UK pupils struggle learning at home

Between 7 May and 7 June 2020, 87% of parents said a child in their household had been homeschooled because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The average number of hours spent doing schoolwork per week significantly increased as the age of the child increased from 5 to 10 years (10 hours) to 11 to 15 years (16 hours), with the hours spent learning by those aged 5 to 10 years being significantly lower when there was a child aged 0 to 4 years in the household.
Over half (52%) of parents with school-aged children said a child in their household was struggling to continue their education while at home, with just over three in four of these parents (77%) giving lack of motivation as one of the reasons.
Of parents who were supporting homeschooling, one in three women (34%) agreed that it was negatively affecting their well-being compared with one in five men (20%), while 43% of homeschooling parents agreed that it was negatively affecting the well-being of their children.

Office of NationalStatistics researchers have assessed nationally representative surveys of more than 12,000 people in Great Britain between 3 April and 7 June about their experiences of home-schooling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The research found only one in 10 parents complained about lack of devices to work on, although this rate doubled for single-parent households. In a separate report by the ONS, women were bearing the brunt of the home schooling experience, carrying out more educational and caring tasks during lockdown.

Among the parents who said their children were struggling, the most common reason was lack of motivation, with just over three in four of these parents (77%) giving this as one of the reasons. Lack of guidance and support was the next most common reason, with 43% saying this.