Lack of social interaction and struggles to self-motivate at home has undone 10 years of effort to close the attainment gap
MyTutor – the UK’s leading online tutoring service – unveil survey results from their parent base
53% of parents have seen their child’s motivation decrease in lockdown
43% have seen a negative mental health impact in their child due to the closure of schools
64% of parents feel their child has developed new learning gaps

Lockdown has been a challenging period for everyone for a myriad of reasons, and students in particular have struggled. In what has been the most disrupted school year in the last 75 years, since schools were last closed during wartime, the education sector has undoubtedly been reshaped for the next 18 months – if not more. For those teens who are of the age to sit exams, especially, this has been a particularly tumultuous time as exams were at first called off, but now the opportunity to sit these assessments in the Autumn has arisen. In what has been an undoubtedly stressful time, how has the mental health of children and teens been affected in lockdown?
A new survey from MyTutor – the UK’s leading tutoring service – has revealed that over half of parents (53%) have seen their children lose motivation over the lockdown period. Moreover, 43% of parents who responded to the survey also felt that their child’s mental health has been negatively impacted by school closures. Similarly, a new survey released yesterday showed that 4 in 10 young people – with no previous mental health issues – were experiencing high levels of depressive symptoms and stress in lockdown.
One stressor may be the widening education gap, and MyTutor’s survey additionally demonstrated that 64% of parents feel that their child has developed new learning gaps since schools have closed – especially in Mathematics. The Education Endowment Fund (EEF) has found that the efforts of the last 10 years to close the education gap has been reversed. The reopening of schools in September, therefore, will be welcome not only to ensure education gets back on track, but also to rebuild the confidence that pupils may have lost in their own skills and abilities since schools have shut.

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