“This is the first time as a foreigner that I have had such a strong connection to the state”: Parents’ voices on Icelandic school staying open in the time of COVID-19

Abstract

Iceland is one of a handful of countries that elected to keep their preschools and compulsory schools at least partially open throughout the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. By doing so, Icelandic officials sought to maintain a sense of routine for children and minimize the social and economic complications now threatening other nations after months of school closures. This study explores how parents responded to the government strategy of continuing children’s schooling in a time of crisis. We aim to understand parents’ perspectives based on their levels of trust and the strength of their information and social network by asking how they accessed and interpreted information from Icelandic authorities during this time. Using social capital theory, we examine parents’ confidence in the government response strategy, their connectedness to Icelandic societal norms, and their social and economic concerns due to an unprecedented global crisis. We conducted an online survey in May 2020, with closed-ended and open-ended questions targeting Icelandic and immigrant parents, yielding 356 completed responses and accounting for 569 preschool and compulsory-age children. Most respondents were female and well-educated, and about half were native Icelandic and half were with an immigrant background. Findings indicate that the majority of the Icelandic and immigrant parents who responded were optimistic and trusted the schools’ and authorities’ recommendations. While few parents felt the burden of further exposing their children to infection, there was a strong societal pressure to follow social norms and behavior as recommended by the Icelandic authorities and keep children in school. This study contributes to our understanding of the significance of parental social networks for civic engagement in the time of COVID-19.