Most parents do not feel confident teaching at home

New polling from the Sutton Trust that looks at how parents are coping with school closures has revealed that only 42 per cent of parents feel confident about teaching their children at home.

The research shows that 47 per cent of middle class (ABC1) parents say they feel confident teaching their children at home, compared to 37 per cent of working class (C2DE) parents.

1,508 parents, surveyed by Public First between the 1-3 April, were asked how confident they feel about teaching their children from home, and the support they are receiving from their school. Almost half (49 per cent) of better-off parents reported being satisfied with the learning support provided for children now at home. A slightly smaller proportion (40 per cent) of working class parents said they were either quite or very satisfied.

Children from working class families are more likely to have nothing spent on their education than those in the middle classes (60 per cent, compared to 45 per cent). In fact, 23 per cent of children have had at least £50 spent on them on materials to support their learning at home. One in six have had more than £100 spent on them, while almost one in 10 have had over £150 paid out on their education.

To level the playing field, the Sutton Trust recommends that high-quality online tuition is available for disadvantaged pupils, funded through a voucher scheme or through a network of quality-assured tutoring providers.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “Parents across the country are grappling with the challenge of home schooling their children. The home learning environment has never been more important, but as today’s polling shows less than half of parents feel confident about teaching their child at home. Better-off parents are more able than poorer families to spend money on resources and support for their children. To reduce the impact of school closures on the most disadvantaged pupils, we’d like to see high-quality online tuition available to the most disadvantaged pupils.”