This study is intended to understand teaching quality of English student teachers when they conduct their teaching practicum. Teaching quality is conceptualized based on the principles of effective teaching resulted by teacher effectiveness studies. Thes IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 43 The Challenges of Learning Assistance Encountered by Parents in a Rural Area WIWIK WIJAYANTI, 1 RAHMANIA UTARI 2 , AND WIDIA MURNI WIJAYA 3 Abstract The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) has been determined as pandemic causing schools around the world to be closed. This research aimed to observe the constraints of remote learning in rural areas during the Covid-19 pandemic. This quantitative research involved 280 parents in a rural area of Magelang city, Indonesia. The samples were chosen by using the proportional area random sampling technique. The research data were analyzed statistically and descriptively. The research results show that time allocation and parents’ academic capability accompanying children were the most challenging factors. Moreover, many children have emotional issues while doing assignments at home. Related to school, curricular information to parents and the supply of learning facility assistance were insufficient. Also, the most prominent problems in the role of parents in assisting children in learning were parents’ limited time and their low academic ability which should be considered by policymakers. Keywords Accompanying children learning; learning constraint; remote learning; student behavior Article History Received 30 July 2021 Accepted 18 February 2022 How to Cite Wijayanti, W., Utari, R., & Wijaya, W.M. (2022). The challenges of learning assistance encountered by parents in a rural area. Indonesian Research Journal in Education |IRJE|, 6(1), 43–57. https://doi.org/10.22437/irje .v6i1.14292 1Program Studi Manajemen Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia; wiwik_wijayanti@uny.ac.id 2Program Studi Manajemen Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia. 3Program Studi Manajemen Pendidikan, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia. mailto:wiwik_wijayanti@uny.ac.id IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 44 Introduction The Covid-19 is determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic since this virus has been distributed to many countries, and this virus has been distributed quite rapidly. It has caused many casualties ( ). This virus is predicted WHO, 2021 to be transmitted through social activities that involve interaction between humans, which is the most significant cause of Covid-19 distribution. Consequently, like many other countries, the Indonesian government instructs temporary closing of schools until the condition gets better. Learning at home is then an operational alternative of learning deemed most reasonable. However, this leads to its consequence. This drastic and sudden change has disrupted school life and its stakeholders (Guri-Rosenblit, 2005; Putri, Purwanto, Pramono, . The research finds that the effectiveness of remote Asbari, Wijayanti & Hyun, 2020) learning is up to 73.9% from the teachers’ perspective ). The (Fauzi & Khusuma, 2020 problems causing the effectiveness less optimal, among others, are the limited facilities, non-optimal utilization of internet networks, lack of learning planning that affects its implementation and evaluation, and low collaboration with parents. Another research conducted by states that it is necessary to provide teachers, (Mahlangu, 2018; Daniel, 2020) students, and parents with skills for remote learning implementation. The research also recommends parents accompany students in their learning, and it requires government and school management’s support to facilitate the society to participate in proses remote learning. The other factors that also affect the effectiveness of remote learning are geographic and economic conditions. According to the result of research conducted by Basilaia and , learning at home activity widens the gap of education quality all this time Kvavadze (2020) . This research states that limited access to supporting (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020) instruments and teachers’ limited ability to manage to learn online is commonly found in rural areas. Also, student behavior in learning at home needs to be developed since being at home during the Covid-19 pandemic is interpreted as a school holiday. One of the rural areas with most of its society working as farmers is Ngablak District, Magelang Regency. This mountainous area adjacent to Mount Merbabu has 21 elementary/equal schools. Based on the preliminary study, not all schools implement internet-based remote learning. Many schools use modules, television, and radio broadcast to facilitate the delivery of teaching materials. On the other hand, the majority of the people in Ngablak District are Junior High School (SMP) graduates; thus, their capability in accompanying their children should become a concern for the school and the government. Accompanying children learning is one form of society’s participation in education. Parents’ involvement is part of social capital that supports the achievement of the government’s investment in education . The government’s appropriate intervention (You & Nguyen, 2011) to help the society, such as