The lives of millions of parents and children were turned upside down after the national lockdown in England on January 4, 2021. Unlike the first lockdown, this time the government applied policies that included a legal requirement for distance learning (video lessons), offline resources (assignments and workbooks), and also a collaboration between parents and schools that targeted underprivileged children in particular.
According to the findings of recent research and the Understanding Society study COVID -19 ( the University of Essex, 2020), home learning has a particularly negative impact on the following vulnerable, underprivileged groups, and these parents tend to rely more on the instructional resources provided by their children's schools.
- Children with less-educated parents (cannot take instructional responsibility),
- Children in single-parent families (more pressures, including limited time, support, and resources to support learning at home),
- Children from ethnic minority backgrounds (English proficiency and limited understanding of learning materials or limited ability to support learning).
- Children from poor backgrounds.
In addition, survey results suggest that after the policy was allocated, distance learning provided by schools generally increased (around 10-18 minutes per day), although students from non-privileged families spent significantly less time learning at home than their privileged peers.
Another opportunity presented by the government's new policy is to enable pupils without a laptop or learning space to attend school. So, live online classes once or twice a day can increase students' connection to school and friends and have a positive impact on their mental well-being.