Primary School Closures Research Articles

Rational cuts? The local impact of closing undersized schools

The availability of public education services can influence residential choices. Therefore, policies aimed at ‘rationalising’ service provision by reducing the number of undersized nodes in the public school network can lead to population decline, especially in spatially isolated areas lacking valid alternatives to the removed services. This paper examines the demographic and income effects of primary school closures by exploiting an Italian education reform that resulted in the contraction of the school network. We assess whether school closures impact households’ residential choices, over and above preexisting negative population trends that motivate school closures. Our findings indicate that municipalities affected by school closures experience significant reductions in population and income. The effect is primarily driven by peripheral municipalities located far away from economic centres and distant from the next available primary school. This evidence indicates that school ‘rationalisation policies’, by fostering depopulation of peripheral areas, have an influence on the spatial distribution of households and income, thus affecting territorial disparities.

Does raising awareness about inequality decrease support for school closures? An information treatment survey experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic

The increase in inequalities during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been the topic of intense scholarly and public debate. School closures are one of the containment measures that have been debated most critically in this regard. What drives support for closures of schools and pre-school services (daycare/kindergarten) during a public health crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic? More specifically, does inequality awareness affect this support? Theoretically, we assume that providing information on current levels of inequality can change policy preferences, as it increases awareness of their consequences for inequality. Moreover, we assume that the strength of the association between information provision and policy support varies across individuals—depending on their exposure to these policies, and the political attitudes that they hold. To identify causal linkages between awareness of inequalities and support for school and daycare/kindergarten closures, we use a survey experiment with information treatment, in which we randomly assign information designed to prime the respondents to think about either education inequality, gender inequality, or both. The experiment, involving more than 3,000 respondents, was conducted in the spring of 2021 at the end of a prolonged lockdown in Germany when a new piece of legislation was enacted, enabling or restricting school reopenings based on local infection rates. Using Probit Regression models for dichotomous dependent variables, we show that raising awareness of education inequality and gender inequality via an information treatment is associated with decreasing support for preschool and primary school closures. We also find that past exposure to school-closure policies strengthens the effects of information treatments, whereas previous political attitudes do not moderate the association between information treatments and support for preschool and school closures.

Anxiety disorders among children and adolescents during COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures: a cross-sectional study in Kuwait.

Investigating the epidemiology of mental health disorders resulting from COVID-19 intervention measures, primary school closures, and social isolation in children and adolescents needs to be prioritized over adults at the post-pandemic stage. Most preliminary psychosocial studies conducted during the pandemic have demonstrated that younger age groups are the most vulnerable to such implications. Thus, this study aims to estimate the probable prevalence of specific anxiety disorders in children and quantify their relationships with relevant demographic risk factors. We used a cross-sectional study comprising 430 children aged between 8- and 18 years old living in Kuwait during the period of school closures as well as full and partial lockdowns. The survey included questions about participants' characteristics, children's anxiety using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Questionnaire (SCARED) scale, and children's emotions and behaviours using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to summarize the demographic and characteristics of the participants and their association with general, social, and generalized anxieties, as well as behavioural and emotional difficulties. We inferred that 24.83% of our participants had at least one anxiety disorder, while 20.19% were classified as abnormal on the SDQ scale. Our multivariate analysis revealed that lockdown duration and sex of the child were consistently significant predictors (p-values < 0.05) of the broad spectrum of selected mental disorders. Additionally, we inferred notable increases in the likelihood of mental disorders associated with the increased duration of lockdowns. Our findings revealed preliminary insights into the vulnerability of young populations to the indirect negative impacts of strict public health measures during pandemic emergencies. Thus, authorities should consider such implications when planning and implementing similar interventions in future pandemics.

Parental concerns during COVID-19-related school closures: children’s behaviors and media usage

IntroductionCoronavirus Disease 2019 has prompted widespread school closures and physical distancing measures. Concerns regarding COVID-19 school closures often increase stress levels in parents.ObjectivesThis study examined whether higher levels of parental concerns were associated with children’s problematic behaviors and other factors during COVID-19-related primary school closures.MethodsParticipants were 217 parents who responded to a web-based questionnaire covering parental concerns, subjective stress, and depression; children’s sleep patterns, behavioral problems, and changes in activity level after COVID-19; previously received mental health services; and media usage during the online-only class period from community center in Suwon city.ResultsThe number of parental concerns was associated with children’s behavioral problem index (BPI) score (Pearson correlation 0.211, p &lt; 0.01), sleep problems (0.183, p &lt; 0.01), increased smartphone usage (0.166, p &lt; 0.05), increased TV usage (0.187, p &lt; 0.01), parents’ subjective stress levels (0.168, p &lt; 0.05), and parental depression (0.200, p &lt; 0.01). In families with children who previously received mental health services, the children reportedly suffered from more sleep and behavioral problems but not increased media usage, and parents noted more stress and depression. Parental concerns are related to family factors such as change of caregiver, no available caregiver, decreased household income, and recent adverse life events. Economically vulnerable people also reported higher rates of reported caregiver burden during COVID-19-related primary school closures, thus will require the potential heightened mental health needs.ConclusionsOngoing monitoring of mental health at risky group and multiple support systems should be considered for parents having difficulty in caring their children.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Inequality in the Effects of Primary School Closures due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from the Netherlands

