian as their home primary language with parents having immigrated to Finland and children studying at primary schools of city of Joensuu in Finnish language, who experienced remote study period in March, April, and May 2020.

The participants were chosen through non-probability convenience sampling and asked to be interviewed via social net applications. The agreement was followed by emailing participation request invitation, in which the details and the preliminary duration of the interview were provided (see appendix II).

Table 6.1 The number of years the Participants have lived in Finland before the lockdown.

Parent Years/Months in Finland

RIM1 7 months

RIM2 3 months

RIM3 7 years

RIM4 10 years

RIM5 3 years

RIF6 RIM7 RIM&F8

1 year 7 months 4 months

5 years

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6.2.2 DATA COLLECTION TOOL

Merriam (1998) defined semi-structured qualitative interview as a combination of open ended

and structured questions being a passkey to the data needed. Hence, I chose the data collection tool as matching my research purposes and providing me with in-depth insights of Russian immigrant parent`s experiences on home-school collaboration during the pandemic schools’ closure in Joensuu.

Kvale and Brinkmann (2009) determined semi-structured interview as often the most effective gathering information tool, flexible, intelligible, and capable of revealing hidden features of human behavior. Using it as a basis of human conversation and developing interview conducting skills, an interviewer can gain the fullest answers to the questions asked by adjusting the pace and question order.

As the responses may be provided in the participants` own terms, the ability of the researcher to understand their perceiving the phenomenon becomes crucial (Qu & Dumay, 2011). Seidman (2006) reflected on the interviewers` behavior as being flexible to accommodate the interviewees` choice of time and place arrangements. Therefore, while contacting my anticipated participants I requested them to set the appropriate schedule.

Designing interview questions

While designing my interview questions list, I relied on open-ended questions as a basis of my question building pattern, as they offer the opportunity to explore the territory of the phenomenon in any direction (Seidman, 2006, p.84).

The interviews for this research were conducted in winter and spring 2021, after almost a year since the schools’ closure had occurred, therefore I avoided asking for remembering the events, inquiring for reconstruction the experiences instead (Seidman, 2006, p.88). After I constructed the list of 15 questions covering all the needed areas of data in Russian language, I translated them into English language to include the list into the research paper (see appendix I).

Pre-pilot interview was taken in January 2021 to try out the interview guide in practice and

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make changes if necessary (Seidman, 2006, p.38).

Arranging and conducting the interviews

After contacting several participants via common acquaintances and conducting the interviews I asked for recommendations to contact other immigrant Russian families they might think of matching my research profile. I was conducting the interviews arranging the new ones until the number of recommended families who agreed to participate ran dry. All interviews were held individually via Zoom or Skype software applications with their average duration of approximately 40 minutes (see table 6.2).

Table 6.2 Individual Interview Lengths with Parents in Each Country

Parent Interview Length

RIM1 43 minutes

RIM2 35 minutes

RIM3 40 minutes

RIM4 34 minutes

RIM5 44 minutes

RIF6 RIM7 RIM&F8

38 minutes 32 minutes 35 minutes

A short brief about the research was given and the permission to record was asked at the beginning of each of the interviews.

6.3 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Qualitative thematic data analysis was applied to explore the interview data, in which the experiences of Russian immigrant families and Finnish primary schools’ collaboration were

presented. Creswell (2013, p.172) describes the process of data analysis in qualitative research as a hierarchical approach with interrelated and not always ordered stages, in which data transcribing is

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followed by organizing data for analysis, reading through the data, distinguishing themes, and interpreting them. Themes are supposed to capture the ideas of the data related to the research questions and identified through the familiarizing, coding, theme developing and revisioning processes (Braun & Clarke, 2006, pp.77-101).

Microsoft Word was utilized for transcribing and concept-driven coding of the data. Gibbs (2007, p. 44) defined the concept-driven coding as implementing the existing in related research literature framework of code categories. The six types of home-school collaboration framework of Joyce Epstein (1995) and the four-conceptual model of parental involvement of Kathleen Hoover- Dempsey and Howard Sandler (1995, 1997) formed the structure of my thematic framework. The decision to implement two frameworks was aimed to represent comprehensive description of both school initiated and parental motivating groups of concepts retrieved from the data collected.

The codes emerged were combined into table, compared, reanalyzed, and put into groups correlating with different categories according to the above-mentioned concepts of two school-to- home and home-to-school approaches. The codes not related to these two frameworks were

assigned to newly emerged themes, later distinguished into two additional categories (see figure 6.5).

