Digital screens as teachers during the pandemic

Early in the pandemic, quantitative studies in the UK identified that the Government-enforced lockdowns may risk increasing inequalities based on gender, wealth, and social background. It was argued that the absence of formal education could have significant negative impacts on educational attainment for marginalised groups, in turn affecting social mobility among the young. Education during this period became increasingly digitalised as work was expected to be completed via the use of screens.

This chapter explores the extent to which families used screens for teaching and learning during the pandemic. Interviews showed that for some, they welcomed the use of digital screens and used them as the schools intended, whereas others exercised more creativity and independence over the use and application of screens as a resource. Some families resisted the use of screen-based learning and chose non-digital approaches to support children’s education instead. Much of the existing literature is framed around the negative portrayal of the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic on young people’s education, including the learning loss and widening inequalities narratives; in contrast, this chapter offers alternative viewpoints and discusses a range of beneficial learning approaches experienced during lockdown.