It found that some students and their teaches were experiencing a “COVID hangover” from the period of home schooling during lockdowns last year, affecting their motivation and increasing their anxiety.

The research, commissioned by lobby group Independent Schools Queensland, found both good and bad impacts from home schooling, with improvements in teaching methods but also less engagements by some students.

The private school teachers and school leaders who took part in the research project “felt that the remote learning period had a neutral or negative impact on students”, according to authors Natasha Ziebell and Lucy Robertson.

The pair, form the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, said home schooling had “highlighted the importance of investing in positive relationships, belonging and connectedness to school and the school community”.

“In education, the pandemic provided a catalyst for exploring more novel ways of teaching and learning and has exposed some of those enduring practices that now need to be modified and updated.”

They quote one teacher was observing: “For those who are self-disciplined and tech-savvy, it works well but for some, it gives the opportunity to disengage.”

Most teachers said they hd received adequate support both in the period of remote learning and on their return to the classroom.

Other developments identified in the research include “interaction challenges” for students.