CHAPTER III

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

This chapter presents analysis and interpretations of the data gathered in the study based on the
problem raised in the previous chapters.

Results

The following themes are deduce from the results of the study.

Theme: Difficulty in tutoring their children

With little time to prepare for the changes to accommodate the remote learning of their
children, parents encounter various stumbling blocks in the process. Hence, the difficulties are a
significant part of the experience of the parents as they involve themselves in the remote learning
of their children. The concern for various responsibilities competing for the limited resources of
time and energy was frequently expressed by respondents.

Some respondents further admit experiencing pedagogical difficulties when they do not
know a lot of teaching strategies, as what one of the respondents claimed;

“In case of my kid well hmm… She is not willing to listen to what I am going to teach to her and
it is hard in my part. I know that every parents have struggles now a days to tutor their children
in their modules well because this children thinks that we are just their parents not their
teachers. As I was thinking about my situation today, I had many commitments then here comes
my kid’s modules.”

As supported by many respondents;

“I had a hard time to concentrate to tutor and guide my kid on his modules due to workloads in
this difficult time. Even children today are having a hard time to concentrate due to many
factors, like they prefer playing mobile games and playing outside the house because they know
that it’s just their parents who will teach them in their modules.”

As one of related studies proved that adequate planning and preparation, as success
determinants of a program (Magulod, 2017).

Weinstein and Mayer understand learning strategies as internal and external actions
influencing the learner’s motivation, attention as well as selection and processing of information
(cf. Weinstein & Mayer 1986, 1).

Because of this, they find it challenging most of the time to catch the motivation of their
children and make them learn effectively.
 Other respondents also said that they encounter relational difficulties when their
respective child do not obey. They observed that children behave differently at home as
compared when teachers instruct in the classroom.

As one of the respondent claimed;

“I had a hard time due to no face-to-face classes where in children are hard to tutor because
their focus are on mobile games and social media.”

The rise in children’s use of technology has led to growing concern about how it
affects children’s brains, bodies and their socio-emotional, cognitive and physical development.
Many groups concerned with children’s health, including governments and medical societies,
advocate for partially or fully limiting screen time for children. However, “restriction focused”
guidelines are criticised by experts in the field as not being based on robust research. The impact
of technology depends on the type of technology and what it is used for (Bavelier, Green and
Dye, 2010). Thus important to better understand how and why technology is used, and the
variety of devices children choose.

These situations depict the struggles of parents as they get involved in the remote learning of
their children. Several concerns have been raised such as what kind of instruction will be done at
home, how will the parents manage their children’s learning, how can they teach their children if
they have not finished tertiary education? This is why parents 100% support and cooperation are
expected in implementing Modular Distance Learning. As for pupils they struggle with the new
structure away from the classroom (Gueta and Janer, 2021).

Teachers and parents now have the important task of ensuring the quality of education without
compromising the child’s safety (Gueta and Janer, 2021).

Theme: Playful children

Struggle is real on the part of those parents that have playful children. Evident of this theme is a
lack of student cooperation. Some lack of cooperation is due to distractions at home.

As explained by one of the respondents;

“In my part, I had a hard time to teach and help my children in their modules. Aside from
playfulness and laziness of my children, there are times that I don’t understand some of their
modules. And it makes me sad knowing that they can’t learn anything if its continue like this.
Because what I know is limited.”

As supported by one of the respondents;

“In my part ma’am, it is very hard although I am not stating that I am the one who answering
their modules, I’m just saying that we have limited time as we all know children are playful they
don’t tend to cooperate with you in time. As a facilitator/tutor I need some strategy to get their
full attention.”

Another lack of cooperation can be attributed to the parents as a teacher. Parents are not just
stepping to serve as a teacher but also to help their children to navigate the mode of instruction,
which is not ideal for learners. Equip parents with the effective strategies to care and protect the
future of the world.

