A Hong Kong-based education academic has described how parents supervising pupils’ online learning while schools remain closed face daily tantrums from their children as teachers send a plethora of YouTube videos to watch.

Covid-19 was identified much earlier in Hong Kong than England - with the first reported death from the virus occurring in early February. So the situation for schools and pupils there could offer a picture of what is just around the corner in the UK.

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Schools in the territory closed shortly after Chinese new year in late January.

Magda Nutsa Kobakhidze, an assistant professor of education at the University of Hong Kong and a mother of two, said school closures in the region have rendered parents “silent victims” of the new focus on home-schooling.

The government of Hong Kong has recently extended school closures to 20 April after initially closing schools until mid-March.

“In these circumstances, many parents found home-schooling overwhelming and frustrating,” Ms Kobakhidze said.

“Thousands of children from kindergartens, primary and secondary schools stay at home like in prison. Throwing temper tantrums at parents has become part of everyday life, making parents the silent victims of this new home-schooling venture.”

Other parents commented that they were struggling to cope with the level of assignments sent home by teachers, with pupils required to watch numerous YouTube videos and fill in worksheets, she said.

Parents also reported that remaining silent in the home so that children could study, and enforcing rules around e-learning was resulting in some “extremely difficult parenting moments”.

“I feel like a teacher assistant”, one parent told her. “Teachers send tons of links to YouTube videos, worksheets to fill out. I have to sit with my young one for hours.”

Teachers with children of their own faced particular difficulties, Ms Kobakhidze said. One teacher told her: “As a teacher, I am preparing learning materials for my students while at the same time I am supervising my young child…I feel drained.”

Some Hong Kong private schools were providing synchronous online classes, but Ms Kobakhidze reports that the outbreak has “amplified pre-existing differences in wealth”, with some pupils forced to use their parents’ smartphones to complete virtual learning through the lack of a computer at home.

And some families had even demanded refunds for school fees, reporting that they felt they were paying “something for nothing”.

Meanwhile in Italy, one head told Tes that the closure of his school prompted a complete “overhaul” of planning, while leaders needed to make it clear that teachers would not be on hand to respond to online comments and queries “24/7”.

Some British teachers who had returned to the UK from international schools in mainland China, however, reported that they had been asked to work through the night to provide online lessons to match timetabled hours in China. 

And teachers in China have gone to unprecedented lengths to continue online learning, with some delivering classes from the toilet. 

Tes understands that most UK independent schools are delivering staff training on how to teach online.