Social Impact of COVID-19 Survey August 2020: The Reopening of Schools

The third round of the Social Impact of COVID-19 survey was undertaken to primarily measure attitudes around returning to school for the 2020/2021 academic year.  This survey was carried out between Wednesday 12 August and Wednesday 19 August and was based on a sample of 2,226 persons aged 18 years and over.  The survey utilised an online electronic questionnaire to produce a final achieved sample size of 1,333 individuals.

The publication investigates how the enforced closure of schools in March 2020 due to COVID-19 has impacted students’ education and measures the concerns of parents and guardians of children returning to pre-school, primary school and secondary school in the context of COVID-19.  Also included are current life-satisfaction levels and compliance with official COVID-19 advice.  Analysis is provided across key personal and household demographic characteristics, reflecting how COVID-19 is impacting different people in different ways. Where survey questions are common to all three rounds of this survey (April, June and August), comparative analysis is provided.

The Main Results of the third round of the Social impact of COVID-19 survey are presented below.

The Impact of Enforced School Closures

• More than four in ten (40.7%) respondents with children in primary school and 45.7% of respondents with children in secondary schools reported that enforced school closures had a Major or Moderate negative impact on their child’s learning.  Of respondent adults with children in primary school, 42.2% reported a Major or Moderate negative impact on their child’s social development due to enforced closure of schools.  The comparable rate for respondents with secondary school students was 43.2%.
• More than two in three (67.0%) respondents with a child due to sit the Leaving Certificate in 2021 reported that enforced school closures had a Major or Moderate negative impact on their child’s learning and more than half (53.3%) reported a Major or Moderate impact on their child’s social development.
• Two in three (66.6%) respondents with primary school children reported that their children spent 2 hours or less on learning activities provided by their school during the enforced school closures.
• Over two in five (41.3%) respondents with secondary school children reported that their child spent 2 hours or less on learning activities provided by their school during enforced school closures.  See Chapter Impact of Enforced School Closures.

 Returning to School

• Almost one in three (32.0%) respondents who are parents or guardians reported being Extremely or Very concerned about their child’s school providing a safe environment in the context of COVID-19.
• More than one in three (37.4%) women with children of school age reported being Extremely or Very concerned about their child’s school providing a safe environment in the context of COVID-19 compared to 20.9% of men.
• More than four in ten (41.2%) respondents who are pre-school parents or guardians reported being Extremely or Very concerned about their child’s school providing a safe environment in the context of COVID-19, compared to 33.2% for primary school and 30.7% for secondary school.
• Of respondents with children of school going age, 6.5% reported having a child that was due to attend either pre-school, primary school or secondary school in the coming academic year but will now not be doing so due to concerns about COVID-19.
• Almost one in five (19.6%) respondents who are parents or guardians reported having a child that is Extremely or Very worried about returning to school.
• Catching or spreading COVID-19 is the most common concern for children returning to school as reported by parents and guardians.
• Of survey respondents with primary or secondary school children, 7% have arranged an alternative to public transport and school buses due to COVID-19 concerns.
• Two in three (66.2%) respondents who are parents and guardians of school going children reported being Very likely or Somewhat likely to avail of a COVID-19 vaccine for their children if it were to become available.  See Chapter Returning to School.

If Schools Were to Close

• In the event of their children’s primary school closing at some time during the coming academic year, almost one in three (32.1%) parents and guardians of primary school children indicated that they Could work from home.  One in five (20.6%) could Take holidays or unpaid leave while 12.5% May have to give up work altogether.
• In the event of school closure, three in ten (29.7%) respondents who are parents or guardians of Leaving Cert pupils reported being Extremely concerned about their children’s school providing adequate supports to cover the Leaving Certificate syllabus.  The comparable rate for the Junior Certificate was 14.6%.
• More than one in five (21.5%) respondents who are parents or guardians of primary children report being Extremely concerned about providing support to help their child with home learning (e.g. helping with homework).
• Respondents living in rural areas are more than seven times likely not to have suitable broadband speed to support online learning compared to those living in urban areas (28.8% and 3.9% respectively).  See Chapter If Schools Were to Close.

Compliance and Wellbeing

• In August 2020, just over three in four (75.4%) respondents rated their compliance with current government advice and guidelines as High.  This rate is higher than the rate in June when the country was just about to enter Phase 3 of the Roadmap for reopening society (59.9%) but lower than the April rate (80.6%).
• In 2013, the mean overall life satisfaction score was 7.5.  In 2018, a time of strong economic growth, the overall mean score increased to 8.1.  In April 2020, when Irish society first endured the impacts of COVID-19 the score dropped to 6.5 which was lower than the 2013 score. In August 2020 the mean overall life satisfaction score has increased to 7.0.  See Chapter Compliance and Well-being.

For this survey, the definition of ‘Child’ is any person of school going age.  Parents and guardians of children were asked a series of questions in relation to children returning to pre-school, primary school and secondary school in the coming academic year.  If a parent or guardian had more than one child attending a primary or secondary school, then they were asked to answer the questions in relation to the oldest child only in the particular school.

The results presented in this publication have been weighted to best reflect the population.  Due to time and resource constraints, there were limitations on the sample size and selection methodology.  Consequently, caution must be exercised when making inferences to the entire population from these results.  Nonetheless, this data provides a valuable insight into the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of many people in Ireland.  For further details on the survey methodology, see Background Notes.