Involving parents in the process are achievable and potentially effective ways to maintain the
flow of learning. Parents also mention how teachers keep reinforcing the importance of playing
games and staying physically active indoors however due to covid, children are kept inside the
house (Bhamani, Makhdoom, Bharuchi, Ali, Kaleem, and Ahmed, 2020).

Theme: Limited time and knowledge

The lack of parental involvement and support in children’s learning process at home is generally
due to the lack of time and the inability of parents to become teachers for their children at home.
Based on responses, parents shared about their struggles, researchers categorized respondents
struggles; a.) Limited time and b.) Limited content knowledge and pedagogy.

a. Limited time

Parental involvement was also operationalized through the amount of time dedicated by parents
to supporting children’s school activities . Limited time is a period of time within which
something must be done or completed (The free dictionary). At home as parents need to play
new roles in the remote learning of their children. Thus, the involvement of parents in the remote
learning of their children presents many changes. These changes entail a period of adjustments
and adaptations to the fundamental role of parental involvement which now demands a new
level.

As expressed by one of the respondents;

“I had a hard time to manage my time due to household chores or work in the farm.”

Parents perceptions of distance learning at this time of crisis were mixed. Difficult to find a
strong statement between agreeing or disagree, like or dislike. Parents generally do not have
negative views or resistance to distance learning, but for parents, this is unexpected, new,
burdensome, and forces them to adjust quickly (Lase, Zaluchu, Daeli, and Ndraha 2021).

As one of the respondents said;

“I am having a tough time to manage my time especially when I have to do my household chores.
To make sure that I have enough time to tutor and guide my children to their modules. I’ll make
sure to finish all of my commitments in time. So that they will not left behind.”
Dong and colleagues [25] report that the majority of parents felt the need to be present with their
children during online learning activities at least once per day. Same goes to modular learning
modality.

The literature highlighted how parents of children of all ages, from primary to secondary pupils,
felt closer to their children’s learning by acknowledging a more in-depth insight into their
learning and that created opportunity to contribute more to their learning.

The involvement of parents is, however, largely dependent on the age of the children and on the
level of education ( Ribeiro, Cunha, Silva, Carvalho, and Vital 2021).

The findings are in line with previous studies that “a lack of parental awareness and interest in
students school activities are the main causes of their poor academic achievement in secondary
school” (Aman et al., 2019). “Parental involvement and investment have a significant effect on
students self-concept and academic achievement in elementary school” (Ho & Kwong, 2013).
Parental involvement in a child’s education is consistently positively related to a child’s
academic performance (Topor et al., 2010).

Parents must manage and divide their time between doing daily task and accompanying children
in learning at home, and ultimately parents acting as teachers for their children (Wardhani &
Krisnani, 2020; Yoenanto, 2020).

b. Limited content knowledge and pedagogy

Parents limited content knowledge or pedagogy was a barrier in the success of modular learning.
Limited is a confined or restricted within certain limits (Your dictionary). While content
knowledge refers to the body of knowledge and information that teachers teach and that students
are expected to learn in a given subject or content area (Education reform). Respondents
identified their predominant struggles as limited content knowledge and pedagogy discussed
their lack of training to become an educator.

As one of the respondents said;

“It is difficult because I can’t teach and explain lessons that I’m not familiar with. There are
instances that I don’t understand some of their modules. Tendencies are children will not believe
every single word that I explained.”

Followed by one the respondents;

“It’s hard to understand their modules.”

And supported by majority of the respondents;

“Sometimes it felt good because we have a bonding and become closer each day with my
children but sometimes, I can say that their module is hard. There is also an instances that I
don’t know how to explain their lessons.”

“It is hard especially the Grade 6.”

“In my part, I had a hard time to teach and help my children in their modules. Aside from
playfulness and laziness of my children, there are times that I don’t understand some of their
modules. And it makes me sad knowing that they can’t learn anything if its continue like this.
Because what I know is limited.”