Using a large dataset of around 500,000 students from about 1,900 schools, this paper shows the effect of two school closures and 1.5 years of the COVID-19 pandemic on standardized learning growth for mathematics, reading, and spelling in Dutch primary education. We find that the school closures have a negative effect on standardized learning growth, amounting to an annual average of 5.5 weeks of learning loss. When analyzing differential effects by socioeconomic status, parental education, household income, household structure, household size, and migration status, we find that the negative effect is larger for the more vulnerable students.

Variety of Strategies in Primary Education: The Responses of the Four UK Nations to the COVID-19 Crisis

&lt;p style="text-align:justify"&gt;This article analyses the strategies of the four United Kingdom (UK) nations to mitigate the impacts of primary school closures and the shift to remote learning due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. A theoretical framework based on a combination of the field literature of strategy and public value was developed to analyze their initiatives. This is a qualitative and exploratory study, and its data was collected from each country’s website, research papers, and media news. The findings reveal five key areas of action: remote learning; keeping schools open to assist vulnerable students and key workers’ children; access to the Internet and electronic devices to mitigate the digital divide; free meals to disadvantaged learners; and students’ assessment. The analysis suggests that the four nations initially adopted a coordinated action and gradually followed three different paths: deliberate strategies, adjustment to the pandemic situation, and development of emergent strategies. The variegate of strategies show the innovative capacity of the countries and the search for public value. Further research is suggested to address the impact of the strategies.&lt;/p&gt;

‘Uncharted territory’: teachers’ perspectives on play in early childhood classrooms in Ireland during the pandemic

ABSTRACT School closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted the education of 91% of students worldwide. As a critical process in supporting young children’s resilience, play is increasingly recognised as a valuable pedagogical strategy within a shifting educational landscape during the pandemic. This study reports on findings from a survey on play in early childhood education of 310 early childhood teachers during primary school closures in Ireland. Eighty-two per cent of teachers recommended play strategies to parents during remote teaching and home schooling and almost all teachers (99%) intended to use play as a pedagogical strategy upon school reopening. Teachers believed play was an especially important pedagogical tool in supporting young children’s social-emotional development, learning and transition back to school. Over a third highlighted uncertainty surrounding capacity to use play upon school reopening given COVID-19 regulations, emphasising the need for greater guidance to support teachers’ commitment to play-based pedagogical strategies.

The first three weeks of lockdown in England: The challenges of detecting safeguarding issues amid nursery and primary school closures due to COVID-19.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 being declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, educators worldwide are facing a major challenge in how to adapt, become resilient, and to monitor/detect potential safeguarding issues amid nursery and school closures. Online communication between parents, children and early years practitioners/teachers rapidly became a new ‘norm’ during the first lockdown in the UK. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative findings from 55 participants compromised of early years practitioners and primary school teachers working with 3 to 8 years old children in the South-East of England. Methods of data collection deployed online surveys and a qualitative focused questionnaire, to capture what measures nurseries and primary schools adopted to ensure children are safeguarded. We argue that pressure on early years practitioners and teachers to monitoring safeguarding children by using various online platforms is physically and emotionally challenging. This paper highlights the difficulties of detecting safeguarding issues amid school closures, which should be avoid during further future closures.

Estimating the Effects of Educational System Consolidation: The Case of China’s Rural School Closure Initiative

Global trends of fertility decline, population aging, and rural outmigration are creating pressures to consolidate school systems, with the rationale that economies of scale will enable higher quality education to be delivered in an efficient manner, despite longer travel distances for students. Yet, few studies have considered the implications of system consolidation for educational access and inequality, outside of the context of developed countries. We estimate the impact of educational infrastructure consolidation on educational attainment using the case of China's rural primary school closure policies in the early 2000s. We use data from a large household survey covering 728 villages in 7 provinces, and exploit variation in villages' year of school closure and children's ages at closure to identify the causal impact of school closure. For girls exposed to closure during their primary school ages, we find an average decrease of 0.60 years of schooling by 2011, when children's mean age was 17 years old. Negative effects strengthen with time since closure. For boys, there is no corresponding significant effect. Different effects by gender may be related to greater sensitivity of girls' enrollment to distance and greater responsiveness of boys' enrollment to quality.

