Parental involvement in digital home-based learning during COVID-19: an exploratory study with Korean parents

Despite the significant shift to home-based learning (HBL) during the COVID-19 pandemic, little is known about the process for parental involvement in and satisfaction with digital HBL. Based on Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s model of parental involvement, this exploratory study proposed and tested a model that includes (a) motivational beliefs for involvement, (b) life context, and (c) digital parenting styles and digital media self-efficacy as contributors to parental involvement behaviours in digital HBL. The model also examines whether parental involvement behaviours influence their satisfaction with digital HBL and perceived child achievement. Participants comprised 423 Korean parents of children who experienced remote learning at home during the pandemic. The results of structural equation modelling indicate that the level of warmth in digital parenting styles had the strongest effect on parental involvement behaviours. However, more parental involvement behaviours did not lead to significantly higher satisfaction with digital HBL or more positive perceptions of child achievement. Overall, this study suggests that the mechanism of HBL during the COVID-19 pandemic needs new interpretations since the decision to move to HBL was not voluntarily made by parents but by an external force.