Work Package 2: Students' learning and well-being in home and school contexts before, during, and post-pandemic

This sub study examines children’s, young people’s and their parents’ experiences of relationships, well-being and learning during the COVID-19-pandemic. We want to hear the so-called “silent voices,” that is, the most vulnerable children, young people and families. Silent voices are heard in close cooperation with third sector organisations. In work package 2, we also find out what kind of individual and environmental factors strengthen resilience, i.e., the ability to recover from adversity during the COVID-19-pandemic. In addition, we will look at how children and young people's right to access education and support based on individual needs has been realised. Building on research data, we will develop recommendations for the development of distance learning and flexible solutions. This is done in close cooperation with third sector organisations, education actors and parent networks.

Research group


Eija Pakarinen

PI of the work package
Associate Professor, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Well-being of children, young people, families and teachers

Noona Kiuru

Vice PI of work package
Associate Professor, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Well-being of children, young people and families


Niina Junttila

Professor, Universities of Turku and Jyväskylä
Senior adviser for education, Finnish National Agency for Education
Silent voices -research, communications
Expertise: Well-being of children and young people, social relations and social isolation

Sanni Pöysä

Postdoctoral researcher, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Teachers' well-being at work and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on it, students' experiences of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, parents' experiences of children's schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, interaction between teacher and students

Katja Upadyaya

Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Helsinki
Expertise: Student engagement, academic motivation, research methodology, and lifelong learning, teacher-student and parent-child interaction, and teachers’ and principals’ well-being

Matilda Sorkkila

Senior Researcher, Docent in Psychology of Well-being, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Parental well-being and burnout during the COVID-19-pandemic

Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen

Director of EduRESCUE project
Professor of Education, Vice Head of the Department of Teacher Education (research), Adjunct Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Jyväskylä
Professor of Educational Psychology, Stavanger University
Expertise: The well-being of pupils, teachers, principals and schools, resilience and recovery from the pandemic, catching up the learning loss, the future challenges facing the teacher and principal training

Venla Panula

Project researcher, University of Jyväskylä
Doctoral researcher, University of Turku
Silent voices study
Expertise: Loneliness, depression, social phobia and anxiety, psychosocial well-being, adolescence, parenthood, school health care, statistical methods and structural equation modeling



Saara Ylisaukko-oja

Project Researcher, Doctoral Student, University of Turku
Expertise: Children's rights

Nelli Lyyra

Senior Lecturer, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Well-being and loneliness of school-aged children

Kaisa Aunola

Professor, University of Jyväskylä
Expertise: Parenting and family relations

Anne Lakkavaara

University of Helsinki

Pekka Mertala

University of Jyväskylä

Kati Vasalampi

University of Jyväskylä