giving aid to the society, will be more effective when social capital is involved. Therefore, to what extent accompanying is carried out is an important matter to pay attention to. Accompanying is an assistance attempt carried out by family, especially parents, by playing the role of accompanying children to meet their needs and solve their problems in IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 45 support of optimizing child development . The importance of (Ireson & Rushforth, 2014) parents’ role in accompanying children’s learning proves that parents contribute to physical, emotional, social, intellectual, and spiritual development . (Lubis, Irwanto, & Harahap, 2019) Before the Covid-19 pandemic, it has long been acknowledged that parents’ existence was also the key to the success of a system of learning at home . (Berthelsen & Walker, 2008) Parents’ role in their children’s achievement is surely more important than before in the learning at home. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many parents feel the necessity to accompany their children learning becomes parents’ additional activity besides doing household work. For parents, taking the role of teacher at school is a special challenge. Parents’ success in accompanying children’s learning can be realized if parents accompany children learning patiently and wisely. Patience and wisdom are the supporting factors for the parents’ success in accompanying children learning. The parents need to know their children’s characteristics . Thus, they can guide their (You & Nguyen, 2011) children patiently and wisely. Parents must not shout at children when they have difficulty understanding lessons since shouting may take away children’s peace and joy, obstructing the learning process. Accompanying children learning at home must be optimized since it is the effort for successful remote learning. The supporting factors of remote learning consist of teachers making remote learning plans. School readily assists in alleviating parents such as internet quota to be used by students to access learning online, and teacher and parents’ capability of using technology as children’s medium of communication and learning . This research was conducted to determine the extent of the parents’ (Mahlangu, 2018) problem in accompanying children in remote learning during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research consisted of three questions research, there are 1) parent’s role in accompanying children learning during the learning at home policy, 2) student’s learning behavior, and 3) school effort to solve constraints in accompanying children learning at home. Literature Review Learning assistance Learning assistance by parents is a strategy to help and support children to succeed in learning at school . (Bray, Zhan, Lykins, Wang, & Kwo, 2014; Hille, Spieß, & Staneva, 2016) The wide prevalence of parental learning assistance at home has resulted in many studies, including parental assistance in helping children with homework and providing for children’s needs . Another study found (Shumow & Miller, 2001; Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008) that parental assistance is an important indicator of parental involvement in children’s education The role of parents in children’s learning is the (Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000). actions of parents who care about children’s education, including concern for children’s learning, understanding of children’s education, understanding of children’s education, understanding of children’s education, understanding of children’s education, understanding of children’s education, understanding with teachers, and support for children’s homework . As (Gonzalez-DeHass, Willems, & Holbein, 2005; You & Nguyen, 2011) Grolnick and suggested, the role of parents in children’s education can be seen from the Slowiaczek (1994) parents’ dedication, including time, money, and energy for the child’s life. There are three IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 46 types of parental roles ; 1) parental behavior is described in (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994) parental participation in school programs such as meetings between teachers and parents; 2) the attitude of parents is seen from their understanding of children’s education and their concern for the success of their children’s success, and 3) the responsibility of parents in facilitating and providing materials needed for children to learn such as books and other necessities. Thus, the role of parents in helping children’s learning is defined as parental involvement in children’s education. The role of parents can be in the form of time and effort in providing assistance and completing the child’s progress. This study focuses on the role of parents in assisting and helping children learn at home, covering the intensity of parents accompanying children to learn parental activities in assisting children in learning for moral, technical, and educational support. Remote learning Distance education is an educational experience where teachers and students are separated in space and time. It means that learning occurs outside of the institution’s area Distance learning is usually done using (Gunawardena, McIsaac, & Jonassen, 2008). electronic media to support distance learning or online . Distance (Guri-Rosenblit, 2005) learning can allow students to apply knowledge and skills by developing independent learning skills . Self-study has advantages, including time and (Corlett & Martindale, 2017) space flexibility, time-saving, and can save costs becoming cheaper. At the same time, the disadvantages of distance learning are the sense of isolation, lack of direct interaction, and limited infrastructure (Markova, Glazkova, & Zaborova, 2017; De Paepe, Zhu, & Depryck, . 