Due to the drastic measures taken at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many children suffered significant delays in their learning processes without subsequently catching up, shows a major study published on Monday.
These findings “confirm the fear that the pandemic has given rise to significant learning deficits”, summarizes the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
The researchers, who based themselves on forty studies carried out in fifteen countries – including Europe, the United States and South Africa – estimate that children have lost on average the equivalent of a third of ‘A school year.
However, this figure only gives a very simplified idea of the situation, because there are significant disparities, in particular depending on the background of the children. The most disadvantaged thus tend to be the furthest behind.
“This learning crisis is a crisis of inequalities,” summed up researcher Bastian Betthauser, lead author of the study, during a press conference.
These delays are due to the measures taken at the start of the pandemic, in 2020, to combat the spread of the virus. In many countries, they have included lockdowns and school closures.
Even if the delays are limited to a few months, they can have major consequences later, to the point where Mr. Betthauser speaks of a “genuine generational problem”.
“Education is one of the factors – perhaps the main one – which determines what will be the entry into working life, success in the labor market, the ability to ensure one’s subsistence” , he listed.
The study is the most complete work to date on the subject, even if it includes major gaps in the situation of poor countries.
Some of these results give an idea of how the lags set in. Thus, they tend to be much more important for math than for reading.
“Parents may be better at helping their children read than doing math exercises,” says Betthauser.