Homeschooling is no substitute for the classroom.
Are we raising a generation of mollycoddled children? One sign that we are is the fact that more and more parents seem to have given up trying to send their kids to school.
Earlier this month, the Centre for Social Justice think-tank published a report revealing that a shocking one in three parents in the UK no longer believes that their children have to attend school every day. Many of these parents argue that the closure of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic showed how inessential they are. Another report last year by consultancy firm Public First found it would take a ‘seismic shift’ for parents in England to once again view school attendance as absolutely necessary.
The effects of this can be clearly seen. A study by the Department for Education found that persistent absence has risen dramatically in English schools since the pandemic. The proportion of pupils missing 10 per cent or more of school sessions doubled from 13 per cent of pupils in autumn 2019 to 24.2 per cent in autumn 2022. The autumn 2019 figure was already almost double that from 10 years ago.