Home schooling during the pandemic.

[Workingman]

The Office for National Statistics says that of the 52% who struggled, three-quarters of parents gave a lack of motivation as the main reason.

So, it wasn't the lack of technology or teaching and learning materials as ever so many expert commentators wanted it to be. And it had little to do with wealth, poverty, race, religion etc that were also hoped to be causes.

No, it was largely down to the motivation, or lack of it, of both parents and pupils. Many parents said that they lacked the skills to enable them to teach, especially those of teenage pupils, and that this demotivated them. And pupils claimed that the work was boring, so nothing new there.

Teachers will know both things to be true and that they are a combination that blights education in the classroom on a daily basis.

[JanB]

Friends here have been moaning about the amount of work that has been sent to their children. It's all been set up via computer and e-mail. One friend has four school age children and she has been at her wits end, as they start about 8.00 in the morning and due to the amount of homework, are still at it at 6.00 in the evening.

Portugal being rather a poor country, not all the children had access in our area had a laptop, apart from the library but the local council made sure that all school age children had a laptop to work from home.

My daughter is England - who works from home - has been really struggling, as not a lot of help from the school.

[Kaz]

My sister-in-law has been offering home tutoring since she retired from teaching - and of course business has booked supporting lockdown! Nice for her, and for those parents who can afford it

Jan, you mentioned disadvantaged children in Portugal being supplied with laptops. Here in the SW the local news has been covering a charity scheme to get recycled/repaired devices out to poorer children, so they can keep up with their schoolwork. Very commendable, but surely the government should have done this, to make sure that all children have the same access to education

[Workingman]

What really stuck out from the replies was that it was not all about technology it was about parental ability and confidence. For decades nearly half of pupils left school with fewer than five good GCSEs. Many of them are now parents of young teenagers and they did not feel up to the task of 'teaching' their children, especially those with children in years 10 and 11 who might well be working to a higher level than mum and dad ever did. Even those with higher grades were apprehensive. That is not a criticism, it is just the way of the world.

I know for a fact that my mum and dad would have had no chance of helping me in many subjects, and nor would my aunties and uncles with my cousins.

I feel desperately sorry for the pupils. Their parents take them on a week's holiday in term time and it is a disaster, yet they have now had months out and will never be able to catch up unless something is put in place to allow them to claw back the time lost.