Children’s learning held back by digital schooling, NAO report finds Children’s socio-economic status has affected their experiences with digital learning, and most teachers consider their pupils to be, on average, three months behind where they would be expected to be Share this item with your network: By Published: 17 Mar 2021 0:01 The Department for Education’s response to facilitate online education during the Covid-19 pandemic could have been more effective, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). An NAO report on children’s education during Covid-19 has found that although the department quickly took action when the pandemic hit, parts of its response could have been done better and been more effective in “mitigating the learning that pupils lost as a result of the disruption”.