Work hours lost and maths is challenging to teach – the reality of homeschooling in lockdown
MOTHERS are more likely to have sacrificed their work commitments in order to homeschool their children amid the Covid-19 lockdown, according to new research.
The figures from a UCL study, indicate that average hours worked fell by 40% in lockdown, and mothers with younger children at home were significantly more likely to have stopped work than fathers.
This echoes findings in a study commissioned by Clarks, which paints a very telling picture of the lockdown homeschooling experience faced by millions of parents and their children across the UK.
A survey of 1,000+ UK parents of children aged 4-18 found:
Almost half of female respondents (48%) used BBC Bitesize and similar online education resources to help with homeschooling, whilst fewer than two in five male respondents (37%) said the same.
This may suggest mothers are taking on a larger responsibility than fathers to ensure their children are using reliable at-home learning resources.
Overall, half (52%) of UK parents turn to Google for homeschooling help. Meanwhile, nearly a quarter (24%) use virtual lessons hosted by celebrities.
Mothers are enjoying teaching their children English (47%), maths (41%) and art (30%) the most, whereas fathers say they enjoy teaching maths the most (58%), followed by English (40%) and history (29%).
Despite being one of the most enjoyable, both mothers and fathers cite maths as the most challenging to teach (39% and 25% respectively).
Of the fathers surveyed, 16% say they’ll miss being the opportunity to understand more about what their children learn at school when their kids eventually return to the classroom (compared to just 7% of mothers).
Furthermore, 13% of fathers say they’ll miss seeing their child develop and learn skills not on the curriculum once they return to school, compared to 7% of mothers.
One in 10 parents report experiencing some level of difficulty with finding the information they need to teach their kids at home. This increases to one in four parents whose children are studying GCSEs and A Levels, indicating there may be fewer homeschooling provisions for older children, despite being at a crucial academic stage.
This time has also led to parents understanding teachers’ work with three in 10 saying that they will respect and appreciate teachers a lot more since their experience of homeschooling.
For further information visit clarks. co.uk/insight/most-searchedhomeschooling-questions