A recent report carried out by the University of Oxford has suggested that as well as the obvious stresses and strains on children and their teachers (and the whole education system), the effects are also felt by parents and carers. The BBC article reporting the study quoted that “nearly half (45%) of those with secondary-age children were worried about their children’s education and future, compared to 32% of those with young children”. In the words of Cathy Creswell, professor of clinical developmental psychology at Oxford University and co-leader of the study, “Our data highlight the particular strains felt by parents during lockdown when many feel that they have been spread too thin by the demands of meeting their children’s needs during the pandemic, along with home-schooling and work commitments”. Inevitably the worst affected by this situation are “low-income families, as well as single-parent households and those with children with special educational needs”. Governments the world-over need to take into account this situation and help provide a vision of light at the end of this tunnel and put in place ways to help alleviate this.
