BACK TO SCHOOL: The subjects and topics teachers should focus on

Research reveals the parts of the school curriculum that teachers may need to focus on amid schools reopening UK wide. I also have Q&A with three parents commenting on the news (quotes below the data table).

Clarks analysed Google search trends around questions about five school subjects, many of which saw monthly searches increase dramatically during lockdown homeschooling.

These trends highlight the areas of confusion experienced by parents and pupils while learning at home, and indicate to teachers nationwide the topics they should prioritise for children’s learning.

For instance, there was a big surge in searches for ‘what is a factor in maths’. This question saw a 2485% increase in average monthly searches compared to April 2019 (a year before homeschooling was widespread).

These are the Top 100 most-Googled questions about curriculum topics in English, maths, science, geography and history, giving clues to the subjects that students might need the most help with when returning to school:

36-year-old Katie Camenzuli lives in Hertfordshire and is mum to two children, aged 4 and 7. She said: “Following the latest Government update regarding the opening of schools, I feel extremely positive about my children returning to full time education. I’m relieved that they will be back in their familiar learning environment focusing on their education and being able to interact with their friends who they have missed dearly.”

She added: “While I won’t continue to homeschool, I will be supporting my children outside of school with educational activities, games and increased reading to support the time that they have been out of full-time education. From a personal point of view, I’m relieved to be able to focus solely on work while my children are back at school and to be able to enjoy quality family time free of structured homeschooling!”

Adam Wilson, 37, is a father to two young children and lives in Edinburgh. Both of his kids went back to school and nursery this week. He said: “While it has certainly been a big relief for me, I can’t help but feel guilty knowing that so many parents and kids have to keep waiting. Homeschooling wasn’t too bad, and teacher support has been good: there have been a few specific check-ins over video but largely it was them giving us great daily lists of suggested tasks and sharing links for relevant educational videos. The most rewarding thing about homeschooling was just being able to appreciate how hard a job teachers have. It’s nice to see how teachers build up the basics and feel closer to my children’s learning experience, especially because getting information out of kids on what they learn at school is touch. I’m super happy they’ve reopened schools, but do feel guilty for other parents.”

He added: “This doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about the virus and I’m aware there are risks still out there, but I think as things stand now, everyone is making their own decisions on how they approach their families safety weighed up against overall wellbeing. I certainly think all teachers should get a vaccine; they’re on a par with frontline workers for me.”

In North Wales, 33-year-old Barry Loughran is the father of three children. He said: “The news about schools reopening is great! Because I live in Wales, our 3 and 6-year-olds when back to school this week, but our 10-year-old isn’t due to return until March 15th. My wife and I both work from home so we have been helping with homeschooling throughout the day, which means setting, guiding and marking work for a 3, 6 and 10-year-old. There isn’t a task they can all do to keep them quiet for a sustained amount of time. We’re lucky to work for flexible employers who understand and give us the room to tackle both responsibilities.”

He added: “We will continue with homeschooling where possible though because we’ve seen great progress doing it with our children. We’ve often found the work set by the school lacks any real teaching, more ticking tasks off a list e.g. go and research x topic.  So being able to sit down with our children and teach actual concepts has been good.  One on one teaching has been great for our 6-year-old who has come on so much just by reading and writing daily. Personally speaking, I think the transition from in school to home learning has been a poor one. Our school only recently started having Zoom calls and given we’re in our 11th month it just feels slow.”

Rosie McKissock, Kids Business Manager at Clarks, said: “For so many parents across the UK, it’s back to the homeschooling routine and we wanted to understand what this experience has been like so far for them. Overall, it’s been quite an eye-opener, with 3 in 10 parents surveyed saying their biggest takeaway from their homeschooling experience is they’ll respect and appreciate teachers a lot more, and 23% commenting on how easy it is for adults to forget what they learnt in school. As a parent myself, I totally recognise what this survey describes. It’s been a humbling experience taking on home school for two young children, realising the patience involved in teaching kids as well as the revelation of just how much you have forgotten (or perhaps never knew in the first place!). While government rules mean our high street stores are closed at the moment, we’re continuing our commitment at Clarks to help parents prepare for sending their children back to school when they’re happy to do so. Our foot gauges come in two different sizes, allowing parents to measure and fit their children’s school shoes at home, with step-by-step instructions available on our website or direct from our customer service team to help with the process.”