The big return An expert’s guide to the office for the Covid-cautious
As schools reopen, a significant number of children will never go back. Rosa Silverman reports
When the new school term starts this week, Jess Kim’s two children will not be waiting at the gates alongside their former classmates. Instead, they’ll be joining the growing number of pupils whose parents have decided to stick with home schooling post-covid.
For those who have spent the past few months counting down the days until they can dispatch their restless offspring back to the classroom again, the decision may seem incomprehensible. But a significant minority feel differently. “I have to confess, I have loved [home schooling],” says Kim, a stay-at-home mother of a nine-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter. “It was something we had always vaguely considered we might one day do anyway; but lockdown brought things into focus and helped us realise we could definitely now make this work.”
Kim’s family aren’t the only ones who have opted out of the school system following lockdown. Specialist colleges have recorded a notable rise in demand for online courses, as parents fearful of sending their children back to school seek out alternatives.
“We’ve seen about a 60 per cent increase year on year in enrolments in the last three months,” says Greg Smith, head of operations at the Oxford Open Learning Trust, which provides distance learning courses. “We’ve had a lot of interest over the summer, with a lot of people being nervous to send their child back into school, and in some cases people who have enjoyed home schooling their children and want to continue.” He says parents who are shielding or who live in multigenerational households have shown a particular interest in continuing with home schooling.
Research suggests no healthy child has died of coronavirus in the UK, and most parents and teachers support schools opening fully this month. Multiple safety measures are being put in place to minimise the risk of the virus spreading, and head teachers and ministers are keen to encourage all children back to the classroom.
But fear of coronavirus is not the sole motivation of those wishing to continue with home education. While the dominant narrative since schools closed in March has been one of stressed parents coaxing children to open an exercise book, while juggling their own work commitments, another story has emerged, too: that of parents, like Kim, who have genuinely enjoyed home schooling. A recent survey carried out by Oxford Home Schooling found that as many as 43 per cent of parents – fathers especially – had found it a positive experience. At the same time, 22 per cent said they were nervous about sending their children back to school this autumn – particularly younger parents.
In fact, the growing popularity of home schooling predates the coronavirus pandemic. Hugh Viney, director of education provider Minerva Tutors, says private schooling and tutoring has been the firm’s biggest growth area over the past three years. “[It’s grown] for a number of reasons, but particularly among teenagers with mental health problems,” he says. “Parents are taking their children out of school [if they’re] suffering from social anxiety, exam anxiety or depression.”
Oxford Home Schooling’s research backs this up: its study, based on responses to Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, found home education in the UK increased 130 per cent between 2013 and 2018, from 24,824 children educated at home to 57,132. East Sussex was found to have the highest proportion of home schooled children.
Then Covid-19 came along and a minority of parents – Viney’s estimate is a more conservative five to 10 per cent – reported they had never seen their child so happy as when they were being home schooled. “[They’d say] ‘my child gets bullied and now there’s no more bullying.’ Or, ‘my child has social anxiety. All that stress is now gone.’”
Others have found themselves struggling to pay their child’s private school fees due to loss of income during lockdown, or see less benefit in paying them if lessons are online anyway. For those who previously shelled out for their children to have a private education, home schooling provides a cheaper alternative in straitened times.
Some may feel it is also a more reliable one, given the ongoing uncertainty around which parts of society will be able to stay open and which will need to close if a second wave of the virus hits the UK in the coming months.
For parents like Kim, home schooling has simply allowed the family to spend more time together and avoid the constant rushing around that characterises the lives of parents of school-age children.
“It’s been a delight to do things with them, other than ferrying them to and from school every day,” she says. “We’ve eaten our meals all together; and we’ve had more time to sit and chat.”
Removed from the more rigid structures of classroom learning, her children have also enjoyed the opportunity to pursue more of the subjects they’re interested in.
“Our son is fascinated by palaeontology and both children love Greek mythology,” says Kim, from Ealing in west London. “Both are now keen to learn Latin. I’ve also taught them to ride a horse during lockdown, and we’ve all spent time on our allotment.”
Those who favour home schooling for their own children, or who work in the field of home education, are quick to recognise it won’t be the right option for everyone. But they are also keen to dispel the idea that a home schooled child is an isolated one. They point to a vibrant home schooling scene populated by families connected via local home schooling networks.
Smith, whose 11-year-old and 14-year-old have always been home-educated, says: “There is a massive social side to home schooling. Normally [pre-lockdown] my children would be out and about every day to a sporting activity. They did coached trampolining, parkour, gymnastics.” All of these sessions were specifically for home schooled children and organised by the home schooling community, enabling social mixing. The community also organises its own school trips for groups of home educated children, as well as summer camps and festivals in normal years.
Kim admits she initially worried about whether her children would have enough opportunities to socialise. “But the children themselves aren’t worried. Since some of the restrictions have eased, they’ve both been happily seeing one friend each on a regular basis, and don’t seem to miss hanging out in big crowds of other children,” she says.
“Education is changed forever now,” says Viney. “Parents are now accepting of online learning where they weren’t before … They are [also] aware that home schooling is a thing and that it’s possible and doable.”
Kim and her children are excited about the coming academic year and the prospect of spending more time together as a family.
“My children don’t think there’s all that much they will miss about being at school,” she says. “And I can’t say I’ll miss the school run.”
‘[School] is changed for ever. Parents now value online learning like never before’