The pandemic, socioeconomic disadvantage, and learning outcomes: cross-national impact analyses of education policy reforms across the European Union

• In Event: Education Development, Policy and Education

Proposal

There is little doubt that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected student learning across the globe, and we need to carefully examine its short- and long-term impacts on students’ learning outcomes, including those related to non-cognitive outcomes such as students’ approaches to learning, motivation and engagement, self-beliefs about their abilities, school engagement, and academic resilience (Lee and Shute, 2010; Lee and Stankov, 2018). Not surprisingly, countries around the world enacted a variety of policies to ameliorate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the nature and effectiveness of these policies are not known. International contexts such as the United States (Bailey et al., 2021; Dorn et al., 2020), Netherlands (Engzell et al., 2021), Germany (Depping et al., 2021), Belgium (Maldonado and De Witte, 2021), and other parts of Europe (Blazko, et al., 2021), suggest learning stalled during the pandemic. Studies also indicate the greatest impacts were felt by students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., Donnelly and Patrinos, 2021; Kaffenberger, 2021). It appears the global pandemic has exacerbated existing educational inequalities, leading to fears that a generation of children could be ‘left behind’ – particularly disadvantaged students who are the most at-risk for not having access to the necessary resources to succeed educationally (De Witte and François, 2023; OECD, 2020; UNESCO, 2022; United Nations, 2021).

This study addresses three central questions: (1) To what extent has COVID-19 affected existing gaps in learning outcomes between socioeconomically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers within a range of European nations (2) Which education policies are associated with more favourable learning outcomes during, and subsequent, to the pandemic? and (3) To what extent have select European education systems used evidence-based policies to enhance supports for disadvantaged student groups during the pandemic? Collectively, this study provides an important and timely cross-national analysis of COVID-19, learning loss, and the relative effectiveness of educational policy interventions that have been enacted to date within a sample of European nations: England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, and Hungary. These countries were purposefully selected given the availability of national administrative data required to support such as analysis.

The conceptual framework for this cross-cultural study will be guided by the author’s award-winning research (2020; 2021) that employs an ecological systems model to understand the impact of COVID-19 on individual students, families, schools, communities, and national contexts. This multidimensional model also converges with emerging qualitative and quantitative studies that underscore the importance of individual, family, school, community, and regional/national supports for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.

Lastly, it should be noted that the current study is dependent on the release of the most recent reading, mathematics, and science literacy results of the Programme in International Student Assessment (PISA, 2022) – which is scheduled to occur in December 2023. Therefore, the present analysis will be finalized in January 2024. The results of the current analysis will be disseminated in a book that will be published by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in the Spring of 2024, shortly after the CIES Annual Conference.

References
Bailey, D. H., Duncan, G. J., Murnane, R. J. and Yeung, N. A. (2021). Achievement gaps in the wake of COVID-19. Educational Researcher, 50(5), 266–275. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X211011237

Blazko, Z., da Costa, P. and Schnepf, S. V. (2021). Learning loss and educational inequalities in Europe: Mapping the potential consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14298. https://ftp.iza.org/dp14298.pdf

Depping, D., Lücken, M., Musekamp, F. and Thonke, F. (2021). KompetenzständeHamburger Schülerinnen vor und während der Corona-Pandemie [Alternative pupils’ competence measurement in Hamburg during the Corona pandemic]. DDS – Die Deutsche Schule, Beiheft, 17, 51–79. https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2021/21514/pdf/DDS_Beiheft_17_2021_Depping_et_al_Kompetenzstaende_Hamburger.pdf

De Witte, K. and François, M. (2023). Covid-19 learning deficits in Europe: analysis and practical recommendations. EENEE Analytical report for European Commission. https://eenee.eu/wp content/uploads/2023/03/Policy-brief_AR04_EAC.pdf

Donnelly, R. and Patrinos, H. A. (2021). Learning loss during Covid-19: An early systematic review. Prospects. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-021-09582-6

Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J. and Viruleg, E. (2020). COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime. McKinsey & Company.

Engzell, P., Frey, A. and Verhagen, M. D. (2021). Learning loss due to school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118(17), 1-7. https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/118/17/e2022376118.full.pdf

Kaffenberger, M. (2021). Modelling the long-run learning impact of the Covid-19 learning shock: actions to (more than) mitigate loss. International Journal of Development, 81. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059320304855#

Lee, J. and Shute, V. (2010). Personal and social-contextual factors in K-12 academic performance: An integrative perspective on student learning. Educational Psychologist, 45(3) 185-202.

Lee, J. and Stankov, L. (2018). Non-cognitive predictors of academic achievement: Evidence from TIMSS and PISA. Learning and Individual Differences, 65, 50-64. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1041608018300827

Maldonado, J. E. and De Witte, C. (2021). The effect of school closures on standardised student test outcomes. British Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3754

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on student equity and inclusion: supporting vulnerable students during school closures and school re-openings.

OECD Publishing. https://oecd.org/education/strength-through diversity/OECD%20COVID 19%20Brief%20Vulnerable%20Students.pdf

UNESCO (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education: international evidence from the Responses to Educational Disruption Survey (REDS). https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000380398

United Nations (2021). Shaping Our Future Together: Listening to People’s Priorities for the Future and their Ideas for Action. Concluding Report of the UN75 Office. https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un75_final_report_shapingourfuturetogether.pdf

Author

• Louis Volante, Brock University