The loss of six months worth of education due to the Coronavirus has inevitably taken its toll on students, teachers, parents and other actors in this drama. In the UK, by no means the worst hit country, according to the Daily Telegraph newspaper “4 in 10 pupils have not been in regular contact with their teachers. Children are doing schoolwork for an average of just 2.5 hours a day. A report for the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) also found that a third of pupils were not engaged with their lessons, and just 42% had submitted work for marking”. There have been many webinars in the sector talking up how well the sector has managed and just got on with it, but these figures show a more worrying picture. With pressure on parents now to return to work and no chance of sending children back to school the challenges will increase for all concerned. A study by the University of Oxford reported that isolation and loss of routines was making children aged 4-10 years of age increasingly unhappy, worried, and clingy to their parents. But for remote classes to work tech infrastructure has to be in place. This must be a government investment priority now, but with software so the class can be managed well and the right filter in place to protect children online. We pledge to support all projects in this regard.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/parenting/plans-help-children-squeezed-middle/