The Lewis College

479 Magsaysay Avenue Cogon Sorsogon City

College of Teacher Education

PARENT’S RESPONSE ON DISTANCE LEARNING (Modular Type)

IN ELEMENTARY PUPILS OF SORSOGON CITY
YEAR 2020-2021

GROUP 7

Cristy Beranio
Albert Grefal Matandag
Jennelyn De Guzman Mirabueno
Krianne Divina Tayam
Mary- Ann Ducay Canlas
Jorylene Enteria
Melody Natańo Escobedo
Eryl Derilo Escaros
Rosilyn Gripon Garces
Dian Guevarra Labayani
Daisy Espallardo Bandojo
 Chapter I
Introduction

The COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus, was first confirmed in
Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019. This virus has spread rapidly all over
the world and caused many deaths, so the World Health Organization (WHO) set it as a
pandemic on March 11, 2020.In the Philippines, the first suspected case was investigated on
January 22, 2020, and 633 suspected cases were reported as of March 1, 2020. Of them 183 were
in National Capital Region of Manila, of whom many were admitted at San Lazaro Hospital.
To curb the spread of COVID-19, the government has opted to employ quarantine
protocols and temporarily shut down their educational institutions. As a consequence, more than
a billion learners have been affected worldwide. Among this number are over 28 million Filipino
learners across academic levels that have to stay at home and comply with the Philippine
government quarantine measures (UNESCO, 2020). Nearly 200 countries shutdown schools with
over 90% of these learners ranging from early years through higher education facing some sort
of disruption to their education. Face to face engagement of students and teachers within the
school has also been suspended. Many teachers and families, and learners have been unprepared
for this sudden shift, bringing some of the hardships and issues of increased parental
involvement to the surface while engaging and trying to assist their children in various levels and
types of distance learning.
As the Philippine’s Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary, Leonor Briones
quipped, “Education must continue even in time of crisis whether it may be calamity, disaster,
emergency, quarantine, or even war”. Education is essential to every people and the continuity of
learning can contribute to the normalization of activities in the country.
Due to the corona virus, distance learning is typically the style of teaching utilized by
colleges and universities, and is now being adopted by the high school and elementary students
as well. One of the most often used terms after the pandemic is the term “new normal”. The new
normal in education is the increased use of online learning tools.
Distance learning refers to a learning delivery modality, where learning takes place
between the teacher and the learners who are geographically remote from each other during
instruction. This modality has three types: Modular Distance Learning (MDL), Online Distance
Learning (ODL), and TV/Radio-Based Instruction. (Quinones, 2020).
Modular learning is the most popular type of Distance Learning. In the Philippines, this
learning modality is currently used by all public schools because according to a survey
conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd), learning through printed and digital
modules emerged as the most preferred distance learning method of parents with children who
are enrolled this academic year (Bernardo, J 2020). This is also in consideration of the learners in
rural areas where internet is not accessible for online learning.

