Wednesday 27 May 2020
A survey of more than 2,000 parents and carers has been overwhelmingly positive about distance learning provided by schools during lockdown.
Nearly 90% of parents thought the work set for their children was of about the right standard, and more than 90% said the instructions for the learning were acceptable or very good.
Seven out of 10 parents with children in primary or secondary schools said their children have completed all or nearly all of the work set by teachers. Almost all other children have completed some of the work set.
More than eight out of 10 parents said they were happy with the level of communication from their child's school.
The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture introduced distance learning after the Easter holidays. The programme will continue for the first week after half term and will then end in preparation for schools to re-open to all students from Monday 8th June.
The distance learning programme is not intended to replicate the normal school day nor does it ask parents to replicate the role of teachers. It is designed to help parents feel supported while they facilitate and encourage their children to continue their education through the work set by schools.
Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture, said:
"We are really pleased to see the positive feedback from parents. We asked our officers to work with schools to prepare a fairly comprehensive distance learning programme at short notice and it is great news that most parents are positive about the programme. We were not trying to recreate the school day at home in every respect, but we owed it to children to do everything we could to encourage them to continue their progress in education. School leaders and teachers have worked extremely hard to provide work for their students in very unusual circumstances and the vast majority of parents have done a brilliant job supporting and encouraging their children. I want to reiterate our thanks to staff in schools for their commitment and our thanks to parents who have done their best to make education work over the past few weeks.
"We will work with officers and schools to review what has worked well and what has worked less well over the past few weeks. This is important not least because we have to understand that while the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world there is the possibility of a resurgence of cases in the Bailiwick and at some point we may need to return to a more stringent lockdown, close schools to most students and reintroduce distance learning."
The survey also showed that 43% of children needed some support from family members to complete their work while 33% required a lot of support.
There were 2,242 responses to the survey - 40% were from secondary school parents and 60% were from primary school parents.
Distance learning was also put in place for further and higher education students and students with special educational needs.
