A new lockdown in England and the subsequent closure of most schools involved homeschooling for children and students. Even though many parents are familiar with the past UK lockdown situation in 2020, the third lockdown entailed several psychological issues and difficulties in the homeschooling process that both children and their parents faced again.
Difficulties for children
Not all families have the opportunity to provide their every child with electronic resources and gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, and good Internet connection at home.
There are a lot of families struggling financially. Kate Anstey, a project lead at the charity, noted for BBC News that based on the feedback from parents, carers, and kids, "up to 40% of them did not only not have access to a laptop or the internet, but also to other things like printers, even stationery and craft materials," which exerts intense psychological pressure on both children and their parents, and focus on priority attention and worries to this problem. Learning from home again is not an easy task when kids cannot see their friends. And the lack of Internet access and the ability to be connected with them online, somehow to do homework - only further exacerbate the issue. As an example of a solution, author and homeschooling advocate Michael Evans gave some practical advice to parents who can help nowadays.
Difficulties for parents
For many parents, the resumption of homeschooling has created additional complexity because most of them are not teachers. In addition to their work, now the parents should also organize the schedule and learning process of their kids at home: to do lessons with them or check the homework or even sometimes send in evidence of home working to school.
Not everyone was ready for this because there is no single instruction or developed system of how to help parents be prepared to be teachers at home in a time of lockdowns and at the same time to continue to work and carry out their work duties. Digital learning aids could be one of the educational solutions to make learning at home accessible at any time.
Challenges for employers
The new homeschooling causes more parental attention at home, which significantly reduces their work hours, which not all employers may agree. Of course, parents have the right to take time off work, but it is only a limited right – it does not envisage the latest lockdown rules. Those, as mentioned above, are just a matter entirely at an employer's discretion. Also, there are some dangers to such an approach. Barry Stanton from Boyes Turner LLP said: "Those on furlough might be more at risk of being made redundant." That also has an acute psychological impact on parents' mental health and challenges them to find objective solutions in the current situation.