Background of the Study

In modular learning, it involves individualized instruction that allows learners to use self-
learning modules in print or digital format, whichever is applicable in the context of the learner.
It includes learner’s materials, textbooks, activity sheets, study guides and other study materials.
Distance learning and the parent’s response on modular distance learning in elementary
pupils is the main subject of this study, the researchers will look into how these two correlate
with each other; how the parents will reply and share their perceptions about the distance
learning that is being experienced by their children. The result of this research will provide some
intervention or solution to what parents feel about distance learning. To further understand the
modular distance learning, the followings are some studies done by previous researchers.
According to a DepEd survey conducted in July 2020, 71 percent of parents or 8.8
million, prefers modular learning for their children over other distance learning modes. The
Department of Education also said modules are the “backbone” of distance learning and blended
learning, as these would become the main instrument for instruction to be supplemented by TV,
radio or video lessons. In the survey, it shows that parents most likely like modular distance
learning than any other distance learning. They prefer learning and studying materials like
modules over using online tools, probably because of financial aspects.
Since education is no longer held within the school, parents serve as partners of teachers
in education. Parents play a vital role as home facilitators. Their primary role in modular learning
is to establish a connection and guide the child (FlipsScience, 2020). Parental involvement is an
important factor for student achievement in traditional school settings. Parent support has
performed significant contributions to the success of learners in distance learning. On the other
hand, parents might take this an opportunity to feel more connected to their child’s work while
others see this as an additional burden.
For Dr. Servito (2020), parents or guardians should be responsible for interacting with
teachers, barangay representatives, and other stakeholders to acquire various materials and
resources needed by the learner like the modules and textbooks, regularly check the child’s
workweek plan and make sure that the learner sticks to their schedule, prepare a conducive
learning study space for the learning and give appropriate praises, encouragement and rewards to
heighten their child’s motivation to learn.
Parents and guardians will face various challenges in fulfilling their roles. The first
challenge lies in the fact that parents and guardians have varying skills, knowledge and
qualifications. Parents or adults are literate enough to be functional to the community but it does
not mean that they are already qualified to teach. That is why parents will need a lot of effort to
teach their children, they will serve as the teacher with more knowledge.
 The use of modules encourages independent study. One of the benefits of using modules
for instruction is the acquisition of better self-study or learning skills among students. Students
engage themselves in learning the concepts presented in the module. They develop a sense of
responsibility in accomplishing the tasks provided in the module. With little or no assistance
from others, the learners progress on their own. They are learning how to learn; they are
empowered (Nardo, M.T.B, 2017). Other advantages include safety, efficiency, accessibility of
time and place, and adaptability of instructional materials. Disadvantages of these are sense of
isolation, lack of interaction and lack of motivation.
The parents of elementary pupils play an important part of nourishing the child’s
learning’s especially there is a pandemic. Children and parents may be adjusting from the
traditional school set up they were used to. Elementary pupils in Sampaloc, Balogo, and
Bibincahan Sorsogon City are only one of the barangays that experiencing modular distance
learning. Parent’s response, challenges, worries, and strategies will be presented in this study
with precision and authenticity. The observance and investigation of these study lead to produce
this research. The researcher aims to show the government and the school on the insights and
what the parents feel of modular distance learning. The researchers of the study will investigate
and find answers to the questions with the help of the involvement of the parents.
Statement of the Problem
This study aims to investigate the parent’s response on distance learning (modular type)
in Elementary pupils of Sorsogon City, along with the challenges that the parents encounter in
guiding their children in modular learning and the strategies that they can use to guide their
children in answering their module effectively.
Specifically, it finds answers to the following questions:

1. What are the response of parents about modular type of learning?

2. What parents do to support their child’s learning?
3. What is the biggest challenge of the parents in guiding their child/children on modular
learning during this pandemic?
4. What strategy parents take to assure that their child/children is/are doing his/her module
effectively?
5. What is the difference between the guidance of parents in their child’s learning during
face to face classes, in today’s modular learning?
6. What are the worries of the parents on modular type of learning?
Scope and Delimitation
The study mainly focused on the response of parents on distance learning (modular type)
of elementary pupils. The data collection conducted to 30 selected parents in Brgy. Balogo,
Bibincahan and Sampaloc Sorsogon City. The study conducted from 2020-2021.
The main source of data is through an interview. It mainly focused on parent’s response,
support, worries, challenges, guidance and strategies in modular type of learning.
Significance of the Study
This study is beneficial to the following:
The students will benefit from this study that will serve as a guidance for them on how to
overcome hardships and challenges that they encounter in terms of distance learning (modular
type). It may also help students on how they can be able to manage their time in this pandemic.
This will provide teachers a useful and helpful strategies in teaching distance learning
and an eye opener for them on how the students together with the parents struggle in this type of
learning.
The parents as the respondents will understand on how modular type of learning should
be teach to their children. This study may also serve as their guidelines on how to provide their
child’s learning in the middle of this crisis.
The administrators will benefit from this study that will serve as a realization for them
that they must improve the quality of education and create a program or seminars that will serve
as a briefing for the parents, teachers and students on how this modular distance learning should
be taught and learn without the presence of school.
The community will benefit from this study that will serve as facts on what the students
and parents are going through on modular distance learning during this pandemic and how a
certain community can help in this matter.
The future researchers will benefit from this study through gathering data with facts that
is presented in this study that may serve as basis of their present study.
Definition of Terms
The following are defined conceptually and operationally.

