21 Jan 74% of parents call for government to improve digital education
74% of British parents think that digital learning provided by the government and schools needs to be improved, reveals new research by Tutorful, the experts in online tutoring. With the pandemic changing the way we live, work and study – a new report launches today by leading experts, to discuss how technology can improve learning, in particular digital vs classroom in the UK.
The research, which polled parents of children aged 11 to 18 years old, has revealed that 33% of parents felt that during the pandemic, lessons were not exciting enough to fully engage with pupils.
Out of all the subjects affected, most parents (47%) felt that their child was behind in Maths or Science. As a result, up to 58% of parents have either already hired or are considering using an online tutor to get their child back up to speed across a range of subjects.
This follows 78% of secondary school children being behind 9 months of school*, with it recently revealed that the government’s funded tutoring scheme has only reached 8%[1] of its targets. Parents are expected to spend £24B in 2022 on private tuition.
The new report suggests that experts believe that digital learning should play an important role in the future of education, however, understandably, schools were not prepared to teach digitally when the pandemic hit. More budget is needed to develop e-learning and how it can help children progress further. For example, for those living in remote areas, suffering from mental health issues or sickness, and other key factors where children could fall behind.
James Hamlin, a spokesperson for Tutorful, said: “The report indicates that learning is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Online lessons can better cater for children to learn in a way that suits their particular style and gives parents an insight into how their child learns. Many companies offer innovative digital learnings tools, for example rewatch and relearn tools, which could help all pupils progress. It just needs more investments from schools.”
The report includes 10 experts including leaders in education from the University of Cambridge and Header Teacher from St Andrews College, along with those who work with children of secondary school ages like Digital Health Consultants, Special Needs Youth Specialists.
Dr Ems Lord, Director of NRICH, a collaboration of Mathematics and Education at the University of Cambridge that provides free online maths resources for pupils aged three to 18, says: “Online learning, particularly for maths can be very engaging and may increase parental engagement.
“How education is currently viewed needs to be reconsidered. Adults may get left behind in the tech revolution so schools of the future may need to become learning hubs welcoming all ages to learn together.”
Cheryl Smith, Headteacher of St Andrew’s College advises schools and the government should pilot a hybrid/remote learning model to assess home schooling. She said: “It could provide useful data on the impact of digital education and on the engagement, as well as attendance of some groups of children. It would be interesting to see the results of such a pilot.”