Figure 6.5 Codes and Categories assigned in Microsoft Word Document

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Transcriptions and preliminary analysis

Within the content analysis goal, I transcribed speech as it was naturally produced, though no pauses and gestures were included besides exclamations, which added to my understanding of the

emotional connotation of the words said. I aimed at getting accurate transcription capturing the data clearly (Gibbs, 2007, p.14). Translation from Russian into English was conducted during the

transcribing process to make it less time consuming and facilitate data analysis and availability. While transcribing, central points of the study started to appear and initial coding preliminary analysis was held alongside (Gibbs, 2007, p.14).

All interviews were recorded via Zoom software and saved in mp4 format for later listening via Films & TV Software Application on my personal laptop, protected with the password.

Figure 6.6 Transcription via Films & TV Software

While transcribing I used replaced such words as “son”, “daughter” or proper names with the words “child” or “children” to protect the anonymity of the participants (Gibbs, 2007, p. 13).

Research diary was used to make notes and memos and follow the research process (Gibbs, 2007, p. 26). I started data transcription and analysis after conducting first two interviews on order to keep the data fresh in my memory while conducting interviews further. The stages followed for data analysis are explained in the table 6.2.

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Table 6.2 Phases and Details of Qualitative Data Analysis

6.4 RESEARCH ETHICS, VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY

Following the accepted at the University of Eastern Finland responsible conduct of research (Varantola et al. 2012), I ensured the research ethics being observed in my study by obtaining permissions needed. Merriam (2009) indicated reviewing conceptualization of the study, data collection and interpretation and presentation of findings to ensure its validity and reliability. I ensured the anonymity of the interviews and transcribed them myself in my laptop under the

password to maintain its confidentiality. Throughout the process of designing the study, defining the framework, and collecting and analyzing data I returned to my research questions to make sure that the data generated were supposed to answer them.

The findings of my research cannot be generalized due to the small number of participants, nonetheless the outcomes of my study may contribute to the overall picture of immigrant parents`

experiences during COVID-19 primary schools remote teaching period. The findings and suggestions provided might be applicable when developing the programs for remote teaching and strategies for further developing home-school collaboration.

For the sake of validity and reliability of the study I maintained self-reflective thinking to avoid biases and adhered to spending adequate time for data collection to get the hugest possible variety

Qualitative data collection: Arranging and recording 8 semi-structured interviewes

Preliminary analysis and transcription: Preliminary coding and distinguishing central points during transcription

Qualitative thematic and content analysis: Coding and categorising transcriptions and notes

Results and discussion: Reporting findings

Presenting findings at the Master`s Thesis Seminar and finalazing the paper

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of experiences (Merriam, 2009). Horizontalization strategy was also offered to decrease the

researcher bias by dealing with all data as equally important and arranging them into theme clusters to consider every participant`s perception (Merriam, 2009).

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7 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In the chapter I will present the findings of the study and considerations on the results obtained.

7.1 “SCHOOL, WE NEED YOUR HELP!”

While developing the thematic framework within the data collected, I was keeping in mind my first research question, “What kind of experiences of home-school engagement have Russian immigrant families in Finland got during the COVID-19 period of schools shifting into remote mode?”

To structure the findings to answer the first research question coherently and sequentially I applied the framework of six types of parental involvement (Epstein et al, 2002). The six types, such as: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making and collaborating with community, represent versatile picture of possible ways of home - school collaboration and build the core structure of my thematic analysis, which answers the first research question. For each type I will describe both positive and negative experiences from parents` point of view.

7.1.1 PARENTS` PERCEPTIONS OF HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION PRACTICES DURING THE PERIOD OF REMOTE TEACHING IN SPRING 2020

In the chapter I provide the findings with regard of the parents` perceptions of the school strategies of organizing remote teaching through involving parents in their children`s learning.

How did families survive the schools closure period? How did immigrant families cope with their children`s studies in Finnish language? These questions guided me through the process of analysis. While exploring immigrant families` experiences I structured all discussed pieces of information according to my understanding of parents` perception of what schools succeeded or failed to implement to foster home-school collaboration and what parents themselves perceive as motivating factors for being engaged into children’s learning.