2018) There are seven principles of good practice that can be implemented in distance learning in education according to including; 1) encouraging Baldwin and Jesús (2017) student contact; 2) encouraging cooperation among students; 3) triggering active learning; 4) giving prompt feedback; 5) emphasizing time on task; 6) promoting high expectations, and 7) respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. In supporting distance learning, things that need to be considered include adequate technological infrastructure, good internet connection, adequate electricity, and having the ability and skills to use electronic equipment (Mahlangu, 2018). Methodology Research design, site, and participants This research used a quantitative research approach to obtain information of parents accompanying children learning, student behavior, and effort carried out by school during the COVID-19 pandemic at elementary schools in rural areas. The samples were chosen using a proportional random sampling technique with a belief level of 90%. The population of 2920 people and referring to the Table of Krejcie & Morgan ), 292 (Isaac & Michael, 1997 IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 47 people were taken as samples. Out of the 292 samples, 280 questionnaires were returned by students’ parents in Ngablak District. The respondents’ profiles can be observed in table 1. Table 1. Respondents’ profiles Profile Percentage Age 20-30 years old 19% 31-40 years old 51% 41-50 years old 25% 51-60 years old 4% >61 1% Education SD (Elementary School)/Equal 37% SMP (Junior High School)/Equal 49% SMA (Senior High School)/Equal 11% S1 (Undergraduate program) 1% S2 (Graduate program) 1% Informal 1% Job Farmer 69% Labor 12% Merchant 4% Self-employed 2% Village Official 1% Private sector 3% Teacher 1% Unemployed 6% Range of Expenditure < Rp. 2,000,000 81% Rp. 2,000,000 – Rp. 4,000,000 18% Rp. 4,000,000 – Rp. 6,000,000 1% Level of use of online media Always 29% Often 32% Sometimes 36% Never 3% Use of television Always 3% Often 12% Sometimes 59% Never 25% Use of module/printed learning media Always 34% Often 43% Sometimes 21% Never 3% Data collection and analysis This research used a survey technique, and the data were collected through the distribution of questionnaires. Since all respondents could not access the internet, the IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 48 printed questionnaires were distributed directly. Questionnaires used a rating scale; validity and reliability were tested before taking the research’s main data. Each of the respondent’s responses was calculated; always (4), often (3), sometimes (2), and never (1). The item of the questionnaire was developed by adapting the theory of parental engagement continuum framework and the guidance in distance (Levinthal de Oliveira Lima & Kuusisto, 2020) learning modalities to real all children and youth during school closure, which focuses on low- and no-tech modalities to reach the most marginalized. The technique used to test the validity of the questionnaire was based on content validity, which shows that measurement covers a set of sufficient and representative items to reveal the concept. The content validity measurement in this research was determined by professionals (expert judgment) in reviewing problems; thus, the items developed can measure the content studied. Cronbach alpha coefficient formula was used to examine the instrument’s reliability: Where, α = Cronbach alpha coefficient k = number of valid items r = mean correlation between items 1 = constant Test on the reliability of all items of question uses the value 0.6 as a reference, that if α ≥ 0.6, the instrument is declared reliable. Data reliability was tested by comparing r alpha with r table, that if r alpha > r table, the data were expressed reliable. The Cronbach alpha value as the reliability test resulted in 30 respondents’ responses was 0.719. Therefore, we can conclude that the questionnaire questions were consistent or dependable. The analysis technique used was descriptive statistics. The researcher summed all respondents’ scores in each item of the question, and the cumulative average was calculated per sub-aspect. Besides calculating the index score, the researcher also calculates the frequency for the percentage of respondents’ responses in four criteria (always, often, sometimes, and never). Findings Parent’s role in accompanying children learning during the learning at home policy The research findings on parents’ role in accompanying children learning at home during the Covid-19 pandemic were divided into three aspects, namely: 1) parents’ role in accompanying children learning during the Learning at Home because of the Covid-19 Pandemic policy, 2) student’s learning behavior, and 3) school’s effort to solve the constraints in accompanying children learning at home. In parents’ role in