Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 19 February 2021

19th February 2021

From the Office for National Statistics published today 19 February 2021.

This week, over the period 10 to 14 February 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:

Compliance with most measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high, with similar proportions to last week reporting always or often handwashing after returning home (89% this week compared with 90% last week), using a face covering (96% this week compared with 95% last week) and avoiding physical contact when outside their home (93% both this week and last week).

Personal well-being measures for life satisfaction (6.4), feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.0) and happiness (6.5) remained at some of the lowest levels recorded since March 2020; however, the level of anxiety (4.1) improved slightly this week compared with last week (4.2).

Around a quarter (26%) of adults in Great Britain reported they had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 68% reported they had not yet been offered the COVID-19 vaccine, 4% reported that they had been offered it and were awaiting it, and 1% reported that they had been offered it but declined it.

This week, based on data collected between 13 January and 7 February 2021, we also looked at the experiences of homeschooling for parents with at least one school-aged child. We found:

Most (90%) parents said a child in their household had been homeschooled because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the past seven days, with 52% of men and 67% of women with a school-aged child saying they had personally homeschooled.

Of parents who had personally homeschooled, half (50%) said it was negatively affecting their well-being in January 2021 compared with 28% in April 2020; whilst almost two-thirds (63%) said that it was negatively affecting their children's well-being, compared with 43% in April 2020.

In January 2021, nearly half (45%) of parents said their child spent 21 hours or more learning using resources provided by their school in the past seven days; this was up from 18% in May 2020.

Fewer parents of school-aged children said that their child struggled to continue their education at home in January 2021 (38%) than in May 2020 (52%).

We also asked those aged 16 to 18 years in full-time education directly about their experiences, with two-thirds (65%) agreeing that they were concerned that their future life plans will be negatively affected by continuing their education at home.

Statistician's comment

"While homeschooling seems to be delivered more effectively now than it was last year, with more resources available from schools, it appears to be taking a greater toll on parents and children. Two thirds of parents say it is having a negative impact on their child's well being - higher than in April last year."

Hugh Stickland, Head of Strategy and Engagement, Office for National Statistics.

Homeschooling

This bulletin also looks at the experiences of homeschooling for parents with at least one school-aged child. This analysis covers the period 13 January to 7 February 2021 (referred to as January 2021). Four individual waves of data were pooled together to provide a sample of 18,112 adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain.

These results are compared with those collected between 3 April to 10 May 2020 (referred to as April 2020) and 7 May to 7 June 2020 (referred to as May 2020) that were published in Coronavirus and homeschooling in Great Britain: April to June 2020.

During these periods, schools were closed to most children except for children of critical workers or vulnerable children.

Children learning from home is sometimes referred to as remote learning or homeschooling. The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey uses the term "homeschooling", therefore this term is used throughout this bulletin.

The term "parents" refers to a responding adult who has at least one dependent child (see Section 9: Glossary) in their household. This will include parents and other guardians. Parents who have at least one school-aged child (that is, a child aged between 5 and 18 years) are included in the base population; parents where all their children are aged between 0 and 4 years are excluded.

This analysis refers to opinions and experiences of adults with children that are being homeschooled because of school closures caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is not reflective of adults that electively educate their children at home when schools are normally open.

Main indicators

Compliance with most measures to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) remained high this week, with 89% of adults reporting always or often handwashing after returning home (90% last week), 96% using a face covering (95% last week) and 93% avoiding physical contact when outside their home (same as last week). Around 9 in 10 (91%) adults reported always or often maintaining social distance when meeting up with people outside their support bubble; a similar proportion to last week (90%).

This week, the proportion of adults reporting staying at home or only leaving for work, exercise, essential shopping or medical needs in the past seven days was unchanged from last week at 56%. This proportion is lower than the peak in mid-January at 65% but remains higher than before governments introduced tighter restrictions across Great Britain in November 2020

Personal well-being

This week, personal well-being measures including life satisfaction (6.4), the feeling that things done in life are worthwhile (7.0) and happiness (6.5) all remained the same as the levels reported last week. While we see a slight increase in the level of happiness in February, this is a minor improvement from the low level seen at the end of January (6.4). Positive well-being scores continued to be some of the lowest levels recorded since March 2020.

The level of anxiety continued to fall to 4.1 this week, down slightly from 4.2 last week. This compares with a level of 4.6 in the first week of January 2021, which was the highest score since April 2020.

Perceptions of the future

This week, the proportion of adults in Great Britain that felt that life will return to normal in six months or less decreased slightly, now at 20% compared with 21% last week.

The proportion of adults who felt that it will take more than a year for life to return to normal increased slightly. Nearly 3 in 10 (29%) adults felt it will take more than a year for life to return to normal, compared with 27% last week.

Attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination

This week, just over a quarter (26%) of adults in Great Britain reported they had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 22% last week. Nearly 7 in 10 (68%) reported they had not yet been offered the COVID-19 vaccine (72% last week), 4% reported that they had been offered it and were awaiting it (5% last week), and 1% reported that they had been offered it but declined it (less than 1% last week).

Of adults aged 70 years and over, 95% reported they had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine; up from 78% last week. Around 1 in 25 (4%) reported they had been offered it and were awaiting it and less than 1% reported they had not yet been offered the COVID-19 vaccine. Less than 1% of adults aged 70 years and over also reported they had been offered it but declined it.

The estimates presented here are from a sample of adults, and may differ from the latest official administrative data on the number of adults in Great Britain and its constituent countries who have received COVID-19 vaccination. Our survey does not include adults living in care homes or other establishments, so will not capture vaccinations in these settings. Because of small sample sizes, the percentage of adults who have declined the vaccine should be treated with caution. For more information please see the Glossary.

Looking at attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine this week, just over 9 in 10 (91%) adults reported they had now either received the vaccine or would be likely (very or fairly likely) to have the vaccine if offered. This also includes adults who have accepted and are waiting to receive it. A similar proportion was reported last week (92%). In early December 2020, around 8 in 10 (78%) adults indicated they would be likely to accept the vaccine if offered it.

Parents who were homeschooling

Between 13 January and 7 February 2021, 90% of parents with a school-aged child said that a child in their home had been homeschooled in the past seven days because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Those who have not homeschooled could include parents with children who still attended school or college.

Women with a school-aged child (67%) were more likely than men (52%) to say they had personally homeschooled a child in their home in the past seven days. Whereas, in April 2020, there appeared to be no difference between the percentage of men and women who said they had homeschooled.

Experiences of parents that have personally homeschooled changed between April 2020 and January 2021 (Figure 6):

half (50%) of homeschooling parents said that homeschooling was negatively affecting their well-being in January 2021, an increase from 28% who said this in April 2020

almost two-thirds (63%) of homeschooling parents said that homeschooling is negatively affecting their children's well-being, compared with 43% in April 2020

just over half (53%) of homeschooling parents said homeschooling was putting a strain on relationships, compared with 36% in April 2020

Over a third (37%) of all homeschooling parents said that their job was negatively affected by homeschooling. Focusing on those in employment, 47% of homeschooling parents said their job was negatively affected, compared with 30% of homeschooling parents in employment in April 2020.

Resources used and hours spent learning

The most common resources that parents said their only or oldest child had used for their homeschooling in January 2021 were school-provided digital resources accessed via online learning platforms (for example, pre-recorded lessons, assignments and e-workbooks) and school-provided real-time interactive online learning (for example, live lessons).

Over two-thirds (69%) of parents said their child had accessed real-time interactive online learning provided by schools in January 2021, an increase from 25% in May 2020. In comparison, 22% of parents said their child had used non-digital resources (for example, books and textbooks found by the parent) in January 2021, a decrease from 33% in May 2020. Additionally, 22% of parents said their child had used digital online learning resources (for example, BBC Bitesize or YouTube) in January 2021 compared with 40% in May 2020.

For those parents whose children had used school-provided resources, the number of hours children spent learning using these resources increased between these time periods, with 45% of parents in January 2021 saying in the past seven days their child spent 21 hours or more learning using resources provided by their teachers. This compared with 18% in May 2020.

Extent children are struggling and why

Fewer parents of school-aged children said that their child struggled to continue their education at home in January 2021 (38%) than in May 2020 (52%). Among the parents who said their only or oldest child was struggling, the most common reason in January 2021 was lack of motivation, with three in four parents (74%) giving this as a reason.

Around half (49%) of parents said "Parent or carer time to support is limited" was a reason their child was struggling to continue their education in January 2021, an increase from 33% in May 2020. The percentage of parents giving lack of appropriate resources as a reason for their child struggling to continue their education at home decreased to 16% in January 2021 from 25% in May 2020 .

Young people in full-time education

We also asked those aged 16 to 18 years in full-time education about the experiences around learning at home, as the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) includes respondents aged 16 years and over. In January 2021, the majority (97%) reported that in the past seven days they had continued their education at home because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Those not continuing their education at home could include students who still attended school or college.

Most (93%) of those aged 16 to 18 years in full-time education said that they had accessed real-time interactive online learning. However, almost half (47%) reported that they have struggled to continue their education, with lack of motivation being cited as the main reason for this (89%). The next most common reason for struggling to continue education at home was lack of guidance and support, with 41% of those struggling giving this as a reason.

Most older children aged 16 to 18 years in full-time education (65%) somewhat or strongly agreed that they were concerned that their future life plans will be negatively affected by continuing their education at home (Figure 10). In addition, 50% said that home education was negatively affecting their well-being; this is similar to the percentage of parents who said that homeschooling was negatively affecting their well-being.

Read more details and see graphs and charts at -

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthandwellbeing/bulletins/coronavirusandthesocialimpactsongreatbritain/19february2021