'Teaching online is problematic,' said Seagull. ' We assume children have access to devices and broadband but up to a million children in the UK either don't have access to a device or to broadband, or if they do, their broadband speed may not be fast enough to stream lessons live.'
Bobby Seagull is one of a growing number of commentators who would like to see the government do more to help children get access to the technology they need to do their schoolwork.
Increasingly children are set online tasks for homework and while some manage to do these on a mobile phone or use school facilities at a homework club, the move to online delivery of lessons during the pandemic has thrown into stark relief the discrepancies between the haves and have-nots.
A survey for the University College London (UCL) Institute of Education estimated that two million - 20% of pupils in the UK - had done no schoolwork or managed less than an hour a day while a report for the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that fewer than half (42%) had bothered to return their work, and pupils in the most disadvantaged schools were the least likely to be engaged with remote learning.
Digital Learning magazine recently published two key articles. One focused on the legal challenges mounted by four families against the government claiming that there is unequal access to technology for education.
The second looked at the future of examinations and from comments made by experts in the field it was clear that the UK is lagging behind other countries when it comes to digital exams, remote assessment and developing new forms of accreditation.