Child poverty campaigners in Scotland are calling for more support for families to home school their children, after finding 40 per cent of low-income families were missing at least one essential resource to support their children’s learning.
Only one third of the families who were most worried about money had bought a laptop, tablet or other device, itr found.
Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland now wants the UK government to increase child benefit by £10 to reduce the cost burdens families are facing due to school closures, and to help tackle child poverty.
It is also calling on the Scottish government to increase other benefits families receive, including increasing school clothing grants and urgently reviewing the eligibility threshold for free meals - many families were living in poverty but were not able to claim free meals, the charity said.
Background: How to make school affordable for struggling families
Related: Call for cash payments instead of free meals
News: Free school meals to continue this summer in Scotland
Home learning: School forced to fundraise to keep pupils learning
CPAG in Scotland - which has done a lot of work in the past identifying the hidden costs of schooling and helping primaries and secondaries mitigate these - surveyed 3,218 parents and carers and 1,074 children and young people in May to understand the cost of learning in lockdown.
As well as uncovering the financial barriers to home school the charity found secondary school pupils were more likely to report that they had done a lot of schoolwork at home if they were regularly keeping in touch with their teachers, a finding that has prompted the charity to call for schools to prioritise maintaining contact with families.
The charity also found that, regardless of income, the most important factor for many parents and carers when schools reopened was that they provided emotional support “to help pupils settle back in and come to terms with the events of 2020”.
John Dickie, director of CPAG in Scotland, said the families least able to afford it were having to spend money on learning resources.
He said: “The first minister’s commitment to continue free school meal provision through the summer holidays is hugely welcome and we now urge all councils to move to the cash payment model that is so popular with parents. But action to increase financial support for families more generally is vital. The UK government must increase child benefit as a matter of urgency and here in Scotland ministers must use the tools they have to provide immediate additional financial support to families, with one option being to use school clothing grant delivery to provide additional cash support to help families cope with the costs the pandemic has imposed.
“This crisis means that even more families than usual are facing financial challenges as schools return with the new blended learning approach. Parents have told us what a difference digital and classroom resources and support make, both to their budgets and to their children’s learning. Government at every level must now commit to ensuring every child has what they need to fully take part in learning, whether that’s in school or from home.”