Challenge. It is a stimulating task or problem (Reed, 2017). As used in the study it refers to the
factors that affects the learning of the students using modular type of learning.
Face to face classes. It can be a passive learning environment. In a traditional lecture style class,
information is sometimes fed to the student and passed back to the instructor through written
proctored assessments. The environment is also physical. Both student and instructor have the
ability to see, hear and pick up on physical cues and body language (Broome, 2021). As used in
the study it refers to a class where the students and teachers meet physically in the classroom.
Guidance. It is an advice or information aimed at resolving a problem or difficulty, especially as
given by someone in authority (Sunstone Education, 2021). As used in the study it refers on how
the parents attended their children while answering their modules.
Modular Distance Learning. Features individualized instruction that allows learners to use self-
learning modules(SLMs) in print or digital format/electronic copy (Malaya, 2020). As used in
the study it refers to a type of learning where the students use modules as an alternative to face to
face classes due to the pandemic.
Module. Can be defined as a unit, chapter, topic, or segment of instruction (Boise State
University, 2021). As used in the study it refers to the papers that contains lessons.
Pandemic. It is defined as the worldwide spread of a new disease (Lockett, March 25, 2020). As
used in the study it refers to the current situation of the world due to the continuous spreading of
COVID-19.
Parents. It refers to the one that begets or brings forth offspring that provide the needs. As used
in the study, the parents support their children in modular learning.
Strategy. It is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or over all aim (Rosser,
2019). As used in the study it refers to the way of parents for their students to give attention in
answering their modules.
Support. It is to approve and help someone or something hold and bear weight. As it is used in
the study, it refers to assist the children through their modular learning. (Macmillan Dictionary,
2021)
Worries. It is to make someone feel nervous and upset. As used in the study, it refers to the
concern of the parents on dealing distance learning.
Conceptual Framework
The focus of this study was undertaken by the following conceptual framework shown in
figure 1.

Input. This focused on the data that the researchers wanted to gather from parents. This will
allow the researchers to collect the insights of parents with regards on the modular type of
learning.
Process. The variable that will be used of researchers to gather data.
Output. This focused on the aims of researchers in conducting the study. It provides the
relevance of the study.

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Parent’s Response This may serve as an eye
opener to the
Parent’s support
community to serve as a
child’s learning
guidance in the future
Parent’s strategy and will provide
Questionnaire
awareness on how
Parent’s worries
parents support their
Parent’s guidance child’s learning. This may
also educate parents in
Parent’s challenges
handling their child’s
learning behavior.

FEEDBACK

Figure 1. The Variables of the Present Study

Theoretical Framework
There are some theories relevant to the “Parent’s Response on Distance Learning
(Modular type) in Elementary Pupils of Sorsogon City”. Theories were used to obtain substantial
information that would support the researcher’s theory.
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory views human development as a socially mediated
process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs and problem-solving strategies
through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society. Vygotsky
proposed that human learning is a social process. A learner may or may not learn alone, but will
learn better with more knowledgeable others.
One of the principles of Vygotsky’s work is more knowledgeable other, it refers to
someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner with respect to
a particular task, process and concept. In today’s modular distance learning, the more
knowledgeable other is considered to be the parents or guardians of the learner. They are the
partners of the teachers in education to nourish and help the child in learning the lessons and
discussions from the study materials that are given by the school. At home, the parents which can
be the mother, father or guardian is held as the facilitator.
Additionally, the concept of more knowledgeable other is integrally related to the second
principle which is the Zone Proximal Development. The ZPD has been defined as “ the distance
between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the
level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or
in collaboration with more capable peers” ( Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86)
The importance of scaffolding especially for primary schooler’s is needed. The
supervision and guidance of parents to their child is a step for children’s to cope up with their
studies. Elementary children need aid in learning and particularly if they encounter abstract or
unfamiliar concepts. Children may learn with the help those people around them which they had
interaction with.
Endnotes

