Australian parents want their children to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and be back in the classroom for face-to-face learning due to overwhelming concerns about learning losses due to extended classroom lockouts, a new survey found.

In a national survey carried out by the leading children’s aid organization UNICEF Australia, parents urged state governments to give more support to home schooling and want them to lose ground with funded tutoring, extended school hours after the lockdown and catching up classes catching up on vacation instead.

Parents have a clear view of the measures that should be taken to protect children upon return to school, including vaccinations for school staff (64%), masks (50%), limited class numbers and vaccinations for students (43%).

UNICEF Australia CEO Tony Stuart said: “To date, much of the debate about when students will return to face-to-face classes has been led by politicians, the health sector and trade unions, but UNICEF Australia felt it was important that we too they heard parents of school-age children.

“There is clearly no substitute for face-to-face learning and the many benefits that the school environment brings to the children’s educational experience. Children’s health must come first, but it is also important that we have a clear path back into the classroom and a plan on how to evaluate and manage lost learning during the lockdown.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have spoken to more than 3,500 children and adolescents about their schooling and many have told us that they feel they have fallen behind. Social isolation has also had an impact on their wellbeing and they are eager to return to the classroom as soon as it is safe to do so.

“We recognize that schools and parents are doing their best to facilitate learning in very difficult circumstances, but the quality of teaching in classrooms simply cannot be remotely matched as long as students have limited contact with their teachers and parents have to fulfill their professional obligations. “

Two thirds (65%) of 1000 parents surveyed said they would vaccinate their children “tomorrow” if they could and that they would like their children to continue their personal learning in school during the lockdown (53%) .

The main reason parents wanted their children back to school was socialization and mental health (69%), followed by learning (68%). Home schooling is also clearly a burden on parents. More than a third say they want their children back to school to ease the pressure at home.

Loss of learning is a major problem for 63% of parents, with more than one in four (27%) fearing that their child will not be able to catch up and 69% say they would like their child to learn afterwards locking is measured.

Three in four parents (83%) said they would like more home-study classroom support, and when asked how to cope with the learning loss, 42% said they felt more during the lockdown 1: 1 teacher contact, followed by state-funded tutoring, and one in four stated that they would be open to longer appointments after the block had ended (31%) and subject-specific lessons during the school holidays (23%).