“I had a hard time to concentrate to tutor and guide my kid on his modules due to workloads in
this difficult time. Even children today are having a hard time to concentrate due to many
factors, like they prefer playing mobile games and playing outside the house because they know
that it’s just their parents who will teach them in their modules.”

“I’m okay with it but there are times that it is difficult to understand some of their modules.”

Lee et al. (2020), In their survey, described that the educational migration to remote learning at
home amid the covid-19 crisis necessitated many for most of the parents, these involved changes
as regards online resources, play dates, meal schedules, sleep patterns, and balancing duties.
Many parents find it difficult as they also have to deal with changes in other spheres of their lives
such as work. However, despite these difficult changes, it can be noted that parents still appear to
be open about the opportunities. Bubb and Jones (2020) found out that parents and children were
quick to adapt to remote learning and it was well-received by them.

Bhamani et al. (2020) uncovered that to address the challenges of remote learning, parents use
strategies such as following a strict schedule and occupying children with creative activities. It is
important that parents keep a positive response to the challenges. A recent study by Morelli et al.
(2020) showed that confidence of the parents of their abilities mediated the influence of
psychological distress and regulatory emotional efficacy of parents on the emotional regulation
and negativity of the children. Applying its implication to the context of remote learning, it is
important that parents maintain optimism in the remote learning of their children as these
elements create a ripple effect on the learning outcomes of their children.

Sub theme: Struggles in modular learning

Self Learning Modules is in the form of individualized instruction that allows learners to use
self-learning modules in print or digital format, whichever is applicable in the context of the
learners and other learning resources like learner’s materials, textbooks, activity sheets, study
guides and other study materials. Educational quality needs to be addressed in several ways
including the availability of appropriate teaching and learning materials for the programme
(Gueta and Janer, 2021).
It is understandable that this wave of innovations in learning is not always convenient, especially
given the fact that transition has been abrupt rather than gradual. Hence, Parents are concerned
about the challenges that remote learning has brought for them and their children (Bhamani,
Makhdoom, Bharuchi, Ali, Kaleem, and Ahmed, 2020).

Although parents are trying to the best of their abilities to keep their children engaged in
meaningful activities, there are some challenges that they recognize as well. A number of
children are considering this time as a vacation from school, hence they want nothing to do with
a normal school-like routine. Instead, they want to sleep and wake up according to their own
wish and spend the rest of the time playing video games and watching cartoon/movies. This is a
potential threat to their social, educational as well as physical development. Their lifestyle is
becoming sedentary with limited outdoor access and they are not used to physical activities
inside their house, probably because of the lack of space.

As one of the respondents remarked;

“I had a hard time to concentrate to tutor and guide my kid on his modules due to workloads in
this difficult time. Even children today are having a hard time to concentrate due to many
factors, like they prefer playing mobile games and playing outside the house because they know
that it’s just their parents who will teach them in their modules.”

As supported by one of the respondents;

“In my part ma’am, it is very hard although I am not stating that I am the one who answering
their modules, I’m just saying that we have limited time as we all know children are playful they
don’t tend to cooperate with you in time. As a facilitator/tutor I need some strategy to get their
full attention.”

It is especially challenging if the parents are working from home, and have their own schedules
to follow. At the same time keeping their children’s learning in check all the time.

Theme: Find time in tutoring their children despite of their work/ jobs

Doing so many things at the same time prevents from focusing on other tasks. This is the reason
why parents were not able to guide and tutor their children in answering their modules. Parents
wanted to teach their children but their workloads prevented them from doing so. Moreover, are
the distractions that failed to manage causing to mismanagement of time. The interview results
showed that majority of parents gave time even though they were limited to be involved with
their children’s learning at home.

As one of the respondents said:

“When I am in the middle of my work, I need to stop when it is time to guide and tutor them.
There are also times that in order to have time for them, I had to finish my work early. I tutor
and guide them at least 1 hour every day.”