Reed(2017) Challenge. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/challenge

Merriam Webster(2015) Parents. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/parent
Macmillian Dictionary (2e020) Support.
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/support
Macmillian Dictionary (2020) Worries.
https://www.macmilliandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/worries
Lockett( 2020) Pandemic. https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-a-pandemic
Rosser(2019) Strategy. https://www.quora.com/Strategy-is-a-plan-of-action-or-policy-designed-
to-acheve-a-major-or-overall-aim-Can-you-explain-and-give-examples
Joaquin JJB, Biana HT and Dacela MA (2020) The Philippine Higher Education Sector in the
Time of Covid-19. Front.Educ.5:576371. doi:10.3389/feduc.2020.576371
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2020.576371/full

Meg Adonis (2020, October 05). Teachers, parents brace for double workload, unfamiliar tools
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1343601/teachers-parents-brace-for-double-workload-unfamiliar-
tools
FlipScience, (2020, October 5). Tagapagdaloy’: How Filipino Parents can help ensure successful
modular distance learning.
https://www.flipscience.ph/news/features-news/tagapagdaloy-modular-distance-learning/
Broome(2021), Face-to-Face Instruction. https://www.3sunybroome.edu/online/students/face-to-
face-vs-online-instruction/
Malaya(2020) Modular Distance Learning. https://www.whatalife.ph/modular-distance-learning-
heres-what-you-nedd-to-know/amp/
Ysthr Rave Pe Dangle and Johnine Danganan Sumaoang :The Implementation of Modular
distance Learning in the Philippine Secondary Public Schools. www.dpublication.com
Bernardo, J. (2020, July 30). Modular Learning most preferred parents: DepEd. ABS-CBN
News.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/30/20/modular-learning-most-peferred-by-parents-deped
 Chapter 2
Review of Related Literature
This chapter presents the related literature as well as studies indicating the similarities of
previous and present works. It also presents the differences of the present work to the previous
one to prove its worth as a research undertaking upon which it intends to innovate an
introduction.

