Home Literacy Initiatives of Middle School Families During the 2020 Quarantine Period: Transformation in Education?

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic changed everything almost overnight for students and their families. The purpose of this qualitative case study, thus, was to investigate the views of families about the student change in education for their middle school children, particularly literacy practices, during the pandemic. Drawing on Bourdieu's (1984) theoretical framework of cultural capital, coupled with economic status, funds of knowledge, and crisis management, we conducted interviews with four parents. Using the in vivo coding data analysis method, we identified some key preliminary findings: all-day happy hour, the strange disconnection between teachers and parents, and soft and hard approaches to school-home literacy. Participants revealed very distinctive dispositions to make this "school-home" education work on their own. These parental dispositions and new meaning-making from their children's education developed into what we referred to as "parentagogy," as they determined for themselves the skills they would need to use to help their children succeed in their new roles as parent and educators. This study confirms the importance of parental value in education.