Supported by other respondents:

“When I finished my work, it’s time to tutor and guide my children on their modules.”

“I always find time to guide and teach them to learn something from their lessons even though I
don’t have enough time due to workloads.”

“Every morning, I wake up early so that I can finish my other commitments in no time. And for
the remaining hours is for my children’s learning time. Sometimes we have unexpected
workloads that may affect time for our children’s learning, but I’ll make sure to give time for my
children’s learning.”

There are some parents conclusively claimed to have much free time to accompany children’s
learning activities at home.

As claimed by some of the respondents:

“If it’s already 8 o clock, we are going to start their modules, by 9:30 they are free to play. So
far, there is no problem at all.”

“After doing their modular learning in the morning, I give them time to play outside and enjoy
and then in the noon they have to continue study again for at least an hour to make sure that they
learn a lot from their lessons.”

The rest are parents who are very busy from their jobs, so they rarely monitor children’s learning
activities at home and hand over assistance for children’s learning activities to other family
members.

As claimed by one of the respondents:

“After work I tutor my kid and when I don’t have enough time, I have my sister who always got
my back.”

Experiencing multifaceted difficulties in the process brings the struggling points in the
experience of parental involvement in the remote learning of children during disruptive
moments. The changes brought by the Covid-19 crisis have created barriers to the ways of
providing moral, social, personal, and professional support in the bigger context of institutions
(Alevizou, 2020). This claim holds true as well to parents who had to bear remote learning of
their children in their homes. Parents experience structural, pedagogical, and relational
difficulties as they get more involved in the remote learning of their children (Cahapay, 2021).
Zainuddin et al. (2020) affirmed that difficulties regarding the educational change to remote
learning are expected to exacerbate inequalities especially across disadvantaged communities
around the world.

It is obvious these concerns may stem from the parents readiness levels. Since the pandemic was
so sudden and unsuspected, parents were unprepared for this new obligation. That’s why they
have difficulties balancing their work, home, and teaching responsibilities. This challenging and
uncertain situation could increase the stress and fear level and decrease the capacity for time
management and planning.

Sub theme: Time management skills

In every aspect of life, time management plays an important role. Task and other works will be
smoothly done with proper time frame, stress caused by cramming can be avoided and peace of
mind can be obtained. One of parents struggle that impacts distance learning is the poor of time
management.

Some parents confirm this claim:

“When I am in the middle of my work, I need to stop when it is time to guide and tutor them.
There are also times that in order to have time for them, I had to finish my work early. I tutor
and guide them at least 1 hour every day.”

“I prioritized them first before my work at home.”

“I guide them first before doing the household chores.”

The above statement showed that there is a lack of schedule that lead parents to rushed
throughout the day. The result will be, the learner will start early however given a small amount
of time may affect and miscalculate the time they will need to complete a particular task.

However, based on the results of the interview majority of parents are managed to set their
schedule in order.

As claimed by majority of the respondents:

“After work I tutor my children.”

“When I finished my work, it’s time to tutor and guide my children on their modules.”

“Every morning, I wake up early so that I can finish my other commitments in no time. And for
the remaining hours is for my children’s learning time. Sometimes we have unexpected
workloads that may affect time for our children’s learning, but I’ll make sure to give time for my
children’s learning.”

“I’ll make sure to finish my commitments on time so that I can tutor and guide my children in
their modules. 3 hours each per day.”
“I budget my time by doing first all the household chores and afterwards, I tutor him every
morning and noon for about 2 and a half hour. Wherein I am very hands-on regarding to his
modular learning.”

The lack of parental involvement and support in children’s learning process at home is generally
due to the lack of time and the inability of parents to become teachers for their children at home
(Lase, Zaluchu, Daeli, and Ndraha, 2020).

From the statements of the parents, big portion of their time was for doing household chores. The
study revealed the most challenging part of modular learning for parents as facilitator, keeping
their children on schedule while completing their coursework.

