Barriers to and Factors Enabling COVID-19 Education Sector Response: PSS, SEL, Accelerated and Remedial Education

• In Event: Expanding the Understanding of Resilience in Educational Responses to Crises

Proposal

In contexts where student and teacher resilience has been a baseline requirement for engaging within education systems, the need for direct and creative protest in the form of advocacy was all the more heightened by disruptions and challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Building from research revealing important examples of how education sector stakeholders responded to challenges and disruptions to make education accessible, relevant, and of high quality during the pandemic (Shah et al., 2022), this presentation will focus on nascent innovations and creative strategies to more systematically incorporate psychosocial support (PSS), social and emotional learning (SEL), access to protection services within the education continuum, implement accelerated and remedial educational interventions, and engaging youth and higher education institutions as leaders in responding to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (Shah et al., 2002). The paper will also discuss promising interventions that have brought about transformative resilience and capacities during and after a crisis.

Building from case studies on the barriers to and factors enabling COVID-19 responses that led to positive learning and well-being outcomes, and ways to mitigate learning loss despite school closures, this presentation shares findings from qualitative data gained through consultations with education stakeholders in Latin America and Africa to further understand how education policy and practice may enable or constrain the implementation or application of the promising practices identified by the previous research (Shah, et al., 2022). The presentation will also illustrate lessons learned, recommendations, and additional best practices in advocacy initiatives aimed at the barriers that continue to exclude some learners from returning to school after the pandemic. It will also offer guidance for integrating promising practices in PSS, SEL, and accelerated and remedial education into the work of practitioners, researchers, and others to further build resilience into education systems.

Shah, R., Chinnery, J., and Boisvert, K. (2022). Supporting Learning and Well-Being throughout and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic: Good Practice Brief. USAID.

Author

• Brianna Reed, Education Development Center, Inc.