accompanying children learning, below are the achieved average indexes of respective aspects. IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 49 Table 2. Parents’ role in accompanying children learning at home Aspect Sub-Aspect Index The intensity of parents accompanying children learning An effort to make time available for accompanying children learning 3.07 Time of accompanying children learning during the pandemic 2.70 Capability to allocate time for accompanying children learning 2.47 Accompanying habit before the pandemic and after pandemic takes place 2.91 Parents’ activity of accompanying children learning Variation of parents accompanying children learning during the pandemic 3.02 Moral, technical and facilities and infrastructure support Availability of supporting facilities of children learning at home 3.07 Parents’ academic capability in accompanying children learning during the pandemic 2.65 Parents’ knowledge of children learning styles and habit 3.02 Parents’ level of expectation of children learning at home during the pandemic 3.49 Parents’ emotion in accompanying children learning during the pandemic 3.18 From some sets of sub-aspects in Table 2, the three highest achieved average indexes are that of 1) parents’ expectation of children learning at home during the pandemic of 3.49, 2) parents’ emotion in accompanying children learning during the pandemic of 3.18, and 3) effort to make time available for accompanying children learning during the pandemic of 3.07 and the availability of supporting facilities of children learning at home also of 3.07. The three lowest achieved average indexes are 1) constraints in allocating time for accompanying children learning during the pandemic of 2.47, 2) parents’ academic capability in accompanying children learning during the pandemic of 2.65, and 3) time of accompanying children learning during the pandemic of 2.65. From the results of this research, it is found that most parents are well aware and have made an effort to allocate their time to accompany their children in learning or doing assignments at home. However, the problem mostly found in the respondents is the difficulty of arranging appropriate time between parents’ activities and children’s learning schedule. The aspect with the second-lowest index is parents’ academic capability, with a score of 2.65. This seems to be related to parents’ education level. Based on the respondents’ profiles data, 36% of respondents have Elementary School education, while 52% have Junior High School or equal education. The proportion of respondents who completed Senior High School/equal education is 11.5%, and only 1% has higher education. From the perspective of age, 51% of parents are of the first batch of Y or millennial generation, and the remainder is of X generation. Rural society’s education level indeed tends to be low; thus, parents’ capacity to guide their children at home is limited. Although the parents have many limitations in accompanying children learning, the questionnaire reveals that, on the other hand, the parents always expect their children to learn by limiting their playtime and IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 50 conditioning them to learn. Table 1 shows that four out of the five sub-aspects of the aspect of learning moral, technical, and facilities/infrastructure supports are higher than 3.00. Student’s learning behavior Based on table 3, the lowest index is of sub-aspect constraints in children learning of 2.70 while the highest is of sub-aspect children’s emotions while learning at the home of 2.86. Compared to the other aspects, none of the indexes of the aspect student behavior reaches three. Furthermore, the achievement of the aspect of student behavior during learning at home is as follows. Table 3. Student behavior during learning at home Aspects Sub-Aspects Index Student behavior in doing the assignment Children’s learning routine during the pandemic 2.85 Constraints in children learning during the pandemic 2.70 Children’s emotions while learning at home during the pandemic 2.86 The special research on sub-aspect learning constraints describes that the majority of parents (62.87%) find their children often getting tempted to do other activities than learning. On the other hand, many parents still assign children to household work at high intensity—14.35% state they never release their children from it. Regarding children’s emotions, while learning at home, 42.19% of parents state that their children often show depression since they have to learn at home. In addition, 52.74% of parents state that their children often get angry when their parents’ guide them in learning. Interestingly, only a few parents state that their children always learn peacefully at home. Most parents (47.26%) state that their children sometimes learn peacefully. School effort to solve constraints in accompanying children learning at home Referring to table 4, teachers’ willingness to communicate with parents achieves the highest index of 3.00. Meanwhile, the aspect with the lowest achievement is found with the provision of facility assistance of 2.42. Regarding the research results of the school’s effort to solve constraints in accompanying children learning at home, the data revealed are follows. Table 4. School’s effort to solve constraints in accompanying children