Two-thirds of parents worry exams won’t reflect child's capabilities

As students prepare to find out their exam results, new research by Ipsos shows two-thirds (66%) of parents of children aged 4-16 are worried about exams or assessments not reflecting what their children are capable of because of the pandemic. This includes almost 4 in 10 (38%) who say they are very worried while only a quarter (25%) say they are not worried.

Similarly, 65% of parents say they are worried about their child(ren) catching up on schoolwork missed because of the pandemic, including a third (34%) who are very worried about it. Around 3 in 10 (28%) are not concerned.

Looking back over the pandemic, parents say their children missed seeing their friends at school most (63%) while they also missed learning in the classroom (45%) and subjects not easily done at home, such as PE and Food Technology (36%). Around a third of parents said their child(ren) missed extracurricular clubs at school (34%) or seeing their teachers (32%). Few children missed school lunches/meals at school (17%), according to their parents, while around a quarter missed getting outside at break times and lunches (23%).

Trinh Tu, Managing Director of Public Affairs at Ipsos in the UK, said: "Exam result day is always a time of anxiety for pupils and parents and it is especially the case this year which marked the return to ‘normal’ assessments as we emerge from the pandemic. Our data shows heightened concerns among parents with 2 in 3 worried that their children’s missed schoolwork will impact their exam and assessment results. It’s clear that parents feel that measures need to be taken within our education system to ensure that children are able to catch up on missed learning and that the pandemic does create longstanding disadvantage for pupils."