Home-schooling has highlighted ‘digital poverty’

Iknow many of us who are homeschooling, be it parents or grandparents, are really struggling with the demands remote learning has placed on us. It also showcases what an amazing job our teachers, teaching assistants, sports coaches, administrators and caretakers do to ensure our children are educated in a stimulating and safe environment.

Home-schooling has also highlighted the huge social and economic gap many families face with a lack of access to devices and an internet connection, often referred to as digital poverty. I was lucky enough to recently join my friend Charlotte Cornell, Founder of Top Up To Teach, to distribute community-donated devices to children at Joy Lane Primary School in Whitstable.

Top Up To Teach is a local initiative, developed in response to the vast numbers of families in our area, who do not have access to a computer. The

Education Endowment

Foundation identified access to technology as key, especially for disadvantaged pupils, to successful remote learning.

But despite promises, the Government has failed to deliver anywhere near the number of laptops required to educate our children remotely. Kent

County Council has only received 4,942 laptops, which works out as an average of eight laptops per school which is nowhere near enough.

With the Government telling us children won’t be back in schools until at least March 8, they have to take action now to make sure all pupils are able to access online learning until then.

Of course, we want our children back in schools, but it must be safe to do so. That is why it is vital all school staff are prioritised for Covid vaccines. And, the return to school must be properly planned and communicated to head teachers with plenty of notice. We cannot have another fiasco where information to schools from the Government is at the last minute and is incoherent. Pupils, parents, teachers and support staff deserve better.

See www.topuptoteach.org.

‘We cannot have another fiasco where information to schools from the Government is at the last minute and is incoherent’