The research was conducted by Butlin's for their 'Astonishing Family Science Weekend.' The new camp run by consortium of the leading names in UK science including Bletchley Park Code Breaking, The Science Museum and the Cambridge Centre for Computing History responds to demand for spare time studying to keep up with the evolving curriculum.
The results revealed that one in six parents are unable to manage their child's homework, with STEM subjects being the toughest subjects to help with. One in five parents pretend they know the answers to homework questions before researching the subject out of sight and two in three parents say that their child is brighter than them.
Also, parents are spending on average 40 hours a year trying to learn their child's curriculum. 12% of parents admitted to using social media and one in ten parents are talking to other parents on chat forums. 11% of parents feel embarrassed and anxious when they can't help their children.
The break was launched after the figures revealed almost a quarter of parents admit they are baffled by the more STEM-focused curriculum. Modern education is changing so rapidly with the most difficult subject for parents is coding & programming and computing, which were introduced a year ago, along with modern sciences, opposed to the more conventional subjects such as English and History.
Furthermore, 36% of all the parents asked, felt completely unable to assist their child on these subjects. The study of 2,000 parents found a quarter were unable to identify a single common computing and coding words used in the curriculum such as Boolean and Unicode.
However, one in five of parents say their believe computing is now the most important subject for their child to master followed by 13% advocating coding and programming, ahead of those who favour traditional subjects such as art, geography, music and religious studies.
Jason Fitzpatrick, founder of the Cambridge Centre for Computing History says "Subjects such as coding are completely foreign to so many parents; however for today's children these skills are necessary so it's important that they have the same understanding of STEM subjects as they do of English and History. It's about future-proofing the next generation - but we don't want to leave parents behind either."
"Summer holiday science camps have long been popular for children but now we're seeing parents wanting an opportunity to get ahead of the new term and learn these new skills with their children - which is vital to ensure that they feel able to play an important part in their child's education."
Butlin's Managing Director, Dermot King, added "We know that parents sometimes need a helping hand keeping up with their children, in particular when it comes to homework, as what they were taught is often quite different to what their children learn."
"Subjects such as STEM can feel very new and overwhelming, which is why we've teamed up with cutting-edge organisations like the Science Museum and the Cambridge Computing Museum so together we can bring STEM to life and inspire young science lovers, as well as bringing their parents up to speed."
Parents are struggling to help their children with homework