Estimation of US Children’s Educational Attainment and Years of Life Lost Associated With Primary School Closures During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic

United States primary school closures during the 2020 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic affected millions of children, with little understanding of the potential health outcomes associated with educational disruption. To estimate the potential years of life lost (YLL) associated with the COVID-19 pandemic conditioned on primary schools being closed or remaining open. This decision analytical model estimated the association between school closures and reduced educational attainment and the association between reduced educational attainment and life expectancy using publicly available data sources, including data for 2020 from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the US Social Security Administration, and the US Census Bureau. Direct COVID-19 mortality and potential increases in mortality that might have resulted if school opening led to increased transmission of COVID-19 were also estimated. Years of life lost. A total of 24.2 million children aged 5 to 11 years attended public schools that were closed during the 2020 pandemic, losing a median of 54 (interquartile range, 48-62.5) days of instruction. Missed instruction was associated with a mean loss of 0.31 (95% credible interval [CI], 0.10-0.65) years of final educational attainment for boys and 0.21 (95% CI, 0.06-0.46) years for girls. Summed across the population, an estimated 5.53 million (95% CI, 1.88-10.80) YLL may be associated with school closures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a total of 88 241 US deaths from COVID-19 through the end of May 2020, with an estimated 1.50 million (95% CI, 1.23-1.85 million) YLL as a result. Had schools remained open, 1.47 million (95% credible interval, 0.45-2.59) additional YLL could have been expected as a result, based on results of studies associating school closure with decreased pandemic spread. Comparing the full distributions of estimated YLL under both "schools open" and "schools closed" conditions, the analysis observed a 98.1% probability that school opening would have been associated with a lower total YLL than school closure. In this decision analytical model of years of life potentially lost under differing conditions of school closure, the analysis favored schools remaining open. Future decisions regarding school closures during the pandemic should consider the association between educational disruption and decreased expected lifespan and give greater weight to the potential outcomes of school closure on children's health.

Estimating the Effects of Educational System Contraction: The Case of China's Rural School Closure Initiative

Global trends of fertility decline, population aging, and rural outmigration are creating pressures to consolidate school systems, with the rationale that economies of scale will enable higher quality education to be delivered in an efficient manner, despite longer travel distances for students. Yet, few studies have considered the implications of system consolidation for educational access and inequality, outside of the context of developed countries. We estimate the impact of educational infrastructure consolidation on educational attainment using the case of China's rural primary school closure policies in the early 2000s. We use data from a large household survey covering 728 villages in 7 provinces, and exploit variation in villages' year of school closure and children's ages at closure to identify the causal impact of school closure. For girls exposed to closure during their primary school ages, we find an average decrease of 0.60 years of schooling by 2011, when children were, on average, 17 years old. Negative effects strengthen with time since closure. For boys, there is no corresponding significant effect. Different effects by gender may be related to greater sensitivity of girls' enrollment to distance and greater responsiveness of boys' enrollment to quality.

A ‘Recipe for Depopulation’? School Closures and Local Population Decline in Saxony

AbstractA popular notion asserts that closing the last primary school marks a community's demographic death. No young parents will remain, much less new ones move in. This notion is frequently voiced but rarely verified. Are school closures a cause or consequence of local decline? This study reviews existing research on school locations and peripheral population decline to show that expectations of a dramatic impact of school closures on out‐migration are theoretically ill‐founded. I proceed to discuss specific methodological challenges in the empirical analysis of this relationship, and conduct a statistical analysis for the province of Saxony in East Germany for the period 1994–2007. In contrast to the prevailing discourse, there is little evidence of an appreciable effect of primary school closures on local population decline. This negative finding is discussed in light of local contextual factors and general insights from population geography. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

School closures and local politics: the negotiation of primary school rationalization in Manchester

This paper examines the implementation of a programme of primary school closures in Manchester. Although demographically equitable, the geographical impact of these closures was concentrated in the most disadvantaged inner-city areas. As in other local education authorities (LEAs), closure proposals aroused fierce opposition from the local communities affected. The ensuing protest was managed by the local authority through the combined use of pluralist and corporatist strategies. Negotiations with service consumers were pluralist in character, different groups competing with one another to retain their local schools. In this instance the participation of the public was used to fragment opposition. At the same time, a powerful consensus between the LEA and provider groups in favour of rationalization was established, effectively circumscribing the scope for successful protest on the part of local parents. This rendered the pluralist arena somewhat cosmetic, but it nevertheless served an important legitimating function.