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When the schools closed for the spring closure, some of the students were very happy. But now it is clear what negative consequences this step could have for children.
Until April 19: The Federal Council closes Switzerland(06:25)
Researchers at the University of Oxford in the UK have analyzed primary school performance before and after closure; the result is appalling. Learning progress remained about 20 percent below expected value. That is alarming. Most of the children learned almost nothing, “says educational scientist Margrit Stamm (70) in front of the” Basler Zeitung. “According to Stamm, the results can also be transferred to Switzerland.
“About a fifth less learned”
The study is based on data from the Netherlands. There, all elementary students were tested in three subjects in January and before the end of the school year in summer. The result: they performed around three percentage points worse than in previous years.
“That means that students have learned a fifth less on average than in a normal school year,” Arun Frey, co-author of the study, told “Basler Zeitung. That corresponds exactly to when the schools were closed. Frey believes that the results of the study can also be transferred to the situation in Switzerland; the framework conditions are similar.
“Summer hole effect”
Those most affected were students whose parents did not have a college degree. In these cases, the learning loss was again 50 percent greater. According to Margrit Stamm, these results confirm what is known in science as the “fall effect of summer”. Children from socially disadvantaged families forgot much of what they had learned after several weeks of vacation. “Because they lack structures without lessons, they are alone, there are no books, but the Playstation, as during the confinement,” he says.
Other children would have benefited from distance learning. The reason: they had peace and quiet, were supported by their parents or could already study independently. However, Stamm is of the opinion that schools in Switzerland should not be closed a second time. (support)
