THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON LEARNING IN GREECE: INVESTIGATION OF THE UNIVERSITY ENTRANCE EXAMS
Abstract
It has been evidenced by a number of studies and international organizations that the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to schooling around the world; drastic measures were undertaken for the health of people, among which were school closures. The expected impact on student learning was big and, in most cases, led to learning loss; a cost that may seriously affect human capital accumulation, productivity, and the quality of life for individuals and societies. The aim of this study was to explore the case of school closures in Greece, during the pandemic. It used the results of the Panhellenic University Entrance Exams (PUEE) by comparing the achievements of the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 student cohorts with those of the previous school year (2018-2019). A considerable loss seems to be present in both years, as opposed to the year before the pandemic. Several interesting issues arose regarding the learning effectiveness of the type of education provided (distance, tele-education, blended or other); these are presented with reference to the current educational debate in Greece. It is shown that the most vulnerable are those that experienced the pandemic measures for two subsequent years. Also, some suggestions for remedial measures are provided for increased future effectiveness.
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Alahiotis, S. & Karatzia-Stavlioti. Ε. (2006). Effective curriculum policy and cross-curricularity: Analysis of the new curriculum design by the Hellenic Pedagogical Institute. Pedagogy, Culture & Society. 14(2), pp. 119-148.
Alahiotis, S. N. & E. Karatzia–Stavlioti (2008). “Biopedagogism: A New Theory for Learning”. The International Journal of Learning 15(3): 323-330.
Alahiotis, S. N. & E. Karatzia–Stavlioti (2013). A Basic Competences Assessment through a Multimodal Classroom Design: Empirical Comparative Study. The International Journal of Assessment and Evaluation. 19(5), 1-22.
Alfavita, (January 5, 2021). Merging of Schools. Alfavita: https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/anakoinoseis/351134_syghoneyseis-sholeion-ekpaideytikoi-ypaith-thelei-na-mpalosei-ta.
Alfavita, (March 13, 2021). Parent question to the Minister on students’ absences. https://www.esos.gr/arthra/71987/erotima-gonea-pros-ti-n-kerameos-gia-tis-apoysies.
Almond, D. (2006). Is the 1918 influenza pandemic over? long-term effects of in utero influenza exposure in the post-1940 U.S. population. Journal of Political Economy 114(4): 672-712. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/507154?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
Altonji, G. J., Lisa B. Kahn, B. L., & Speer, D. J. (2016). Cashier or Consultant? Entry Labor Market Conditions, Field of Study, and Career Success. Journal of Labor Economics, 4 (S1).
Azevedo, Joao Pedro; Hasan, Amer; Goldemberg, Diana; Iqbal, Syedah Aroob; Geven, Koen. (2020). Simulating the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 School Closures on Schooling and Learning Outcomes: A Set of Global Estimates. Policy Research Working Paper; No. 9284. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/33945 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO
Böheim, R. & Gust, S. (2021). The Austrian Pay Transparency Law and the Gender Wage Gap. IZA Institute of Labor Economics. IZA DP No. 14206
Cholezas, I., Kanellopoulos, C., T. Mitrakos and P. Tsakloglou. (2013). The impact of the current crisis on private returns to education in Greece. Economic Bulletin, Bank of Greece 38: 33-63: https://ideas.repec.org/a/bog/econbl/y2013i38p32-63.html
DeCicca, P. & H. Krashinsky (2020). Do Differences in School Quality Generate Heterogeneity in the Causal Returns to Education? National Bureau of Economic Research. Working Paper 27089. http://www.nber.org/papers/w27089
Donnelly, R., Patrinos, H.A. (2021). Learning loss during Covid-19: An early systematic review. Prospects. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-021-09582-6
Esos, (December, 2020). Absences in school. https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/335571_apoysies-sto-sholeio-pos-tha-lythei-problima-ton-apoysion-exaitias-koronoioy.
Esos (March, 2021). Tele-Education in Schools. https://dimosio.gr/olme-apergia-apochi-apo-tis-diadikasies-tilekpaideysis-sta-ypo-katalipsi-scholeia/).
Gallagher-Mackay, K., Srivastava, P., Underwood, K., Dhuey, E., McCready, L., Born, K., Maltsev, A., Perkhun, A., Steiner, R., Barrett, K., & Sander, B. (2021). COVID-19 and Education Disruption in Ontario: Emerging Evidence on Impacts. Law and Society Faculty Publications. 1. https://scholars.wlu.ca/laso_faculty/1.
Geethanjali, N. & Pravakar, S, (2003). Argentina’s crisis: Causes and Consequences. Economic and Political Weekly. 38(17):1641-1644.
Giavrimis, P. and Nikolaou, S. M. (2020). The Greek university student’s social capital during the covid-19 pandemic. European Journal of education studies, 7(8), https://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/3175/5811
Goczek, L., Witkowska, E., Witkowski, B. (2021). How Does Education Quality Affect Economic Growth? Sustainability .13(6437). https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116437
Hai, W., Zhao, Z., Wang, J., Hou, Z-G. (2021). Impact of SARS on the Chinese Economy. Asian Economic Papers, 3:1 © 2004 The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Massachusetts. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/1535351041747905.