learning at home Aspects Sub-Aspects Index Communication between school and parents while children learning at home School curricular information 2.59 Teacher’s willingness to communicate with parents 3.00 Technical assistance from school for parents Provision of facility assistance 2.42 IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 51 Out of all aspects of this research, technical assistance from schools for parents achieves the lowest index. Not much differently, the index of aspect of communication between school and parents is also relatively not high of 2.59. The research data revealed that only 23.63% of parents state that the teacher always informs parents of how to accompany children learning. The majority of parents state that, in this case teacher sometimes does it. This also occurs with the intensity of teacher informing learning target that only 24.05% of parents state that the teacher always does it. In this sub-aspect, the majority of parents choose ―sometimes,‖ of 36.29%. Interestingly, there are even 20.25% of parents stating that the teacher never informs of how to accompany children learning and 18.57% parents state that the never informs of the learning target. This percentage is relatively big for it to be a concern. Although the index of delivery of curricular information to parents is not too high, the good news is that most parents state that it is easy to contact the teacher and that the teachers respond to parents’ questions. Still, regarding schools’ effort to solve constraints in remote learning, the index of provision of technical assistance seems to need special attention. From the perspective of the percentage of respondents’ responses, most parents state that the school has provided facility assistance although with varied intensity. However, 21.61% of parents state that they never receive any assistance from the school. The compatibility of this facility assistance is perceived differently by parents. 19.92% of parents state that facility assistance is of the ―always‖ category according to their needs, while 25.42% of parents choose the ―often‖ option. The majority of parents choose ―sometimes,‖ which means that the level of compatibility of facility assistance to the needs for children learning still needs to be improved much. Discussion The research results show some noticeable problems in remote learning and accompanying learning during the Covid-19 pandemic for rural society. Based on previous research, distance learning has proven effective to be implemented, even though there are still limitations such as internet facilities and lack of communication and collaboration between schools and parents In addition, the success of (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020). distance learning lies in three main focuses: teachers, students, and parents . (Daniel, 2020) Meanwhile, learning assistance for children plays an important role in supporting children’s needs as an effort to optimize child development. In this case, the role of parents is needed as the key to success in children’s learning because parents have a strong role in directing their children Thus, this study tries to find real experiences that occur in (Lubis et al., 2019). rural areas in implementing distance learning and child learning assistance. Based on the findings, the problem mostly faced by parents and students is limited facility assistance for remote learning. The second problem is parents’ limited time to accompany children learning although they are willing to do it. The third problem is the teacher’s initiative to communicate with parents related to curricular information. The fourth problem that the researcher also deems very crucial is how school and parents prevent children from having chronic constraints in learning. IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 52 Limited learning facility assistance, the problem is limited learning facility assistance is a critical issue, particularly in association with society’s economic condition of the research setting. As commonly known, remote learning demands the availability of facilities/infrastructure that leads to increased household expenditure. However, not all schools in Ngablak District use the internet (through WA group, Youtube, etc.). The need for device and internet quota arises simultaneously with the transition from face-to-face learning to remote learning. The availability of such facilities is crucial since they are directly related to learning implementation (Rasmitadila. Aliyyah, Rachmadtullah, Samsudin, Syaodih, . Parents accompanying children’s learning gets more difficult Nurtanto, & Tambunan, 2020) when access to learning and infrastructure is limited. The availability of network and data packages determines the success of online learning. In line with this, some factors make parents unready to face online learning, namely insufficient facilities, either of the school or their part . (Ayuni, Marini, Fauziddin, & Pahrul, 2021) Some schools in Ngablak District apply learning methods using the module, radio, and television to reduce the impact of the necessity of the internet network, which also minimizes household expenditure. Based on the research data, 78.9% of respondents have monthly expenditures lower than Rp2,000,000. Only 17.7% state their monthly expenditure ranging from Rp2,000,000-4,000,000 