FEATURE FOCUS: SUMMER LEARNING LOSS
Lost for words (and numbers)
’It’s that time of year again – September. The display boards have been backed, the new books have been labelled, all the work that your new class completed about their goals for the next year are up on the displays ready to welcome the pupils in. You’ve spent hours planning the first week of lessons to make sure everyone understands the expectations of the new school year. You are ready to go.
First lesson - English. But wait, it’s like they have forgotten everything! Maybe maths will be better… again, you’re sure their teacher said they had a good understanding of place value, in particular Child A knew how to recognise that the digit 7 in the number 732 represented seven hundreds… what has happened? This is the moment where we all start to talk about ‘summer learning loss’.
I
n our first look this month at summer learning loss and what it means for children and schools, we’re delighted to hear from Rebecca Smith. Rebecca, a former primary school Assistant Headteacher who now runs her own successful tuition business, looks at what summer learning loss is, offers some useful pointers for tackling it, and asks whether in fact we’re making too much of a phenomenon that could actually be a blessing in disguise.
What is summer learning loss? In the UK, children have an average of 6 weeks holiday between each school year. In the USA, this break from formal education is significantly longer. Children thrive when working in established routines and the summer holidays offer an excellent opportunity to break from routine, possibly creating a new one or none at all. It can be hard to find a balance between allowing children to have a complete break from any stresses they have experienced at school e.g. revision for exams, anxiety at being in large groups and classes that they did not engage with,
34
www.education-today.co.uk
and keeping their learning ticking along in the background. Surprisingly few studies have been carried out regarding summer learning loss in the UK, however when you speak to colleagues, this is something we can all generally agree on – it is a real thing and is a source of great frustration at the start of each academic year.
What can be done to combat summer learning loss?
There are a multitude of ways to combat summer learning loss, both at home during the holidays and before and after the summer holidays in school. It goes without saying that everything has a cost and budgets are tight. However, if a school is able to offer summer clubs (these can take several forms) this can help to combat anxiety about coming back onto the school site for those children for whom this is an issue. These clubs could be academic, with access to the library or quiet study areas for those wishing to take part in writing or reading challenge type activities. It could be sports related to foster positive relationships between the teachers and the pupils over the summer in an informal and fun setting as opposed to being in a classroom. It will also help to reduce the stress placed on working parents who may not be able to take time off during the holiday, leading to increased tension and friction within families during the school holidays. Parents need to have a good relationship with the school in order for the children to reap the
July/August 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
