Article by Katie Pearce, Programme Lead, Amazon Study
Supporting children’s education at home can be challenging for working parents and carers who already balance a hectic schedule of care and work responsibilities.
According to the latest Office for National Statistics report on Families and the Labour Market in families where both parents are employed, it is now more common for both parents to work full-time – in 2021, around 50.4% of working families had both parents employed full time.
Additionally, new research from YouGov, who surveyed 1000 British parents and carers on behalf of Amazon, found that while 45% of parents and carers enjoy being involved in their child’s education, nearly one in three (29%) find it stressful, and one in five (20%) find it difficult.
Technology can help working parents and carers feel less stressed by offering free access to quality online learning resources which can make it easier to be more involved in your child’s home learning while continuing to build a successful career.
During the height of the pandemic, working parents and carers, shouldered the responsibility of managing their children’s learning, with video conferencing, school resources and educational content providing a lifeline of support to help maintain their children’s education.
Though the home-schooling days are over with schools now fully reopened, many would like to maintain the level of involvement achieved during the pandemic and have greater engagement with their children’s education. Research from University College London into learning during the pandemic outlined that parents reported a strong sense of ‘knowing their own child’, feeling more connected to their children’s progress and a renewed appreciation and insight into their children’s learning.
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Technology provides great access to a wide range of resources and offers numerous, time saving opportunities for parental and caregiver involvement in children’s learning at home through online learning games, educational video channels and e-learning websites. Parents and carers are empowered to contribute positively to their children’s education with the flexibility to set personalised learning paces, working to a schedule and level of ability that’s suitable to their child’s needs.
At Amazon, we believe in supporting skills development for children and young people and we know that parental and caregiver involvement in children’s education is crucial. Education Professor John Hattie’s 2008 seminal evidence-based study into the factors that improve children’s learning concluded that the effect of consistent parental/caregiver involvement in a child’s learning is equivalent to adding two to three years to that child’s education.
This is why we launched Amazon Study – to help busy parents and carers (as well as teachers) support their child’s learning by providing them with quick and easy access to free, curriculum-linked maths and science resources and activities from some of the UK’s leading education publishers in a single location.
Parents, carers and children can quickly browse through downloadable resources based on age, subject and topic, read through customer reviews and then select them to work through at their own pace and convenience.
The many technologies available like online learning resources are enabling parents and carers to more easily play a role in their child’s education. While technology can never replace the role of direct teaching in a child’s learning, it is helping to make learning fun, engaging, easy and more accessible – not only for children but for working parents and carers.