or above Rp4,000,000. The data may implicate some things. It is possible that their family income is higher than these, but thanks to their frugal lifestyle, the respondents choose to restrain their consumption. The other possibility is it describes their income equal to or below the Regency Minimum Wage or Upah Minimum Kota (UMK) of Magelang. It is necessary to know that the current UMK Magelang when this research was conducted in 2020 was Rp.2,042,000. From the expenditure situation above, we can conclude that the government needs to protect and prioritize aid for weak economic societies, many in rural areas. This has not regarded the research data that reveals that 53.6% of respondents and 31.6% of respondents acknowledge that they are affected and relatively affected negatively economically. Besides minimizing economic impact, module, radio, and television were chosen as learning facilities based on the geographically mountainous condition of Ngablak District, making uneven access to internet signals. Therefore, learning facility assistance needed by the society in Ngablak District is data package and other relevant sources of learning, such as modules and books. The learning support system that must be made available on the student part consists of four , namely 1) support for student’s needs, 2) support for (Usun, 2004) teaching material needs, 3) support for school condition, and 4) support for the technology. Therefore, the learning facility assistance provided should cover the four aspects. The government’s top-up or data package aid is a popular policy directly addressed to an individual level. However, the government can provide learning facility assistance based on school and its environmental condition. Parents’ constraints in accompanying children learning, the next problem, the second most finding in this research, is parents’ constraints in accompanying children learning from the perspective of time fulfillment. In this regard, based on respondents’ profiles, 65% of respondents work as farmers. Other 8.1% are employees, the remainder as merchants, IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 53 unemployed, and housewives. These parents’ activities are in contrast with the implication of application of learning at home that requires parents’ involvement in helping their children. Similar to the results of this research, the research conducted by Novianti and Garzia states that most parents attempt to get involved in children learning activities (2020) although they have a constraint of limited time. The solution that needs to be taken by parents is to keep allocating time despite a short while, and school allows flexibility and tolerance of deadline for submission of the assignment so that parents can accompany their children. Parents’ involvement in teaching and helping complete children’s assignments may give a big chance of children’s successful learning . This way, (Đurišić & Bunijevac, 2017) when parents participate in accompanying children learning, this means that they take their part in the process of children learning by really getting involved in each of the children learning activities . The influence of parents as a motivator (Goodall & Montgomery, 2014) may improve children’s interest and motivation if they are given trust and responsibility by monitoring each of their learning activities . Parents (Ardiyana, Akbar & Karnadi, 2019) accompanying with love can also be interpreted as one emotional facility. With correlation and synergy between all parties as an optimization effort, this ―learning at home‖ moment may run successfully despite the constraint of limited time. It is important to arrange a time for parents to accompany children learning at home since the pandemic has made many children spend their time at home. They manage the time of accompanying children learning by arranging the time of children learning, besides giving time to play and do other family duties (Patall, Cooper, & Robinson, 2008; Hille, Arrangement of accompanying children learning can motivate or Spieß, & Staneva, 2016). encourage children to know when to play or do other things and when to learn or do school assignments. In addition, parents must control the use of the time of children learning, since, with control, children will be able to use time of learning well in an orderly manner. Communication between teacher and parents, the third most noticeable problem from the results of this research is that it is still necessary to improve teachers’ initiative to communicate with parents related to curricular or academic information. Parents really need the support given by school to assist parents since parents need instruction regarding learning in order to achieve the target of children learning. This is confirmed by the research conducted by that finds that a good relationship between Berthelsen and Walker (2008) parents and school can build communication and interaction between both parties. Another research states that an excellent school has an effective partnership with parents (Đurišić & . School is also expected to actively contact parents, asking what it can do Bunijevac, 2017) for parents to be confident and convenient with their involvement in children’s learning process. states that it will be easier with parents’ involvement in support of Coleman (2013) in-class