Parents ’should be paid for lockdown learning’

Evie and her mum endured more than two months of home-schooling during Canberra's recent lockdown. A leading expert from The Australian National University (ANU) is calling for more financial and other supports for families who conducted home schooling during lockdown periods. Professor Lyndall Strazdins said parents and carers who were facilitating education during their work hours have been "overlooked" and should have been given a wage subsidy.  "We had JobKeeper, JobSeeker - but we also should have had HomeTeacher," Professor Strazdins said.   "Where was HomeTeacher? There could have been an opportunity for parents to take parental leave, similar to what they can access after having a baby, so they could take an absence from their work and actually do the other job of home schooling.