When social distancing becomes the norm, gaps in education grow wider. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, educators, researchers, and parents would often mention the summer learning loss. The term stands for an educational phenomenon where children and teens lose some of the knowledge they acquired during the previous year.
Another point researchers agreed about was that inequalities in children’s lives would impact their summer learning loss. This means that those living in lower socio-economic conditions would experience a harsher impact on their knowledge during the time away from school. At the same, the impact would be bigger for children and students with different disabilities as they have greater needs for ongoing learning. Otherwise, progress can be lost.
Children tend to experience more knowledge loss in subjects such as mathematics. It’s common for children and students to come across books and reading materials during their summer vacation. However, it is less likely to come across some math problems unless the children are specifically looking for that type of content or books. Moreover, people living in poor or disadvantaged areas don’t have the same access to summer courses or learning programs… more