In this chapter I will present the findings, provide examples of parental experiences and arguments they posed for and against the ways school implemented remote teaching during the

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lockdown. I will also present the parent`s ideas for improving remote teaching practices gained form their own personal experiences and suggested by them.

While presenting the findings I will include citations by the interviewees, which will be titled as RIM1, RIM2... to RIF8 as standing for Russian immigrant mother or father, respectively.

Type 1 - parenting

For the first type of home-school collaboration framework only advices to skip some assignments to reduce stress were expresses by four families, four of them regarded it as positive advice and two – as negative.

Type 2 – communicating

Among the positive communication experiences three parents mentioned mutually initiated contacts and friendly attitude, two parents were in contact with the teacher, who was assigned to

communicate with them in Russian language. The most important instructions, such as getting food from the school`s canteen, borrowing tablets or laptops or getting handouts were translated into Russian language for all Russian speaking families. Six parents used Wilma to communicate with school authorities. One mother discussed her child`s studies in a weekly phone call with teacher, the child also participated in the call.

As for negative experiences, four parents stated that communication was arranged only if there was a problem to solve. Two parents shared their feeling of the school not caring about their children`s learning.

One parent hesitated about the child`s study plan discussion, which was scheduled but never held.

The school did not offer another possibility for the talk personally or remotely.

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Type 3 – volunteering

Among the positive experiences three parents shared their experience of involving into completion of Physical Education assignment, they whether recorded the children doing physical exercises or joined the children and willingly performed exercises with them.

For the negative experience RIM4 talked about such outstanding Handicraft assignment as assemble and dismantle a piece of furniture. The family was lucky to plan to purchase a new bed, so while the father and the child dismantled the old bed and assembled a new one, she recorded the video for school assignment.

Type 4 – learning at home

Among the positive experiences of learning at home all parents mentioned the possibility to borrow school tablets or laptops for home use. One of the parents was surprised, when the broken school laptop was replaced the day, she informed the school about the problem.

Three parents mentioned that the teachers uploaded study materials and assignments in advance, which helped families to manage their time and control the children`s studies even remotely.

Five parents regarded digital support provided by school as sufficient, two parents reflected on their children`s digital skills as advanced due to teacher`s taking care of the matter.

Their class teacher was very good, he taught them how to use the services beforehand.

Before the lockdown started all pupils were taught how to access the platforms, how to submit the assignments. It was not a problem for the 6th grader to get up on time, to log in to online platform and join online session and submit the task. I did not help my child at all.

(RIM4)

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One family was offered fast typing tutor software, when the problem of child unable to type appeared.

Russian speaking teachers provided language support to children from three families, one parent mentioned that Russian language support lesson became regular for the lockdown period.

Four families reflected on the number of online classes and independent work as optimal

combination. Keeping usual schedule was mentioned by all families, while supporting setting dress code and “no food during the class” rule was mentioned by one parent.

Among the negative experiences of schools` practices to engage homes into learning during the lockdown five parents mentioned lack of teacher`s support in completing assignments.

There were instructions for assignments completion, but children did not understand them. These instructions were supposed to be explained in detail by teachers, that`s the teacher`s role.

There were tasks to modify the verbs, and the child needed instant feedback to make sure that his perception was the right one. When there`s no such feedback, there`s no teacher`s instruction and dialogue to make sure the child understood the task clearly, it`s hard. (RIM4) One parent pointed to lost motivation, because only few assignments needed submission, most of them were completed without submission. Three parents talked about huge amount of unstructured digital materials of poor quality, which children could not handle on their own. Lack of Finnish

language support from school was referred by three parents to different extend. For example, one of the parents shared such experience.

As for creative writing we coped on our own. It was not that difficult to explain some language rules, as we`ve been living in Finland for a long time but making up a story is a challenge for child even in his native language. You need to create the character, his features, whereabouts. Even in your own language it`s difficult, so he did it in Russian and

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then we translated it into Finnish. If he were at school, he would go to the supporting Finnish language lesson and do the task with Finnish teacher. But at that situation we did it, and the teacher graded it, so she was grading not only the child`s work, but the parent`s work as well. Did the parents do a good job? (RIM4)

Other negative experiences included insufficient number of online classes provided by school reported by two families, another parent shared his considerations.

I`d like my child to have classes every day, there were only 2-3 classes a week. I don`t understand, the teachers were working at the time, why did not they have all scheduled classes via Zoom, why only 2 hours? I would like teachers to teach the number of classes they usually had, but maybe they did not do it, because parents were against use of devices so much, but no one asked us about it. (RIF8)

It appeared that the younger children were, the harder the whole experience of homeschooling felt for parents. The parent of first grader shared such experience.

