As a second wave of homeschooling becomes more likely across London and hundreds of children being sent home from school due to coronavirus outbreaks, a study by Matalan has shown what the real challenges of homeschooling their children during Covid-19 are.

The study has revealed that 61% of parents in London and the surrounding areas found homeschooling their children difficult.

91% of parents in London identified homeschooling difficulties such as trying to keep their child motivated and focused

91% of parents identified a variety of challenges with homeschooling their child during lockdown, an overwhelming number of them stated that their biggest difficulty was trying to keep their child motivated and focused whilst trying to teach them.

For many children, home is usually a place to relax and switch off from school, but during lockdown, it became the classroom, breakroom and everything else in between. So it’s perhaps not surprising that parents felt there were too many distractions and home comforts around for their children to stay focused.

Many also felt that their children struggled to see their parents as teachers and were less likely to take their education seriously when lessons were delivered by their parents.

If school closures and whole year group isolations are to become the norm it’s clear that parents will need more support from schools to keep their children motivated and focused.

Balancing homeschooling with work and other commitments was a big concern for parents

Across the UK, parents found that balancing teaching their children with working from home or doing other essential activities, was a constant battle. This was one of the biggest issues identified from the survey across the UK.

The pressure to find time to dedicate to homeschooling left many parents struggling, with many who were surveyed expressing feelings of stress and guilt for not doing as much as others may be doing or feeling like they were letting their children’s education fall.

It’s clear that more needs to be done in order to help support working parents if school closures begin to increase as COVID-19 cases rise.