A fifth of home schooling parents lack the tech for their children to access e-learning consistently

Eir NolsoeData Journalist
Connor IbbetsonData Journalist
March 04, 2021, 4:18 PM GMT+0

A much higher number of children are attending school than in the first national lockdown but many parents still struggle with inadequate internet access and laptops

The government has changed the rules so children with inadequate access to technology are allowed to attend school in the current lockdown. Some schools have reported classrooms being more full than earlier in the pandemic, and new YouGov figures support this.

Nearly a fifth of parents with school-aged children (18%) say their kids are still going to school – up from 3% in May. Meanwhile, three quarters (74%) say their children are staying home – down from 88% in the first national lockdown.

But even with more children attending school, some pupils are still being home schooled without access to technology essential for remote learning.

One in five parents with school age children who have spent time home schooling (20%) say they do not have “adequate technology for all of my children to consistently access online lessons” including access to enough computers or because their internet connection is poor.

This is slightly higher among parents in C2DE households (25%) compared to 16% of parents in ABC1 houses who say the same. Among parents who have three or more children, the proportion who lack the technology to ensure all their children can consistently access remote learning rises to three in ten (32%), while only 13% of parents with just one child say the same.

See the full results here

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