PRIMARY school pupils made ‘little or no progress’ while learning from home during lockdown.
That is the stark message from an Oxford study which looked at data gathered in the Netherlands.
However, researchers believe the findings are applicable to the UK and elsewhere.
Schools in the Netherlands closed for eight weeks during its first lockdown, with research suggesting primary age students lost a fifth of the progress they would usually make in a year.
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The study was undertaken by Oxford’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science.
Its authors Per Engzell, and DPhil candidates Arun Frey and Mark Verhagen, say the findings are ‘dire’ and are likely to be reflected internationally.
Dr Engzell said: “Students made little or no progress while learning from home and losses are particularly concentrated among students from homes with parents with low levels of education.
“For them, the loss was about 50 per cent worse than for others.”
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Mr Frey added: “The Netherlands did so many things right.
“Teachers and school officials made a tremendous effort.
“From broadband access to housing and parental support, conditions in the Dutch system outscore most of its neighbours.
“If anything, consequences are likely to be graver in the UK, where schools also stayed closed for longer.”
The study was published in the scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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