Foreign Literature
The Place of Modular Systems among Foreign Language Teaching Materials
According to Mariani (2015), in other countries, due to lack of learning materials and
teachers that cannot often afford to spend vast amounts of time and energy to do the teaching
aids for each individual or group learners in such different situations they held the modular
teaching. By learning modules we here mean a series of self-need, and therefore flexibly
according to the needs and expectations of a particular learning/teaching situation.
Several studies (e.g., Bernard et al., 2014; Chigeza and Halbert, 2014; González-Gómez
et al., 2016; Israel, 2015; Northey et al., 2015; Ryan et al., 2016; Southard, Meddaug and Harris,
2015) have compared face-to-face teaching to online learning and/or blended learning in order to
try to define which of the formats provides, e.g., the highest learning outcome, creates the most
satisfied students or has the highest rate of course completion. The main focus will be on
summing up the results developed by these studies and discussing some of the limitations said to
accrue to comparative studies of teaching formats. In the literature reviewed, it is often shown
that teaching and learning are influenced by more than the teaching format alone as many other
factors play significant roles.
The terms blended learning and hybrid learning sometimes seem to be used
interchangeably (Ryan et al., 2016). According to Bernard et al. (2014), who builds on Graham’s
definition (2005), blended learning can be defined as “the combination of instruction from two
historically separate models of teaching and learning: traditional face-to-face learning systems
and distributed learning systems” (p. 91). In some cases, blended learning is seen as the more
effective counterpart to the other two formats used separately (Pellas and Kazandis, 2015;
González-Gómez et al., 2016) characterized as face-to-face and online learning being “optimally
integrated” (Israel, 2015) or combining their “benefits” (Adams, Randall and Traustadóttir,
2015). Moreover, several studies seem to agree that blended learning is definable according to
the relative time spent on respectively online and face-to-face instruction in courses. Thus, at
least 50 percent of total course time dedicated to F2F instruction appears to be the lower limits of
in-class components in the blended learning format (Bernard et al., 2014).
 For instance, the face-to-face learning format is characterized as “traditional” by many of
the authors, referring to the fact that this is the format with the longest history of the three
formats and in relation to which online and blended learning represent a modern or innovative
intervention (e.g., Chigeza and Halbert, 2014; Adams, Randall and Traustadóttir, 2015; Pellas
and Kazandis, 2015; González-Gómez et al., 2016). Generally, its meaning derives from an
understanding of an instructional format that involves a physical classroom and the synchronous
physical presence of all participants (i.e., teachers and students). One study emphasizes that even
in-class use of computers and educational technology does not affect the definition of the face-
to-face format so as to change it into blended learning (Bernard et al., 2014).
Online learning is commonly defined in contradistinction to face-to-face learning (e.g.,
Ryan et al., 2016). Its most prominent feature is the absence of the classroom, which is replaced
by the use of technologies offering opportunities for out-of-class learning independent of time,
place and pace (Bernard et al., 2014; Chigeza and Halbert, 2014; Northey et al., 2015; Israel,
2015; Potter, 2015). Ryan et al. (2016) point out that “in the context of higher education, the
phrase online learning is often interpreted as referencing courses that are offered completely
online; [..]” (p. 286). Typically, the online learning setting is launched through so-called learning
management systems (LMS) or virtual learning environments (VLE) such as Moodle and
Blackboard (Pellas and Kazanidis, 2015).

Home Learning in Times of COVID

According to Bhamani (2020), from the time of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease
(COVID 19), people have been impacted in one way or the other. Countrywide lockdowns have
strongly impacted the lives of people of all occupations and all ages. The flare-up has also
affected the education system across the world and has altered the lives of 1,576,021,818
learners in 188 countries (UNESCO, 2020). The lockdowns have put an unprecedented challenge
on the governments to ensure that there should be continuity of learning (Chang & Yano, 2020).
Several countries have adopted different measures to deal with the educational crisis.
To combat the problems of the outbreak such as the education system, the educational
ministries and other stakeholders have taken a stand at national levels. Countries like Egypt,
France, Italy, United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are pursuing distance education
modalities via internet and online platforms for continuous education. China, Korea, Mexico,
Rwanda, Iran, Peru and Thailand are using massive open online course (MOOC) styled lessons.
The lessons are either delivered through apps, television or other media. Teachers have access to
train through these avenues as well (Chang & Yano, 2020). In order to ensure continues learning
of the child, a collaboration between the telecom industry, school networks at different levels and
the education ministry is needed (UNESCO, 2020). Governments have been launching (e.g.
Saudi Arabia and UAE) awareness campaigns on distance learning for parents, teachers,
administrators and students (Chang & Yano, 2020).
Equality and inclusivity are also being maintained in the education level of different
countries. The governments of China and South Korea are providing devices and printed
assignments to those cannot access to technology. (Chang & Yano, 2020; Giannini & Lewis,
2020). Children who cannot be taken care of at home are being taken care of in schools like
countries of France and Japan (Giannini & Lewis, 2020).
When parents and children collaborate in learning activities, bonding between parents
and children increases as they are able to spend much more time together. Such instances allow
parents to become a source of comfort in easing pain and worry and engage in conversations
with their children to help them in alleviating their anxiety. It has been recommended that
parents should be taught interventions on how to provide emotional support to children at times
of uncertainty (Wang, Zhang, Zhao, Zhang, & Jiang, 2020). Online schooling system with
parental support guidelines could help in improving the bond between children and their parents.
The implementation of an education system at the national level in response of
coronavirus outbreak and schools being closed can be supplemented with a curriculum that
involves parental guidance and COVID-19 related awareness. This would help in improving the
education systems at large and reassure learning attainment in home settings. Such programs can
also yield benefits in students autonomous learning development to get a sense of responsibility
towards self-growth and development. Very recently, the government has launched official tele-
education via its national television broadcasting. However, the impact of the tele-education and
the quality of curriculum delivery is yet to be researched. Until recently and even at current
times, most parents are found to be facilitating learning at home and research around it is limited,
especially in the context of COVID-19 (Bhamani, Makhdoom, et.al, 2020).

