Since the reopening of schools for face-to-face learning, educators have been working overtime to help young people catch up with lost learning from the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to research published in May, three-in-five (64%) Australian parents say their kids have been seriously impacted by continued disruptions due to COVID-19.
The data found the past two years have left more than half (51%) parents feeling their children have fallen significantly behind academically and are struggling to catch up. In addition, 46% of parents also feel the constant disruptions will also lead to long-term impacts on their academic progress and job prospects.
A separate study, published in August, found 41% per cent of young people say the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
In NSW, a new evaluation of a pioneering tutoring initiative supporting school students to recover following COVID lockdowns has revealed benefits beyond its original aim of improving student learning.
“We are seeing students' confidence and classroom engagement improve thanks to the support they’re receiving, along with providing hundreds of pre-service teachers invaluable hands-on experience,” NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.
A recent evaluation of the COVID Intensive Learning Support Program examined its impact on student learning and engagement from the teachers’ perspective, the quality of the program-specific teaching and learning resources, as well as some of the challenges encountered by schools.
The evaluation revealed student confidence and engagement improved by 80%, and students’ motivation and attitude towards school had improved by 77% and 69% respectively.
A wider evaluation of the program, including academic outcomes of students involved, will be completed by the end of Term 1 2023.
The NSW Government invested an additional $383m to extend the program in 2022. The total investment is more than $700m since 2021.
Third-year university student Mackenzie Allen spent two days a week for a year at Oak Flats Public School in the Illawarra, providing literacy and numeracy tutoring under the supervision of an accredited teacher.
“This experience has cemented my future career aspirations in the teaching profession,” Ms Allen said.