As we recently shared, more parents are considering joining the ranks of our nation’s fine homeschoolers fin light of the opportunity the coronavirus pandemic has presented many parents to consider their children’s education in a new light.
Now, a new poll released by USA TODAY/Ipsos reveals as many as six-in-ten parents said they are likely to homeschool in the fall, while three in ten say they are very likely, PJ Media reports.
The report states:
If classrooms reopen this fall, parents by 59%-36% say they would be likely to pursue at-home options, such as an online classes or home schooling. By double digits, men were more likely than women to consider pursuing those alternatives. Those with lower household incomes were more interested than those with higher incomes, and racial minorities were more interested than whites.
Meanwhile, a separate survey showed that one-in-five teachers may not return to schools once they reopen. Two-thirds of the teachers surveyed said that this change was brought on by coronavirus lockdown measures which have made it impossible for them to do their jobs.
Almost all of them, 83%, say they are having a harder time doing their job right now, and two-thirds say they have had to work more than usual. Two-thirds also say they haven’t been able to do their job properly since starting to teach remotely, a task that most say they hadn’t been prepared well by the district to do.
The newest teachers, those who have been on the job for five years or less, struggled the most with distance teaching; 6 in 10 said they hadn’t been trained well for the task. The oldest teachers had the most difficulty dealing with technology. Among teachers 55 and older, 1 in 4 said it hasn’t been easy for them to use the technology required.
Worthy of note is that more teachers than parents—76% of teachers versus 46% of parents—believe their children have fallen behind this semester.
Both groups agreed that teacher’s jobs have gotten much harder being away from their students. More than four in five teachers and 71% of parents said teachers’ jobs have gotten significantly harder during this time.
Perhaps this realization about the job and role of teachers in our society is causing parents to realize the limits placed on their own relationship to their child’s education that is causing parents to be more open to the idea of homeschooling?
These polls reveal that, at the very least, a massive shake-up is taking place in the way that our nation educates children.
