The situation of school children during the school closures in the pandemic: Results of two parent surveys

To learn how school children spent the two periods of Corona-related school closures in spring 2020 and early 2021, we surveyed over 1'000 parents in June 2020 and over 2'000 parents in February/March 2021. During the school closures in early 2021, school children spent an average of 4.3 hours per day on school-related activities. This is almost three-quarters of an hour more than during the initial school closures in spring 2020, but three hours less than during a typical school day before the COVID-19-pandemic. Our time-use surveys find that school children spent more time each day watching TV, playing computer games, and using their cell phones than learning for school. The share ofstudents who had daily online instruction for the whole class (e.g., via video) increased from 6 percent in spring 2020 to 26 percent in early 2021. However, 39 percent of students continued to have such online classes at most once a week. The surveys furthermore include assessments of the effectiveness of learning at home, mental stress, physical inactivity, social skills, independent learning, and digital literacy. The results are also examined for differences by academic achievement and family background.