Page 60 - EW March 2021

International News

EUROPE depressing finding that during the spring lockdown, the av-
Schools closure pains erage pupil had learned nothing at all. Those whose parents

were poorly educated did even worse: they emerged from
their first two months of schooling by Internet knowing less
than when they started.
France has been the most determined of any European
country not to let schools close, arguing that the risks to
educational attainment and social cohesion are greater
than those to public health. Last spring (April) President
Emmanuel Macron overrode advice from epidemiologists
and ordered schools to reopen. They have stayed that way,
though since November most high schools have worked in
shifts. Germany closed its schools from December 16 until
at least February 15. Its state governments would like to
start reopening them, but Chancellor Angela Merkel wants
to wait until Covid-19 caseloads fall by half from current
levels. Northern Europe has roughly followed the German
Swedish classroom: no pandemic lockdown pattern (apart from contrarian Sweden, which closed only
briefly in January).
O ONE IS EVER TRULY READY FOR LOCKDOWN. In southern Europe, closures have been less widespread.
But when the Netherlands closed its schools last Spanish schools have stayed open since autumn, though
NDecember, the Herman Wesselink College, a gov- most high schools use some distance-learning. Some
ernment high school in a well-off suburb of Amsterdam, 35,000-40,000 new teachers and assistants have been
was readier than most. About half its students have par- hired to reduce class sizes. In Italy, primary schooling has
ents who completed higher education. Nearly all have their not been interrupted. High schools, shut in November, have
own bedroom to study in. The school has given its pupils reopened for most classes. Both countries have struggled
laptops for years, and during the first lockdown last spring with remote classrooms, thanks to dodgy Internet connec-
switched smoothly to remote learning. The director says tions and a lack of computers among poorer pupils.
students have not fallen behind a whit in terms of content, At least the gravity of the threat to education has sunk
though their study skills have languished. in. Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands reopened their
The Mundus College, a trade (vocational) school in a primary schools on February 8; Romania reopened primary
poorer Amsterdam neighbourhood, has had it rougher. and most high schools as well. The question is what gov-
About a third of its students are new immigrants or refu- ernments will do if infection rates rise in the spring: close
gees. Vocational education is hard to do remotely. Classes schools again, or find other painful measures (such as cur-
have stayed open at half-size under an exception for vulner- fews or bans on house visits) to compensate for keeping
able students, but it is impossible to follow social-distancing children in class.
rules for subjects like nursing, says Diana Brummelhuis, the
director. “You can’t teach someone to handle a wheelchair CHINA
by lecturing.” She estimates that her pupils are lagging at Child fitness drive
least a quarter behind their normal pace.
Such contrasts are playing out all over Europe. On a IN EXAM-OBSESSED CHINA, EDUCATORS have
continent famous for its welfare systems, school closures long struggled with the problem of overworked
threaten to widen divisions of education, ethnicity and schoolchildren. Attempts to do away with some
class. Compared with the rest of the world, Europe hasn’t test-oriented teaching often face resistance from parents,
done badly during the pandemic. Most of its schools re- who worry their offspring could lose out in the race to get
opened last autumn (September), while in South America admitted into a good university. Some enlightened officials
and South Asia they are largely shut. But Covid-19’s second are taking a new tack. In the south-western province of Yun-
wave has forced many European schools to close again. nan, they have not only revamped the physical education
This hurts all pupils, but hits the poor and vulnerable (PE) test in the z hongk ao, an examination for entrance to
ones harder. France’s education ministry says that last senior secondary school. They have also given it the same
spring’s lockdown increased the gap in exam scores between weightage in the exam as all-important subjects like maths
normal (government) schools and ones in hard-up areas by and Chinese. Eight provinces have joined Yunnan in includ-
z
several points. In Germany, that first lockdown cut studying ing art and music tests in hongk ao.
time from 7.4 hours per day to 3.6. An analysis of last year’s These reforms are in response to demands by the central
national exam results in the Netherlands came up with the government for a more well-rounded approach to educa-

60 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2021