Theme: Difficulty in finances

COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on rural livelihoods. Loss of income and job opportunities
were overarching challenges in poor communities in the Philippines (Fallesen, 2021).
The economic impact of COVID-19 is particularly worrisome as the surveyed communities are
already a subset of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the Philippines. Following
significant job and income losses, communities are at risk of further increases in poverty
(Fallesen, 2021). 
In August 2020, job losses were particularly severe in the construction sector (56%) and public
transportation (52%) while cumulative job losses were seen among informal workers such as
laundry women, hairdressers, and workers in small canteens; and in informal retail like “sari-
sari” stores, street vendors, and markets. The farming sector also saw significant job losses
reportedly in 70% of communities in formal agriculture and 61% in small-scale farming
(Fallesen, 2021).  
The situation had somewhat improved by the second round of the survey in April 2021. The
sector that saw the biggest improvements was retail, where reported incidence of job losses
decreased by 13%. However, construction workers and public transport drivers continued to be
most affected by job cuts (56% and 52% respectively) (Fallesen, 2021). 
As one of the parents explained there experiences during the first lock down until today:

“We never set footstep outside on the first lock down. We only go outside when it’s needed like
going to buy our necessary needs and going to work. However in that time, we don’t have
enough income to sustain our daily needs because my husband is only a tricycle driver and
when there is an opportunity to have work like “makisikka” we go. But going outside that time
have limited time. Imagine how hard to provide for our living. With God’s grace and mercy He
helped my husband to find job. As for my part as the housewife, I will be the one who budget our
money for our daily expenses.”

Supported by many parents:

“In this time of pandemic my husband and I had difficulties to provide our everyday needs.”

“I practiced to budget money and my time.”

“I make sure that we only buy the things that we needed the most.”

“Last year we had difficulties to provide our daily needs due to limited time to go outside but
when you go outside there are lots of health protocols to be followed in order to keep your love
ones safe. In order to help my husband to provide our daily need, I tried online selling.”

The household income of many families is likely to decline as rates of unemployment and
underemployment rise. Given the global nature of the economic crisis, even households that rely
on remittances are likely to see their incomes go down as a result of the pandemic. In many
households, particularly poor households, these declines in household income will reduce their
investments in education, and this will be exacerbated by the health shocks associated with the
pandemic (Al-Samarrai, Gangwar, Gala, 2020)

Sub theme: Financial Constraints

COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on rural livelihoods. Loss of income and job opportunities
were overarching challenges in poor communities in the Philippines (Fallesen, 2021).
A financial constrain is something that restricts a course of economic action, which must be
accommodated instead.

Parents reported coping with the pandemic’s economic impacts by cutting back spending on
food, reducing savings, and going into debt.

As stated by majority of the respondents:

“I make sure that we only buy the things that we needed the most.”

“I practiced to budget money and my time.”

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic is an unprecedented situation. It has made the majority of
parents worry about the pandemic’s negative impact on children’s education ( Lase, zaluchu,
Daeli, and Ndraha, 2020).

Theme: Give children time to play

One of the parent’s challenges are the playfulness of their children. Parents have difficulty
balancing time between daily work and mentoring children’s learning activities at home due to
playfulness of their children.
As expressed by one of the respondents;

“For me, I prefer face to face classes of my children for them to take their learning seriously
because for now, what they are thinking is just to play all day and most of the time, they feel lazy
to answer their modules.”

Play is one of the most important aspects of a child’s life. Why? Because through peekaboo,

patty-cake, and playing house, children learn to think creatively and interact socially.

Through play, they develop physically and discover a slew of emotional skills and they learn

how to process the world. In short, play is pivotal to child’s development.

“Play is how children learn,” says Dr. Tiff Jumaily, a pediatrician at Integrative Pediatrics and

Medicine Studio City in Los Angeles.

