As the half term break comes to schools in the UK, and as schools in both Singapore and England are tentatively planning to open in early June, in other countries, the academic year is already coming to a close. I therefore thought that this article, a re-written version of one I edited in July 2017, might be useful for parents to think about the effects of annual summer learning loss on top of the academic consequences of Covid-19.
Summer learning loss
Research by educationalists has established that most children’s progress on standardised tests regresses by a month over the summer holidays and more alarmingly, there is specifically a two-month regression in Maths.
Consequently, there has been much debate about whether it is sensible to organise the school year with a long summer holiday. Indeed, the long summer holiday is not an academic construct but an archaic relic of a predominantly agricultural society when families needed their children to help get the summer harvest in. If today, we were to redesign the school year from scratch based on educational needs, it is likely that we would come up with a very different calendar, yet the school year does not look as if it will be experiencing dramatic change anytime soon.
Given the disruption to education caused by Covid-19 so far this year, the summer learning loss is likely to be even more pronounced: Primary age children are being taught little new material through their online schooling as this has been more about consolidating past learning (though don’t get me wrong, this is no bad thing in itself); and with the cancellation of public exams, for many Secondary school students, some of the impetus has gone out of learning.
However, despite the prospect of learning loss, don’t just think of the summer holidays as a damage limitation exercise. With the freedom from the routine of school, those 6 or 8 weeks are a glorious opportunity for diverse learning: a chance for your child to return to school with neurological pathways both rested and refreshed, fully prepared for a new year of learning. As such, there is much that you can do informally to help: think about helping your children’s English by challenging their book choices and engaging in what they are reading; extend their Maths in practical ways such as cooking or a DIY project; develop the Humanities by international and historical visits and where these cannot be done in person, there are many virtual website visits now available; or get your children involved in new interests.
But, it is clear that for many parents working from home during lockdown who have had to be more involved in their children’s online schooling of late, as life returns to some form of normality, there is the possibility that they will have less time than usual to dedicate to their children over the Summer holidays and this is where professional help from tutors can be useful.
My tutors and I, here at Ellipsis, have continued to support our students with their learning for a variety of reasons during lock down, but as I have said to many of you, my advice for most is that you let tuition lapse as schools start to open for the end of the summer term, and just let your children embrace being back at school, seeing their friends and making the most of cross curricular activities.
Then, as everyone can get out and about more, try and restore life to a bit of normality before thinking about tuition again. However, as the new school year starts to beckon, then I would suggest that that is the time to embark on a programme to get your children’s minds academically focussed again ready to start the next school year.
As many students face important exams in coming months – Common Entrance 13+ pre-tests and 16+ (6th form) school entry exams in the Autumn; 11+ entry exams in the Spring, as well as mocks for the next cohort of GCSEs and A level / IB - we should not underestimate the exacerbated effects of normal summer learning loss on top of an already disrupted school year and just expect things to pick up after the summer. And particularly where CATs and MidYis might be done early in the new school year, and where these are used to inform future school choices, it is prudent to have your child’s brain fully engaged before school starts.
In addition, where end of year assessments and reports may have highlighted areas of weakness, use the time whilst your children are off school and fresh over the Summer to address these before they go back to school in the Autumn. And if they are moving school or starting a new curriculum, this is a good time to get familiar with the basics of what to expect.
Normally, the long hiatus between the end of GCSEs and the start of the Sixth form leaves many students struggling early into their Sixth form courses. Sixth Form academic work is intellectually a step-up from GCSE, and usually these pupils' skills take a huge step down over the long break. This year however, these students are not my main concern, as many schools are sensibly using online schooling to introduce GCSE students to their Sixth form studies this term. The Secondary School year groups I now worry about more are Year 10 and 12 who have not had the benefit of being taught in full this year. If you have children in these year groups, the summer holidays might be the time to ensure that they are where they should be in the middle of their exam courses.
So, my message is, whilst I would encourage you to grasp whatever opportunities you can to embrace new learning for your children away from the confines of formal education over the summer, there are also good educational reasons why you might feel that the support of tuition is needed at some stage over the holidays. If so, do get back to me and we at Ellipsis team would be happy to help.
Fiona Hodgkins
May 2020