Local Literature
The Role of the Parents in Modular Distance Learning
According to Lebaste, Vallerie (2020) in a distance learning approach, parents would
have to play an active role in the learning process. They would be the one to facilitate and guide
their children through the modular lessons that would be sent to students while doing remote
learning.
The modular approach situates Filipino students to learn in the comfort of their homes.
Limited contact with teachers will place parents or guardians as the learners’ model. Parents are
their first teachers and they have a key role in shaping up their character. A balance of education
at home and school molds a students’ actual learning, parental encouragement had played a
crucial role in successful students. their role is not limited to home but involvement in school
activities too. parents are partners of teachers in education. They are “home facilitators”, the
“tagapagdaloy” (channel), but they will not teach the subject matter. The parents’ primary role in
modular learning is to establish a connection and guide the child. Parents or guardians should be
responsible for interacting with teachers, barangay representatives, and other stakeholders to
acquire the various materials and resources needed by the learner (i.e., modules or textbooks);
regularly check the child’s workweek plan and make sure that the learner sticks to their schedule;
prepare a conductive learning study space for the learner; and give appropriate praises,
encouragement, and rewards to heighten their child’s motivation to learn.
If [parents and teachers] are one in the purpose that the child should learn and should
learn excellently, then we have to work together and fulfill our different roles. Parents now have
the important task of ensuring that their children receive quality education without compromising
their safety. Although education takes a major hit as classrooms are forced to close their door to
eager students, countless parents are stepping up to support their children who are adjusting to
the new set-up for the incoming school year.
Father and Mother play important role in our mental, physical, social, financial, and
career development. Parents are the most precious gift of God for us. They help us in every step
of our life, they trained us very hard style for the future challenges. We should respect them and
their decisions in life. Parents and teachers have a common goal: to facilitate the best educational
experience possible for students. When parents and teachers communicate with one another, they
are able to work together towards this common goal. Each party contributes their own specific
skills and knowledge toward meeting the objectives.
School, teachers and parents play vital role in holistic development of the child. Parents
are the first mentor of the child and the teacher is the second, parents play important role in
encouraging and motivating their kids to learn. Good parental support helps child to be positive,
healthy and good life long learner.

Modular Approach
Modular teaching is one of the most widespread and recognized teaching learning
techniques in many countries including other Western countries and Asian region. Modular
approach is used almost in all subjects like natural science, especially in biology and medical
education and even in social sciences as well as in computers education. It considers the
individual differences among the learners which necessitate the planning for adoption of the
most appropriate teaching techniques in order to help individual students grow and develop at
her/his own pace. (Sejpal, 2013)
Modular instruction is one in teaching approaches where the students have to learn
everything in the module using his own effort at his own pace. This method differs from the
traditional one where in the teacher presents the lesson and the students just listen to learn the
concepts that the teacher presented. To surpass the difficulties faced by the students in the
traditional classroom situation, modular approach may be a good alternative since it is student-
centered, self-paced, and requires no note-taking, (Gonzales, 2015).

