Two thirds of parents worried about effect of lockdown

Two thirds of parents have revealed they are concerned about the effect lockdown has had on their child’s learning – with 20% confessing to being ‘very worried’ about the impact.

New research shows that three quarters of parents (75%) would like support in ensuring the pandemic has as little effect on their child’s learning as possible, and although 66% worry they don’t have enough time to support their child’s school learning, 79% will continue to support it with learning at home.

The study of 1,003 children aged between four and 14 and their parents was commissioned by Smartick. It found that although parents are fearful their child’s education has been negatively impacted, two thirds think learning at home during lockdown was positive in lots of ways – especially as they also learnt a lot themselves while helping their child with their schooling (70%), as well as new things about their child’s way of learning (61%).

This is a sentiment that was echoed by their children with 82% of kids aged four to 14 saying they enjoyed learning during lockdown, with nearly a quarter (23%) revealing they enjoyed it all the time.  

In fact, children described learning at home as fun (32%) and comfortable (46%), although 35% also found it distracting. But, when compared to how they feel learning at school, children find learning with a teacher more interesting (40% vs 22% at home), exciting (25% vs 16% at home), helpful (38% vs 19% at home) and focused (43% vs 14% at home).

Javier Arroyo, Co-founder of Smartick, said: “Our research shows that 60% of parents think their child needs targeted help in improving weaknesses in subjects. Although many are trying to help their children, 42% said maths is taught completely differently to when they were at school, and three quarters of parents would like support.

“The past year has been stressful, particularly for children who may feel like they are behind on their studies. Parents may be looking for creative ways to keep their children on top of their schoolwork and using alternative ways to help keep them engaged. In fact, 70% of parents said that home learning has made them realise that there are different educational routes that can boost school learning and this is where programs like Smartick can really help.

“Over a third of children (35%) said having fun motivates them to learn and this is something that we stand by. Our education experts have found that, gamification, or put simply, turning learning activities into games can be a great way to keep children interested.”