COVID-19: Children lost more than two months of learning in lockdown – disadvantaged and northern students hit hardest | UK News

Elementary school children lost more than two months of learning in the last lockdown, with northern and underprivileged students being the hardest hit, according to a report.

By the time they returned to school in March this year, the students had regressed to their level in September, according to research from the Department of Education (DfE).

There were regional disparities in levels of learning loss, with students in the North East, Yorkshire, the Humber and the East Midlands suffering more than those in the London and the Southwest.

The poorest children have been hit the hardest, with losses equivalent to between one-third and two-thirds of the progress made in closing the disadvantage gap over the past 10 years.

Overall, elementary students regressed more in their learning in the spring than in the fall.

Math was worse than reading – with an average of 3.5 lost months – compared to 2.2 months respectively.

In the fall term, students lost 3.7 months in math and 1.8 months in reading, the report adds.

For disadvantaged students, the overall losses reached 4.3 months, according to the Education Policy Institute (EPI) study.

Their analysis shows that the learning losses were temporarily recovered in the second half of the fall term – before Christmas – but they returned in the first part of 2021.

The conclusions arrive the same week as the government education catching up czar resign over his ‘inadequate’ £ 1.4 billion recovery fund.

Sir Kevin Collins resigned on Wednesday, saying the package “falls short of the needs”.

Geoff Barton, union general secretary for the Association of School and College Leaders, described it as a “hopelessly dark week for education.”

“It is quite clear that a stimulus package is urgently needed on a scale and scope to address this massive problem,” he said.

“We once again call on the Prime Minister and the Treasury to urgently step up and deliver the substantial recovery …