Covid-19 Daily Bulletin 04/08: The Back to School Debate

Will classrooms be full soon?

Welcome to today’s bulletin. This time we’re looking at what people think about a return to school during the pandemic.

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What people are thinking and saying

Wherever you are in the world, back to school preparation likely looks much different this year than it did in 2019.

To investigate how people feel about sending their children back to school, we looked at online mentions (using Brandwatch Consumer Research) and survey responses (via Brandwatch Qriously).

Our latest survey (conducted July 29 to August 3) showed that 22% of consumers across Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US are “very concerned” about their own or their family’s education. This has held steady since the first time we asked the question back in March.

But while the percentage of people selecting “very concerned” has remained steady, respondents saying they are “not at all concerned” has risen over time. 33% of respondents selected this option in our latest survey, an increase from the first time we asked back in March (29%).

As you can see, the two most popular options are the opposites of one another, which is part of what makes the conversation about reopening schools so difficult.

The same Qriously survey found that 27% of global respondents want children to go back to school in person and full time. This was felt strongest in Italy, where 30% of respondents chose that option.

16% of respondents around the world want children to have a mixture of in-person classes and online learning, while 11% are most comfortable with homeschooling. These options were the most popular in China, where 18% and 16% of respondents chose them respectively. This was attributed by our bi-weekly Covid-19 report team to existing online learning practices in China, something other countries around the world have less experience with.

On social media, the reopening of schools continues to be a divisive topic.

Back to school conversation hit 2m mentions in July of this year, a 21% increase compared to the average volumes for the month in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Where, when, and how to safely open schools and minimize the risk of spreading Covid-19 is the hot topic.

Safety appeared in 73% of back to school posts from July 1 to July 31. The biggest topics within this conversation included:

The enclosed environment: 1m mentions
Kids playing and socializing: 1m mentions
Personal protective equipment measures: 996k mentions
Lunchtime: 878k mentions

Overall, the back to school conversation is not an excitable one – the most common emotion detected in mentions is sadness (34%).

It’s clear that, although consumers are worried about the impact of missing school, there are still various things that need to be addressed and clarified before everyone feels comfortable with the classroom setting.

That lesson extends to everything in society now that regular programming is beginning to resume. Consumers want and need clear guidance about safety measures, or their confidence will suffer.

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Thanks for reading

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Stay safe,

Brandwatch Response Team

Digital Consumer Intelligence

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