Education, training and lerning mobility: resources
What have countries done to support young people in the COVID-19 crisis?
OECD
The policy brief provides an overview of the measures that countries have put in place to avoid a long-lasting negative impact on the employment prospects and aspirations of young people.
Schooling During a Pandemic. The Experience and Outcomes of Schoolchildren During the First Round of COVID-19 Lockdowns
OECD
This report offers an initial overview of the available information regarding the circumstances, nature and outcomes of the education of schoolchildren during the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns of March-April 2020. Its purpose is primarily descriptive: it presents information from high quality quantitative studies on the experience of learning during this period in order to ground the examination and discussion of these issues in empirical examples. The data come primarily from 5 countries (France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and the United States) with additional information on some aspects for 6 additional countries (Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Canada, Finland, Italy and the Netherlands).
Fifth round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty (vol 5, July 2022)
Eurofound, Author(s): Ahrendt, Daphne; Consolini, Michele; Mascherini, Massimiliano; Sándor, Eszter
The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded from 25 March to 2 May 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after COVID-19 was first detected on the European continent. It also explores the reality of living in a new era of uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine, inflation, and rising energy prices.
Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Delivering for youth: How governments can put young people at the centre of the recovery
OECD (2022)
Governments across the OECD are investing significant resources to address the immediate and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that the crisis has affected different age groups differently and that its repercussions will be felt by many for decades to come, it is crucial to adopt an integrated public governance approach to COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. This policy brief presents the views of a non-representative sample of 151 youth organisations from 72 countries, including 100 youth organisations based in 36 OECD countries, on how young people have been experiencing the crisis and related government action. It is complemented by an analysis of the measures adopted across 34 OECD countries and provides recommendations on how to deliver a fair, inclusive and resilient recovery for young people through a range of public governance approaches.
Lifting Barriers to Education During and After COVID-19
UNICEF
This study collates evidence from Latin America, the Caribbean and across the world to gain a better understanding of the multifaceted linkages between education, COVID-19 crisis and migration.
COVID-19 and School Closures. One year of education disruption
UNICEF
This report presents unique findings regarding government responses to the pandemic in terms of school closures with data from more than 200 countries between March 11, 2020 and February 2, 2021
Beyond lockdown - the ‘pandemic scar’ on young people The social, economic and mental health impact of COVID-19 on young people in Europe
European Youth Forum, 2021
This research outlined in this report aimed to analyse and identify the youth-specific medium and long-term impacts of COVID-19 in Europe and to identify promising practices as well as gaps in the response of institutions and national governments. These findings highlight the deep social, economic, but also mental health challenges and barriers young people are facing as a result of the current crisis. Looking at the progression of the situation of young people since the beginning of the pandemic, it demonstrated the need for a youth-inclusive recovery and further policy measures to address the long-term consequences of the pandemic on young people’s education, work and mental health. This is the only way to ensure that the ‘pandemic scar’ is not one that young people carry for the rest of their lives.
Policy Responses to Coronavirus (COVID-19), Education and COVID-19: Focusing on the long-term impact of school closures
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The COVID-19 crisis has forced school closures in 188 countries, heavily disrupting the learning process of more than 1.7 billion children, youth, and their families. During this time, distance-learning solutions were implemented to ensure education continuity, and much of the current debate focuses on how much students have learnt during school closures. However, while this potential learning loss may only be temporary, other elements that happen in the absence of traditional schooling, such as the curbing of educational aspirations or the disengagement from the school system, will have a long-term impact on students’ outcomes. This paper outlines a dual strategy to bring disengaged students back to school, and mitigate effectively student disengagement in case of future lockdowns.
The Impact of Covid-19 on Education Insights From Education at A Glance 2020
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
This brochure focuses on a selection of indicators from Education at a Glance, selected for their particular relevance in the current context. Their analysis enables the understanding of countries’ response and potential impact from the COVID-19 containment measures. The following topics are discussed: Public Financing of Education In OECD Countries, International Student Mobility, The Loss of Instructional Time Delivered in A School Setting, Measures to Continue Students’ Learning During School Closure, Teachers’ Preparedness to Support Digital Learning, When And How to Reopen Schools, Vocational Education During the Covid-19 Lockdown.
