Homeschooling: Fifth of pupils doing an hour or less of work every day

One fifth of pupils - around two million children in the UK - are doing less than an hour of schoolwork a day at home, according to a study.

The report from University College London's Institute of Education said that on average pupils across the UK are studying for 2.5 hours a day during lockdown.

The study found that in some cases, children hadn't done any schoolwork at all, and only about 17% did more than four hours a day of schoolwork.

This survey suggests the amount of schoolwork children are doing is much lower than a previous survey, which said children in the highest-income families spend six hours a day on education, but the poorest spend four-and-a-half.

That study was carried out by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Other studies have said that one of the key reasons children are missing out on schoolwork is because they don't have good access to internet or a computer.

This is one of the reasons why the government is keen to get children back into classrooms - though it has said it is working to to help children in poorer families.

It says it has committed over £100m to help home learning, and is providing laptops and internet access to children who need them.

Under one of its newest schemes, about 10,000 families in England are being offered free internet access for six months.

The UCL report also says only 15% children who normally get free school meals were receiving four or more pieces of offline schoolwork compared to 21% of children not eligible for free meals.

The report said that, because of this, these children "appear to be additionally disadvantaged during lockdown".

The study said that in London, the South East of England and Northern Ireland, children receive more offline schoolwork, such as assignments, worksheets and watching videos, than elsewhere in the UK.

Prof Francis Green, who led the UCL research, said its report "painted a gloomy picture of lost schooling and low amounts of schoolwork at home".

In another survey by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) the vast majority of teachers in England (90%) said their pupils were doing less or much less work than they normally would at this time of the year.

In the survey, carried out in May, head teachers said they believe about a third of pupils are not doing with the work they've been set by their teachers.

Teachers said vulnerable children, those with limited access to technology and/or study space, those with special educational needs and disabilities, and young carers, were finding it particularly difficult to complete schoolwork from home learning.

Teachers say just over half (55%) of parents could help with their children's home learning, according to the report.

But children who go to school in a deprived area are less likely to have their parents who can help them (41%) than children in other schools (62%).

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: "We will do whatever we can to make sure no child, whatever their background, falls behind as a result of coronavirus.

"We are also considering, with a range of partner organisations, what more is required to support all pupils who have been affected by school closures."