There were online sessions at 9. They just talked, discussed the tasks for the day and then they completed the tasks. It appeared that children needed everyday session to see each other and get into learning mood, but during first couple of weeks only assignments were being sent via Google disk with videos and tasks for the subjects. I understand that elder child just opens it and completes the task, because he was taught to study, he can read and write, he can manage on his own. He knows what Google disk or link is, but not the first grader. It took a lot of time to explain how the whole system works, what to click and what to do. I had to do it with him anyway. I was sitting in the other room trying to work and every 3 minutes he asked for help, I had to leave my work undone. We spent 2-3 hours like this, then I finally got back to my assignments, but I felt tired and worn out, I could not focus.

Thanks god, it did not last long. In the end when they got back to school, I was ready to carry him there in my arms. (RIF6)

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Three parents declared their children`s knowledge gap increased, though the mentioned children studied at the 1-3 grades, where lagging behind the school curriculum was covered after the lockdown.

Four families stated the Finnish language environments hugely reduced for their children, TV programs and cartoons could not replace live communication implying reciprocity.

It was good to come back to natural Finnish language environment, which was lacking during the lockdown. I tried to use Finnish language TV background, but they were hiding in their room. Even if they completed homework, read books, and saw advertisement in Finnish and so on, it was artificial, like no one addressed them directly in Finnish language, they did not have to reciprocate. (RIM7)

Even if schools continued teaching via online classes, lack of ongoing feedback was declared by two parents, specifically for creative tasks, in which guiding important because of the ambiguity of the assignments.

All those creative tasks were always parent`s responsibility. What`s the point of those drawing tasks? Does it make any difference if we submitted the picture or not? Why could not he just draw for himself for his own pleasure? In English there was a task to draw animals in the Zoo. My child was confused and astonished. I suggested to use stickers and draw it schematically to make it easier, he said the teacher asked to do it thoroughly and correctly. He was worried if he coped with the task or not, was his drawing good enough?

We tried to make the tasks easier to do for him, as parents, he took it seriously. It was not enough for him to schematically draw the animal`s face, it had to be a full-size lion. So, he lacked ongoing feedback. (RIM4)

Type 5 – decision making

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For the positive experience of parents included into decision making one parent shared the

experience of Russian language teacher discussing the study plan with the parent and making choice to emphasize handwriting practice as it was the patent`s wish.

Four parents welcomed the schools` policy of freedom to skip some insignificant tasks and submit only those, which they managed to complete.

Negative experiences were not found in the data set.

Type 6 – collaborating with community

No positive experiences were provided by the data collected, though two negative experience were found: being assigned to record a video of getting through the obstacle course, which was not easy to find as there still was snow and slush outside and emphasizing COVID in homework was not that necessary.

The emphasis to COVID was too strong in some assignments. In the Arts there was a task to draw coronavirus, there were assignments with toilet paper in PE. Probably there was some fun for adults, but for children it was too much. Forcing the thoughts about COVID was too much for children. My younger child was afraid of Chinese people, because the Chinese origin of the virus was discussed. (RIM1)

7.1.2 SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION OF PARENTS` PERCEPTIONS OF HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION PRACTICES DURING THE REMOTE TEACHING PERIOD IN SPRING 2020

In the study I aimed at inverstigating the way Russian immigrant parents in Finland percieve their experiences of home-school collaboration during the lockdown. To summarize the previous chapter and highlight the most acute themes I combined the findings in the figures (see figures 7.1 and 7.2), in which can be seen, that five out of six types of home-school communication framework developed

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by Epstein et al. (2002) were found in the data set. Absence of comminicating with community type in the data among the positive parents` experiences can be explained by emergency social distacing, caused by the pandemic outburst threat.

Figure 7.1 Brief Summary of the Findings of Parent`s Positive Perceptions of Home-School Collaboration Experiences according to Epstein`s Typology of Home-School Collaboration (Epstein et al., 2002).

According to the findings presented, learning at home and communicating types of home- school collaboration are mentioned more frequently by the parents in both positive and negative experiences. Moreover, significant difference between the described experiences can be explained by the variety of ways to implement the emergency remote teaching in different schools.