According to Magsambol (2020), to make sure that learning remains unhampered, DepEd
will be implementing a distance learning approach – a learning delivery mode where interaction
takes place between the teacher and the students who are geographically remote from each other
during instruction. This means lessons will be delivered outside the traditional face-to-face setup.
As technology and internet connectivity remain a problem for most students, DepEd will be
providing printed module materials for them. Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio
said that almost 13 million public school students or 59% of roughly 22 million enrollees this
year will be using printed modules. That would require felling an enormous number of trees to
produce paper. Under DepEd's printed modular learning system, students will be provided with
self-learning materials (SLMs). Teachers will be giving students SLMs per quarter. That will
mean students will be receiving 4 sets of SLMs for one whole academic year.
The SLMs will be distributed to parents before the opening of classes. For students
whose parents are not available to get these from schools, there will be designated pick up points
in their barangays. The distribution will be done at least 4 times for the school year. Aside from
SLMs, workplans will also be distributed to students. But unlike SLMs, this will be given to
students weekly as this indicates the schedule of lessons and activities the students will have to
do every week. Again, parents or anyone who will guide the students at home will be the ones to
get this from teachers or in designated pick-up points. Accomplished activity sheets will be
retrieved by teachers from parents. They will have to submit the activity sheets to teachers in
school or in designated pick-up points. This kind of setup, however, poses risks. Teachers and
parents raised concerns over using the modular learning approach due to fears of contracting the
coronavirus. Even though the DepEd said they will coordinate with the local government units
(LGUs) for the distribution of the learning modules, especially in high-risk areas, teachers will
still have to retrieve them in designated pick-up points. This means they will have to go out and
expose themselves to their communities. Students' learning progress will be assessed through
summative exercises and performance tasks. DepEd said schools will not be holding periodical
examinations for this school year to prevent "distance cheating."
While DepEd acknowledges the importance of periodical tests in assessing students'
understanding of the lessons, Education Undersecretary Diosdado San Antonio said that the
pandemic compelled them to be "more creative and flexible in implementing summative
assessment schemes without sacrificing assessment’s credibility." Despite the shift to distance
learning, DepEd earlier said that there will be no changes in the subject areas that will be taught
for the school year 2020-2021. Schools, however, have the liberty to adjust what subjects will be
taught per month, provided that all 8 core subjects will be covered every grading quarter, DepEd
said.

Related Study
According to the study “The Effects of Parental Use of Learning-Style Preference
Strategies On Parent and Student Attitudes toward Homework Assistance and Student Academic
Self-Perception (Ewings,2012) Studies have shown that when parents are involved in their
children's learning, there are positive effects on student achievement, attitude, and self-concept.
According to Epstein (1986), definitions of parental involvement at the elementary level include
engaging in learning activities at home such as reading skills assistance and reviewing
homework for competency and accuracy. Monitoring how children spend time out of school and
engaging them in conversations about their day are also beneficial.
Ewings 2012 conclude that when parents are involved in the learnings of the child there
are positive effects on student achievement, and self- concept in which they are guided by their
parents while the present studies says that parents have a big contribution on the child learning
where a child have a goal to attain in a day with the help of the parents, students can fully focus
in the learning materials with the guidance of their parents.

The study about Home Learning in Times of COVID: Experiences of Parents (Bharuchi,
Ali et.al,2020). It was revealed that parents found sudden closure of the schools extremely
disturbing and they were concerned about their children’s routine. Parents believed that through
schools, a formally structured routine is followed on most days of the week and this helps
children to understand the importance of time, scheduling and doing assignments on a given
timeline. All these elements of systematic routine help them shape their future work habits.
Bharuchi, Ali et.al,2020 culminate the experiences of parents about Home Leaning in
times of Covid that it has a positive and negative outcome in the child’s routine with the
involvement of the school. The positive effect of this is parents believed that through school
children will follow a formally structured routine on most of the days which help students to
understand the importance of time, scheduling and doing assignments on a given timeline where
it will be a benificial to shape the future work habits of a child, on the other hand , the present
study states that 50 % of the parents agree that through schools, a formally structured routine is
followed on most days of the week and this helps children to understand the importance of time,
scheduling and doing assignments on a given timeline and 50 % of it found sudden closure of the
schools extremely disturbing and they were concerned about their children’s routine.