Hanushek, E. A., and L. Woessmann. (2015). The Knowledge Capital of Nations: Education and the Economics of Growth. MIT Press. 0.1177/0891242416674808
Hanushek, E & Woessmann, L. (2020). The Economic Impacts of Learning Losses. OECD, Paris. https://www.oecd.org/education/The-economic-impacts-of-coronavirus-covid-19-learning-losses.pdf.
Igbal, S. A., Azevdo, P. J., Geven, K., Hassan, A. & Patrinos, A. H. (2021). We should avoid flattening the curve in education- Possible scenarios for learning loss during the school lockdowns.
Karalis, T. 2020. Planning and Evaluation during Educational Disruption: Lessons Learned from the Covid-19 Pandemic for Treatment of Emergencies in Education. European Journal of Education Studies. 7(4). pp. 125-142. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3789022.
Karatzia- Stavlioti, E. & Lambropoulos, Η. (2009). Education and Economic Development: Evaluations and Ideologies. In A. Kazamias and R. Cowen (eds) International Handbook of Comparative Education, Springer, 22 (633-652).
Katsikas, Ch. (9 September 2020). Tele-education -Absences and Teaching Matter: A Loop for students and Teachers. https://www.efsyn.gr/ellada/koinonia/272168_tilekpaideysi-apoysies-didaktea-yli-thilia-gia-mathites-kai-ekpaideytikoys
Keogh-Brown, M. R. & Smith, D. R. (2008). The economic impact of SARS: How does the reality match the predictions? Health Policy. 88(1). 110–120. doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol2008.03.003. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7114672/
Kessopoulou, M., and A. Tsimpidaki (2021). Electronic communication between school and family during pandemic COVID-19. Research in education, 10(1), 137-160. https://doi.org/10.12681/hjre.26971 (in Greek).
Lambropoulos, H., Vathi-Sarava, P., Karatzia-Stavlioti, E., Loucopoulos, A. & Bousiou, O. (2022). Education and Economic Development for Sustainability. University of Patras Publications.
Lempel, H., Epstein, J. M., Hammond, R.A. (2009). Economic cost and health care workforce effects of school closures. In the U.S.. PLoS Currents1:RRN1051: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762813/
Livanos, I. & Pouliakas, K. (2019). The rise of involuntary non-standard employment in Greece during the great economic depression. In Levanos & Pouliakas (eds) Greek Employment Relations in Crisis. DOI: 10.4324/9781315462493-7.
Mackey, J. D., McAllister, C. P., Maher, L. P., and Wang, G. (2019). Leaders and followers behaving badly: a meta-analytic examination of curvilinear relationships between destructive leadership and followers’ workplace behaviors. Pers. Psychol. 72, 3–47. doi: 10.1111/peps.12286.
Margaris, D. (2021). Parents for Tele-Education. https://ylikonet.gr/2021/01/19
Palaiologos, N. (2021). Longer school year. https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/350821_paratasi-toy-sholikoy-etoys-i-toy-ektrohiasmoy
Patrinos, H. & Shmis, T (2020). Can technology help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on education systems in Europe and Central Asia? https://blogs.worldbank.org/europeandcentralasia/can-technology-help-mitigate-impact-covid-19-education-systems-europe-and
Pier, L., Hough, H. J., Christian, M., Bookman, N., Wilkenfeld, B., & Miller, R. (25 January 2021). COVID-19 and the educational equity crisis. Evidence on learning loss from the CORE data collaborative. PACE. https://www.edpolicyinca.org/newsroom/covid-19-and-educational-equity-crisis.
Psacharopoulos, G. & Patrinos, A. H. (2018). Returns to investment in education: a decennial review of the global literature. Education Economics, 26(5): 445-458, DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2018.1484426.
Psacharopoulos, G., Collis, V. & Patrinos, H. Α. Vegas, E. (2020). Lost Wages: The COVID-19 Cost of School Closures. GLO Discussion Paper, 548, Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen.
Routt, D. 2020. The Economic Impact of the Black Death. EHnet. University of Richmond. https://eh.net/encyclopedia/the-economic-impact-of-the-black-death/
Sadique, M. Z., Adams, E. J. & Edmunds, W. J. (2008). Estimating the costs of school closure for mitigating an influenza pandemic. BMC Public Health 8, 135. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-8-135
Schleicher, A. (2020). The Impact of COVID-19 on Education – Insights from Education at a Glance 2020, OECD.
Thomson, P. (2019). The IMF and the Greek Crisis: Myths and Realities. Speech by Paul Thomsen, Director of the European Department of the International Monetary Fund, at the London School of Economics. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2019/10/01/sp093019-The-IMF-and-the-Greek-Crisis-Myths-and-Realities.
United Nations (2015). Agenda for sustainable development by 2030. https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals?utm_source.
Volitakis, S. (2021). Merging schools. https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/anakoinoseis/351134_syghoneyseis-sholeion-ekpaideytikoi-ypaith-thelei-na-mpalosei-ta
World Bank-Understanding Poverty. (2020). Realizing the Future of Learning: From Learning Poverty to Learning for Everyone, Everywhere. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/education/publication/realizing-future-of-learning-from-learning-poverty-to-learning-for-everyone-everywhere.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v9i4.4230
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2022 Haris Lambropoulos, Vathi-Sarava Panagiota, Eleni Karatzia-Stavlioti
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2015-2023. European Journal of Education Studies (ISSN 2501 - 1111) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
