Covid-19 and School Closures: Can pupils make up for lost time?

• William Cook interviewed by
• Tim Phillips
• 21 Oct 2020

Though it is recognized that pupils whose schooling is being disrupted by Covid-19 are suffering immediate learning loss, there exists a lack of understanding as to how this disruption might affect longer-term educational outcomes. Will Cook (Manchester Metropolitan University) examines the effect of school disruption in England due to restrictions put in place to manage the Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic in cattle in 2001 and analyzes whether primary schools that had been significantly disrupted by the epidemic experienced lower performance in standardized tests for pupils aged 11 in the year of the outbreak and in subsequent years.  He explains to Tim Phillips that, although there certainly are falls in achievement immediately after disruption,  this effect fades over subsequent years.