COVID-19 has made a tremendous impact on the education sector in 2020. With school shutdowns, distance learning, and parents learning new ways to home school their children – the pandemic has affected nearly every child across the globe.
In fact, by May of 2020, students in the United States already lost 19 days of learning due to shutdowns related to the pandemic. Whereas in Canada, students missed almost double that amount with a total of 39 days of lost learning due to school shutdowns. To put these numbers into perspective, in Canada, missing 19 days of school is defined as chronic school absenteeism. When students are out of school or do not receive quality instruction, they are more susceptible to developing learning gaps.
What are Learning Gaps?
We have all heard it before, but what exactly is a “learning gap”? When a child is in a specific grade level, there are topics and concepts that they are expected to understand up to that grade. The learning gap describes the difference between what a child is expected to have learned, versus what they have actually learned up to a certain point. In other words, a student in Algebra 2 must first learn the concepts from Algebra 1 before taking the second level course – if a student is not able to understand the concepts presented in Algebra 2, they may not fully understand concepts from Algebra 1 and be experiencing a learning gap. This is where tutoring can help, by identifying these gaps and providing focused instruction where necessary to help students succeed.
The long-term effects of missed education has a drastic impact on a child’s development. Having a tutor to keep students on track has never been more important, or easy.
What are some of the benefits to making a highly qualified tutor a part of your child’s learning routine?
1. Targets learning loss
When students are working in a distance learning environment, they are missing out on valuable time interacting with their teacher and peers. When students are in a classroom, they can learn from their peer’s thought processes which provokes new ideas and helps students grasp difficult concepts more easily. Having a tutor proves to be invaluable when it comes to targeting learning loss. A tutor can help bridge the gap caused by infrequent direct contact with their teacher or other classmates.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), statistics show that each additional year of schooling increases your life income by an average of 7.5-10%. Meaning a loss of one-third of a school year’s worth of learning would reduce the subsequently earned income of a student by about 3% 1 . So, it’s clear that missed education can be extremely costly in the long run.
Research from the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), a global not-for-profit educational services organisation, predicted that because of missed face-to-face instruction due to the pandemic, gains in reading will be 63-68% of what they usually are on average. Developmental gains in Mathematics is expected to be much lower as well, with only 37-50% of the average regular school year gains.
2. Creates a proper learning environment at home
Despite parents’ good intentions, it can be difficult to create the perfect learning environment from home, especially with the distractions of TV, computer games and mobile phones. Having a set schedule with a tutor can provide consistency and structure to your child’s distance learning routine.
It is clear that proper interactive teaching cannot be replaced, but tutors can help fill this gap by working with students individually for periods of the day and in a variety of subjects. This learning helps keep students engaged and accountable for their education.
3. Keeps students on track
Consistency is key. When students know what to expect, they are less likely to experience stress and anxiety related to their schoolwork. Many children do not know how to handle these emotions, which causes them to lash out or shut down – making learning from home even more difficult. Tutors can provide consistency with children by creating a set learning schedule. This also relieves some of the pressure parents feel to maintain that consistency making it a win-win for everyone.
4. Provides personalized education that focuses on your child’s needs
Not every child is able to learn solely from a computer screen. Each child has a different learning style. Some students are hands-on learners, who find it difficult to learn by watching videos or online lectures. Other students are visual or auditory learners, and may thrive in a virtual environment. Tutoring can help determine your child’s learning style and build on that given talent.
Having a tutor who can cater to an individual’s learning needs will allow students the attention and immediacy of feedback they require to reduce the learning loss they are experiencing.
Flexible and Affordable Options with School is Easy Tutoring
A School is Easy tutor can ensure that your child gets the one-on-one learning, attention, and immediacy of feedback that they need to counter the COVID-19 learning loss. Even when schools are back and operating full-time, there is a danger that many students will struggle to catch up, also affecting their sense of wellbeing as stress impacts their performance.
Whether it is online or face-to-face tutoring, supplementing a student’s education will give them the chance to reduce learning loss and develop a stronger skillset for the future.
- OECD, 2020, The Economic Impacts of Learning Losses
- NWEA, 2020, Projecting the Potential Impact of COVID-19 School Closures on Academic Achievement
