A Historic Shock to Parental Engagement in Education: Parent Perspectives in Botswana during COVID-19. Policy Brief

When schools closed in Botswana on March 23, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education administrators, teachers, and ultimately parents were faced with difficult decisions about how to help children continue learning without setting foot inside a classroom. In-person classes returned on June 17, 2020, though a second school closure occurred for two weeks beginning July 30 in greater Gaborone. The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a historic shock to education systems worldwide, necessitating parents to join the frontlines of the teaching-learning process. In this report, the authors share data from recent research on parents in Botswana, seeking to shed light on a range of questions, including: (1) What have been parents' experiences in relation to their children's education? (2) What are parents' beliefs about what makes for a quality education for their child? (3) What informs parents' beliefs about education at this time? and (4) What can the education community learn from the different parent engagement approaches used during COVID-19 that could be relevant long term? While there is much to learn from parents' responses, the report presents three main findings that have implications for education policymakers, administrators, educators, and civil society partners: (1) parents have high but declining levels of satisfaction with their children's education; (2) parents want schools to teach a breadth of academic and non-academic competencies and skills but believe their children's teachers primarily value academic skills; and (3) despite prioritizing non-academic skills, parents rely heavily on academic exams to indicate a good quality education. [This report was co-produced by Young 1ove.]

Publication Title: Center for Universal Education at The Brookings Institution