{"id":89657,"date":"2023-12-05T12:35:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T17:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=89657"},"modified":"2024-09-01T09:54:27","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T13:54:27","slug":"opinion-louis-volante-discusses-post-covid-education-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2023\/12\/opinion-louis-volante-discusses-post-covid-education-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION: Louis Volante discusses post-COVID education policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article written by Louis Volante, Professor of Education Governance at Brock University, originally appeared in The Conversation<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The global results capture mathematics skills based on 2022 testing. PISA typically tests math (as well as science and literacy skills) every three years, but a\u00a02021 test was postponed\u00a0because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Governments\u00a0anticipated there would be\u00a0a drop in test scores due\u00a0to COVID-19 disruption. But few would have predicted such significant learning losses.<\/p>\n

Canada was not immune from the learning challenges caused by the pandemic. Canada\u2019s results indicate a significant drop of\u00a015 score points\u00a0in mathematics \u2014 a score of 497, down from\u00a0512 in 2018. Since PISA was first administered in 2000, Canada has\u00a0never experienced a drop of 15 score points in any area\u00a0as has happened this year.<\/p>\n

As provinces across Canada take stock of test scores, and likely face weaponization of these scores by those seeking\u00a0to gain political points, both policymakers and the public need to know there\u2019s no quick fix. To address academic learning, a multi-dimensional approach is needed that promotes the success of the whole child: academic, physical and socio-emotional.<\/p>\n

Significant drop in mathematics scores<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s math scores on the\u00a0last three administrations of PISA\u00a0have been fairly stable,\u00a0albeit showing\u00a0a slight\u00a0downward performance trend.<\/p>\n

Still, Canadian students have consistently performed\u00a0above the OECD average as the top English speaking jurisdiction in mathematics, science and reading achievement. While Canada is still a top-performing nation and these drops closely align with\u00a0average OECD performance declines, they are sure to provoke calls for system reform, given the trajectory of the decline.<\/p>\n

What should governments do (and not do) to address significant performance declines?<\/p>\n

Education policies and academic learning loss<\/strong><\/p>\n

My research with colleagues\u00a0suggests educational policymakers in Canadian provinces have taken a number of important steps to address challenges created by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

No less than 62 policy documents and related supports were developed and issued across Canada\u2019s 10 provinces from January 2020 to December 2021. Academic supports tended to focus on maintaining continuity of learning, synchronous learning during school closures and, finally, recovery catch-up strategies.<\/p>\n

Catch-up policies\u00a0need to consider students\u2019 mental and physical health \u2014 domains largely untested by large-scale assessment programs, but equally important.<\/p>\n

Resist temptation to narrow curriculum<\/strong><\/p>\n

Similarly, provincial policymakers must resist the temptation to narrow the curriculum to focus on the mathematics domain at the expense of other subjects. Narrowing the curriculum often accompanies significant test score drops, which unfortunately contribute to\u00a0school failure\u00a0and negatively impact countries\u2019 future economic prosperity.<\/p>\n

Clearly, a generational challenge like COVID-19 requires a multi-year approach that takes a long-view based on the best available evidence. And yet, PISA results have routinely been\u00a0politicized by policymakers\u00a0globally, including in Canada.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is early days, but if the past is a good predictor, a host of education reforms such as greater privatization and\u00a0school choice will likely be offered as a remedy for our \u201cfailing schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collectively, these types of reforms,\u00a0modelled on notions that the state should promote markets and competition\u00a0to meet social needs, have consistently shown their negative effects around the world.<\/p>\n

Moving forward in a post-COVID world<\/strong><\/p>\n

Education is a social science concerned\u00a0with human behaviour in its social and cultural aspects. What works in one context isn\u2019t guaranteed to work in another. Looking to countries that perform high in PISA math performance like Singapore (and other Asian nations) to\u00a0borrow policies\u00a0and strategies in the hopes of emulating their success, is na\u00efve.<\/p>\n

Success in a post-COVID world will depend on local innovation and an ability to address the unique challenges of Canada\u2019s\u00a0ethnically and linguistically diverse population. Indeed, the share of immigrant students in Canada increased\u00a0to 34 per cent in 2022.<\/p>\n

Although Canada can and should consider the efficacy of education policies in similar international education contexts, it also possesses unique educational governance structures. Provincial autonomy in administering education means provinces can learn from each other as much as from other countries.<\/p>\n

In many instances, performance variations are larger\u00a0across Canadian provinces, than between Canada and other high-performing nations.<\/p>\n

For example, the difference between Saskachewan and Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s PISA math scores is 46 points, approximately one-and-a-half grade levels, with the former at\u00a0the lower and the latter at the higher end. A range of education policy and other factors, including the\u00a0availability of early childhood education, have been and should continue to be explored to account for such differences.<\/p>\n

Push for online learning<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would also be naive to expect technology to offer easy solutions to enhancing students\u2019 access to quality education.<\/p>\n

For example, in Ontario, a shift to online learning and less in-class hours, undoubtedly\u00a0contributed to pandemic learning losses. Yet online learning is now\u00a0being offered as a strategy to improve education\u00a0\u2014\u00a0as it was also prior\u00a0to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

This is despite the fact\u00a0that students\u00a0and\u00a0parents have\u00a0both voiced their concerns with online education.<\/p>\n

Equally important is\u00a0that research\u00a0highlights the social challenges associated with a reliance on online education.<\/p>\n

Two pillars of success: excellence and equity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ultimately, Canadian policymakers should be judged on their ability to promote academic resilience in a post-COVID world that is both\u00a0multi-dimensional\u00a0and also attentive to marginalized student groups, particularly\u00a0those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Policies designed to promote high achievement must also carefully consider the success of students living in poverty. The\u00a0best-performing education systems\u00a0embody both of these characteristics, and PISA scores represent only one piece of a complex puzzle to help spur system reform.<\/p>\n

The countries that equally attend to these two pillars, excellence and equity, will be the leaders of the future.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor of Education Governance Louis Volante wrote a piece recently published in The Conversation about how Canadian governments can address the decline in students\u2019 post-pandemic test scores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":89658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,7,6],"tags":[98,3028,5512],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89665,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89657\/revisions\/89665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}