Parents in UK welcome school reopening

The reopening of schools in England on March 8 will be a relief to working parents who have balanced employment duties with assisting children with education at home during national lockdowns in place due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Dad-of-two David Lawrence from Durham has found home schooling "extremely difficult" since the start of the first lockdown.

"My wife and myself have both worked throughout the pandemic, from home in my case, so balancing time for work and for the responsibility has been an almost impossible task," he said. "The children, however, have coped well and have been in the fortunate position of having each other and being close in age, which may well have helped any isolation issues."

But Lawrence said it's been hard to find the time to assist his children, who are aged 6 and 7, to complete their work.

"The children are at an age where they need to be managed through the work and cannot just be set away alone to complete tasks," he said.

He added that their school has provided work sheets and tasks, but "it ends there".

"There is then an expectation to complete the assigned work by a given date, which in our full-time working scenario isn't always practicable," Lawrence explained, adding that there is also an expectation to complete a set amount every week regardless of circumstances.

As well as the pressures of home schooling his children, Lawrence fears that the circumstances might have affected his children's education. Though due to their relatively young age, he believes "there is opportunity to make up for lost time".

"I also fear that this may have impacted their social development more, which may set them back with regards to expected levels of development and mental maturity for their age group," he said.

Like other parents, Lawrence is eager for the children to go back to school next month.

"It will be a welcome break for both parents and the children, and hopefully they can get back on track quickly. I will also appreciate removing the pressures of home schooling," he said.

Stephanie, 40, lives in west London and has been home schooling her 5- and 10-year-olds as well as taking care of a 6-month-old baby.

She found it difficult to maintain a home-school schedule with her children, as they are easily distracted at home.

"Since they are spending more time at home, the responsibility of teaching falls onto parents," she said. "It was difficult for us to teach the two kids, given that we have a 6-month-old baby in the house and my husband works long hours. We are worried that they might fall behind when they are back to school."

Stephanie also feels the pressure of trying to home school her children and "some other kids would learn better or more because the parents are putting more effort than us".

To keep their children from feeling isolated from their friends and classmates, Stephanie would try to arrange virtual meet-ups but said it's still different from meeting and playing physically.

While she has struggled during the pandemic with staying at home and not meeting people, she did say the experience has brought her family closer together, which is a "silver lining".

Schools in Scotland began a phased return on Monday, with the youngest pupils heading back to classrooms first.

William Wong and his partner Rebecca have three children and another on the way. They live in Glasgow, Scotland.

Before returning to the classrooms, he said their two girls, Emilia, 3, in nursery, and Mia, 7, in primary school, adapted well to home schooling because of their age, but are missing out on social development.

"They don't quite understand why and when they can see their friends properly. It's been hard in terms of them missing friends. But we have had video calls often with them," Wong said.

The family said the pandemic and lockdown has also been isolating for them.

"My partner's family and friends live over 200 miles away, and not being able to see them for over a year has had an effect on both the children and her," the 41-year-old father said.

He admitted home schooling was difficult at first, but the family soon found that routine and organization helped.

"Our children are young so home schooling has been more about arts and crafts and being active. The challenge is getting both the children to do all the work that has been set and also to focus on the Google meet sessions," Wong said.

For Sophie Midcalf in Northeast England, who has two children, 5-year-old Amelie and 3-year-old Ben, the routine has been going well as Amelie is still going to school for three days out of the week.

"Amelie has handled home schooling well but I think that's because we sent her in the other half of the week so she still got some interaction with her friends," Midcalf said. "I definitely felt pressure toward the home schooling and find it hard to prove we have done lots of work as some things you don't always get a photo to upload."

She said one of the biggest challenges for her and her husband Ed is balancing working from home while also looking after their youngest Ben.

"Ben needs to be watched and entertained at all times so we never achieved anything when he was around as both Ed and I are trying to work too," she said. "Another challenge was getting Amelie motivated as she wasn't keen to get going with it most of the time, so it was hard to keep her engaged with the work."

She is also glad they will be returning to school fulltime on March 8.

"It should have been sooner really. Amelie is very excited to see all her class and her teacher again," she said.