Home lessons gap between rich and poor, according to new research

By Steve Teal
Published 18th May 2020, 10:41 BST
Updated 18th May 2020, 10:42 BST

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Poorer families are less likely to want to send their children back to school amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite these pupils having fewer opportunities for home learning, a survey suggests.

Children from better-off households are spending an additional 75 minutes a day on educational activities than their peers from the poorest households during the lockdown, research has found.

Pupils from the wealthiest families will have done seven full school days’ worth of extra home learning by June 1, when more pupils could return to school, according to an Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) report.

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If children do not go back to school until September, the gap between the most affluent and the poorest pupils will double to three school weeks, the study warns.

Poorer families are less likely to want to send their children back to school amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite these pupils having fewer opportunities for home learning, a survey suggests. Photo credit: PAPoorer families are less likely to want to send their children back to school amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite these pupils having fewer opportunities for home learning, a survey suggests. Photo credit: PA
Poorer families are less likely to want to send their children back to school amid the Covid-19 pandemic, despite these pupils having fewer opportunities for home learning, a survey suggests. Photo credit: PA

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