Free resources to help teachers, parents and students respond to the impact of COVID-19 worldwide
Online education resources for home learning
Online English resources for home education
Online maths resources for home education
Online science, PE, wellbeing and SEND resources for home education
Home education: tips for parents
DfE have brought together a list of online educational resources to support children’s education at home while they may not be attending their normal education setting.
The lists include subject-specific resources for:
- English
- maths
- science
- PE
- wellbeing
- special educational needs and disability (SEND)
These resources are currently being offered for free.
Individual resources cannot replace a school’s properly planned curriculum, and the resources in this list are not intended to do so. Schools may wish to explore this list of resources as they consider how they continue to support children’s education.
DfE have assessed these resources with the support of subject experts to make sure they are:
- high quality
- appropriate for the students they are aimed at
The resources were also assessed against certain technical elements.
The resources may be useful for parents in considering how they could support their children’s education, but they should not be used in place of existing resources which schools may be using as part of their continued provision for pupils’ education at this time.
DfE have included some supporting home education tips for parents to help you during this challenging time.
This list of resources is not exhaustive and there are many other resources available to schools. This list has been updated since it was originally published to include additional resources suppliers have submitted to us.
Before using these resources, you should refer to the guidance on safeguarding in schools, colleges and other providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which has further information on how to keep children safe online.
Care should be taken that all activities, especially practical and physical activities, are undertaken safely and with due regard for the abilities of the pupil.
Teachers and parents/carers should check that activities are appropriate for the intended user and that they can be carried out safely in the home environment.
@EducationGovUK and @BESAtweet develop LendED to offer free or discounted resources for students, schools, universities and training providers
The British Educational Suppliers Association, with the support of the UK Department for Education, has developed the LendED website to help schools get the most out of their existing resources, and provide teachers with easy-to-use home learning materials. You can search resources from trusted suppliers, read teacher reviews and request free access during school closures. This site includes over 200 UK companies.
For Schools and Parents:
Cambridge Assessment International Education is making free resources available to help schools deliver effective learning outside the classroom here.
Oxford University Press are offering free access to their education platforms here for an extended period and are committed to supporting teachers through professional development training that can be accessed anytime, as well as offering teaching support for through Oxford Owl and this website.
Pearson is providing access to expert faculty, best practices, and other online learning resources for people who are studying, teaching or working remotely. They are regularly updating their site which includes K12 resources.
Twinkl has created home learning and school closure packs and made them available for free, including content tailored to specific markets. Content is available on LinkedIn & Twitter for sharing.
Twig Education is offering free access to schools and ministries of education of its k-12 STEM resources.
GetMyGrades helps students to keep track of progress, and is allowing schools affected by Covid-19 to use its platform for free.
Century Tech creates personalised learning pathways for students and powerful data for teachers to ensure that every child gets tailored, high quality education. They are offering free maths, English and science resources here.
Mangahigh is offering full and free access to Mangahigh for distance learning maths to schools closed due to COVID-19. Visit their website.
Your Favourite Teachers is offering free access to their online GCSE platform to ensure students are able to continue their studies and revision uninterrupted. Website.
My Online Schooling provides a full-time British education online to all children of school age. My Online Schooling offering a variety of free learning resources here.
2Simple provides excellent, accessible and inspiring software to encourage children to love learning and prepare them for later life. 2Simple are offering free access to both Purple Mash and Serial Mash for schools and home users here.
Firefly provides a modern learning experience platform. They are offering free access to their platform to schools in need until the end of next term and have best practices webinars to show how to implement distance learning. Website is here.
Classoos is offering 90-day free digital textbooks to international schools following the British Curriculum. Website.
Innovate My School showcases exciting new practices and products by teachers and education suppliers. It includes a search engine for finding the best education technology on the market, including home learning and COVID-19 filters, of 1200 products. There are over 400 COVID-19 offers. Website.
COBIS provides information on safeguarding, online learning, guidance for parents/owners/governors, whole school well-being, university admissions and examinations during the pandemic. They also have webinars and case studies.
The British Council offers a wide range of classroom resources to help students explore other cultures and discuss international issues, and to provide the basis for international partnerships between schools. Website. The Connecting Classrooms, through Global Learning programme, helps young people engage with the sustainable development goals through free project based resources and training for teachers. Website here.
For Universities:
FutureLearn is a digital education platform offering short courses, programs and online degrees. There are over 1300 courses available for free. New courses include COVID-19 Diagnostics and Testing. Website.
The British Council delivers the Study UK campaign providing practical information, resources and insight on UK higher education for international students, including free online courses. Website is here.
Pearson is providing access to expert faculty, best practices, and other online learning resources for people who are studying, teaching or working remotely. They are regularly updating their site which includes HE resources.
Oxford University Press is offering free access to Epigeum’s award-winning online training courses. The courses support higher education institutions to deliver training in key areas including teaching online, blended learning and university teaching. Website.
Cambridge University Press are providing free Access to Reference works and Academic Textbooks on Cambridge Core to university libraries and their associated students and faculty. Website is here.
