HOME SCHOOLING MAKES FOR NOT MUCH NOT MUCH LEARNING

STRUGGLING parents are rejoicing at the thought of the return to school, with indications that some kids are doing as little as one hour of learning a day at home.

Parents report children in prep to Grade 2 are doing the least, clocking in at two hours a day on average.

Education Department guidelines stipulate children from prep to Year 2 should do a minimum of 45 minutes of literacy, 30 minutes of maths and 30 minutes of play-based learning and physical activity daily.

Children in Years 3-6 were doing an average of 3½ hours a day, an informal News Corp survey of 105 parents found.

The guidelines say children in Years 3-10 should do a minimum of 45 minutes of literacy, 30 minutes of maths, 30 minutes of physical activity and 90 minutes of additional curriculum daily.

High school students are doing a normal school day, with most schools holding web-based sessions mirroring usual class timetables.

At all year levels, those at non-government schools are more likely to have a full day of web-based lessons.

One parent from Haileybury said her son in Year 4 was doing classroom Zooms from 8.45am until 3pm each day as well as homework.

Deakin University senior education lecturer Emma Roweat said it was to be expected that there would be equity gaps between public and private schools that “would continue to be significant during the pandemic”.

“Parents may be picking up more of the load if their students attend public schools, although it’s difficult to generalise without some decent research into the area,” Dr Rowe said.

These results are mirrored by data from Britain, which shows one-fifth of pupils are doing an hour or less of work a day.

A study by University College London’s Institute of Education found that in some cases, children hadn’t done any schoolwork at all, and only about 17 per cent did more than four hours a day.