Parents voice fears of educational impact of blended learning

Range of issues over part-time schooling are revealed

Parents fear a return to school part-time would harm their children’s education, a survey has found.

A total of 75% of parents of secondary school children and 71% of parents of primary school children said blended learning would have a potentially negative impact, the survey suggested.

A third of parents also said they did not have the equipment, support or advice for school work at home.

The Scottish Government is expected to confirm today pupils will return to class full-time next month, almost five months after closure.

However, blended learning models – part-time at school and the rest at home – remain in place as a contingency in the event of further lockdown restrictions.

Following its survey of almost 8,000 parents and carers, parents’ organisation Connect has called for schools and nurseries to set out clearly communicated plans for schoolwork at home and to be ready to respond to learning needs during any local lockdowns, rather than taking a “pick-up where we left off” approach.

A total of 49% of respondents said their child’s school or nursery had communicated well with them, while 40% said they had done OK but could have done better.

Eileen Prior, Connect executive director, said: “The intention of the survey and report is for us all to be able to learn from the experiences of families during lockdown.”

She said the survey illustrated families face multiple struggles, navigating ill health, caring for young children and children with additional support needs, financial stress and a lack of equipment for home learning.

During her daily briefing yesterday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was not surprised by the results of the survey and the government has sought to minimise and mitigate the impact.

The government’s key objective is now to get children back to school fulltime. She said: “If that means the rest of us have to make some sacrifices around things we would love to be doing, but can’t do for a period, then that will be in the interest of getting young people back to school.”

The intention of the survey and report is for us all to be able to learn from the experiences of families during lockdown. EILEEN PRIOR