18.02.2021
Corona and the consequences, guest posts
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Students have not had face-to-face classes for months. You learn at home – in so-called home schooling. Some with more, others with less support from parents and teachers. And even if the corona measures are slowly being relaxed and face-to-face lessons become available again for some classes, the near future remains uncertain and further school closings cannot be ruled out. What are the long-term consequences for the students? And what ideas are there to compensate for possible deficits in learning? The Berlin education researcher and former professor at the University of Erfurt, Marcel Helbig, for example, brought an extension of the Corona school year into play in various interviews. Can it work? “WortMelder” asked Johannes Bauer, Professor of Educational Research and Methodology at the Faculty of Education at the University of Erfurt …
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“Answering the question is not that easy. On the one hand, we still have far too few findings on the effects of the school closings, on the other hand, the whole thing is of course currently also a political discussion. But first of all, I fully agree with colleague Helbig’s analysis of the problem. It reflects statements with which the relevant scientific associations pointed out the threats to the development of children and adolescents resulting from the restrictions on educational opportunities – and which, incidentally, not only affect school performance, but the whole social, cognitive and emotional development.
We are currently seeing that the difficult Corona situation hits children and young people very differently and thus further opens the gap in the education system. Children who are already good and have a supportive environment can handle home schooling. Some even acquire a few additional skills, for example learning independently, or improve their media skills. Others hardly participate, are difficult for the teachers to grasp and lose touch with the class.
In this respect, there is certainly no solution that is equally suitable for everyone. After the lockdown, we will have to look very carefully at what level the students are and then have to take targeted support measures. The required so-called learning status surveys are certainly an important starting point for this. And then we will have to look at how we can integrate such support measures into ongoing school operations and how we can cover them with staff. You certainly have to create time for this – Marcel Helbig probably wanted to point this out with his latest suggestion to extend the school year into December. But even if it could be organized: In my opinion, it is not enough to simply extend school time – whether it be once until December or by all repeating a year. I think it is an illusion to hope that additional time without specific funding will help to compensate for the deficits that have arisen.
One will have to face much more the debate about a temporary focus on the core subjects. And our goal must be that as many students as possible achieve the educational standards in our key performance areas. We must not forget: The costs of lost education do not only affect individual biographies, but will have noticeable consequences for society as a whole. “
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