PISA In focus #108, Were schools equipped to teach – and were students ready to learn – remotely?
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The COVID-19 crisis continues to impact education globally. According to UNESCO, in mid-April 2020, 194 countries had closed schools nationwide, affecting almost 1.6 billion learners. By August 2020, there were still 105 country-wide closures affecting over a billion learners. In this situation, many educators have worked hard to sustain student learning and well-being. The form, intensity and success of those efforts vary across countries and economies, but digital technologies have emerged as a crucial prerequisite for success.
Schooling disrupted, schooling rethought: How the Covid-19 pandemic is changing education
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The education systems of the 59 countries that participated in this survey have demonstrated remarkable resilience, flexibility and commitment to education in having established strategies for education continuity, in extremely challenging conditions, during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, More attention has been given to ensuring the continuity of academic learning than to the socio-emotional development of students, and there is agreement that not all students have been able to engage consistently with their education as provided under these emergency strategies. This report explores an important components of implementing the strategy of continuity and provides recommendations for their improvement in different stages of the Covid-19 crisis.
SHAPING THE COVID-19 RECOVERY Ideas from OECD's Generation Y and Z
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
In the spring of 2020, the OECD launched a call for its staff, consultants and interns from Generations Y and Z to volunteer some proposals on how countries can emerge from the COVID-19 crisis with a more resilient and inclusive system. This publication presents 10 of the most innovative proposals. As the world grapples with a multifaceted crisis that will profoundly shape the years to come, these ideas outline the challenges as seen by the younger generations and capture their priorities for a better future.
Policy Brief: Education during COVID-19 and beyond
United Nations
This brief is launched in August 2020 and it warns that the pandemic has created severe disruption in the world’s education systems in history and is threatening a loss of learning that may stretch beyond one generation of students. The Brief calls for national authorities and the international community to come together to place education at the forefront of recovery agendas and protect investment in educationEducation is not only a fundamental human right.
UNESCO COVID-19 Education Response, Education Sector issuenotes, Distance learning strategies in response to COVID-19 school closures
United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO Education Sector’s issue notes cover key topics related to the COVID-19 education response. They provide evidence of good practices, practical tips and links to important reference to mitigate the short and longer term impact of school closures. Establishing or scaling up distance learning strategies are a sector-wide response to sudden interruption of educational processes as a result of unexpected COVID-19 school closures. These strategies are guided by a concern for equity and inclusion and the need to ensure the design and delivery of distance learning do not exacerbate existing educational and social inequalities. The planning of more comprehensive distance learning strategies should, however, be guided by both immediate mitigation needs and long-term goals. Beyond the response to the current crisis, the efforts to deploy distance learning at scale across all levels of education provides valuable lessons and may lay the foundation for longer-term goals of building more open, inclusive and flexible education systems after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.
UNESCO COVID-19 Education Response, Education Sector issuenotes, Nurturing the social and emotional wellbeing of children and young people during crises
United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO Education Sector’s issue notes cover key topics related to the COVID-19 education response. They provide evidence of good practices, practical tips and links to important reference to mitigate the short and longer term impact of school closures. This edition of Education issuenotes offers key messages and practical tips for designing policy&programmatic interventions to address and counter the social anxiety, emotional upheaval and fearful insecurity unleashed by COVID-19, and build vital coping skills and emotional resilience among children, youth, their families and communities. Social and emotional skills are well established, evidence-based practices, that can be adapted to help equip children, young people, parents and teachers with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours they need to stay healthy and positive, navigate emotions, practice mindful engagement, exhibit pro-social behaviour and cope with daily challenges.
Blended learning in school education: guidelines for the start of the academic year 2020/21
European Commission
The purpose of guidelines is to explore the pedagogical opportunities and challenges of a blended learning model and to identify key considerations that can help with reflection and strategic planning; specifically support planning for the start of the next academic year 2020/21; guide policy-makers in considering the system as a whole; complement existing guidelines by national authorities and international organisations. They consider broad perspective: school leadership; legislation to support decision-making; the management of in-school and distance learning environments for all learners; the teacher’s role, competences, and working conditions; learner assessment; the well-being of staff and pupils; collaboration and school community; and quality assurance.
