The coronavirus pandemic is forcing schools to close. The result: homeschooling. A study now gives distance teaching miserable grades.
Frankfurt / Munich – distance lessons, alternating lessons, homeschooling: the schoolchildren in Germany are facing new challenges during the coronavirus * pandemic. And the danger has not yet been averted. Although the Robert Koch Institute recorded single-digit seven-day incidences, the so-called delta variant worries experts.
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) made it clear on Saturday (June 19): “We will not be able to go back to school completely without protective measures.” Measures such as mask compulsory * or alternating lessons are still necessary in autumn and winter . A study by the Frankfurt Goethe University, however, gives the distance learning an inadequate rating. The Leopoldina is also clearly positioning itself in the debate about schools.
Corona: Study on distance teaching – result devastating
The study was based on a systematic review using scientific databases. Worldwide, those studies were identified that reported on the effects of corona-related school closings on the performance and skills of schoolchildren. “We took into account high-quality publications in terms of research methodology, which allow clear conclusions to be drawn about the effect of corona-related school closings on the acquisition of competences by schoolchildren and which use appropriate tests to measure performance or competency.” This explained Professor Andreas Frey, one of the authors of the study.
The result? Sobering. “The average development of skills during the school closings in spring 2020 can be described as stagnation with a tendency to decline in skills and is therefore in the range of the effects of summer holidays,” explained Frey. Literally, the study speaks of a “considerably negative effect of school closings” – especially among younger students. In addition, the losses are particularly severe for children and young people from socially disadvantaged homes.
Corona: Study on homeschooling – “The gap between rich and poor is even wider”
“The previous assumptions are backed up by empirical evidence: the gap between rich and poor widened even further during the first corona-related school closings,” concluded Frey. Nevertheless, 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.
“Most effective type of learning”: Leopoldina require face-to-face teaching
But the demands for normalcy in school are getting louder. The Leopoldina has recently positioned itself clearly. In the coronavirus * crisis, you are among the close advisers of Chancellor Angela Merkel *. The scientists’ point of view became clear in a press release. They are now calling for schools and kindergartens to be kept open and for face-to-face teaching to be possible. For daycare and school children this is “the most effective way of learning”, the statement said.
However, the openings should be accompanied by “suitable protective measures”. The Leopoldina also spoke out in favor of accelerating the digital expansion at educational institutions. Most recently, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (KMK) said that there was a clear perspective for face-to-face teaching in the new school year.
The ministers had already agreed at their video conference last week that all schools should be visited “permanently in regular operation […] with all school subjects and lessons” after the summer vacation. To what extent this will actually be implemented in view of the pandemic development remains to be seen.
In the federal states, however, the situation is easing. In Bavaria, three regions are Corona-free *. Nevertheless, Söder gave a gloomy forecast for July. * Merkur.de is part of IPPEN.MEDIA (mbr / dpa)
