Online learning has the potential to help parents with their children’s educational recovery following an increase in the number of students home-educating.
According to research from the BBC:
‘The number of children registering for home education in the UK rose by 75% in the first eight months of the current school year.’
However, between the start of the first lockdown and last December, according to research from the University of Oxford:
‘On an established scale of depression, anxiety and stress, parents’ depression scores increased from 9.03 in April 2020 to 13.2 in December 2020.’
The pandemic has forced many families to adjust their lives. Parents have had to balance their work-lives with educating their own children and many have felt ‘burnt out’.
With the summer holidays approaching, parents can look at practical options for their children’s educational recovery before the next academic year.
Parents using a combination of online education and summer programmes for their children could be the solution.
Home education can be useful for parents
Over the past year, thousands of parents decided to home-educate their children, one reason being families feared for their safety due to the coronavirus. According to The Guardian:
‘The number of pupils absent from schools in England for Covid-related reasons is at its highest since schools fully reopened in March, with almost 840,000 children out of class last week (5th July 2021), according to official government data.’
Thousands of children are at home, putting an enormous amount of pressure on parents affecting their jobs and wellbeing. Online education at home could help ease parent’s stress and the worries that the pandemic has put on them.
Moreover, the government has been trying to ensure disadvantaged families have had access to online education. Schools have supplied students with devices so they can use online learning. In January 2021, the government announced its investment, referring to:
‘Hundreds of thousands more laptops for schools to support disadvantaged pupils’ learning at home providing a further 300,000 devices – taking the total to 1.3 million.’
Following school closures, online learning enabled thousands of students to access education during the pandemic. Students who want to catch up on their lost education could use online learning to their advantage. A study has shown:
‘students retain 25–60% more material when learning online, compared to only 8–10% in the classroom.’
Furthermore, online home education can offer inclusive learning and immediate feedback allowing quick progress to be made. Parents can also can save time and money by not having to fully enrol their child in school.
Using home education for their children ensures less spent on uniforms, supplies and other school expenses.
‘Parents across the UK collectively spend nearly £1.2 billion sending their children back to school, it has been estimated.’
Also, home education can be beneficial as it allows children to learn at their own pace. Ultimately, this can lead to better attainment levels that children may not achieve when in mainstream school.
Personalised learning pathways, like on EDClass, can be designed to suit a student’s specific needs, concentrating their learning.
EDClass can help parents educate their children at home
EDClass can support parents and their children’s education when home learning. EDClass can improve your child’s learning development with 17,000 lessons in English, Maths and Science from Key Stages 2-4.
EDClass’ online platform identifies your child’s areas for improvement and creates a personalised learning pathway specifically tailored to them. Your child is continuously monitored and assessed ensuring they are learning in a safe environment.
Parents, for further information on how EDClass can help with your child’s education, please call 01909 568 338, send an email to mail@edclass.com, contact us here or book a demo here.