Parents` positive experiences of

home-school- collaboration

Type 3 - Volunteering:

3-recording or completing PE tasks with

child Type 2- Communicating:

3-mutually initiated contacts, 2-the teacher assigned to communicate in Russian, 8- translated official documents,

1-weekly phone call

Type 4 -Learning at home:

8-possibility to borrow school tablet or laptop, 3-uploading study materials in advance, 5-sufficient digital support, 1- typing tutor software, 3-Russian language support, 4-optimal combination of online

classes and independent work Type 5 - Desicion making:

1-discussing study plan with parents and choosing points of emphasys, 4-school`s policy of freedom to skip

insignificant tasks Type 6 -

Communicating with community:

not found Type 1- Parenting:

4-possibility to choose more important tasks

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Figure 7.2 Brief Summary of the Findings of Parent`s Negative Perceptions of Home-School Collaboration Experiences according to Epstein`s Typology of Home-School Collaboration (Epstein et al., 2002).

The findings show, that while parents appreciated the freedom of completing more important in their opinion tasks and ignoring less important, excessive freedom in decision making led to

declining motivation to study. Parents still expected teacher to guide the process of learning and pay attention to clear and sufficient instructions. As all families in the study had immigrant background and Russian as their native language, the significance of Finnish language support can hardly be overrated. Lack of Finnish language support lessons was reported by families regardless of the number of years spent in Finland. In terms of language acquisition not only language environment and communication appeared to be important, but clear and structured instructions on creative writing were lacking.

Parents` negative experiences of

home-school- collaboration

Type 3 - Volunteering:

1-too outstanding hometask in Craft - assembling furniture Type 2- Communicating:

4-only if there`s a problem, 2- school not caring about children, 1-cancelled study

plan discussion

Type 4 -Learning at home:

5-lack of teacher`s support in completing assignments, 1-optional

assignments submission led to motivation decline, 3-huge amount of

unstructured digital materials, 3-lack of Finnish language support, 2- insufficient amount of online classes, 3-knowledge gap increased, 4-lack of

ongoing feedback Type 5 - Desicion

making:

not found Type 6 - Communicating

with community:

1-recording PE obstacle course video in snow, 1- emphasizing COVID in

homework Type 1- Parenting:

2-lost motivation because of too much freedom in submitting

assignments

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The approach to organization of teaching was different in all participants` schools due to the teachers` freedom to make decisions on the organization of teaching in Finland (Haapaniemi et al., 2020). The findings show, that the families appreciated the schools` attempts to implement online classes via Zoom or Google Meet Software applications, as primary school pupils were not ready to study autonomously. Children needed teacher`s instructions and support, as well as teachers`

feedback on their understanding the instructions to the assignments.

Similarly to Bubb et all. (2020), most participants noted children`s digital skills to develop significantly during the remote teaching period, though some of them needed daily assistance throughout the whole schools` closure time. Digitalization of the entire education process entailed the increase in the degree of parents` involvement in children`s education.

According to the parents` considerations, the excessive creativity and ambiguity of some assignments entailed not only parents` need to reduce their working time and focus on children`s homework, but put additional stress to the children in an already challenging situation. On the contrary, schools` policy of implementing the standart curricula with small changes due to shifting to online mode was welcomed by most of the participants of the study.

Nevertheless, most types of home-school collaboration typology developed by Epstein et al (2002) were represented in the findings, which leads to the conclusion, that despite of the

outstanding circumstances of the pandemic outburst the schools made successful attempts to establish communication with the families relying on available resources. The experiences described in the study depict the variety of parent`s attitudes and perceptions of school`s attempts to establish regular interaction. I classified the experiences as negative and positive, the amount of which

appeared to be approximately equal due to the efficiency or continuity lacking in communication provided by schools. Though all families shared their positive attitude to schools` actions during the lockdown, some of them admitted their unwillingness to substitute teacher for their children. The

“How Did You Survive?” Parents' Perspectives on Home-School Collaboration during the Period of Emergency Remote Teaching caused by the COVID-19 Crisis: At the City of Joensuu within Russian speaking immigrant families.

Contents

1 INTRODUCTION

2 CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

3 UNDERSTANDING OF HOME-SCHOOL COLLABORATION

4 LEARNING DURING SCHOOLS CLOSURE

5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

6 DATA AND METHODOLOGY

7 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Parents` positive experiences of

home-school- collaboration

Parents` negative experiences of

home-school- collaboration