learning, programs, and school activities. Parents’ good involvement in children’s learning process is the realization of one form of building good communication between school and parents. The form of communication strategy that school can do is communication with emphasis commitment, attempting to provide parents with their needs to accompany their children, establishing communication to build parent participation in developing curriculum, and communicating to jointly evaluate various plants of student learning (Triwardhani, Trigartanti, Rachmawati, & Putra, 2020). IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 54 Constraints of children learning, the fourth problem is related to student behavior at home, which is how school and parents prevent children from having chronic learning constraints. Learning constraints can be stated as learning difficulty, defined as a condition in the learning process marked with certain constraints in achieving learning results. Learning difficulty is a condition of the learning process in which a person is disrupted because of activity contradicting learning results lower than their potential. The factors causing learning difficulty are students’ lack of memorizing capability, lack of internal motivation, student’s problem-solving capability, students lacking confidence, and students having a difficult concentration in learning (Deng, Cai, Zhou, & Leung, 2020; Ding, Liu, Hong, Yu, Wang, Liu . The shift of form of the learning process because of the Covid-19 pandemic & Zhen, 2021) has caused changes to child behavior. The reason may be boredom and minimum interaction of students with a teacher and other students . The other source of stress is (Putri et al., 2020) the source of learning and the remote learning method itself The cause (Gillett-Swan, 2017). of learning constraints cannot be separated from the disturbance in learning such as friend’s playing invitation, helping parents’ work, etc. In this case, parents need to give emotional support to children. Parents need to be sensitive to emotional change in them when they are guiding children to prevent them from showing any symptoms of depression in the guided learning process. It is indeed a special challenge in the Covid-19 pandemic situation for parents to compensate what children received to be shifted to home. Children’s control must be carried along with the allocation of sufficient time for play. The other strategies that can be used to solve disturbance in children learning include inviting children to learn while playing, repeating the previous lesson until children understand the material, giving a reward when children successfully complete problem or assignment well, and giving punishment as an effort for children to get motivated to learn better With the Covid-19 pandemic, the (Nuraeni & Syihabuddin, 2020). school or teacher also needs to provide additional time to prepare the content of material so that it is more interactive, easy to understand and use, and provides consultancy service, both online and offline. Conclusion and Recommendations/Implications The results showed that the most prominent problems in the role of parents in assisting children in learning were parents’ limited time and their low academic ability. In the aspect of student learning behavior, students experience changes in behavior because they experience learning barriers during distance learning. At the same time, the aspect of the school’s efforts to overcome obstacles in assisting children in studying at home is the need to increase the initiative of teachers to communicate with parents related to curricular information. Moreover, with most students coming from disadvantaged families, they expect more school aid in distance learning facilities. However, distance learning can still be optimized to run effectively. Based on findings, the researchers suggest (1) government’s provision of learning facility assistance during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis period needs to adjust to the needs, both at individual and institutional (school) levels. In a rural society with limited access to the internet, online IRJE |Indonesian Research Journal in Education| |Vol. 6| No. 1|June|Year 2022| |E-ISSN: 2580-5711|https://online-journal.unja.ac.id/index.php/irje/index| 55 media use is still not as massive as that in urban society. Therefore, assistance such as modules/worksheets will help students/parents and schools. (2) Parents keep allocating their time for accompanying children learning despite their busy activities by sharing time between Father and Mother or other family members. In this case, the school can also allow flexible deadlines for the completion of assignments for parents to keep accompanying their children. (3) Principal needs to direct the teacher to keep communicating with parents to help children learn. Principal leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic is vital since the shift of learning mechanism leads everyone to panic and get confused. (4) Learning constraints experienced by students at home are parents’ responsibility and that of teacher and school. The teacher is responsible for the material, method, and media used. The teacher also needs to involve parents so that the material learned is known and understood by parents. 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