What’s more, according to a 2012 study Trusted Source, play reduces stress. “On the whole, play

is associated with responses that facilitate learning… [and] work off stress,” says Jumaily.

Give children time to play. Play-based learning helps engage elementary students in their
education and has cognitive, physical, social, and emotional benefits based on the
statement above. Children were more motivated to explore academic standards within
their play because it was meaningful to them. Like for example after reading  “Miss
Maple’s Seeds last fall”, children became fascinated by the knowledge that Eliza
Wheeler had created the pictures and story from her imagination.

As one of our respondent said that;

“In this time of pandemic, I can say that I already adopt myself to this new setting, working in
the daylight and teacher for the night.”

Theme: Find Ways to sustain needs

Inadequate involvement of parents and families to support children’s distance learning activities
at home is predominantly due to parents limited time and ability to accompany children in their
learning. Two factors are economic and social is not uncommon to be a severe obstacle and
challenge of the implementation of education. Parents are busy working in various professions
and types of work to earn income to cover the cost of meeting the family’s needs, so they do not
have enough time to accompany the children in their learning.
As remarked by one of the respondents;

“We think of any ways to provide the things that we needed for our everyday living. When my
husband had enough money, I will be the one who budget that money for our everyday expenses.
In this time of pandemic, I can say that I already adopt myself to this new setting, working in the
daylight and teacher for the night.”

Another response of one of the respondents;

“After work I have to follow health protocols for the safety of my kid unlike the years where
there is no pandemic, you can hug your kid after work period. My husband and I had also
difficulties to provide our daily need due to cause of pandemic. Where in there are lots of
establishment that are closed. In order to maintain our needs we need to budget our money.”

This has become a tough routine for the parents working since they have to ensure their
children’s education at the same time. The struggle to balance parent employment demands and
learners needs was the single-most commonly reported struggle. Majority of the respondents
noted difficulties with completing job-related tasks and supporting their child(ren) in completing
schoolwork during COVID. However, despite these difficult changes, it can be noted that parents
still appear to be open about the opportunities. Bubb and Jones (2020) found out that parents and
children were quick to adapt to remote learning and it was well-received by them. Bubb and
Jones (2020) found out that parents and children were quick to adapt to remote learning and it
was well-received by them.

Sub Theme: Unceasing love of family

Parents have difficulty balancing time between daily work and mentoring children’s learning
activities at home and complaining about complexity of carrying out the role of teacher at home.
Some parents claim that there are situations where children are more submissive and respectful
to teachers at school than parents at home.

As explained by one of the respondents;

“I had a tough time at first, aside from my other commitments, we all know that each parents
have struggles to tutor their children because this children thinks that they are just their parents
not their teachers. To convince my kid, I will say “it’s only 1 or 2 hours then after that you can
play.” In this time of pandemic I had a hard time to adjust in this kind of setting but after 2 years
I learned to adopt myself in our new living.”

Another response to one of the respondents;

“I don’t have many options, well what’s done is done. My family will die in starvation if we are
not going to think any ways to provide our family needs if there are available jobs, I mean any
jobs. I as the mother of the family, I have to do what I should do and finish all my commitments
in our house as early as I could so that I can tutor and guide my children in their modules.”

Jaiswal (2017) stated that parents play an active role in nurturing the development of their
children. They provide financial support, emotional support, material support, and motivational
support. Weis et al. (2006) added that through the involvement of parents, the children develop
not only cognitive and social skills but also positive affective domain. Within the current context,
Zainuddin et al. (2020) that remote learning at home offers an opportunity for parents and
children to be with each other. This learning process occurring at home does not only offer
physical attachment but also emotional bond.

“Parental involvement and investment have significant effect on students’ self-concept and
academic achievement in Elementary School” (Ho & Kwong, 2013). Parental involvement in a
child’s education is consistently positively related to a child’s academic performance (Topor et
al., 2010).