UK Edition
Mothers are bearing the brunt of homeschooling by doing twice as much teaching as fathers, a survey has shown.
Average working hours for parents were found to have fallen around 40% in lockdown, but mothers with young children at home were significantly more likely to have stopped work than fathers, according to a study by University College, London (UCL).
Pupils are facing up to six months out of the classroom when they return in September, after nurseries, colleges and schools closed their doors to most children in March.
Researchers fear that the extended break could leave families in a parlous financial state if employment does not rebound when the Government’s relief scheme ends in the autumn.
More than 18,000 people were surveyed in May about how their lifestyle had changed due to Covid-19, with 64% of mothers of school-aged children saying they were doing some home-schooling, compared to 49% of fathers.
Mothers of primary school children were spending an average of five hours per day educating them, compared to two hours of lessons led by fathers, the study found.
Similarly, mothers were also spending nearly three and a half hours on developmental activities with primary school-aged children on a typical day, compared with just under two hours for fathers.
It was a trend reflected in parental approaches to full-time employment, as women - particularly those with children of primary school age or younger - were found to be considerably more likely than men to have sacrificed their jobs.
Professor Emla Fitzsimons, who is one of the co-authors from the UCL Institute of Education, said: "Many mothers who have put their careers on hold to provide educational support for their children will need to adjust again once schools reopen and the furlough scheme tapers off.
"And with educational inequalities between advantaged and disadvantaged children potentially growing during this period, policymakers and practitioners will have to be vigilant to ensure that those who have suffered the most learning losses are well supported when schools return."
The approach to home-schooling also appeared to be informed by the education of the parents.
Around 63% of parents of primary aged children who are university graduates said they were homeschooling, compared to 49% of parents who had lower levels of educational attainment.
Parents who continued to work through the lockdown spent 1.2 fewer hours on home-schooling per day than those who were not working, the study found.
Across all age groups, nearly 30% of the respondents said they were financially worse off since the start of the pandemic.
The financial impact appears to have been felt more acutely by the younger generations, however, with 62% of men in their late teens saying they had stopped work altogether, compared to 30% of men in their fifties.
The changes to financial circumstances appear to have "widened inequality", the report said, as people who said they were "struggling" before lockdown were most likely to say they were worse off.
Co-author Professor Francis Green said: "The worst effects have been avoided for many families by the Government's furlough scheme, and some have saved on commuting and leisure expenses.
"But those who were struggling before the pandemic were most likely to have come into greater difficulties. With relief schemes being tapered off in August and September, the future for families' finances is about to become very precarious."