Education, youth and culture in post-COVID-19 Europe
European Parliament
The educational, cultural and creative sectors across Europe have been severely affected by the impact of COVID-19-related measures. In this issue of the Monthly Highlights newsletter, CULT Chair Sabine Verheyen announces two research papers with policy recommendations to support the sectors' recovery and enhance their resilience to similar crises. This edition also focuses on fundamental rights, sustainable energy, trade with China, e-commerce, and the cohesion policy. Forthcoming publications are announced.
Coronavirus - learning mobilities impact survey results
European Commission
Main conclusions from a May 2020 survey sent to 57,000 participants representing all types of mobility supported under the Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes.The survey was run to collect the views of mobility participants on how the Covid-19 outbreak affected the ordinary course of their mobility activities.
European Universities Initiative Impact Survey
European Commission
May 2020, The European Commission ran an impact survey, with the 114 higher education institutions taking part in the first 17 European Universities, to better understand the way European Universities jointly address common challenges brought by the crisis but also to grasp the extent to which being part of a European University has contributed to alleviate such impact.
Survey Report Erasmus Mundus Programme Implementation in the Context of COVID-19
The European Commission and EACEA (June 2020)
This publication is a report produced in the framework of the Erasmus Mundus Programme, funded by the European Commission, Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. The report presents the results of a survey carried out in the form of a questionnaire during the period May – June 2020 among Erasmus Mundus projects with the aim to investigate how consortia and students are coping with the unprecedented situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was launched with the aim to support Erasmus Mundus consortia, analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the study programmes (experiences, problems encountered, solutions and good practices implemented) and to obtain information on the scenarios envisaged by consortia for the academic year 2020/2021. The results also provide useful insights and feedback to Higher Education Institutions, the European Commission and EACEA, decision makers and other Erasmus+ stakeholders.
Student exchanges in times of Crisis, The impact of COVID-19 on student exchanges in Europe
European Students Network (ESN)
This research report builds on a survey that was open from the 19th to the 30th of March 2020 and addresses the topic of student exchanges in Europe affected by the COVID-19 crisis. It gathered 21,930 responses from international students all over Europe. The aim of this study was to capture the experiences of higher education students and trainees across Europe regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their mobility experience. It further aims to support policy-makers to make evidence-based decisions and alter communication in order to answer the major challenges students face during their exchange in foreign countries, allowing the Erasmus Student Network to do data-driven student representation.
THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON HIGHER EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD, IAU Global Survey Report
International Association of Universities (IAU)
The first IAU Global Survey Report on The impact of COVID-19 on higher education around the world tackles the need for increased international and global perspectives to analyse the various impacts of COVID-19 in the short medium and long term in order to revisit the global goals as set by Agenda 2030 and in order to better meet them through higher quality collaborative higher education research and teaching. The survey is part of a larger set of activities carried out by IAU to inform about the impact of COVID-19 on HE. What makes the IAU Global Survey unique is that it tries to capture a description of the impact of COVID-19 at global level and on higher education in the broader sense, including all areas of universities and other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)’ missions of teaching and learning, research and community engagement.
JOINT PAPER: IAU AND ESN COVID-19 impact on Higher Education: Institutional and Students’ Perspectives
International Association of Universities (IAU) and European Student Network
In this paper, IAU and ESN are providing a joint reflection on the impact of COVID-19 in student exchange, by creating a parallel between the answers from HEIs and the answers provided by the students. Through this reflection, the entities compare two different but complementary perspectives.
Regional/National Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education
International Association of Universities (IAU)
This report provides a regional and national overview of the disruption caused by COVID-19 on higher education around the world and on the first measures undertaken by HEIs to minimize this disruption and to continue fulfilling their missions of educating the next generations, of advancing science and knowledge through research, and of providing service to local communities and society at large.
