Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of home schooling made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our latest guidance on remote education during COVID-19 is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-during-coronavirus-covid-19

The department is continuing to assess the impact of school closures on children and young people’s education. We are working closely with educational providers, sector organisations, international institutions and across government to understand the risks to education attainment and wellbeing, and identify how best to support children and young people make up for time spent out of school.

We are committed to ensuring that all children can continue to learn remotely in a number of ways during these very difficult circumstances, and are supporting sector-led initiatives such as the Oak National Academy. This brand-new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England and is providing 180 free video lessons each week, across a broad range of subjects for every year group from Reception through to year 10. By 24 May, over 2.3 million users had visited the Oak Academy site and over 8.6 million lessons had been accessed.

Additionally, the Government has committed over £100 million to boost remote education, including by providing devices and internet access for those who need it most, ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to get set up on Google for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education, and offering peer support from schools and colleges leading the way with the use of education technology.

It is up to each school to determine how to deliver education to its pupils and we recognise that many schools have been working hard to share resources – both online and printed resources – for children who are at home.

These are rapidly developing circumstances; we continue to keep the situation under review and will keep Parliament updated accordingly.