Covid-19: School pupils lost a third of education time in pandemic

School pupils across the UK have lost around a third of their learning time during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new study.

Pupils in Wales were, on average, the hardest hit, missing out on around 66 days of learning, with pupils in Scotland missing out on 64. Pupils in Northern Ireland and England missed out on 61 days over the year. There are normally 190 days in a school year.

Researchers at the London School of Economics and the University of Exeter have been trying to work out what students have missed out on with schools closed during the pandemic.

Pupils across the UK have spent a lot of time learning at home during the pandemic

The team looked at school term dates, attendance figures and studied pupil learning rates - both home and in the classroom - to get the figures.

One of the professors behind the report, Stephen Machin, said, "Even a few days extra learning loss can have a large impact on educational achievement and life outcomes, and these are big losses of around 60-65 days."

How can schools make up the lost time?

The study also asked 10,000 adults in the UK how students should get that learning time back. Just over half thought schools should extend the school day to give pupils more learning time.

More than two thirds of adults in England thought it would be easier for pupils to repeat school years to catch up.

The government have already announced plans to help students get some of that lost learning time back.

A Government spokesperson said: "We have committed to an ambitious, and long-term education recovery plan, including an investment to date of over £3 billion and a significant expansion of our tutoring programme, to support children and young people to make up for learning lost during the pandemic."

How do you feel about catching-up on school work? Do you have any plans to work over the summer holidays? Do you think students, and teachers, need a rest over summer? Leave your comments below.