According to a few parents, school plays a significant role in disciplining children. On the
other hand, parents also expressed that they feel children are now more responsive to their health
and hygiene practices and religiously follow hygiene routines without reinforcement. However, a
scheduled learning routine is still a major gap in times of COVID according to a few parents.
Many felt that children were deprived of their access to schools, friends, exams and sports due to
countrywide closure and lockdown. Parents were concerned that a major change their kids have
had to see is an abrupt transition from physical classes to online classes, something that a vast
majority of children in Pakistan are not used to. The discipline that kids learn while getting ready
for school, engaging in various activities, using different methods to learn their subjects in
classes is difficult to maintain when education has become remote. A large number of parents
were worried that in the wake of the pandemic, the social development of their children was
affected at a deep level. Especially in the case of younger children, loss of interaction with peers
and their normal environment had influenced the development of their social and emotional
skills. Access to parks, libraries and other public places was no longer available and this could
negatively affect their confidence level. Parents also identified that physical interactions like
shaking hands, hugging, celebrating in parties, eating and praying together are important for
tolerance and harmony, and hence play a key role in their kids’ social development. At the same
time, they also realized that this could be turned into an opportunity to increase family bonding
and engage in various activities together (Kaleem and Ahmed, 2020).
The study of Kaleem and Ahmed (2020) on how parents react on home learning of their
child shows that most of the parents are worried about the social and physical development of
their child, loss of physical interaction with peers and loss of physical activities in school may
affect their child’s social and emotional skills. In the same manner, the present study investigated
on what are some worries of the parents as well as their response on modular distance learning.

Local Study
According to the study of Pe Dangle and Sumaoang (2020), to further improve the
Modular Distance Learning are reduction of activities from the modules, more examples for each
subject, home visitation oce a week, limited face-to-face class or Blended Learning, provision of
coloured printed modules, immediate information given by teachers on what to answer in the
modules, online consultation with students, responsiveness of teachers through the use of social
media platform, and leniency of teachers in the submission of students’ outputs. The proposed
solutions of parents to identified challenges in Modular Distance Learning are reduce/lessen
activities in the modules, take out the unnecessary exercises, Online Learning (a Zoom meeting
with the whole class with the teacher going through the modules with the students, answering
questions and learning the topics together), simplify the modules, implement blended Learning,
consistent instructions in the modules as much as possible, limit group activities, give each
student ample time to complete all the modules, and give more examples and explanations to
each of the given activity.
The study conducted by Pe Dangle and Sumaong (2020), concludes that to further
improve the Modular Distance Learning teachers must improve the given activities to students
and must have a daily or weekly conversation not only to students but also to parents in terms of
dealing with this type of learning. On the other hand, the present study proposed that parents,
teachers and students must be hands on the learning process of the child. This study recommend
that DepEd should decrease the activities that must be done in a week to avoid depression in the
child health. Through this, this can help the students and the parents who were guiding their
children to cope up with the challenges that they encounter in answering the module.

Modular Learning is the most popular type of Distance Learning. In the Philippines, this
learning modality is currently used by all public schools because according to a survey
conducted by the Department of Education (DepEd) (2020), learning through printed and digital
modules emerged as the most preferred distance learning method of parents with children who
are enrolled in academic year (Bernardo,2020). This is also in consideration of the learners in
rural areas where internet is not accessible for online learning. The teacher takes the
responsibility of monitoring the progress of the learners. The learners may ask assistance from
the teacher via e-mail, telephone, text message/instant messaging among others. Where possible,
the teacher shall do home visits to learners needing remediation or assistance. Printed modules
will be delivered to students, parents and guardians by the teachers or through the Local
Government Officials.
As the survey conducted by the DepEd (2020) states that, modular learning is the most
essential way to transmit learning to students in this time of crisis. Parents and students can
message teachers through online messages and teachers must have a home visits to observe
student’s learning competencies. As the present study concludes that modular learning can also
be difficult not only for the students but most specially to parents who will already be the one to
guide their child in answering their modules.
Endnotes

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