UK Lockdown has had negative impact on pupil education and created significant ‘learning losses’

The Covid-19 pandemic has presented huge problems for the UK’s education system. A recent study by University College London’s Institute of Education has found that over 25% of pupils were doing no school work at home and that the vast majority of all school children were doing only 1 hour per day.

With schools all over the UK closing during the UK lockdown we are now seeing the profound effects this has educational performance and how difficult it has been for parents to manage their children’s education at home.

Despite the best efforts of schools, they were unprepared for online learning practices and their ability to organise digital education programmes was severely affected by their lack of experience.

Indeed, there were also many other issues that compounded this lack of provision – the lack of universal broadband access being one of the most prominent. However, due to the varied experiences of lockdown it proved difficult to implement a universal approach.

There was a lot of pressure put onto parents – some who were still working full-time (either onsite or at home) and the added responsibility of managing child care and tuition was a very challenging position to be in – especially with limited advice and guidance on how to manage this situation.

The figures make for sober reading with the average number of  home study hours coming in at 2.5 hours – with only 17% of school children working more than 4 hours. This dramatic change in learning access for school age children is undoubtedly a cause for major concern for parents and education professionals alike and represents the most significant upheaval in the UK’s education system since the Second World War. Indeed, the lead author of the UCL study, Professor Francis Green said:

“The closure of schools, and their only-partial re-opening, constitute a potential threat to the educational development of a generation of children.

Everyone is losing out in this generation, some much more than others. Better home schoolwork provision, and better still an early safe return to school for as many as possible, should now become a top priority for government.”

The UCL report certainly highlights the deep rooted issues that the education system has faced during the lockdown and the unfortunate impact on pupils and their educational development.

However, there have also been plenty of innovations including the surge in online learning resources and the increased use of video communication platforms – both of which have created new opportunities for private tutors.

Benefits of private tuition

The use of private tutors has soared during the UK lockdown with many tutors able to fill the resultant gaps in provision. Private tutors offer a continuity of educational support that most schools have struggled to replicate. In fact, many tutor organisations and individual tutors have created partnerships with local authorities and specific schools to help provide online learning.

Since launching in 2020, Tutolio is one of the UK’s leading online tutor search platforms and is designed to offer an easy and accessible platform for both parents and tutors. For parents, they can search the tutor best suited to their needs and in a location convenient to them. In fact, most of our tutors are now expert in online tutoring which allows for more convenience during these i=uncertain times.

Tutolio will provide a shop window in which tutors can promote their services and reach the audiences and customers who require those services. We are currently offering a three-month FREE Trial to all newly registered tutors. Find out more here.

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