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The gap between rich and poor is widening: pupils in distance learning (in January 2021 in Korschenbroich)
Photo: Jonas Güttler / dpa
A new study of distance teaching during the corona crisis gives the worst possible report.
Researchers at the Frankfurt Goethe University looked at data from all over the world - with sobering results: They found little evidence of learning effects from distance teaching in the studies.
"The average development of skills during school closings in spring 2020 can be described as stagnation with a tendency to decline in skills," said Andreas Frey, Professor of Educational Psychology at Goethe University and one of the authors of the study.
The success of distance learning "is therefore within the range of the effects of summer holidays".
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In their systematic review, the researchers identified those studies around the world that examined the effects of corona-related school closings on the performance and skills of schoolchildren. "We have only considered high-quality publications in terms of research methodology that allow clear conclusions to be drawn about the effect of corona-related school closings on the skills acquisition of schoolchildren," said Frey.
It was found that particularly large losses of skills were observed among children and adolescents from socially disadvantaged parental homes and among younger schoolchildren.
"This confirms the previous assumptions made by empirical evidence: the gap between rich and poor widened even further during the first corona-related school closings," said Frey.
However, there are also initial indications that the effects of the later school closings from winter do not necessarily have to be just as drastic: In the meantime, online teaching has improved in many places.
him / dpa