INFORM # 2 – Impact of COVID-19 on International Studentsin EU and OECD Member States
European Migration Network 2020
This joint EMN – OECD Inform reports on the impact of COVID-19 on international students in EU and OECD countries, between February and June 2020. It covers both the admission of new international students who are not yet residing in EU and OECD countries, as well as the situation of those already physically present.
The COVID-19 Crisis Response: Supporting tertiary education for continuity, adaptation, and innovation
World Bank Group on Education
This policy paper build on the fact that tertiary education is both the aspiration of more and more young people around the globe and a fundamental requirement for employment in the industries that drive the global knowledge economy. In times of Covid-19 pandemic, societies are confronted with a massive challenge of youth disengagement and deprived of the graduate professionals needed to keep countries on track for social cohesion and growth. The paper reviews the development of immediate and long-term intervention to address the challenges and bridge the gaps created by this pandemic, including: pandemic response implications for institutions and systems, identifies required governmental actions and considerations, suggests measures to enable distance education and online learning for tertiary education and emphasises the need to sustain values during the crisis.
European Platform for Learning Mobility Newsletter (June 2020)
European Platform for Learning Mobility (EPLM)
European Platform for Learning Mobility reflections on coronavirus.
The importance of investing in the wellbeing of children to avert the learning crisis
UNESCO, WFP, UNICEF, WHO
The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting nearly 1.6 billion school-age children in more than 190 countries. Already last year, 250 million school-age children being out of school, the world was facing a “learning crisis”. But now with the COVID-19 pandemic, this crisis could turn into a generational catastrophe. While many children will continue with their education once schools reopen, others may never return to school. Current estimates indicate that 24 million children will never return to the classroom and among those, disproportional number of girls. To avert this crisis, we need to reimagine how we deliver good quality and inclusive education to the world children. Among other things, this calls for urgent investments in school health and nutrition programmes and create the conditions for children to lead healthy lives. This also includes health and nutrition literacy offered through the curriculum and through counselling in the school health services which provides young people with knowledge, skills, values, culture and behaviours they need to lead healthy, empowered lives.
What have we learnt? Findings from a survey of ministries of education on national responses to COVID-19
UNESCO, UNICEF, The World Bank
According to this new report published by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank, schoolchildren in low- and lower-middle-income countries have already lost nearly four months of schooling since the start of the pandemic, compared to an average of six weeks among high-income countries. Compiling data from surveys on national education responses to COVID-19 from 149 countries between July and October, the report also finds that schoolchildren in low- and lower-middle income countries were less likely to have access to remote learning or to be monitored on a day-to-day basis by teachers and were more likely to have delays in their schools reopening.
Embracing a culture of lifelong learning: contribution to the futures of education initiative
UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL)
This report presents a future-focused vision of education, which demands a major shift towards a culture of lifelong learning by 2050. It argues that the challenges humanity faces, those resulting from the climate crisis and from technological and demographic change, not to mention those posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequalities it has exacerbated, call for societies that understand themselves as learning societies and people who identify themselves as learners throughout their lives.
Preventing a 'lockdown generation' in Europe and Central Asia, Building resilient societies with young people in the era of COVID-19
UNICEF, European Training Foundation (ETF)
UNICEF and the European Training Foundation (ETF) have partnered to examine the challenges, opportunities and – most importantly – the sentiments and views of young people concerning their current and future prospects in the time of COVID-19. A jointly published report builds on wide-ranging consultations with more than 15,000 adolescents and young people in the Region which covered their opinions on lockdown restrictions, access to and participation in education, learning outcomes and the quality of teaching, as well as their views on mobility, entrepreneurship and participation, among other issues. For many young people in the Europe and Central Asia Region, COVID-19 interrupted their schooling, left them jobless, and has made it more difficult to integrate into the labour market. Facing school closures and uncertainty about their futures, young people say that they feel isolated and are dealing with levels of stress, anxiety and depression. Although young people have been among those most socially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but, at the same time, they proven to be the most prepared to cope with the quick shift towards virtual environments that the pandemic created. When it comes to the future, the report captures young people’s hopes and fears about the profound socioeconomic changes, as well their aspirations and practical recommendations to re-imagine a more inclusive, equitable, peaceful, sustainable and prosperous future.