Kortext has a Free Student eTextbook Programme, is making free textbook content available from a host of publishers, in partnership with JISC and Microsoft. Over 120 UK universities signed up and the programme is open to universities worldwide providing textbooks that are relevant to the course being undertaken by the students. Website.
The Open University free online learning platform provides access to health, wellbeing and educational content during the pandemic. The online site offers a chance for anyone to explore relevant topics, from teaching online and courses designed to aid mental and physical health, to family friendly interactives and content to help with the effects of Coronavirus. There are more than 950 courses available, offering 15,000 hours of free learning.
The University of London is one of the largest, most diverse universities in the UK with over 120,000 students, and a further 50,000 studying across 190 countries for a University of London degree. Website is here. (https://london.ac.uk/). The University of London is also part of this initiative from Coursera helping to take student learning online in response to coronavirus.
The University of Liverpool is a leader in online postgraduate education and has now made a range of learning and teaching resources available for the wider higher education community. The University of Liverpool Centre for Innovation in Education have made available resources related to curriculum design plus videos and case studies on using Teams for learning and teaching.
Coventry University has a library of short courses available online for free on the FutureLearn platform. In response to COVID-19, Coventry have collated three courses to help users make the most of their time at home. Resources available here.
Jisc are working with university libraries to ensure access to key digital resources for teaching, learning and research. Jisc are cataloguing details of publishers and content repositories who are widening access to their resources with the list available here. Contact them to access any of the resources.
The University of Edinburgh offers a range of free online short courses here for academic skills and personal development.
For Vocational and Technical Training Providers:
Pearson. For career-focused learning, Pearson provides access to the Learning Hub, which contains a range of short online courses supporting BTEC, Apprenticeship and Employability.
The National Skills Academy Food and Drink are the industry experts on skills for the food and drink industry and have a range of programmes available through their Online Academy. Their e-learning] is available in areas such as compliance (Food Safety, Health & Safety), technical (allergen awareness, IOSH), personal development, IT and management and leadership.
The Skills Network is a leading provider of distance learning qualifications with over 1 million users on the learning platform and over 40 UK Accredited qualifications and 100 CPD certified online courses. Courses include infection control and health and social care.
For COVID-19 training:
Health Education England has launched online e-Learning for Health content to support the upskilling of health workers in relation to COVID19. This content is free. The guidance can be found here and will be updated and expanded shortly.
Skills for Health, the leading provider for healthcare e-learning across the UK health sector, has developed a free Covid-19 Awareness resource. Skills for Health is also offering the Core Skills Training e-learning bundle at a heavily discounted rate; this includes Infection Prevention & Control, basic life support, Safeguarding and more. Website.
Kineo are e-learning specialists and have developed e-learning courses to support people with the management of Covid-19 as they come to terms with new ways of working. These are available for free.
Highfield Learning, a leading provider of technical e-learning and offers training in food safety, manual handling, health and safety, fire safety, spectator safety, customer service, first aid at work, plus a range of standard workplace awareness programmes. They are offering free training in infection prevention and control, accessed through their website.
The University of Edinburgh created a set of free online resources COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application here for healthcare professionals working in a critical care setting.
For English Language Training:
The British Council has an extensive range of free online resources for learners and teachers of English. British Council have something for kids, teenagers and adults at all levels of English. [Website is here] (https://www.britishcouncil.org/english/learn-online). And of course, for teachers too – [website for teacher resources] (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk).EnglishScore, the British Council’s free mobile-delivered test is available to download globally.
Macmillan Education is a global publisher that is operating in over 120 countries worldwide. They are making our digital components and resources available for free for both Teachers and Learners.
Oxford University Press has created home learning guidance including links to blogs, course related content suitable for distance learning, and professional development content, alongside course material to maximise home-based learning. Website .
Pearson is offering webinars on distance teaching and learning, and free 60-day access to their Digital Citizenship Online course providing professional development for teachers in an online environment.
LanguageCert is offering additional slots to accommodate candidates who wish to take their English language certification exams with remote invigilation. More information.
EF English Live offers English courses including live classes and interactive lessons online. They are offering a 14-day free trial. Website is here.
Cambridge Assessment English has lots of free online activities to help teenagers and adults practise their English.
Nile is a world-leading centre of excellence, offering training and development from initial qualifications to Masters, both face-to-face and online. A new course ‘Take your Teaching Online’ is being offered for free.
East Sussex College is offering an Online English Language classes with flexible hours and small class size. There are General English, IELTS and Cambridge exam options.
InTuition provides personalised 1 to 1 English Language Courses including English online. This includes a 30-minute trial lesson.
ELT Jam help clients through every stage in designing a successful learning experience and at present have a focus on adapting in-person courses and training for online delivery as quickly as possible.
Online educational resources for schools and parents to help children to learn at home during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Published 7 April 2020
Last updated 24 June 2020 + show all updates
-
Updated with further resources and additional tips to help parents and carers with home education.
-
Updated list of online resources with additional resources organised by key stage.
-
Updated to include further information on how the high quality resources list will be kept up to date.
-
Updated to include information about how providers of high quality resources can be added to the list.
-
First published.
Responses