Majority of children struggled to continue learning at home

New research by the Office for National Statistics has revealed that a majority of British children struggled to continue learning at home during the lockdown, mainly due to a lack of motivation.

The research, based on weekly household surveys between April and June,  looked at the extent to which parents have been involved in homeschooling. It suggests that most parents have taken on additional responsibilities in this area, with 87 per cent saying their child had been homeschooled in the last seven days.

However, many have felt unprepared to take on these extra duties, with 49 per cent saying that they didn’t feel confident in their own ability to do homeschooling, and 52 per cent believing that their child was struggling to continue with their education.

Parents gave a range of reasons as to why there had been challenges, with the most common being a lack of motivation for children to learn in a home setting. However, around a third of parents also reported a lack of resources and time as being a factor. Surprisingly, the research found only one in 10 parents complained about lack of devices to work on, although this rate doubled for single-parent households.

Schools closed for most pupils at the end of March in England, Wales and Scotland, as the pandemic took hold. Some schools re-opened in England on or around 1 June for some year groups.