Reconstructing School Life during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Focusing on Cancellation of School Events

Abstract

The implementation of school events and the related manner of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic have been major concerns in many schools in Japan. This study focuses on school events and addresses two questions:（RQ1）What changes occurred in event cancellation?（RQ2）What factors influence the rate of event cancellations?

Unlike in 2020, schools tended to avoid event cancellations in 2021; however, school events were conducted differently than before the pandemic. In both years, schools gave priority to ceremonial events and tended more to cancel events with high risk of infection. A multilevel analysis of cancellation rates revealed that more variables at the prefectural level had an impact on elementary and junior high schools in the 2020 academic year. This implies that the collective situation of the prefectures may have had a unique effect in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In addition, we found that elementary schools that place a high value on acting like nearby schools have a greater tendency to cancel events. We did not see the same effect in junior high schools, indicating that the decision-making process may differ between elementary and junior high schools. However, we also identified “teachers' busyness” and “parent participation in school activities” as common factors in elementary and junior high schools. “Teachers' busyness” increases the cancellation rate whereas “parent participation in school activities” reduces it. Therefore, the relation between the school and the parents during normal times may lead to different responses to the implementation of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.